Wednesday federal headlines – April 20, 2016

The Senate has confirmed Michael Missal to be the next inspector general at the Veterans Affairs Department. The VA had been without a permanent IG since Decemb...

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive.

  • The Senate has confirmed Michael Missal to be the next inspector general at the Veterans Affairs Department. The VA had been without a permanent IG since December 2013. President Obama appointed Missal back in October. Missal is partner at an international law firm in Washington and held several positions in government as a staff assistant for former President Jimmy Carter and senior counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)
  • The Senate has passed the long-awaited reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration. With a 95-3 vote, the bill now heads to the House. The bill greenlights all FAA programs and funding through 2017. The bill would establish a pilot program to develop a way to shut down drones that get too close to airports. And it would boost funding for the Airport Improvement Program. (Congress)
  • The House has passed five bills to update Small Business Administration rules and regulations for federal contracting. One would require the SBA to clarify what is expected of large prime contractors for small business participation. Another cleans up terminology for contracting provisions in the Small Business Act. (Small Business Committee)
  • The Secret Service has such severe personnel shortage it may have to fill in with detailees. That’s according to House Oversight Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). The Washington Examiner reports, Chaffetz told Secret Service director Joseph Clancy the agency can’t hire people fast enough to keep pace with what Chaffetz calls historic attrition rates. He told Clancy to consider detailing law enforcement and administrative people from other agencies in the meantime. The problem is magnified by the need to protect presidential candidates.
  • The Government Accountability Office says many department and agencies need stronger oversight and updated policies when it comes to managing biological agents in high-containment laboratories. While analyzing the practices of eight federal departments and 15 agencies, including the Department of Defense and the Centers for Disease Control, GAO found most of them did not have comprehensive polices for managing dangerous biological agents. It made 33 recommendations to help ensure stronger oversight of the laboratories. It was just May last year when DoD accidentally shipped out samples of live anthrax to labs across the U.S. and world. (GAO)
  • The House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee is recommending a 2.1 percent increase in pay for active-duty military. That’s half a percent higher than President Barack Obama’s proposed  hike. The subcommittee ties its proposed raise to the employment cost index for the private sector. The National Military Families Association said the move will help service members who now have to pay more into their retirement and health care. (Federal News Radio)
  • One of the original digital services gurus hired by the White House is finding a new home in industry. Greg Godbout is leaving the Environmental Protection Agency for a startup, called cBrain. Godbout came to EPA in April 2015 to be its chief technology officer and digital services director. He helped start the 18F organization at the General Services Administration and began his federal career as a part of the inaugural class of Presidential Innovation Fellows. Robin Gonzalez, who recently was hired to be Godbout’s deputy, will replace Godbout as the director of the office of digital services and technical architecture and as CTO. (Federal News Radio)
  • Treasury Department and Office of Management and Budget officials say they’re not certain agencies will be able to incorporate new DATA Act standards by the May 2017 deadline. Members of a House Oversight Committee said they want to know which agencies are struggling with the roll-out. They also want to see OMB go back to the drawing board and redesign a federal contracts pilot program that auditors say is too narrow in scope. The Data Act requires agencies to establish a standard format for reporting financial information. (Federal News Radio)
  • Veterans waited an average of 22 to 71 days for an appointment at VA medical centers. That’s according to a new study of 180 veterans at six medical centers from the Government Accountability Office. But the VA paints a different picture. The department said roughly 97 percent of veterans got an appointment within 30 days. The discrepancies in the data are because GAO and VA use different criteria to calculate wait times. (Federal News Radio)

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