Congress
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Senate lawmakers, White House officials and good government groups say the current way agencies develop regulations is broken. They agree it takes too long, is too complicated and not transparent enough.
March 12, 2014 -
Federal News Radio's DoD Reporter Jared Serbu offers news tidbits and buzz about the Defense Department.
March 10, 2014 -
The Obama administration says the Defense Department needs an additional $26 billion in excess of next year's Defense spending caps in order to carry out DoD's mission. But even the staunchest defenders of the Pentagon budget on Capitol Hill acknowledge that the extra funding is unlikely to materialize.
March 07, 2014 -
DoD's cost savings proposals for 2015 and beyond include something for every lawmaker to hate. The process of selling the budget on Capitol Hill officially kicked off Wednesday, and the reception was not exceptionally warm.
March 06, 2014 -
The Government Accountability Office is requesting about $525 million for fiscal 2015, an increase of about 4 percent, or $19 million, above current levels. The additional funding would allow the agency to continue staffing up the agency from the nearly rock-bottom levels it hit over the past few years. The additional funding would also allow GAO to make upgrades to its aging IT infrastructure and do long-deferred building upkeep and and maintenance
March 05, 2014 -
Federal employees continue to be Congress' go-to resource for deficit reduction through pay freezes and increases in their retirement contributions, according to Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). Van Hollen's column is part of Federal News Radio's special report, Now or Never: Ideas to Save the Failing Budget Process.
March 04, 2014 -
Adopting biennial appropriations and committing to stable funding for capital investments would go a long way towards fixing a broken budget process that is inherently political, says Bryan Clark of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Mr. Clark's column is part of Federal News Radio's special report, Now or Never: Ideas to Save the Failing Budget Process.
March 04, 2014 -
Under the current annual budget cycle, the difficult struggle to pass appropriations bills consumes too much valuable time and effort, says Robert Bixby, executive director of The Concord Coalition. Mr. Bixby's column is part of Federal News Radio's special report, Now or Never: Ideas to Save the Failing Budget Process.
March 04, 2014 -
Twenty states currently use biennial budgeting, with great results, says Congressman Reid Ribble. Rep. Ribble's column is part of Federal News Radio's special report, Now or Never: Ideas to Save the Failing Budget Process.
March 04, 2014 -
The Preventing Conflicts of Interest with Contractors Act would block the Office of Personnel Management from contracting with companies to perform final quality reviews if those same companies are also responsible for conducting initial investigations. OPM Director Katherine Archuleta announced in early February that, going forward, only federal employees would conduct final quality reviews. The new bill writes Archuleta's decision into law. Otherwise it could be reversed by a future OPM director.
February 28, 2014 -
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government that budget and staffing reductions are impacting the agency's core missions of customer service and tax collection. The agency projects it will only be able to answer 61 percent of phone calls this year, meaning some 20 million phone calls will go unanswered. Meanwhile, taxpayers attempting to reach IRS offices are facing wait times that stretch past 20 minutes.
February 27, 2014 -
The Senate subcommittee with oversight of the federal workforce will take up the issue of federal-employee compensation and sinking employee morale. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), the subcommittee chairman, said at the National Treasury Employees Union's annual legislative conference that the hearing would focus, in part, on making sure federal pay stays competitive with the private sector.
February 26, 2014 -
Defense Department officials said reducing and realigning bases and depots will help them achieve more savings that can be put toward readiness. Acting Defense Deputy Secretary Christine Fox said this round of BRAC would be different than in 2005.
February 26, 2014 -
Just a day after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel proposed reductions in military end-strength and shrinking compensation costs as part of next year's budget plan, a slate of nominees to lead key offices at the Pentagon faced congressional scrutiny.
February 25, 2014 -
The Pentagon says its spending plan acknowledges defense spending is on a downward trajectory, and reduces force structure in order to balance other priorities such as readiness. If sequestration stays in place, the calculus will change, Defense officials say.
February 25, 2014