Congress
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On this week's Capital Impact show, Bloomberg Government analysts will examine how the government shutdown is affecting contractors, and what some people are doing to to generate income during these tough economic times. October 17, 2013
October 17, 2013 -
"I certainly hope what happened to you never happens again," says former DHS CHCO Jeff Neal in an open letter to feds. "If it does, maybe we would be better off if we really shut down the whole government when the money runs out. Open the borders, ground the airplanes. Bring the troops home. Let our fellow citizens see what would really happen if you were not on the job every day."
October 17, 2013 -
The bill passed by Congress reopening the federal government after a two-week shutdown grants retroactive pay for furloughed federal workers and clears the way for all federal employees to receive a 1 percent pay raise in January. The continuing resolution, which funds government operations through Jan. 15, also grants agencies some spending flexibilities to avoid sequestration-related furloughs over the next few months.
October 17, 2013 -
Two weeks into a government shutdown that has hamstrung federal agencies and sent large sections of their employees home without pay, Congress is heading for another last-minute showdown — this time over raising the government's borrowing authority, known as the debt ceiling.
October 15, 2013 -
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke by phone Sunday but failed to agree on a deal to raise the nation's borrowing authority above the $16.7 trillion debt limit or reopen a government still shuttered on its 14th day.
October 14, 2013 -
A new staff report from the Senate Commerce Committee highlights some of the ways in which the government shutdown is throwing sand in the gears of the private economy. But the authors also point to several ways in which federal furloughs are jeopardizing public safety.
October 11, 2013 -
Nearly all of the Defense Department's civilians are now working, despite the government shutdown. Many members of Congress believe none of those civilians should have been furloughed to begin with. DoD remains unsure how to address contractors under the Pay Our Military Act.
October 11, 2013 -
House Republicans are offering to pass legislation to avert a default and end the 11-day partial government shutdown as part of a framework that would include cuts in benefit programs, officials said Friday. Republicans also seek changes in the three-year-old health care law known as Obamacare as part of an end to an impasse that has roiled financial markets and idled 350,000 federal workers. President Barack Obama has insisted he will not negotiate with Republicans over federal spending - or anything else - until the government is reopened and the $16.7 debt limit raised to avert the possibility of default.
October 10, 2013 -
Jamie Morin, the outgoing comptroller and President Barack Obama's nominee to be DoD's second director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office, told lawmakers Thursday that the Air Force would struggle to meet the 2014 financial management deadline. Jo Ann Rooney, the nominee to be undersecretary of the Navy, said furloughs from sequestration and the government shutdown have delayed progress on several programs.
October 10, 2013 -
House Speaker John Boehner says Republicans would vote to extend the government's ability to borrow money for six weeks, but the partial government shutdown would continue.
October 10, 2013 -
Most workers in the Veterans Benefits Administration will be sidelined in the next few weeks if a shutdown continues. Funding for employees at the National Cemetery Administration will run out in the next few days.
October 10, 2013 -
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee said the longer we wait on cybersecurity legislation, the worse it gets for cyber attacks on the U.S.
October 09, 2013 -
The bill would conform, mostly, with the House's most recent Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. Both the House and Senate bills are trying to find common areas to incentivize private sector companies to share information on any malicious code their firms encounter, both by providing them with liability protections that would shield them from lawsuits that could otherwise follow from sharing information with competitors or with the government, and by convincing them that federal agencies are capable of securely communicating threat information between the private and public sectors.
October 09, 2013 -
The House voted unanimously late Tuesday to pass the Federal Worker Pay Fairness Act. The bill, introduced by Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) Tuesday afternoon, ensures "essential" federal employees, who are working through the shutdown, are paid on time even if the government remains closed.
October 08, 2013 -
Does the following set of statements best describe your marriage or your job: I love you. I hate you. Go away. Come back. If you work for Uncle Sam, the answer may be both, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
October 08, 2013