Tuesday federal headlines – February 3, 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.

  • President Barack Obama has tucked a 1.3 percent pay raise for General Schedule employees and service members into his $4 trillion blueprint for fiscal 2016. At the same time, federal employees would not have to pay more towards their retirement. The administration says earnings of federal employees have fallen 10 percent relative to the private sector since 2009. Employee unions, while welcoming the raise, say it’s not enough to make up for those losses. The president also asks Congress to enact Senior Executive Service reforms and paid parental leave he called for in last month’s State of the Union address. (Federal News Radio)
  • The President’s Defense Secretary nominee says he’d consider changing plans for withdrawing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. They’re scheduled to leave by the end of next year. But Ashton Carter says he would be willing to revisit that plan if security conditions worsen. In written comments to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carter says “yes” when asked if he would consider recommending changes to the drawdown plan. The answer came in a 328-question, 91-page questionnaire. A copy was obtained by the Associated Press. Carter says he is aware that the Islamic State terror army may try to expand into Afghanistan. Carter appears in person before the committee Wednesday. (Federal News Radio)
  • Information technology spending would rise by more than $2 billion in 2016 under the president’s budget proposal. The total would be $86.4 billion. About half the increase would go to the Defense Department, and half to the rest of the government. Included in the request is $105 million to establish digital services teams in 25 departments and agencies. These are groups of people devising ways to put more of the government online. The budget for the digital services team in the White House would nearly triple to $17 million. The White House is also requesting $14 billion for federal cybersecurity efforts. (Federal News Radio)
  • Every department would get a substantial budget hike under the $4 trillion 2016 budget proposal President Obama sends to Congress. At the low end is Agriculture, with a proposed 3.3 percent hike above 2015 levels. The Commerce Department would see a 15 percent increase. And at the high end, the Transportation Department spending would rise by 30 percent, thanks to a big, six-year surface infrastructure authorization that would start Oct. 1. Treasury would also get a big boost, with an additional 400 million dollars for the IRS. In all, spending would rise by 7 percent over 2014 levels. The administration is expecting tax receipts to rise by nearly 17 percent. (Federal News Radio)
  • The Obama administration proposes a defense spending plan for fiscal year 2016 that goes beyond the limits of sequestration. With a base budget request of $534 billion, the White House hopes to take the Defense Department $38 billion beyond the sequestration caps set for next year. Combined with $51 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations, the grand total would be $585 billion. That’s a 4 percent overall increase from 2015. The Pentagon proposes shrinking its total military force size by 11,300. The civilian workforce would drop by 3,500. The proposal also calls for pension and health care reforms designed to lower costs. (Federal News Radio)

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