Wednesday federal headlines – February 25, 2015

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com reade...

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive and In Depth radio shows each day. Our headlines are updated twice per day — once in the morning and once in the afternoon — with the latest news affecting federal employees and contractors.

  • Many contracts with the Homeland Security Department and industry would stop if DHS shuts down at the end of Friday. Secretary Jeh Johnson said he’s perplexed by what’s happening in Congress. He said 75 percent to 80 percent of his workforce will have to come to work without pay. (Federal News Radio)
  • A State Department official was charged with soliciting a minor. Daniel Rosen was arrested after a series of online exchanges with a minor. He was charged with one count of using a communications device to solicit a juvenile. Rosen is a director of counterterrorism at the State Department. The agency said it will suspend Rosen’s security clearance and put him on administrative leave. (Federal News Radio)
  • The watchdog for U.S. efforts in Afghanistan launched a review on the size of Afghan forces. The move came as new Defense Secretary Ash Carter is considering slowing the removal of U.S. troops from the country. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko wrote a letter to top commanders in the region. He said size and force structure are important to determine costs related to training, equipping and housing Afghan soldiers. Sopko asked the commanders to deliver security objectives, a breakdown of personnel levels and a description of metrics or milestones used to determine drawdown from Afghanistan. (Gov Exec)
  • If you see a small drone buzzing over restricted air space in Washington, don’t call the Secret Service. That’s because the Secret Service itself will be conducting tests over the next several weeks to learn how to counter potential threats from the remote-controlled devices. Bloomberg reports Secret Service officials are mum about the nature of the tests. But sources said the tests were already being planned before the Jan. 26 incident, when a quadricopter crashed on the White House Lawn. (Bloomberg Government)
  • The IRS said it’s struggling to handle fraudulent tax returns. That’s partly because the agency has 16,000 fewer employees than it did five years ago. The agency said it was in a bind to look through returns for identity fraud, and also send refund checks to law-abiding taxpayers on time. The result: The agency will end up awarding billions in fraudulent claims. The National Treasury Employees Union said identity fraud is one of the IRS’ biggest challenges. The union said the agency needs more resources to catch thieves. It called on Congress to raise the agency’s budget and allow for new hires. (Federal News Radio)
  • The IRS said it won’t try to recover more taxes from 50,000 people who were sent wrong information after signing up for health care insurance at HealthCare.gov. Those are people who already filed their tax returns using the erroneous information. Health and Human Services sent the wrong tax information to about 800,000 people. They may owe more taxes than they thought. The Wall Street Journal reports the relief won’t apply to the other 750,000. They’ll be receiving corrected returns in early March. (Wall Street Journal)
  • Two bills would give retroactive pay to Homeland Security employees in the event of a shutdown. Fourteen Senators, led by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) introduced the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act of 2015. The measure would give full pay to DHS employees who were furloughed. The House introduced a similar bipartisan bill, sponsored by Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Rep. Rob Wittman (R- Va.). Under that measure, all DHS employees would receive retroactive pay, regardless of furlough status. A number of labor unions expressed their support for the bills. The National Treasury Employees Union said it was grateful for Cardin’s proposal. The union represents 25,000 Customs and Border Protection Employees. The American Federation of Government Employees thanked Beyer and Wittman for their bill. (Rep. Don Beyer)
  • Senate Republicans offered to allow a vote on Homeland Security funding legislation stripped of immigration provisions backed by conservatives but opposed by Democrats. Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he doesn’t know how the Republican-controlled House would respond if a standalone spending bill passed the Senate. The bill passed by the House includes the immigration-limiting language. Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he wouldn’t agree to the proposal unless it had the backing of House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio). Boehner’s office was non-committal. DHS funding expires Friday. ( Federal News Radio)
  • Lockheed Martin developed a system to automate the weapons tracking process. The RuBee Weapon Shot Counter allowed military forces to track munitions remotely. It operated on an electromagnetic spectrum, instead of a radio frequency. That means it can read through metal, liquid and other materials, which radio frequencies can’t always do. The tracker provided data on a number of rounds fired, rate of fire and barrel temperature. Lockheed said before RuBee, the military had to track weapons manually through a labor intensive process. The Navy did a pilot test of the system and found it could save millions of dollars in labor charges. ( Lockheed Martin)

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