Thursday federal headlines – December 11, 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 rea...

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.

  • The House is voting on the $1.1 trillion spending bill today. The Internal Revenue Service is receiving a 3percent budget cut. And the Environmental Protection Agency is losing $61 million. Inspectors general and the Government Accountability Office gets more money in 2015 to hire more staff and do more investigations. (Federal News Radio)
  • Border patrol agents will no longer be able to double dip into overtime pay. The House passed the Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act. It lets agents choose to work 100, 90 or 80 hours in a given two week pay period. Employees who work more than their agreed schedules will get compensatory time off. (House)
  • The White House wants to withhold documents on a Justice Department investigation into the CIA’s torture program. The New York Times reports DOJ’s documents include interviews with 100 witnesses and reports and memorandums totaling 1,700 pages. That’s more than three times as long as a Senate report on its CIA torture investigation. The New York Times filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for DOJ’s documents. But the White House made a FOIA exemption. DOJ said disclosing the documents could influence law enforcement about whether to bring criminal charges. (The New York Times)
  • Construction of a giant new Veterans Affairs near Denver has come to a grinding halt. A federal judge ruled the VA is in breach of contract and the contractor has the right to walk away. The Wall Street Journal reports the $1 billion project is only 62 percent finished. The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals found failed negotiations, and a project hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. Judges said VA officials have not acted in good faith or with fair dealings. The agency lacks the funds to finish the million-square-foot hospital complex. A spokesman told the Journal the VA is committed to completing it. (Wall Street Journal)
  • A bill to address cyber attacks at agencies is heading to the President’s desk. The Federal Information Security Modernization Act updates 12-year-old cybersecurity laws. Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) introduced the act. It changes how agencies respond to data breaches and establishes real-time monitoring of computer networks. The bill also clarifies how agencies can secure dot-gov domains and it moves away from review processes that are paperwork-heavy security. Carper said agencies need to address cyber attacks with a 21st century response. The legislation directs the Homeland Security Department to implement policies in the bill. (Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)
  • The Army Corps of Engineers is facing a $22 billion gap between its annual budget and the funding it would need to complete all authorized projects. COE Commander General Thomas Bostick warned that critical projects on the country’s aging levees, dams, ports and harbors are at risk. Bostick said public- private partnerships and other creative solutions are needed to finance maintenance and new projects. He said there’s no concern yet “from a safety perspective” but that investing before a crisis is wise. He pointed to flood control work undertaken after Hurricane Katrina that lessened the effects of subsequent storms. (Federal News Radio)
  • “Find a way.” That’s the message the Air Force is taking from the fiscal 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. The bill would limit or block retirement of aircraft including the A-10 close air-support plane, the U-2 spy plane and the A- 10 Warthog. It also directs the Air Force to stop using the Russian-made RD- 180 engine by the end of 2018. Gen. John Hyten, head of Air Force Space Command, said developing a new engine in the next three years will be a challenge. $220 million will be allocated for the replacement program. (Defense News)
  • The Pentagon is giving troops thousands of dollars in back pay for missions in Syria. A new memo designated airspace over Syria as a dangerous location. That means troops flying there will receive danger pay of up to $7.50 per day. Before this week, only troops serving on the ground in Syria were eligible for danger pay. Lt. Cmdr. Nathan Christensen said about 600 service members are eligible for back pay. The Pentagon estimated the back pay would cost it about $18,000 per month. (Federal News Radio)
  • Robert MacLean now leads the National Park Service’s U.S. Park Police. MacLean has been with the Park Police for 23 years and served as acting chief for a year. He succeeds Teresa Chambers who retired. NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis said MacLean is a natural for the position. The Park Police employs more than 700 people and has an annual operating budget of more than $100 million. (NPS )
  • A Native American tribe filed a federal lawsuit over a proposed health care rule. The Northern Arapaho tribe alleged the IRS interpretation of the large employer mandate could make Native Americans pay higher insurance premiums or lose health care benefits. The proposed rule requires businesses with more than 50 employees to provide health insurance for employees. That means those employees aren’t eligible to purchase health care under the Affordable Care Act. The Northern Arapaho tribe employs more than 600 people. The tribe argues that the Affordable Care Act doesn’t count tribes as large employers. If approved, the proposed rule would take effect Jan. 1. (Federal News Radio)
  • Foreign food service companies pleaded guilty to overcharging the military. The case involves private Dutch corporation Supreme Group BV and its subsidiaries &mash; Supreme Foodservice GMBH of Switzerland and Supreme Foodservice FZE of the United Arab Emirates. The companies held a contract to provide food and water for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. But the firms inflated the price of fruits and vegetables, bottled water and other products. According to court documents, Supreme Group and its subsidiaries overcharged the government by $48 million in four years. The companies agreed to pay $288 million in fines and restitution. (Federal News Radio )
  • They don’t expire until nearly 2019, but already the General Services Administration is thinking about the next generation of credit card contracts. It’s planning for a 2016 competition to replace the GSA SmartPay program. SmartPay, now in its second generation, provides credit card services to more than 350 federal agencies and Indian tribes. Contractors handle 90 million transactions per year worth $26 billion. In a request for information, GSA said it’s looking for new and innovative payment solutions. It’s asking industry to provide ideas on innovative payment approaches and the technologies they might require. Companies have until Jan. 22 to respond. (Federal Budget Office)
  • Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James gave a big callout to what she calls boots in the air. She told a think tank audience that the air campaign against the Islamic State is working. James said the Air Force has carried out 60 percent of the air strike missions against the Islamic State group and 90 percent of the mobility, humanitarian, tanker, and intelligence missions in the region. She said air strikes have been hitting oil refineries, a big source of income for the terrorist army. James echoes the Obama administration’s warning that the goal of destoying ISIS will take a long time. (DoD)

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