Congress
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From super soldiers to stay-at-home feds, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) identified 100 programs that have generated almost $30 billion in wasteful spending by the federal government in 2013.
December 16, 2013 -
Top Air Force officials say lower budgets will force them to propose cuts Congress won't like. But if lawmakers insist on protecting politically-favored programs, money will have to come from somewhere else.
December 16, 2013 -
Personality-wise are you usually happy or sad? Would friends and family describe you as an upper or a downer? The way you view the bipartisan budget deal may tell a lot about whether you are a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty person, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
December 16, 2013 -
The bipartisan budget deal announced this week goes a long way toward clearing up the widespread budget uncertainty that has plagued federal agencies for the last two years. But it doesn't actually set individual agency funding for next year. That's the job of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, the leaders of whom now must write an official spending bill that spell out exactly how much each agency gets to spend next year and on what. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), the chairman of the House committee, said Thursday he would begin work on an omnibus spending bill to fund agencies next year.
December 13, 2013 -
Tucked away inside the bipartisan budget deal announced with much fanfare this week is a proposal limiting the maximum level contractors can charge the government to pay the salaries of their top executives to nearly half of what it is currently. But it may not be the final word on the issue on the sticky issue of contractor compensation. the budget deal's proposed changes to taxpayer-funded contractor salaries are competing with another piece of bipartisan legislation currently before Congress. The annual Defense Authorization Act seeks to lower the compensation limit but by far less than the budget deal.
December 13, 2013 -
On this week's Capital Impact show, Bloomberg Government analysts participate in a roundtable discussion of the budget deal, the Volker Rule, and Bitcoin. December 12, 2013
December 12, 2013 -
Any relief the Air Force gets from a pending budget deal will be pushed into rebuilding lost military readiness, not bolstering investment programs, a top acquisition official said Wednesday.
December 12, 2013 -
Congress went after federal workers and retirees with a meat ax. But instead the new budget agreement is more of a kick in the shins for feds who have yet to be hired, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
December 12, 2013 -
The Veterans Affairs Department's decision comes as lawmakers are putting this acquisition concept under more scrutiny. House Veterans Affairs and Small Business Committee lawmakers question whether agencies are getting the best prices and whether they are sacrificing competition. GAO, other experts say OFPP needs to develop a governmentwide policy for reverse auctions.
December 11, 2013 -
Lawmakers in districts with large constituencies of federal employees are signaling their support for the bipartisan budget deal announced Tuesday even though it would require new federal workers to contribute a greater share of their paychecks to their retirement benefits. The alternatives -- another government shutdown or a second year of the steep across-the-board sequestration cuts -- would have been worse, they argue.
December 11, 2013 -
The annual policy legislation also doesn't merge the DoD CIO and deputy chief management officer.
December 11, 2013 -
Newly hired federal workers will be required to contribute more toward their pensions and some military retirees will see smaller cost-of-living adjustments under a budget deal announced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) Tuesday evening. The budget deal, which sets funding levels for the next two years, eases some of the bite of the automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration. The pact restores about $63 billion to agency spending through the end of fiscal 2015, split about evenly between Defense and civilian agencies.
December 11, 2013 -
Congress is poised, for the first time since Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, to miss its deadline to pass the one policy bill that's been considered "must-pass" legislation under administrations of both parties. But the measure's only chance of success also torpedoes Pentagon proposals for cutting DoD's internal cost growth. Military personnel would receive a 1 percent pay raise next year.
December 11, 2013 -
More than a dozen industry technology and business groups are asking the House to adopt language in the Senate's Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill that would focus on risk when buying technology products and services from companies that have connections to China.
December 10, 2013 -
Lawmakers, who face a self-imposed Friday deadline to come up with a fiscal 2014 budget plan, appear to be making progress toward a limited deal that would stave off another shutdown and give agencies the certainty of funding for the remainder of the year.But lawmakers with districts surrounding Washington, D.C. are preemptively speaking out against any proposal that, in their words, would "throw federal employees under the bus." Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), says that too often in the past federal employees' pay and benefits have "been used as pawns in budget negotiations."
December 09, 2013