Congress
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The election Tuesday could bring with it a number of changes to the makeup and leadership of key congressional committees with oversight of the federal workforce and management. The changes to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and others are expected from retirements, committee term limits and a few close races.
November 05, 2012 -
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe says his number one priority is seeing legislation passed in the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress that will help the U.S. Postal Service get out of debt. In an exclusive interview with Federal News Radio, Donahoe details the latest on the agency's financial situation, buyouts, the consolidation of mail processing centers, and its plan to cut window hours at half of its post offices across the country.
November 01, 2012 -
The chairmen of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees have written to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) demanding to know why the public release of a report on upcoming federal regulations is behind schedule. In a letter to the agency, Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the chairmen of the Oversight and Government Reform and Judiciary committees, respectively, say OIRA has not been forthcoming about the expected publication date of a report that should have been released months ago.
October 26, 2012 -
Pentagon makes one more plea for a resolution to sequestration. A regular budget, an annual authorization bill and a resolution to the fight over cybersecurity laws would be helpful as well.
October 26, 2012 -
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the chairman of the House GOP Cybersecurity Task Force, argues that the country's national security cannot afford a stalemate on cyber legislation. His column is part of Federal News Radio's special report, Cybersecurity Rising.
October 24, 2012 -
In wonkier parts of the Washington area, the talk of the town is about fiscal cliffs and sequestration followed by sex and the Redskins, not necessarily in that order. But beyond the Beltway, folks seem to have a firmer grip on what's important, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
October 23, 2012 -
For the past dozen years, and up until about six months ago, federal workers were worried about the family jewels, especially their health insurance and retirement packages. Now that concern has shifted to fear of layoffs and furloughs, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
October 19, 2012 -
The U.S. Postal Service hit its $15 billion borrowing limit for the first time late last month, the agency confirmed. The Wall Street Journal first reported earlier this week that the USPS reached the limit on the amount of money it can borrow from the Treasury Department and is now dependent solely on its own revenue to sustain operations.
October 18, 2012 -
The Federal Transit Administration now has the authority to set safety standards under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act or MAP-21.
October 17, 2012 -
Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate wrote to President Barack Obama urging him to not issue an executive order setting voluntary cybersecurity standards for private-sector operators of critical infrastructure.
October 11, 2012 -
Employees in the intelligence community (IC) who report waste, fraud and abuse have gained whistleblower protections, under a directive President Barack Obama issued Wednesday. The presidential policy directive aims to ensure intelligence and national security employees are able to legally report agency wrongdoing and be protected from retaliation for doing so.
October 10, 2012 -
In an Oct. 9 letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinskei, Sen. Susan Collins requested the agency disclose whether employees responsible for planning the two conferences held in Orlando, Fla., last summer, also worked on other conferences. In addition, Collins said she wants to know how much conference planners earned in bonuses and other awards for their work.
October 10, 2012 -
Jon Etherton, president of Etherton and Associates Inc., will talk about the congressional process and how its affecting acquisition. October 9, 2012
October 09, 2012 -
Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the ranking member of the Senate committee, called on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to fire his chief of staff, John Gingrich after an inspector general report said he failed to ask the right questions before approving two training conferences. The conferences costs $6.1 million, with as much as $762,000 in questionable spending.
October 09, 2012 -
Agencies now face stricter rules for issuing and tracking government charge cards under a new law President Barack Obama signed Friday. The Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012, introduced by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and a bipartisan group of co-sponsors in 2011, passed the House in August.
October 05, 2012