Top officials at the Treasury Department and the General Services Administration say budget cuts being considered by House lawmakers - and that have since adopted by the House Appropriations Committee - would erode their agencies' missions. In sharply divided vote mostly along partisan lines Wednesday, the committee approved the fiscal 2014 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill.
All of a sudden, things are looking up. The IRS has canceled at least one planned furlough day and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has scrubbed round two of its tough furlough policy. So what's not to like? Some feds say the reason the silver lining is so bright is that it is framed by a very large, very dark cloud, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley applauded IRS' decision to cancel its July 22 furlough day, but she says that's not enough. July 17, 2013
Extended pay freeze. Furloughs. Can it get any worse? In a word: Yes! Check out Senior Correspondent Mike Causey's column for more.
The embattled Internal Revenue Service faces a 24 percent cut to its budget next year, under a spending plan introduced by the House Appropriations Committee Tuesday. The IRS funding was included in the committee's Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill, which also includes funding for the Treasury Department, the General Services Administration and the Executive Office of the President. The subcommittee is set to mark up the proposal Wednesday.
House Republicans said IRS official Lois Lerner waived her right to remain silent by giving an opening statement in her hearing. Lerner still may testify before Congress with a variety of consequences.
Thousands of federal employees at four separate government agencies are required to take an unpaid furlough day July 5. Meanwhile, employees at two government agencies could see a diminished impact of furloughs.
The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday it is seeking to cut its business relationship with a firm that may have had inside access to the agency's procurement decisions. Lawmakers also questioned agency decisions to award the company special status as veteran-owned and serving economically-disadvantaged areas.
The Internal Revenue Service held 225 employee conferences between 2010 and 2012, at a total cost of $49 million, according to a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The report also revealed the embattled agency used funding originally slated to hire front-line employees to foot most of the bill for a $4.1 million conference held in Anaheim, Calif., in 2010.
Welcome to sequestration, which is currently the world's longest-running interactive game show starring you, your granny, and all your friends and neighbors, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. The question is: Are you having fun yet?
The revelations of improper targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service has so far been isolated to lower-level offices. But the former head of the IRS says an overall failure of leadership must be corrected if the embattled agency wants to rebuild its reputation. Mark Everson, head of the IRS under George W. Bush, told Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp President Barack Obama should appoint a permanent IRS commissioner.
Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel requested Grams come back to the IRS for a third stint and leave his current role as the executive-in-charge in the Office of Management and chief financial officer at the Veterans Affairs Department.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development, Internal Revenue Service, Office of Management and Budget and the Environmental Protection Agency will all shut down Friday because of widespread employee furloughs — giving feds a four-day holiday weekend. The Labor and Interior Departments also are telling employees to stay home.
For many people involved in the alleged scandals at the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service, the solution is simple: Off with their heads. Fire the offenders whether they are political appointees or career civil servants. But this isn't Paris in 1789, it's Washington in 2013 so things will go a little slower, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
When a newspaper reporter fakes a story, we are outraged. When a network TV show gets it wrong, we are stunned. But we tend to forget, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. But when a handful of government workers go rogue, maybe on orders from their political bosses, the entire workforce is tainted for a long, long time.