Budget News 
2013 Budget Resources
Top News
- 5 percent of federal workers to be furloughed Friday
- Congress pressures agencies to speed up office consolidations
- Katherine Archuleta chosen as next OPM director
- Data breach puts DHS workers at risk of identity theft
- DoD chooses interoperability over integration for new e-health record system
- House GOP panel moves on deep budget cuts
- OMB fuels synergy between mobile, open data
- IRS official Lerner: 'I did nothing wrong'
- Accountability breakdown leading factor in DoD sexual assaults
- OMB reworking financial system requirements
- Federal retirement funds temporarily tapped
- VanRoekel to lead OMB management team
- Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal finalists
- Thursday federal headlines - May 23, 2013
Army freezes civilian hiring, cuts base spending ahead of potential sequestration
The Army has put an immediate freeze on civilian hiring and will begin terminating some temporary employees to reduce spending ahead of potential across-the-board budget cuts later this year. Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno and Army Secretary John McHugh also directed Army commanders and supervisors to reduce base-operations support spending.
Navy living out its 'heyday,' but rough seas ahead
Robert Work, the undersecretary of the Navy, says forget about the Reagan-era aspirations of a 600-ship fleet. Even with a smaller Navy, things are better than ever, he says, even if they're about to get worse due to smaller budgets and the threat of sequestration. "Yes, things might get worse. In fact, they probably will get worse. But this is the heyday of the U.S. Navy. And, if you're not excited, you ain't breathing," he said at the Surface Navy Association's annual symposium this week.
House GOP may seek short-term debt limit extension
House Republicans may seek a quick, short-term extension of the government's debt limit, a move that would avoid an immediate default by the Treasury as the party seeks to maximize leverage in negotiations over spending cuts with President Barack Obama this spring, officials said Thursday.
Navy reducing IT spending ahead of schedule
The Department of the Navy is finding real dollar savings by moving to enterprise software licenses, managing mobile devices and services better and reducing the number of printers and the amount printed. Terry Halvorsen, the DoN CIO, said they are on track to meet the goal of cutting 25 percent of their IT budget in five years.
January 17, 2013
Government shutdown, furloughs, and more
Janet Kopenhaver from Federally Employed Woman and Federal Times Senior Writer Sean Reilly, join host Mike Causey to talk about what would happen if the federal government were to shut down.
January 16, 2013
Pentagon issues dire warning to Congress about budget cuts
The nation's top military leaders warned Congress in unusually stark terms that its failure to pass a 2013 defense budget - coupled with the threat of automatic budget cuts - has pushed the Pentagon to the brink of a crisis.
Begin saving cash now, Air Force tells commanders
The Air Force orders commanders to start cutbacks in advance of the next budget emergency.
House rejects agency budget cuts in Sandy relief bill
The House soundly rejected an amendment to the Superstorm Sandy aid bill that would have required an across-the-board 1.63 percent cut to agency spending to offset the emergency funding. Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) introduced the amendment last week along with a separate proposal to revoke a mass-transit subsidy for federal workers.
OMB tells agencies to 'intensify' sequestration planning
Agencies across government should intensify their planning for across-the-board sequestration cuts, according to a Jan. 14 memo to the heads of executive department and agencies from Jeff Zients, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget. The memo comes on the heels of similar guidance issued last week by the Defense Department. Meanwhile, the Navy warned of the threat of reduced funding from a short-term spending measure.
Bernanke prods Congress to raise debt ceiling
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday that it's important that Congress raise the nation's borrowing limit before the Treasury runs out of maneuvering room to avoid a potential default on U.S. debt.
Hitting the debt limit: What bills would be paid?
Reiterating a threat he first issued in the summer of 2011, President Barack Obama on Monday warned Republicans that older Americans might not get their Social Security checks and veterans won't get timely benefits if Congress fails to increase the government's borrowing authority.
Boehner: GOP will pass 'responsible' debt bill
Speaker John Boehner says the GOP-controlled House will "do its job" and pass legislation to lift the nation's borrowing cap and keep the government running, but will insist that Democrats accept new spending controls.
Pentagon orders planning for civilian furloughs, other cutbacks
Defense Deputy Secretary Ashton Carter told DoD components Thursday to draw up plans for full-year continuing resolution, plus sequestration. The approach to deal with across-the-board cuts would be to freeze civilian hiring, cut training, travel and conferences and reduce business technology expenditures.
Pentagon moving to freeze hiring, delay contracts
The Pentagon will begin taking steps to freeze civilian hiring, delay some contract awards and curtail some maintenance to prepare for drastic budget cuts if Congress can't reach an agreement on a final spending plan, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday.
NASA's $1 billion opportunities and a preview of the 113th
On this week's Bloomberg Government Capital Impact show, analysts examine NASA's acquisition forecast for this year, and the legislative agenda on Capitol Hill.
January 10, 2013
Bowles: 'No easy way' to get books back in order
The co-chairman of the U.S. deficit commission calls failure to agree on a plan to reduce the national debt "the most disappointing thing in my life."
Sequestration 2.0 would mean furloughs for DoD's entire civilian workforce
New version of sequestration would reduce overall tab to DoD but compress across-the-board cuts into just seven months. A leading-think tank's "back of the envelope" calculations show the military would have to furlough almost every civilian.
Commerce's CFO, CIO collaboration paying off across the board
Scott Quehl, the CFO, and Simon Szykman, the CIO, work closely together on ensuring projects remain on track and are efficient as possible. Their relationship is making it easier for Commerce to deal with budget and oversight pressures.
Congress revises DoD's sequestration starting point
When lawmakers and the White House kicked sequestration two months down the road, they also made changes to how the cuts would be calculated. The Pentagon estimates the impact on the Defense budget would be gentler than before.
The top ten federal stories of 2012
Michael Keating, senior editor for Government Product News, joins host Mark Amtower to talk about the GSA scandal, and other big stories in 2012.
January 7, 2013
