Thursday federal headlines – April 2, 2015

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.

• Five veterans organizations are suing the Veterans Affairs Department. The lawsuit is over a new VA rule that eliminates informal disability claims and moves them to a standardized form. The groups said the change would limit the types of claims VA adjudicates. The new rule means the department only considers claims filed on the standardized form. The lawsuit alleges that could create problems for disabled and injured veterans. It also means VA wouldn’t consider claims that are supported by evidence on the agency’s record, but haven’t been claimed by the veteran. (National Veterans Legal Services Program)
• Only three of the Thrift Savings Plan’s 10 funds made positive returns in March. The S-Fund gained the most with 1.24 percent. The F-Fund and G-Fund also gained in March, though at less than 1 percent. The C-Fund posted the greatest lose — more than 1.5 percent. All the lifecycle funds have negative losses in March. But so far this year, all funds still have positive returns. (Federal News Radio)
• Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said he’ll keep mid-level career employees out of direct congressional inquiries. GovExec reports Johnson’s fiat came in response to a subpoena from Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The committee wants testimony from two Secret Service agents. They were on duty when two other agents ended up on White House property allegedly while drunk. Johnson said he and Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy can take the heat. But he doesn’t want agents to, in his words, experience the visibility, public glare and inevitable second-guessing of a congressional hearing. (GovExec)
• A lawmaker is calling on President Barack Obama to fire the Commerce Inspector General for alleged misconduct. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and other lawmakers have been investigating IG Todd Zinser for three years. Johnson said the misconduct ranges from punishing whistleblowers to hiring a friend. According to Johnson, Zinser failed to investigate an allegation that employees at the National Weather Service were running an illegal accounting scam. Also, Zinser’s friend was hired into the IG office in a Senior Executive Service position and Zinser approved bonuses to her totaling $28,000. Johnson said Obama needs to remove Zinser to create an “effective and ethically sound office.” (House Committee on Science, Space and Technology)
• Former GSA executive Jeff Neely has pleaded guilty to fraud against the government. Neely was fired in 2012 after the GSA inspector general exposed abusive spending in connection with a conference that cost nearly $1 million. He was indicted last September. Neely admitted that he’d asked the agency to pay for a night’s stay at a fancy Las Vegas casino hotel. He also admitted to several other false claims and agreed to repay the agency $8,000. He’ll be sentenced June 30. Neely faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. (Federal News Radio)
• The Justice Department won’t seek criminal contempt charges against Lois Lerner. She’s the former IRS official at the center of a controversy over how the agency treated conservative political groups. The Republican-controlled House voted last year to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress. They referred her case to federal prosecutors. That’s after she asserted her innocence, then refused to testify. But U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen told House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) he won’t bring charges. (Federal News Radio)
• Senior American and Japanese military officers said they hoped the Japanese Navy will soon be able to play a more active role in the Pacific Ocean and beyond. A law to loosen restrictions on its military is pending before Japan’s legislature. That move comes as China becomes more active in places such as the East and South China Seas, challenging nations from Japan to the Philippines. Vice Adm. Robert Thomas is commander of the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet. He says looser restrictions would let Japan cooperate more easily with the United States as far away as the Indian Ocean. Meantime, Japan is setting up an amphibious unit similar to the Marines. And it’s improving its air defenses with new F-35 fighters and Global Hawk drones. (Federal News Radio)
• Weeks after announcing them, the Federal Communications Commission is going public with the exact wording of its proposed net neutrality rules. They’ve now been sent to the Federal Register. Once they are published there, the formal public comment period will open. That also means groups opposed to the rules can file lawsuits. The 400-page document is available now at the FCC website. ( FCC)
• The Air Force rearranged its Nuclear Weapons Center. The center created two new directorates — one for air-delivered systems and another for nuclear technology and interagency engagement. The air-delivered directorate focuses on engineering and strategic systems. The nuclear technology directorate looks at intelligence and weapons. Those are in addition to an existing directorate for intercontinental ballistic missiles. The Air Force said the changes will better serve the nuclear enterprise. And now the center aligns more directly with the nuclear triad, which also includes missiles launched from Navy submarines. ( Air Force)

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