House News 
Top News
- IRS to pay $70M in bonuses, Grassley says
- Senators push Tangherlini for assurances GSA is improving
- As VA works to eliminate one backlog, one more might emerge
- BRAC-like commission proposed to hunt down government cost savings
- Senators seek cost cuts for F-35 fighter jet
- Fed pens new furlough song
- Web guru Dorris brings new life to government websites
- 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
- 8 contract executives guilty of 8(a) contracting fraud
- Whistleblower suit leads to $12M false claims settlement by SAIC
- USPS reaches energy reduction goal ahead of schedule
Low morale at DHS is 'referendum on leadership'
Strong leadership is key to boosting employee morale at the Homeland Security Department, according to testimony today before aHouse Homeland Security subcommittee.
Army's payroll problems threaten auditability goals, GAO says
The Government Accountability Office will release a report this morning detailing problems with the Army's payroll system — challenges that threaten the Defense Department's ability to be audit-read
Committee approves House budget plan
The House Budget Committee approved a Republican proposal that calls for shrinking U.S. deficits to $3.1 trillion over the coming decade. The budget bill also calls for a 10 percent reduction of the federal workforce, an extension of the federal pay freeze and an increase of federal employees' contributions to their pension plans.
DHS struggles to balance mission costs with new facilities
The agency's headquarters and new bio and agro defense facility are limping along as funding dwindles. DHS' Rafael Borras said new headquarter's projects will be done in segments. Tara O'Toole, who leads the Science and Technology Directorate, said severe budget cuts are one the reasons a new biosafety facility is far from finished.
DoD finalizing rules of engagement for cyber attacks
Gen. Keith Alexander, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, told lawmakers DoD would complete an updated version of rules of engagement for cyberspace in the next month or two. Some congressmen believe the Pentagon needs broader authorities to protect the nation from cyber attacks.
GOP Medicare plan borrows from and repeals Obama's
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the top GOP budget writer, borrowed the idea of insurance exchanges, a big pooled marketplace, from the health care law enacted in Massachusetts when GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney was governor. Ryan wants to set one up for Medicare.
House passes bill to streamline process for disposing of excess federal property
The House unanimously voted Tuesday to create a new process for disposing of the federal government's 14,000 excess properties, beginning with a pilot program to sell off more than a dozen of the most profitable facilities. Under the law, agencies would be able to keep a portion of the proceeds from the sale of real property. The bill would also create a comprehensive database compiling a list of all of the federal government's real property.
GOP budget plan extends federal pay freeze, changes retirement benefits
The Republican budget plan for fiscal 2013 calls for a pay freeze through 2015, changes to federal retirement contributions and a cut to the federal workforce.
Analysis: GOP cuts will only be deeper compared to sequestration
Steve Bell, senior director of the Economic Policy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told The Federal Drive with Tom Temin that unless something dramatic happens the budget will have about $1 trillion for the next 10 years.
House GOP plans to protect DoD from more cuts
The budget proposal House Republicans are planning to unveil next week will include provisions that would rescue the Defense Department from further budget cuts.
Oversight committee: Administration earns C- for FOIA management
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has given the Obama administration a C- for management under the Freedom of Information Act. Auditors based their grade on transparency work by 17 cabinet-level departments. Auditors evaluated how agencies track and make decisions about FOIA requests, but they did not examine whether agencies are meeting their legal responsibilities.
Mobility in SES not always necessary
Senior Executives Association President Carol Bonosaro spoke to Senior Correspondent Mike Causey about her agency's opposition to a bill that would require SESer to be more mobile.
SES mobility not 'musical chairs'
Host Mike Causey will talk career mobility with
Carol Bonosaro, president of the Senior
Executives Service. Federal Times Senior Writers
Stephen Losey and Sean Reilly will talk about
how pending legislation in Congress will affect
your pay and benefits.
March 14, 2012
FTC: Proposed relocation 'wholly unnecessary'
The four sitting commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission have "grave concerns" about a House committee's plan to relocate the agency out of its historic Pennsylvania Ave. location into a privately held building in Southwest, Washington D.C. Eileen Harrington, FTC's executive director, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss a plan in Congress that would require the FTC to relocate to make room for the National Gallery of Art.
House Armed Services chair says he will reverse DoD cuts
Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) said Wednesday that his committee's 2013 DoD authorization bill will undo Defense spending cuts the Pentagon has already proposed.
Senate bill aims to speed up elimination of excess federal properties
Bipartisan legislation in the Senate aims to streamline the elimination of excess federal properties by setting up a council within agencies and the Office of Management and Budget and creating government-wide property disposal goals.
Analysis: Incremental approach on cyber legislation more effective
Paul Rosenzweig, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and the former the deputy assistant secretary for policy at the Homeland Security Department, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss competing cybersecurity legislation in both the House and Senate.
Lawmakers unveil Hatch Act update
A group of lawmakers has proposed an update to the law governing federal employees' political activity that would exempt some state and local employees and allow for a range of penalties other than automatic suspension for minor violations.
Congress takes DoD to task over commitment to diversity
The military is laying the groundwork for a more diverse officer corps, officials told a congressional panel Tuesday. The Defense Department and military services have tackled most of the recommendations that a congressional commission made a year ago. But, recent hazing incidents suggest that the leaders' focus on diversity hasn't trickled down through the ranks.
Analysis: House GOP battles to write budget bill it can live with
Bob Cusack, managing editor at The Hill newspaper, tells The Federal Drive with Tom Temin that House Republicans are at odds over their election-year budget.
