Tuesday Morning Federal Newscast – January 25th

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.

• There may be a heightened sense of anticipation for feds – curious to hear if President Obama gives any further indication of further cuts to federal pay in his State of the Union Address tonight. Cuts in federal pay and benefits have been one method lawmakers have chosen to reduce overall spending – including a two-year pay freeze. Mr. Obama is also expected to address a GOP proposal in the House that would freeze feds pay for five years – and cut the federal workforce by 15 percent.
• Opportunities for promotions and salary increases are on the decline for federal workers, says a new survey. The report from human resources group World-at-Work says federal managers are forced to use other incentives to recognize good work and help employees advance. The study found public sector workers saw a decline in promotions from 7.7 in a typical year to 6.8 percent in 2009. The average size of pay raises associated with senior positions in the public sector has also fallen.
• Watchdogs testifying at the Commission on Wartime Contracting, say billions in reconstruction dollars for Afghanistan are at risk. The main problems are troubled project management and poor contractor oversight. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction told the commission that plans to build bases and training facilities for the Afghan Army are well behind schedule and that billions are at risk of going to waste.
• Two departments are claiming a big victory against health care fraud. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli say fiscal 2010 anti-fraud efforts have recovered $4 billion. They cite the success of an interdepartmental program called HEAT, or Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team. HEAT tries to detect and prevent fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
• Add the Education Department to the list of agencies putting out performance dashboards. A new web site gathers in one place, national and state public education data. Secretary Arne Duncan says he wants the dashboard to encourage local communities to talk more about their schools. The site lists a variety of indicators about public education. It also includes data about teacher education levels and fields of study.
• The tax man cometh. To your smart phone, that is. The IRS has launched apps for iPhones and Androids. IRS-2-Go lets users check on the status of their tax refunds and receive daily tax tips. And, of course, follow the IRS on Twitter. The applications are free from the iPhone App Stores and Android Marketplace. IRS-2-Go is the tax agency’s first foray into smart phone applications. The refund status app requires users to enter their Social Security Number. But the IRS says it gets masked and encrypted for security.
• Calling all experts on offshore oil drilling. The Interior Department is looking for members to staff up its new Offshore Energy Safety Advisory Committee. Secretary Ken Salazar joins offshore drilling boss Michael Bromwich in calling for experts from federal agencies, industry and academia. The committee will have 13 members. They’ll advise the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement on all matters related to drilling safety.
• The coordinator of President Obama’s ambitious energy and climate change policy is stepping down. Carol Browner confirmed she is leaving the post. Browner was in charge of the administration’s push to pass comprehensive legislation to reduce emissions and move the country toward cleaner forms of energy. The effort floundered in the Congress last year. Obama has said that no major legislation is likely to pass in the next two years. No decision has been made on whether Browner, a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator under President Bill Clinton, will be replaced or the position will be eliminated.
• The Department of Energy is going green in a sunny way. The Washington Business Journal reports Pepco Energy Services is installing a solar array on the roof of Energy’s Germantown campus in Maryland. The company is building a $2.3 million dollar system that it says can replace 350 kilowatts of daily power. The modules are built by Federal Prison Industries, which is a government-owned company. It puts prison inmates to work in manufacturing jobs. The project is expected to be completed in July.
• THIS is why you’re not allowed to take a pen into the National Archives. A long-time Lincoln researcher has confessed to altering a presidential pardon by Abraham Lincoln. Thomas Lowry admitted he changed the date on the pardon to make it appear that it was likely the final official act by President Lincoln before he was assassinated. Lowry built a career on that discovery back in 1998. The Department of Justice says Lowry can’t be prosecuted because the statute of limitations is up. The National Archives has permanently banned him from all of its facilities.

More news links

Engineer gets 32 years for military secrets sale

Air Force chief pleads guilty to sexual misconduct

Ex-Minn. governor sues over body scans, pat-downs

Running the government on 8¢ (CNN)

THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

Coming up today on The DorobekInsider:

** Are you going to watch the State of the Union tonight? What should you watch out for? Insights from our senior correspondent Mike Causey and Tom Shoop, the editor in chief of Government Executive.

** And how satisfied are citizens with the services provided by the Federal Government? We’ll have the latest numbers from the government satisfaction survey…

Join Chris from 3 to 7 pm on 1500 AM or on your computer.

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.