Congress

  • The Pentagon has been warning for years that the decade-long budget caps Congress set in place four years ago won't work -- at least if DoD hopes to execute the defense strategy that's on the books right now. With sequestration set to return this year, officials say they'll try to make things a bit less abstract. The Pentagon publishes a report that details exactly what would happen to individual bases and weapons systems with a $30 billion cut. Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu writes about DoD's sequestration messaging strategy as part of this week's edition of Inside the Reporter's Notebook.

    February 20, 2015
  • Andy Ozment, the assistant secretary of the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications within the National Protections and Programs Directorate (NPPD), said the continuous diagnostics and mitigation (CDM) and Einstein 3A programs would be "gravely" affected if Congress doesn't pass DHS funding bill by Feb. 28.

    February 20, 2015
  • Got a lot of time on your hands in your federal office? How about finding something to do rather than watching pornography, says Senior Correspondent Mike Causey.

    February 19, 2015
  • By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Pressing Pentagon demands in a time of terror threats and Islamic State militants have put newly empowered congressional Republicans in a bind. Defense hawks want to wipe…

    February 18, 2015
  • Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) has four top priorities as new chairman of House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on IT, and he wants to use a "three-legged stool" approach to realize them.

    February 17, 2015
  • The Office of Management and Budget tells Congress if it doesn't fix sequestration, discretionary spending across the government would drop by more than $90 billion.

    February 17, 2015
  • Speaker of the House John Boehner says a shutdown at the Homeland Security Department could still happen. Funding for the agency runs out next Friday, and Congress is in recess all this week. David Hawkings is Senior Editor of Roll Call and writes the Hawkings Here blog. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he said the Speaker isn't the only politician who seems to think a shutdown at DHS would be OK.

    February 16, 2015
  • The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's lineup of subcommittees will include a new one in the 114th Congress. Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform's new Subcommittee on Information Technology. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he explained what to expect from his subcommittee, his four priorities, and what he'll look at first.

    February 16, 2015
  • Political leaders from both the White House and Congress are offering up ways to improve the Senior Executive Service. There's the mundane — the White House is launching a candidate development program. And the punitive — legislation that would make it easier to fire SES members when things go wrong. Now in our special report, "Fixing the SES," we ask: Is it actually broken? Jeri Buchholz is an SES member and chief human capital officer at NASA. On the Federal Drive with Tom Temin, she told Federal News Radio's Emily Kopp that the SES has its faults but is essential to the government.

    February 16, 2015
  • The Office of Management and Budget is getting kudos for its initial steps to implement the Federal Information Technology Reform Act (FITARA).

    February 16, 2015
  • By MEREDITH SOMERS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional leaders said Friday that an electrical malfunction that filled a Metro tunnel with smoke last month, killing one person and injuring dozens, should be a wakeup…

    February 13, 2015
  • A brief look at the latest happenings in Congress this week

    February 13, 2015
  • By DONNA CASSATA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday confirmed President Barack Obama’s choice to run the Pentagon, handing Ash Carter the unenviable task of steering the military as the United States…

    February 12, 2015
  • Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on Wednesday asked a Republican lawmaker who served in both Iraq wars, "What have you done?" as the two men sparred over huge cost overruns at a troubled Denver VA hospital.

    February 12, 2015