Wednesday morning federal headlines - July 25, 2012
Wednesday - 7/25/2012, 9:22am EDT
The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal
Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp 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.
- If you owe child support payments, it may be coming out of your Thrift Savings
Plan account. The Federal Times reported TSP was garnishing the savings of
federal employees who were behind in their payments. TSP was processing more than
1,100 child-support court orders a month. While TSP's managers have had this power
for a long time, they haven't always used it. But in 2010 they signed a memo of
understanding with the Health and Human Services Department. The Federal
Retirement Thrift Investment Board estimates 35,000 participants are behind on
child support. (Federal Times)
- The Social Security
Administration is holding onto more than $130 million in payments to
beneficiaries. A new inspector-general report said the agency was basically
sitting on uncashed checks. For whatever reason, they were being returned to the
agency. The IG said Social Security could do a better job of making sure the
140,000 or so recipients received their benefits. But the agency said tracking
those people down wouldn't be cost-effective. It said reissuing the payments would
divert scarce resources from other priorities. (Federal News Radio)
- Can you put a price tag on a dream? Yes, according to new documents from the
Homeland Security Department. And the price is $585 million.
That's how much it estimated President Barack Obama's so-called "Dream Act Plan"
could cost to administer. The plan would grant work permits to immigrants who were
brought to the U.S. illegally as children. The DHS-report also suggested a $465
fee for applicants to offset the cost. DHS expected more than 1 million people to
apply for the special permit. (Federal News Radio)
- It might have been a year since lawmakers tore up Washington with their debt-ceiling
showdown, but we're only getting a survey of the damage now. The Government
Accountability Office reported that delays in extending the debt ceiling forced
the Treasury Department to take "extraordinary actions" to the tune of $1.3
billion in fiscal 2011. Plus, GAO said, time spent on debt-ceiling related actions
diverted further time and resources away from important cash-management duties.
(GAO)
- A contract protest may delay construction of a glossy new American embassy in
London. The
Washington Business Journal reported the Government Accountability Office has
sided with a losing bidder. Bethesda-based Clark Construction and Foulger-Pratt
competed jointly for the project and lost out to B.L Harbert of Alabama. Now GAO
said the evaluation record doesn't support the State Department's choice of
Harbert. The contract is worth $447 million and the building is a point of pride
for the State Department. Officials hope to move in 2017, when they said the
embassy would contribute to London's architectural heritage. (Washington
Business Journal)
- The House has voted to stop the Labor Department from imposing new rules on child farm laborers. The department already has said it wouldn't go ahead with those rules, but House members said they wanted to make sure the agency couldn't change course in the future. Labor backed off the safety proposal following a public outcry. The plan would have banned most children under 16 from operating power machines, working with dangerous animals and working in grain elevators, silos and stockyards. Small farmers with family-owned businesses said the rules would endanger their livelihoods. A similar bill is in the Senate. (Federal News Radio)
