Congressional, White House Action on Sequestration 
Top News
- Data breach puts DHS workers at risk of ID theft
- DoD to pursue commercial alternative to VA's VistA system
- Obama to nominate Tangherlini as GSA administrator
- PHOTOS: Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal Finalists
- House GOP panel moves on deep budget cuts
- OMB fuels synergy between mobile, open data
- IRS official Lerner: 'I did nothing wrong'
- OMB reworking financial system requirements to focus on outcomes, not inputs
- Retirement funds temporarily tapped to avoid debt limit default
- VanRoekel to lead OMB management team
- SBA starting new lending program for veterans
- New Apple devices cleared to join DoD IT networks
- Bonuses under fire at GSA, other agencies
- Wednesday federal headlines - May 22, 2013
Issa seeks answers on layoff notices from defense companies
Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Darrel Issa (R-Calif.), wrote to the heads of 10 defense companies seeking information about the legal justification for not issuing notices of potential layoffs due to the across-the-board defense cuts set to go into effect Jan. 2. If contractors don't issue the notices and contracts are, in fact, terminated or modified, then agencies will pick up the contract-termination and employee compensation costs, the Office of Management and Budget stated in guidance issued late last month. But Republican lawmakers have argued the White House doesn't have the legal authority to ask companies to not comply with the law.
Biden, Ryan wrangle over budget, defense cuts
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said President Barack Obama has failed to produce a workable budget plan, while Vice President Joe Biden said budgets introduced by Ryan "eviscerated all the things that the middle class cares about."
Continuing resolution, Harriers, Israeli technology & prescription drug shortages
On this week's Bloomberg Government Capital Impact show, analysts will talk about what's next for sequestration, options for repairing the Harrier jet, technology that Israel could use to respond to the Iranian nuclear threat, and why certain medications may be in short supply.
October 4, 2012
Uncle Sam as Freddy Krueger
What do Uncle Sam and horror-movie star Freddy Krueger have in common? Not much, fortunately. But that could all change if an 8 percent cut kicks in Jan. 3 forcing furloughs curtailed services that impact everything from tax returns and Social Security claims to airline travel, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
Sequestration threat revives the F-word
As the make-or-break sequestration deadline draws closer, top federal officials are increasingly using (or at least thinking) the F-word, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
Senators call for bipartisan push to prevent sequestration
Six senators sent a letter to their Senate leaders asking for a bipartisan effort to end the threat of automatic, across-the-board budget cuts due to take effect in January.
White House warns of 'deeply destructive' cuts in sequestration report
The across-the-board budget cuts, known as sequestration, set to take effect Jan. 2 would be "deeply destructive" to national security and core civilian agency programs, according to a comprehensive report from the White House detailing the impact of the cuts on specific programs and accounts. The $109 billion in cuts coming next year — split evenly between Defense civilian agency budgets — would slash Defense discretionary spending by 9.4 percent and civilian agency spending by 8.2 percent.
Congress faces continuing resolution, sequestration and postal reform
Lawmakers returned to Washington, D.C., this week with a packed agenda. Topping the list of priorities is hammering out final details of a stopgap spending measure to keep the government running beyond the end of the fiscal year -- Sept. 30. Amid the election-year politicking, the list of unfinished business also includes legislation to restructure the financially ailing U.S. Postal Service and a cybersecurity bill that aims to safeguard the nation's critical infrastructure. Perhaps looming largest of all is what Congress plans to do about automatic, across-the-board cuts, known as sequestration, set to take effect Jan. 2. Failure to avert the cuts could send the country over a "fiscal cliff," budget experts warn.
White House misses deadline to deliver sequestration report, says plan coming next week
The White House plans to deliver a report to Congress late next week detailing how automatic, across-the-board cuts, set to take effect in January, will affect specific programs. The report is required under the Sequestration Transparency Act, which Congress overwhelmingly passed this summer and which the President signed on Aug. 7. The law directed the President to issue the detailed report within 30 days of signing it - a deadline that came this week and went unmet.
Republican convention, sequestration, and the real cause of the budget crisis
On this week's Bloomberg Government Capital
Impact show, analysts will discuss the GOP convention in Tampa, preparations for sequestration, and what caused the budget crisis.
August 30, 2012
Lawmaker says fed pay, benefits used as 'piggybank' in deficit reduction
Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.), whose district in the Washington, D.C., suburbs is home to many federal employees, said he understands the frustration voiced by federal unions about a de facto extension of the federal pay freeze. Sarbanes said too often lawmakers used federal pay and benefits as a "piggybank" in deficit- reduction efforts.
Legislative roundup: What feds should expect when Congress returns to work
Jenny Mattingley hosts of roundtable discussion of legislation pending in Congress that affect federal workers.
August 24, 2012
Cliff-Walking 101
Federal workers are going to be doing the limbo on a hot seat for much of the rest of the year, says Senior Correspondent Mike Causey. Will sequestration kick in with its major across-the-board cuts, will the continuing resolution save the day and what if nothing happens, which seems to be what happens a lot these days?
Sequestration, the Ryan budget, and more
Host Mike Causey moderates a roundtable discussion
of sequestration, postal service buyouts, and
more.
August 15, 2012
Dr. Strangelove: Or How We Learned To Love Sequestration
Coming soon...maybe...to a federal agency near you: Sequestration. Everybody is talking about it and nobody is doing anything about it. Congress set up the Dr. Strangelove-like time bomb to force it to do something...but so far nobody is doing anything but warning about federal furloughs and layoffs that could also devastate the contractor community.....
Senators sound defense budget alarm in North Vegas
A trio of Republican senators sounded the alarm over billions of dollars' worth of "catastrophic" and "draconian" military budget cuts set to take effect in January, telling an audience Monday that more time was needed for negotiations.
The nuts and bolts of the sequester
Republicans and Democrats are sounding the alarm: The budget sequester is coming and we have to do everything to stop it.
Calm Before The Storm
August is hot in DC, Atlanta, Houston, St. Louis and Cincinnati and lots of other places too. But those of us inside the Beltway get a break you don't...that's because for the next month...until after Labor Day, tens of thousands of the people who at times make this such a toxic town are away — back with the folks who sent them here in the first place.
Was 2011 The Good Old Days???
When you think of the good old days do you think of your childhood, or maybe when you were in high school or college? For some people, like those who work for or are otherwise linked to Uncle Sam, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says the good old days may be as recent as this time last year when we thought times were tough.
