Monday Morning Federal Newscast – July 18

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.

• President Obama will nominate former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Bureau is supposed to open for business on Thursday. But the confirmation fight could get ugly. South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, promises fast movement. Ranking member Richard Shelby of Alabama promises to block the nomination unless big changes are made in the way the agency plans to operate. Cordray’s nomination passes over Elizabeth Warren. She’s been setting up the agency from a White House, non-confirmed position. Cordray has been the bureau’s enforcement chief.
• Federal unions are demanding details from the Office of Management and Budget and the Treasury Department. They want to know how failure to raise the national debt ceiling may affect government workers. The Federal-Postal Coalition, a group of 21 unions, sent a letter to OMB Director Jacob Lew and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asking them to clarify whether missing the early August deadline would shut down government operations, lead to furloughs or impact workers’ pay or retirement funds. President Barack Obama has warned that the United States may not be able to pay all of its bills if Congress fails to raise the federal borrowing limit before next month’s deadline.
• Federal News Radio has reported the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has a new campus plan in the works. Now the Washington Business Journal reports the cost per square foot boils down to a little more than $29. The deal is far below the $34 per square foot rent cap in Maryland. GSA says they used the ‘Low Price, Technically Acceptable’ approach, following a full and open competition, which landed them a relatively inexpensive deal for an extended lease term.
• A personnel reshuffling is underway at the Social Security Administration. Chief information officer Frank Baitman announced Friday he is resigning. His last day will be August 19. Kelly Croft, the deputy commissioner for systems, will take over as CIO. People from the CIO’s office and the Information Security office will move into the Office of Systems. Baitman’s departure comes two weeks after Commissioner Michael Astrue moved several functions out of the CIO’s office. Also retiring after 43 years with the federal government is Pete Spencer, the San Francisco regional commissioner. He’ll be replaced by Bill Zielinski, moving over from the Office of Personnel Management.
• It appears downtown Baltimore won’t be getting a new federal courthouse after all. Ultimately, that decision lies with the Administrative Office of the Courts. But the Baltimore Business Journal reports that the General Services Administration has already nixed the idea. GSA says the current facility in Baltimore has plenty of room, and has enough security measures in place to protect against attacks. Instead, the current courthouse will be renovated. GSA is prepared to spend nearly $11 million in upgrades to replace the building’s existing heating, lighting and other internal systems over the next four years.
• The Homeland Security department failed to leverage large technology buys, missing out on billions in possible savings. A new DHS Inspector General report finds the agency routinely missed opportunities to slash costs by making bulk purchases through strategic sourcing. The IG says DHS’s various sub agencies are individually buying hundreds of millions of dollars in detection equipment like x-ray machines and metal detectors without combining the buys. That puts them out of compliance with a six-year-old directive requiring agencies to apply strategic sourcing as much as possible. The IG says equipment purchases need to be standardized and procurement managers need to find common product requirements among offices.
• More than 40 middle- and high-school teachers are starting a summer internship with NASA. The Simulation-Based Aerospace Engineering Teacher Professional Development Program will help teachers learn about virtual technology. The goal is to encourage more student interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. 42 teachers from nine states will get hands-on experience with NASA’s latest aerospace engineering technologies.
• $5 for a pillow, $10 to jump ahead in the boarding line. It seems like airlines never stop finding new fees to charge passengers. Now the Transportation Department proposes that airlines report how much they’re taking in on those fees. A new proposed rule would require airlines to break down fees by type, whether pillows and blankets, entertainment, or luggage check. Secretary Ray LaHood thinks the reports will make the total cost of flying clearer. The proposed rule would also require airlines report more useful statistics about lost or damaged luggage and mishandled wheelchairs. Airlines received $3.4 billion from baggage fees and $2.3 billion from reservation change fees in 2010. There is no federal excise tax on fees.

THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

Coming up today on In Depth with Francis Rose:

• Following the money at DoD – the Executive Director of the American Society of Military Comptrollers, Al Tucker, has an update on getting the books right at the Pentagon.
• Can automatic enrollment in the Thrift Savings Plan make your workforce happier? Get answers from the TSP.

Join Francis from 3 to 7 p.m. on 1500AM or listen on your computer.

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