Darrell Issa
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A 15-minute training video that cost $52,000 to make joins the examples of excessive spending at two Veterans Affairs' conferences last year with a total pricetag of $5 million.
August 23, 2012 -
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is probing more than 150 conferences hosted by 11 agencies since 2005 where wasteful spending or excessive spending may have have occurred, according to a committee release. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the oversight chairman, said the committee is using the lavish $823,000 regional conference hosted by the General Services Administration in 2010 as a "benchmark" to compare other agencies' conference spending. The committee found the Defense Department has held 64 such conferences.
August 22, 2012 -
A Gallup poll finds that 54 percent of Americans think the Transportation Security Administration is doing a good or excellent job.
August 10, 2012 -
Too often Congress is left "in the dark" when it comes to inspector general investigations of agency misconduct, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee wrote in a letter to 73 inspectors general. Issa said he wanted to "establish an understanding between Congress and the IG community" for more rapid reporting of agency misdeeds uncovered by their offices. In his letter, Issa asked the inspectors for more information about their reporting practices to Congress and whether any serious problems were ever not shared with lawmakers.
August 06, 2012 -
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator Cass Sunstein is returning to Harvard, where he was the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law before coming to the Obama administration in 2009.
August 03, 2012 -
The Department of Veterans Affairs has made strides toward increasing the number of disability claims it can process every year. But new claims from veterans are growing even faster than ever. House legislators are frustrated by the VA's lack of progress over the years.
July 19, 2012 -
Lawmakers ask for DoJ's IG to investigate the effectiveness of the agency's efforts to protect the whistleblowers in the Fast and Furious case. After alleged negative and potential threatening comments by an ATF official, lawmakers are concerned if the motive is vindictive.
July 02, 2012 -
The pressing need for cybersecurity legislation has led to widely divergent paths in the House and Senate. The House has opted for a more incremental approach, while the Senate has crafted comprehensive legislation
June 27, 2012 -
House staff report suggests TSA delayed, misled congressional investigators about contents of Texas warehouse that holds security screening equipment.
May 10, 2012 -
As part of a cost-savings plan designed to halt the closings of rural postal facilities, the U.S. Postal Service said it would offer $20,000 buyout incentive payments to 21,000 full-time postmasters.
May 09, 2012 -
The Senate unanimously approved a bill Tuesday expanding protections for federal whistleblowers. The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, authored and introduced by Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), the chairman of a Senate subcommittee on the federal workforce, updates a 1989 law protecting government whistleblowers.
May 09, 2012 -
The four sponsors of postal reform legislation in the Senate are asking the Postal Service to delay closing post offices and mail processing facilities until the new law is in place.
May 02, 2012 -
OPM Director John Berry detailed changes coming to the Presidential Management Fellows Program in a recent letter to Congress, obtained by Federal News Radio. The program came under criticism earlier this year for mistakenly sending out 300 letters of acceptance to applicants who had not been chosen for the program.
May 01, 2012 -
For years, federal and postal workers have benefited from congressional gridlock. Efforts to cut benefits, or force people to pay more for them, were often blocked by partisan wrangling. But where your pension is concerned, the good old days may be over, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
April 27, 2012 -
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is marking up legislation today that would increase federal employees' contributions to their pension by 5 percent over five years.
April 26, 2012