Congressional Spotlight 
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
- Sequestration claims another conference: DHS's GFirst cyber event
- Postal Service closing Capitol Hill post offices in 'symbolic' move
- Senators seek cost cuts for F-35 fighter jet
- Fed pens new furlough song
- Web guru Dorris brings new life to government websites
- EPA CIO Jackson returning to private sector
- 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
New BRAC round hits dead end
The Senate Armed Services readiness subcommittee approved legislation rejecting the Pentagon's request to shutter installations and facilities in the United States that are no longer needed.
Hagel: Budget forces review of outside contracts
Hagel says budget forces review of outside contractors such as NSA leaker
2 Obama cabinet nominees clear Senate committee
Obama's nominees to head Commerce, Transportation win Senate committee approval
IRS official apologizes for lavish $4M conference
An Internal Revenue Service official whose division staged a $4.1 million training conference and who starred as Mr. Spock in a "Star Trek" parody shown at the 2010 gathering conceded to Congress on Thursday that taxpayer dollars were wasted in the episode.
Pentagon preparing 2014 spending plan that factors in sequestration
By July 1, the Pentagon will provide the Senate Armed Services Committee its plan for managing reduced fiscal 2014 budget levels, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said in a speech Wednesday. The committee had asked DoD to provide a list of spending reductions after the White House submitted a budget proposal for next fiscal year that simply ignored sequestration, ostensibly in the hope that the automatic budget cuts would be canceled or otherwise avoided in 2014.
House passes $45B homeland security spending bill
House passes $45B homeland security bill boosting spending above current levels
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.
Senators blast military response to sex assaults
Pentagon brass calls sexual assault 'like a cancer,' but insists commanders keep authority
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.
What can Katherine Archuleta do for feds?
President Barack Obama recently nominated the manager of his re-election campaign to head up the Office of Personnel Management. But who is Katherine Archuleta and what can feds expect from the woman chosen to manage the federal workforce? Archuleta's former boss at the Transportation Department tells Federal News Radio what he thinks she'll bring to the table.
White House wants to scrap law allowing costly contractor salaries
The Obama administration has called on Congress to cap government-reimbursed contractor compensation at $400,000, a move that the head of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy said would save hundreds of millions of dollars. Joe Jordan, the OFPP administrator, said the White House would send proposed legislation to Congress next week.
AP sources: Obama to name ex-Bush aide to head FBI
AP sources say ex-Bush official James Comey to be Obama's nominee to head FBI
Senator: Fire commanders allowing sex assault
SC Sen. Graham: Women needed in military service, fire commanders allowing sex assault
Smooth confirmation hearing for Pritzker
Obama's commerce secretary pick, Penny Pritzker, gets smooth confirmation hearing in Senate
Panel rejects Pentagon's request for base closings
House subcommittee says no to Pentagon's request for a new round of military base closings
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.
