House Armed Services Committee
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Defense agencies and services are pulling back hundreds of millions of dollars worth of grants and contracts. Impending furloughs will further impair DoD's ability to get money out the door.
April 18, 2013 -
DoD said it is tightening-up governance over its large business IT systems, looking for indicators of future failure and forcing resource sponsors to justify their needs before projects begin. Elizabeth McGrath, DoD's deputy chief management officer, told House lawmakers the Pentagon is working on data quality and changing business processes to avoid previous problems.
March 15, 2013 -
The Air Force said it has identified 59 victims at a basic training facility. Thirty-two instructors are among those who have been accused or convicted of committing sexual improprieties with trainees. Senior leaders say they must do more to stop the problem.
January 24, 2013 -
Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), co-founder of the bipartisan Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, says the U.S. is falling short when it comes to a skilled cyber workforce capable of operating at the highest levels of its field. His column is part of Federal News Radio's special report, Cybersecurity Rising.
October 24, 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 -
The Defense Department's undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller), Robert Hale, told a House Armed Services Committee hearing last week that Defense officials have only "limited flexibility" to handle the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts, known as sequestration, that go into effect next year.
September 26, 2012 -
Robert Hale, the military's CFO, said reductions in force would cost more money than the Defense Department would save. But hiring a freeze and involuntary unpaid furloughs would be likely for civilians.
September 21, 2012 -
DoD's top financial manager says the Pentagon is pressing forward to meet Congressional edicts for auditable financial statements. But constant federal budget emergencies are sapping huge amounts of energy from the financial workforce tasked with preparing for audit.
September 17, 2012 -
Agencies should not change their spending plans for this year or next, but need to start assessing which programs would be impacted by automatic sequestration cuts if Congress doesn't cancel them, OMB acting Director Jeff Zients told Congress Wednesday.
August 02, 2012 -
Faced with congressional inaction in averting looming across-the-board cuts that take effect in January, the Office of Management and Budget will begin meeting with agency leaders to discuss how the cuts will be implemented. In a memo to agency heads, OMB Director Jeff Zients said his office will consult with agencies to determine which budget accounts and programs are exempt from sequestration.
July 31, 2012 -
Defense industry executives have spent the last few weeks warning that across-the-board budgets cuts that go into effect in January, could force them to issue notifications to employees in the fall to warn of impending layoffs. However, in a new memo issued Monday, the Labor Department said the lack of clarity about how the cuts would be applied means it would be "inappropriate" to issue Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notifications.
July 30, 2012 -
The secretaries of the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs testified about how the two agencies are collaborating to make it easier for military members to return to civilian life. Members of the Armed Services and Veterans Affairs House committees questioned them about various programs designed to help the process.
July 26, 2012 -
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) said a Defense Department report on China was skimpy and late.
July 12, 2012 -
Congress is demanding more answers about how $1.2 trillion in budget cuts set to take effect in January will be applied across the government. The House Budget Committee Wednesday unanimously approved a bill directing the Obama administration to provide Congress a report that provides specific details about how the spending cuts will affect federal agencies and programs. Meanwhile, the House Armed Services Committee formally requested that the head of the Office of Management and Budget, Jeff Zients, testify before the committee on the "mechanics and impact" of the automatic cuts.
June 27, 2012 -
The Defense Department had proposed having patients pay up to 14 percent of their health care costs by 2017, compared with 10 percent now.
May 15, 2012