Congress
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Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has released a $601 billion spending plan that saves the Cold War era U-2 spy plane from the chopping block and also would force the Pentagon to keep the A-10 Warthog in storage. It's all a part of a plan resulting in smaller military budgets after 13 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ironically, though, the plan also denies the Pentagon's request for another round of military base closures to get rid of unnecessary facilities and save $1.4 billion.
May 06, 2014 -
Congress is one week into its longest work session of the year. Members will be on the Hill for the next eight weeks. David Hawkings, senior editor of Roll Call, tells In Depth with Francis Rose the partisan divide may melt away in five key areas.
May 05, 2014 -
The organization says a series of whistleblowers and investigative reports show a "pattern of bureaucratic incompetence and failed leadership" among VA senior leaders. This is the first time in more than 30 years the American Legion has called for the removal of a public official.
May 05, 2014 -
"Inside the DoD's Reporter's Notebook" is biweekly feature focused on news about the Defense Department and defense community as gathered by Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu.
May 02, 2014 -
Congress is trying to be a good citizen this month. By passing the easy bills first, it hopes to get some real work done before arguing about the contentious stuff. That means it's tackling things like the construction budgets for Veterans Affairs and the Defense Department. Matt Hummer, senior transportation analyst with Bloomberg Government, told Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp what's in some of the bills Congress has already passed.
May 01, 2014 -
The 2009 reform aimed at ending the Pentagon's practice of overpromising the weapons systems it could deliver within the budgets it was asking for is showing signs of success. But DoD's acquisition chief says no amount of legislating will solve cost overruns.
May 01, 2014 -
When the House votes Thursday to approve fiscal 2015 budgets for a slew of legislative-branch agencies, lawmakers will get a chance to resurrect the small technology agency that once provided Congress with expert technological and scientific advice. A floor amendment from Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) would siphon off about $2.5 million from the House historic buildings fund to provide start-up funding for a reboot of the Office of Technology Assessment
April 30, 2014 -
President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law later this week that will require new levels of effort to make federal data more accessible. Now that the three-year effort to get the bill passed is complete, the hard work begins to make it a reality.
April 30, 2014 -
Tom Davis, director of Federal Government Affairs for Deloitte, what the government could do to become leaner and more efficient. April 29, 2014
April 29, 2014 -
Congress is back in town after a two-week recess. The House managed to knock out two good-government bills: the DATA Act and the Government Reports Elimination Act. But what about the big stuff? The divided House and Senate have a lot to accomplish in the coming months. Bob Cusack, managing editor at The Hill Newspaper, laid out the Congressional to-do list for Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp.
April 29, 2014 -
Your agency's annual spending bill is on the to-do list before Congress's August recess. They are back today for the longest work session of the year. Tamar Hallerman, appropriations reporter at Roll Call, tells In Depth with Francis Rose your agency's appropriations bill is on the clock in the House of Representatives.
April 28, 2014 -
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), the chairman of a key congressional panel with oversight of the federal workforce says he wants President Barack Obama's pick for White House budget director to "possess a background in federal workforce and governmental oversight issues." Earlier this month, Obama nominated the current director of the Office of Management and Budget, Sylvia Burwell, to take over for Kathleen Sebelius as the head of the Health and Human Services Department.
April 24, 2014 -
Members of Congress aren't happy with the Air Force's proposal to cut entire fleets of aircraft out of its inventory. But the service insists it's the only way to comply with the budget caps Congress created, and the alternatives would be far more painful.
April 24, 2014 -
In the past three years, federal workers have gotten one raise, valued at 1 percentage point. Now a 3.3 percent increase in 2015 could be in the cards, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. So what are the odds? Can you say slim-and-none?
April 21, 2014 -
Changes come in the wake of a NASA-commissioned report on the issue of foreign nationals' access to sensitive information. The study, which has not been released to the public, found the agency had failed to establish a central management structure for those workers' access to data and didn't impose consequences when its policies were violated.
April 14, 2014