Congress

  • Some people see parallels between what goes on here in political Washington with poop hurling battles that allegedly take place among the apes in the wild. Or with bored residents at the zoo, says Senior Correspondent Mike Causey.

    June 12, 2015
  • Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Committee on Veterans\' Affairs says problems engulfing the Department of Veterans Affairs will outlive his tenure, but laying the groundwork for change is a job he\'s looking to take on with Secretary Bob McDonald.

    June 11, 2015
  • In the final policy to implement Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA), federal CIO Tony Scott detailed several steps to ensure agencies meet the spirit and intent of the law. Meanwhile, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee members promise not to make FITARA Clinger-Cohen Act 2.0 when it comes to implementation.

    June 11, 2015
  • The Department of Veterans Affairs is proposing a plan to pay for the hospital project in Denver that\'s over its original budget now by more than $1 billion. The Denver hospital problem is one of several the agency struggles with. Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, tells In Depth with Francis Rose what the string of problems says about the direction of the agency.

    June 09, 2015
  • The vast majority of respondents to our Federal News Radio poll - 82 percent - said they were \"very worried\" about the breach and that if they were affected, they planned to take advantage of the credit monitoring services being offered by OPM.

    June 09, 2015
  • The Defense Authorization Act is the main piece of business for the Senate this week. The House will debate its version of the appropriations bill for defense spending. Those two bills have a big difference in their top-line numbers. David Hawkings, senior editor at Roll Call, writes the Hawkings Here blog. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose how much the Overseas Contingency Operation is at play.

    June 08, 2015
  • The Department of Veterans Affairs says it has made significant gains over the past several months in paying its health care vendors on time. Providers tell a different story, and say the department routinely fails to comply with the Prompt Payment Act.

    June 05, 2015
  • \"We can\'t just put a smiley face on everything and say it\'s good,\" said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who led two days of hearings on agencies\' attempts to fulfill Freedom of Information Act requests. He vowed to push reform legislation through Congress.

    June 03, 2015
  • A powerful House lawmaker vows to remove barriers for firing federal employees who have broken the most serious of rules. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, questions the rationale for keeping egregious violators on the payroll. Federal News Radio\'s Executive Editor Jason Miller joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with details about Chaffetz\'s plans.

    June 03, 2015
  • Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he will introduce legislation to let agencies dismiss federal employees more quickly if they undeniably break laws or agency policies. He also wants to give agency IGs more authority to go after feds who retire instead of facing accusations.

    June 03, 2015
  • Etherton and Associates President Jon Etherton and Tom Sisti, senior director and chief legislative counsel for SAP, join host Roger Waldron to talk about a growing movement on Capitol Hill for acquisition reform, and lessons learned from previous reform efforts. June 2, 2015

    June 02, 2015
  • Commentary: Strategies, lessons learned won\'t be necessary if Congress does what everyone knows is the responsible thing to do.

    June 02, 2015
  • The IRS, its inspector general and private security experts told the Senate Tuesday that the security protections that hackers overcame to steal data on more than 100,000 taxpayers have outlived their usefulness. The challenge now is finding an alternative that\'s more secure, but not so complicated that no one will use it. Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu has the details.

    June 02, 2015
  • The administration criticized the House appropriations framework that would implement sequestration funding levels for non-Defense agencies, while using Overseas Contingency Operations funds to pay for base Defense spending.

    June 02, 2015
  • A bill in the House aims to reform the way the General Services Administration (GSA) handles real estate. The Public Buildings Reform and Savings Act would realize billions in savings by enabling GSA to better facilitate consolidations, reduce space and negotiate the best possible office space lease deals. It would also bolster security at federal buildings. Re. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) is chairman of the House Subcommittee for Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, and a co-sponsor of the bill. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to explain why such a pilot program was important.

    June 02, 2015