Congress
-
An update to the Federal Information Security Management Act and the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2013 passed through the House Tuesday night. The Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Protection Act also passed, but faces a veto threat because of concerns over data protection.
April 17, 2013 -
Congress approved a bill Friday to eliminate expanded financial-disclosure reporting requirements for Senior Executive Service members, just days before the new requirements were to go into effect. Both the House and Senate approved the measure by unanimous consent. The expanded reporting requirements were set to go into effect Monday.
April 12, 2013 -
The Defense Department's attitude toward the importance of auditability has undergone a marked change, but experts believe compliance with its next legal deadline will be a stretch.
April 12, 2013 -
Congressman John Mica says his top priority as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations is to cut agency waste, fraud and abuse beyond just the low hanging fruit. Mica's column is part of Federal News Radio's special report, Rise of the Money People.
April 12, 2013 -
The U.S. Postal Service has reversed its decision to end Saturday mail delivery service, saying Congress gave it no choice when it passed a 2013 appropriations bill last month that continued a ban on five-day delivery.
April 10, 2013 -
From catfish inspections to military uniforms, redundancy problems within government agencies span virtually every major department and agency across government, according to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro. The latest report from Dodaro's Government Accountability Office brings the number of redundant or inefficient mission areas within agencies to 162.
April 09, 2013 -
Absent structural changes, the combination of 10-year budget caps Congress has already approved and rising growth in personnel costs mean DoD would be able to sign paychecks, administer healthcare benefits and not much more.
April 08, 2013 -
The U.S. Postal Service continues to insist changes are necessary to help deal with budget woes in the face of congressional resistance. The Postal Service also is accelerating the closure of 53 mail processing plants.
April 01, 2013 -
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has written to Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry, saying the office should take steps to offload federal workers and contractors who don't show up for work, aren't performing official duties or "are simply not working at all." In the letter, Coburn, the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said doing so could prevent the need to furlough critical employees under sequestration.
March 29, 2013 -
Furlough notices will now be sent to employees in early May. Actual furloughs will begin in mid-to-late June, placing most Defense civilians on unpaid leave roughly one day per week for the final seven pay periods of the fiscal year.
March 29, 2013 -
Under the law, the President was supposed to submit a budget by Feb. 4. White House aides said deliberations over spending and sequestration in the past few months delayed the release of Obama's blueprint.
March 28, 2013 -
A new report says a law requiring the online posting of senior federal executives' financial information would likely impinge on employees' privacy and wouldn't do much to deter conflicts of interest. The National Academy of Public Administration was tasked by Congress with studying the STOCK Act — short for "Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge" — in response to concerns about privacy and identify theft.
March 28, 2013 -
Senior Executives Association President Carol Bonosaro joins host Bill Bransford to discuss some of the challenges facing senior executives in the federal government. March 22, 2013
March 22, 2013 -
The FEHBP Drug Integrity, Transparency and Cost Savings Act would give OPM more oversight of contracts and pricing methods. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) said the bill would save the government billions.
March 22, 2013 -
The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service announced last month it would end Saturday delivery of first-class mail. But a new legal decision from the Government Accountability Office seemed to offer more questions than answers.
March 21, 2013