Friday federal headlines – January 23, 2015

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.

  • There will be no sequestration in fiscal 2015. The Office of Management and Budget said its budget estimations for Defense and civilian agencies are below the limits set in the Budget Control Act. Discretionary defense spending this year is down from 2014 levels. Non-defense agencies are getting about $10 billion more this year than the last. (Federal News Radio)
  • The Veterans Affairs Department needs a permanent inspector general. That’s message Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is writing to President Barack Obama. Johnson said recent allegations at the Tomah VA medical center in Wisconsin underscore an urgency to name an IG now. (Senate)
  • The State Department pulled some of its staff from the U.S. Embassy in Yemen. The move came amid chaos in the country, which led Yemen’s president and prime minister to resign. Shiite rebels had been holding the president captive in his home for two days. A State Department official said the U.S. Embassy remains open and is operating as normal but with reduced staff. Yemen has been an important ally to the U.S. in the fight against al Qaeda. (Federal News Radio)
  • Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said they plan to introduce a bill to create a single federal agency for food safety. It would consolidate work now conducted by 15 agencies. Bloomberg reports the forthcoming bill is the latest in a 20-year effort in Congress to fix the patchwork of food oversight. A bill enacted in 2011 gave the Food and Drug Administration more responsibility for preventing contamination. But it didn’t bring inspections of processed food, vegetables, eggs and meat under one roof. (Bloomberg Government)
  • The National Transportation Safety Board is calling for new regulations on airliner equipment. It wants better gear for helping rescuers find airliners that have crashed in hard-to-find places. The move was prompted in part by the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March. It was never found. NTSB wants better beacons with longer lasting batteries for when planes end up at the bottom of an ocean. It said planes should have flight recorders that can’t be disabled by air crews. And it said planes should have tamper-resistant satellite transmitters that beam a plane’s location every minute. (Federal News Radio)
  • A new bill would cut pensions for some senior executives at the Veterans Affairs Department. House VA Committee Chairman Jeff Miller introduced the Increasing VA Accountability to Veterans Act of 2015. The bill lets the VA Secretary reduce an SESer’s pension if that person was convicted of a crime. Miller said the measure ensures corrupt executives face serious consequences. The bill also limits paid administrative leave to no more than 14 days. And it only lets 30 percent of senior executives get top performance ratings and qualify for bonuses. (House Veterans Affairs Commitee)
  • The Social Security Administration is extending hours at its field offices after receiving a budget boost this year. The agency had cut back its public office hours over the past few years because of shrinking budgets and growing backlogs. Offices will stay open an extra hour on most weekdays, starting in March. They’ll still close to the public at noon on Wednesdays. The agency said that gives employees time to work on reducing backlogs. (SSA )
  • Officials are investigating a Navy officer who may be connected to the death of civilian Christopher Tur. He was found dead in Guantanamo Bay waters last week. Tur worked at the Navy Exchange on the base. Capt. John Nettleton was allegedly having an affair with Tur’s wife, who is director of the Navy Fleet and Family Services Center. Nettleton was recently fired from his position as commander of the naval station at Gitmo. (Federal News Radio)
  • A former Postal Service employee failed to deliver 1,000 pieces of mail. His excuse &mash; he “just got lazy.” Alex Douma pleaded guilty to misdemeanor mail obstruction. He was sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to pay a $500 fine. The mail Douma failed to deliver included 27 voter ballots and more than 200 items of first-class and standard mail. (Federal News Radio)
  • U.S. and Iraqi military forces are planning for a summer assault to take back the city of Mosul. It’s been held since last summer by the Islamic State terror army. U.S. air strikes have been hitting the supply lines leading to Iraq’s second largest city. Central Command chief Gen. Lloyd Austin told the Wall Street Journal the air strikes have inflicted heavy damage on the Islamic State militants. He said 6,000 Islamic State fighters have been killed, including half of its leadership. The take-back of Mosul will start around June. It will involve some of Iraq’s most experienced troops, including Peshmerga Kurdish fighters. (Wall Street Journal )
  • The National Institutes of Health said it will start two studies of Ebola vaccines in West Africa beginning in February. The first study will take place in Liberia, the second in Sierra Leone. Those two countries and Guinea have been devastated by Ebola over the past year, although cases of new infections are falling. Infectious diseases chief Anthony Fauci said the test will start with 600 people and could include up to 27,000. Some will receive the vaccine, some a dummy shot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will help with the second study. The vaccines were developed by GlaxoSmithKline and Merck and Company. ( Federal News Radio)

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