Thursday federal headlines – October 9, 2014

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com reade...

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive and In Depth radio shows each day. Our headlines are updated twice per day — once in the morning and once in the afternoon — with the latest news affecting federal employees and contractors.

  • Agencies have a few tools to boost hiring for federal science, technology, engineering and math positions. The Office of Personnel Management says agencies can be more flexible and use their critical position pay authorities to hire new people with a high level of expertise in STEM fields. (CHCOC)
  • The Obama administration unveiled a new version of HealthCare.gov. It promised a much faster and easier sign-up process. Visitors will have to navigate through 16 screens to sign up for health care insurance, down from 76 screens in the site’s original version. The site has also been optimized for use on mobile devices. The open enrollment season starts Nov. 15. Insurance premiums won’t be available on the site until then. Returning visitors receiving subsidies will have to enter a 14-character plan identifier in order to keep their current policy. (Federal News Radio)
  • At least two members of Congress say they want to look into moving the Secret Service out of the Homeland Security Department. Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) want to put it back into the Treasury Department. Both serve on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. They’ve also suggested breaking the agency into two components. One would have presidential protection, and the other would have everything else the Secret Services does. Some former agents trace the decline in morale and performance to the formation of DHS in the aftermath of 9/11. (Federal News Radio)
  • Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said firing laws at the Veterans Affairs Department need some tweaking. Congress passed the legislation this summer in light of an ongoing scandal at the VA. Miller says the guidelines don’t hold officials fully accountable for ethics and performance problems. The law gives VA officials five days advanced notice before they are fired. The department is firing four senior executives, one of whom is Susan Taylor. She was involved in a recent procurement scandal with FedBid. (Washington Post)
  • The federal budget deficit shrank to $486 billion, the lowest deficit during President Obama’s six years in office. The Congressional Budget Office says last year’s deficit came in at $680 billion. After the 2008 financial crisis, that figure was more than $1 trillion. But CBO says the shrinking deficit might be temporary. Retiring Baby Boomers could push the deficit back up. Treasury and the White House budget office will issue an official budget report in the next week or so. (Federal News Radio)
  • U.S. Central Command says American and coalition airstrikes have forced some Islamic State militants out of the Syrian border town of Kobani. Airstrikes hit six locations around Kobani, and eight of them destroyed or damaged targets near Kobani, including armed vehicles, a supply depot, a command and control compound, a logistics compound, and occupied barracks. But the Pentagon warns the town could still fall to the Islamic State militants because air power alone cannot prevent it. Rear Adm. John Kirby says Pentagon officials are not planning to ask President Barack Obama to commit ground forces to the fight inside Syria. Syrian Kurds have been holding the town. The Kurdish intelligence chief in Iraq, Masrour Barzani, told the BBC, Kurdish troops need more weapons and other support from countries in the region. (Federal News Radio)
  • One hundred Marines are on their way to Liberia to help U.S. troops fight Ebola. The Marines will bring helicopters and aircraft to transport service members around Liberia. The aircraft will also move supplies to remote locations of the country. Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon’s press secretary, said this is probably a temporary assignment. The Marines will stay overseas until soldiers arrive from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. They’re expected to get to Liberia later this month. (Federal News Radio)
  • The Navy experiments with ultra-sonic welding for Navy uniforms. The technique melts fabric together using sound waves. Ultra-sonic welding would make the uniforms lighter, stronger and cheaper. Welded seams are flexible and waterproof, too. Traditional seams create small holes that can trap air or water, which adds weight to Navy uniforms. The welding project could help bring manufacturing back to the U.S. from overseas. (Federal News Radio)
  • The National Institute of Standards and Technology has chosen two organizations to form a cybersecurity research and develooment center. The $29 million contract goes to the non-profit Mitre Corporation and the University System of Maryland. The new entity will be known formally as a federally-funded research and development center, or FFRDC. It will support NIST’s National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence. It will work with government agencies and cyber security companies to identify cybersecurity best practices in a variety of industries. NIST said the contract has a potential life of 25 years and a ceiling of $5 billion. (NASA )
  • The Peace Corps said applications for two-year service positions skyrocketed in 2014. More than 17,000 people applied, up 70 percent over 2013 and the most since 1992. Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet said a revised application form launched in July helped bump up applications. The old form was 60 pages long and took eight hours. Few people who started it had finished it. The new form can be completed in an hour. Now 95 percent of people who start the form end up submitting it. The process also lets applicants choose the programs and countries they want to work in. (Peace Corps)

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