Congress
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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 -
The Defense Department says it's decided it has the legal authority to bring most of its civilian workforce back from furlough even as a government shutdown persists. But the Pentagon warned that unless the shutdown ends soon, many of those employees will have nothing to do.
October 05, 2013 -
The House approved a bill to ensure furloughed federal workers receive backpay once the government shutdown ends. The vote on the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act was 407-0. Twenty-five members didn't vote. The measure now moves to the Senate, where it is expected to pass. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) had introduced a Senate version of the bill earlier this week.
October 04, 2013 -
President Barack Obama met with congressional leaders for the first time since the shutdown began, but they made no progress in developing an agreement that would reopen the government.
October 03, 2013 -
The Office of Personnel Management has made it official: Lawmakers and their staff members are required to purchase health insurance from one of the Affordable Care Act's health-insurance exchanges --but the government will still contribute toward their premiums. OPM issued the final rule, which goes into effect immediately, Wednesday.
October 02, 2013 -
President Obama signed a bill at the dawn of the government shutdown, and it could significantly increase the number of non-uniformed military employees exempt from furlough during the shutdown. So far, the Defense Department has sent no signals on how it would choose to enact the provisions.
October 02, 2013 -
Lower chamber legislators could not get two-thirds approval for one bill to fund the National Park Service, and another bill to get the Veterans Affairs Department fiscal 2014 money. AFGE, NTEU and Democrat lawmakers rallied on Capitol Hill Tuesday to turn up the heat on Congress to reopen the government.
October 02, 2013 -
With Congress failing to agree on a funding deal by midnight Monday, the federal government is now closing its doors for the first time in 17 years, and a government shutdown is no longer a matter of if but how long. Take our poll, and let us know how long you think the shutdown will last.
October 01, 2013 -
Reps. Jim Moran (D-Va.) and Frank Wolf (R-Va.) introduced the "Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act" late Monday. The bill would guarantee both employees required to work through the shutdown and those placed on unpaid leave receive backpay.
October 01, 2013 -
For thousands of federal employees who head to work today, it won't be to execute their agencies' missions, but to shut down their computers, fill out a timesheet and, in some cases, hand over their BlackBerry smartphones. Here are four things feds should know as they prepare for the first government shutdown in more than 17 years.
October 01, 2013 -
If they ever make a movie or TV sitcom about Congress, they might consider calling it something like "The Wizards of Oooze". And nobody knows why better than feds on the brink of the cliff, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
October 01, 2013