Senate News 
Top News
- Furlough Friday: Multiple agencies take advantage of holiday weekend
- New mobile tools gives agencies ‘giant innovation permission slip'
- VA chipping away at oldest disability claims in backlog
- Congress pressures agencies to speed up office consolidations
- Data breach puts DHS employees at risk of ID theft
- What's the latest on phased retirement?
- IRS replaces official in Tea Party controversy
- Commerce nominee sails through hearing
- Obama nominates Archuleta as next OPM director
- FedRAMP achieves another cloud security milestone
- Tangherlini to be nominated as permanent GSA chief
- House GOP panel moves on deep budget cuts
- OMB reworking financial system requirements
- Federal retirement funds temporarily tapped
- Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal finalists
- Thursday federal headlines - May 23, 2013
Senate Dems seek to end cybersecurity impasse
Democrats know they don't have 60 votes for a bill backed by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).
Senate Dems. call for service-contracting cap, but industry cries foul
A group of 26 Democratic senators wrote last week to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urging the Pentagon to lift an "arbitrary" cap on DoD's civilian workforce, saying contractors hadn't been similarly affected by budget constraints. But the Professional Services Council, an industry group which represents many defense contractors, rebuts the charge that contractors haven't also felt the effects of the current fiscal climate.
AFGE Celebrates National Nurses Week - May 4th, 2012 and May 11th, 2012
This week on AFGE's "Inside Government" National Secretary-Treasurer J. David Cox, 8th District National Vice President Jane Nygaard and Legislative Representative Marilyn Park preview National Nurses Week May 6 - 12. The trio discusses challenges federal nurses face at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Bureau of Prisons and Department of Defense and highlights the union's Nurses Steering Committee.
Senators ask USPS to delay post office closings
The four sponsors of postal reform legislation in the Senate are asking the Postal Service to delay closing post offices and mail processing facilities until the new law is in place.
Highway bill enters legislative homestretch
Defying expectations, Congress has reached the homestretch on a major overhaul of federal transportation programs that is critical if the nation is to avoid steep cutbacks in highway and transit aid.
House-backed cyber bills head to Senate
Despite a veto threat from the President, the House passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) Thursday , along with three other cybersecurity bills.
House committee OKs legislation to increase feds' pension contributions
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is marking up legislation today that would increase federal employees' contributions to their pension by 5 percent over five years.
The joys of divided government
Democrats control the White House and the Senate, while Republicans call the shots in the House. So what impact has divided government had on federal workers? Some people think things could be a whole lot worse if one party ran all three operations at the same time, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
Ex-VA hospital official faults mental health care
Veterans are waiting too long for mental health care and are unaware that hospitals sometimes manipulate records in an attempt to make it appear that standards are being met, a former Veterans Affairs hospital official told senators Wednesday.
Senate OKs postal reform bill
The Senate approved a bipartisan bill Wednesday aiming to restructure the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service. The final bill refunds USPS overpayments to the federal retirement system and clears the way for the agency to reduce its workforce by 100,000 positions but throws several hurdles in the agency's path toward closing underused postal facilities.
House GOP pulls its budget punches
Republicans controlling the House are opting for the politically safe route as they follow up their tightfisted, tea party-driven budget with less controversial steps to cut spending.
Senate OKs postal amendments to limit conference spending, stave off closures
In a marathon series of votes Tuesday, the Senate considered more than a dozen amendments to a postal reform bill, approving a provision to limit all federal agencies' spending on conferences, but voting down an amendment expanding the federal workers' compensation program. Lawmakers also rejected an amendment that would have required retirement-eligible USPS employees to retire without a buyout payment. The Senate will resume voting on amendments Wednesday at 2 p.m. before voting on a final version of the 21st Century Postal Service Act.
White House wants tighter rules for cyber information sharing
The administration has tried to get in front of the debate over the information sharing aspects of one of the cybersecurity bills up for debate in the House Thursday. Democratic lawmakers and industry groups expressed concern over the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) arguing its provisions on what information is to be shared and with whom are too broad.
Postal bill amendment seeks to cut backlog ahead of USPS retirement 'deluge'
An amendment to a Senate bill aiming to restructure the U.S. Postal Service's financial framework would institute new agency reporting requirements for retiring federal workers in anticipation of a "deluge of retirees" from USPS. Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), introduced an amendment last week that requires the Office of Personnel Management to take new steps to chip away at the longstanding backlog of federal retirement claims.
Private-sector mentality to blame in GSA scandal, senator says
Fingers are pointing in many directions in the wake of the scandal at the General Services Administration. Lawmakers on both the sides of the aisle have expressed outrage at the "culture of waste," but opinions on who's to blame for that culture are as divided as ever along party lines. Two congressmen told In Depth host Francis Rose about their very different ideas.
Air Force 'appalled' by $1B IT system that produced few capabilities
The Air Force's comptroller poured $1 billion into a new enterprise resource planning system with virtually nothing to show for it after seven years. The service is restricting the ERP with details to come in the next few weeks.
Congress to take on billions in duplicative programs
A bipartisan team in the House and Senate introduced legislation on Monday to take on "wasteful" duplication in the federal government. The bill would create a "duplicative score" for all bills introduced to Congress, similar to a potential cost estimate
Contracting waste, fraud 'significant' in Afghanistan, IG says
The watchdog overseeing contract spending in Afghanistan said the amount of waste and fraud is "significant" in that country. "Contingency contracting is an area that is susceptible to waste, fraud and abuse, more so, certainly, than domestic government contracting," said Steven Trent, acting Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, in an interview with The Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp.
The Incredible Shrinking Postal Service
Even if you never, or hardly ever, go to a Post Office there's a good chance you went there Tuesday to mail your taxes, and get an SOS from some worried postal employees, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
Latest: GSA IG makes a 'criminal referral' to Justice
General Services Administration Inspector General Brian Miller told senators on Wednesday his office had made a criminal referral to the Justice Department relating to the ongoing spending scandal. Speaking at the last of four congressional hearings about the GSA, Miller testified that he has heard from "a lot" of whistleblowers since his report was released several weeks ago.
