Federal Drive

Monday Morning Federal Newscast – January 24th

Spending vote wanted before State of the Union TSA union election set for March Capitol dome rehab begins anew

Federal News Network Staff

January 24, 2011 8:49 am

3 min read

The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Amy Morris discuss throughout the show each day. The Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the stories you hear on the air.

Republicans gear up to send the president a message about spending, ahead of tomorrow’s State of the Union Address. The House GOP has scheduled a vote telling budget committee chair Paul Ryan to pare back non-security spending for the second half of this fiscal year to levels from 2008. The vote before President Obama’s address will force lawmakers to show where they stand on spending cuts. Republicans have promised to reduce spending this year by $100 billion, but experts now expect that number to be closer to $50 billion.
Unions hoping to represent Transportation Security Administration workers now have a tentative date for an election. The Federal Labor Relations Authority has picked March 9 for when employees can begin balloting. The final hangup is for unions to clarify their self-descriptions. The American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union are in contention to represent 40,000 TSA workers. GovExec reports balloting will be online and by telephone. It will run until April 19, after which FLRA will count the votes. TSA Administrator John Pistole has not decided whether employees will have collective bargaining privileges.
Union membership rates in government outstrip the private sector five to one. New Labor Department figures show that in 2010, 11.9 percent of all wage earners were members of a union, a decline from the year earlier. But in the private sector, the union rate is less then seven percent. In the public sector, more than 36 percent. That includes federal, state and local workers. Workers in education, training, and library occupations have the highest unionization rate.
The government is challenging the slowing pharmaceutical research industry, by creating a drug development center of it’s own. The new National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences will work to attract drug company investments. Officials hope to reinvigorate the development of medicines and cures, for diseases like Parkinsons. Health and Human Services Secretary Kethleen Sebelius has outlined plans to open the new drug center by October. The New York Times reports, the project would bring more than $700 million dollars in research projects various institutes, together at the new center.
The Army is investigating how 9-foot-tall, decorative marble urns ended up on a private auction block. The urns once flanked the stage of Arlington National Cemetery’s Memorial Amphitheater next to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They were removed from the cemetery during a 1990s renovation. From there, they somehow wound up in an antiques shop. Now the shop is closing, and the urns are up for auction. The Army read about the sale in the Washington Post and has asked the company to halt the sale.
The dome atop the U.S. Capitol has endured 146 years of environmental damage. A restoration is now underway, and a contractor is being brought in to help with the cleanup. The Washington Business Journal reports Hoffman Architects will design the restoration of the dome. The firm worked with the Architect of the Capitol last fall to expand and update the original construction documents. The first phase of the restoration included lead-based paint removal and looking for cast iron defects. Now they’re focusing on current code requirements, new energy efficiency mandates and updated security requirements.

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