Federal Drive

Thursday Morning Federal Newscast – May 26th

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. T...

Federal News Network Staff

May 26, 2011 9:54 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.

Senate Democrats, with help from a few Republicans, rejected a 2012 budget plan passed by the House. The House bill would have converted Medicare to a program in which the federal government subsidizes recipients’ choice of private health insurance. The vote was 57 to 40 against the House budget version. The move sets up the potential for a long budget battle, just four months before the end of fiscal 2011.
A provision to strip poor performing feds of their annual raises is tucked into the 2012 Defense Authorization Bill. Currently, assuming the President requests a raise for federal employees, an annual nationwide adjustment is made to federal pay January, no matter how feds are rated on their performance. A House committee report recommended an incentive to entice feds to improve their job performance. A pay-for-performance system introduced by Representative Darrell Issa failed to pass earlier this year.
The White House is threatening to veto the 2012 National Defense Authorization bill if it contains certain amendments. The veto threats target a clause that would restore funding for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter alternate engine. Also at odds with the White House is language to prevent terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay from being moved to the United States and provisions to dial back cuts to the U.S. nuclear stockpile. The $553 billion package is on the House Floor for full debate. Lawmakers say they will finish considering more than 150 amendments by tonight.
A House bill to consolidate and sell civilian federal buildings has cleared a subcommittee mark up vote. The Civilian Property Realignment Act mimics the Defense Department’s Base Realignment and Closure process. The bill would create an independent commission to review federal properties for consolidation, co-location, redevelopment or sale. Representative Jeff Dehman (R-Ca.) is chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on public buildings. He says the consolidation, if it becomes law, would save billions of dollars.
Moving a quarter of the government’s Information Technology into the cloud, could save at least $5-billion Federal CIO Vivek Kundra told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. NextGov reports Kundra said that moving to the cloud means federal IT would become more like paying for a utility, like water or electricity. The move to the cloud is part of Kundra’s 25-point plan for federal IT reform.
President Obama will announce he has picked Army General Martin Dempsey to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the AP reports. If Dempsey is nominated and then approved by the Senate, he would succeed Admiral Mike Mullen, who is stepping down in October. Mullen has held the position since 2007. Dempsey became the Army’s chief of staff after General George Casey retired earlier this year. Dempsey’s recent positions include a stint as the head of the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command.
The Defense Information Systems Agency, which is right in the middle of its BRAC move to Ft. Meade, is about to get a new vice director. Rear Admiral David Simpson will be assigned as DISA’s vice director. Simpson is currently serving as corporate director in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in D.C.