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Top News
- Senators push Tangherlini for assurances GSA is improving
- As VA works to eliminate one backlog, one more might emerge
- Senator: IRS to pay $70M in employee bonuses
- Furlough song: Laugh or you'll cry
- Navy strikes enterprise licensing deal with Oracle
- Contractors with security clearances lack path to report problems
- NSA leak case gives vendors reason to reevaluate personnel
- Does security clearance process need a makeover?
- 8 contract executives guilty of 8(a) contracting fraud
- Whistleblower suit leads to $12M false claims settlement by SAIC
- NASA engineer, 29, recognized for improving aeronautical testing
- USPS reaches energy reduction goal ahead of schedule
- NOAA meteorologist helps save lives one storm at a time
- NASA picks 8 new astronauts, 4 of them women
- House passes sweeping $638 billion defense bill
- NIH tops list of best companies for baby boomers
- Latest postal reform proposal OKs 5-day delivery
- Wednesday federal headlines - June 19, 2013
As VA works to eliminate one backlog, one more might emerge
Under intense congressional and media pressure, VA has moved aggressively to eliminate its backlog of new claims for disability benefits. But veterans who appeal VA's decisions are still waiting years, on average.
Lawmakers skeptical of proposed cost-saving commission's future
A new commission, proposed by David Walker, former U.S. comptroller general, would recommend ways to streamline government by removing duplication and extraneous spending from government agencies. Federal-employee unions criticized the proposal and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee lawmakers expressed skepticism that such a proposal could gain congressional approval.
House passes sweeping $638 billion defense bill
The House bill containing the provisions on sex-related crimes that the Obama administration supports as well as the detention policies that it vigorously opposes must be reconciled with a Senate version before heading to the president's desk.
House approves IT reform amendment to Defense bill
The first major IT reform bill in a decade has cleared the first of three hurdles to become law. The bill would empower CIOs by reducing the number of people with that title to one per agency, and give that person authority over the IT budget and personnel decisions.
House lawmakers press VA for more details, assurances after cyber attacks
House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) and ranking member Michael Michaud (D-Maine) sent Secretary Eric Shinseki a letter asking for an explanation on why VA didn't tell the committee about multiple nation state attacks. The lawmakers call for VA to offer credit monitoring services to tens of millions of veterans.
FBI director gets another House grilling
Mueller gets another grilling on major FBI probes in final appearance before House panel
DoD maintains BRAC fight, despite opposition from Congress
Amid nearly unanimous congressional opposition, the Defense Department says it needs to stop operating military facilities it no longer wants or needs.
Lawmakers, industry press OFPP not to make strategic sourcing mandatory
The House Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and the Workforce is searching for answers about the potential impact on competition if the White House mandates the use of strategic sourcing contracts. Four industry associations provided little support for compulsory use, citing potential risks to the government and harm to vendors.
House OKs 2-year sentence for military sex assault
House backs mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years in prison for sexual assault in the military
Issa's postal reform proposal OKs 5-day delivery, modifies prefunding
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) released a draft postal reform bill that supports ending Saturday mail delivery and would modify how the agency pre-funds retiree health-care payments that now threaten to sink the agency into financial insolvency. Congressional postal reform efforts have remained dormant so far this year, even as the Postal Service's financial outlook has worsened.
Rep. Issa heading down familiar path for IT reform; Senate still in discovery mode
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) plans to offer the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) as an amendment later this week to the 2013 Defense Authorization bill. The Senate held a hearing looking at the best approach to empower federal CIOs. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee heard that transparency, visibility and senior leadership are common traits among successful CIOs.
Bill aims to slash Medicare waste and fraud
The Medicare program made $44 billion in improper payments in 2013. A bipartisan bill designed to prevent fraudsters from milking the system calls for contractors to increase accuracy and for beneficiaries to report fraud.
IG: 'Serious problems' with OPM's $2B revolving fund must be addressed
The Office of Personnel Management's inspector general says he needs $6 million to address "serious problems" with the agency's $2 billion revolving fund. Patrick McFarland told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that his current budget isn't nearly enough to root out waste, fraud and abuse across the revolving fund and other areas of OPM.
Lawmakers, IG expose further vulnerabilities in VA's cybersecurity
The Veterans Affairs Department has been compromised by at least eight different nation state organizations that stole data from its systems, House lawmakers and other experts say. VA officials say there always are risks, but their computer security is better than ever before.
House passes budget bill boosting vets' programs
The House on Tuesday passed the first of 12 spending bills for the budget year beginning Oct. 1, a popular measure providing more money for veterans' programs like health care.
New IRS head says taxpayers no longer trust agency
New IRS head says he is committed to restoring 'broken' trust in agency after tea party storm
VA's security shortcuts put millions of veterans' data at risk, former VA cyber official alleges
The Veterans Affairs Department denies claims that systems or data are in danger. But Jerry Davis, the former deputy assistant secretary for information security in VA's Office of Information and Technology, asserts in documents that he was bullied into signing security certifications that were deficient as a condition of his departure from VA for a new job at NASA.
Broke no laws, IRS official says _ then takes 5th
IRS official in targeting probe says she did nothing wrong _ then says no more, taking the 5th
Congress pressures agencies to speed up office consolidations
Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management want to know why the NRC spent millions of dollars to renovate office space it may never use. DHS and HHS were praised by the committee for their approach to consolidating office space.
House GOP panel moves on deep budget cuts
Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security and the Pentagon would be spared under the plan approved by the House Appropriations Committee on a party-line vote.
