House of Representatives
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Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said the acquisition workforce is most important to improving how the government buys goods and services. He said with 55 percent of the current workforce eligible to retire by 2018, agencies and Congress have to work together to figure out how best to train and equip these employees to be successful.
June 13, 2012 -
The Homeland Security Department has created a task force to develop future workers. It will consider expanding DHS' involvement in cyber competitions and university programs, enhancing public-private partnerships and working with other agencies.
June 07, 2012 -
The White House has threatened to veto a House bill providing funding for the Homeland Security Department, taking issue with many of the bill's provisions, including a denial of a civilian pay raise. The committee bill also doesn't include any new funding for the agency's data-center consolidation efforts or construction for its new headquarters.
June 06, 2012 -
How much do you know about Zen? For example when, if ever, is nothing better than something, or anything? Is it desirable to be the bullseye if your opposition is the gang that couldn't shoot straight, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey wonders.
June 05, 2012 -
The House passed a veterans funding bill Thursday that includes extends the pay freeze another year for civilian employees of the the Defense and Veterans Affairs.
June 01, 2012 -
The Food and Drug Administration would have more power to catch tainted pharmaceuticals manufactured overseas before they enter the U.S. market under legislation passed Wednesday by House lawmakers.
May 31, 2012 -
Retired Air Force Gen. Lester Lyles said new legislation calling for diversity benchmarks in the military would codify the recommendations of the commission he led in 2011 and would make for a better armed forces.
May 21, 2012 -
House Republicans thwarted a plan by a few Democrats to cancel weapons programs. The moves and counter-moves came during debate on the 2013 Defense Authorization bill.
May 18, 2012 -
If you ask the typical federal/postal worker what his or her greatest job-related fear was, many would answer they are afraid Congress will change their retirement rules and base their benefits on their highest five-year average salary. Yet the likelihood of losing the current high-three system is small compared to other, more real threats, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
May 11, 2012 -
The House approved the first spending bill for 2013, setting operating budgets for the Commerce and Justice Departments and for science-related agencies, such as NASA.
May 10, 2012 -
The GOP-controlled House passed legislation Thursday requiring federal workers to contribute more toward their retirement. The Sequester Replacement Act of 2012 proposed gradually increasing federal employees' pension contributions by 5 percent over five years as an alternative to sequestration.
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 Department of Homeland Security would receive 63 percent more money in fiscal 2013 under the bill. That would add roughly $300 million more dollars to the cyber budget, which is just $20 million shy of the agency's request.
May 09, 2012 -
What if we elected a Congress that fought all the time, couldn't agree on anything and where Democrats could hardly stand to be in the same building as Republicans, and vice versa? Well, fortunately, for federal workers we may have done that, and it could save you from taking a major pay cut over the next five years, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
May 09, 2012