House News 
Top News
- DoD to pursue commercial alternative to VA's VistA
- FedRAMP achieves another cloud security milestone
- OMB reworking financial systems to focus on outcomes, not inputs
- PHOTOS: Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal Finalists
- Causey: Today, everybody's a Sooner
- House GOP panel moves on deep budget cuts
- Star witness to stay mum for House hearing on IRS
- OMB director taps VanRoekel to lead management team
- Lew taps government retiree pension fund
- SBA starting new lending program for veterans
- New Apple devices cleared to join DoD IT networks
- Army prioritizes access to data in fight over intelligence IT system
- DoD upends slow approval process for mobile devices
- Senior execs' bonuses under fire at agencies
- Wednesday federal headlines - May 22, 2013
IRS struggling to tackle massive surge in identity theft
Faced with declining resources, the Internal Revenue Service has diverted resources from elsewhere inside the agency to try and head off skyrocketing cases of identity theft stemming from tax refunds.
House Republicans deride VA for non-answers on conference spending
The Veterans' Affairs Committee is turning up its oversight heat after Veterans Affairs officials "stonewalled" their questions. Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) said there are 66 outstanding questions on conference spending that the committee has been waiting for answers from VA since August. VA pushed back saying it has responded as quickly and as accurately as possible.
House panel promises more aggressive VA oversight
The House Veterans' Affairs Committee warned the VA Wednesday to expect much more aggressive oversight in the coming months as lawmakers review the department's conference and travel spending.
House GOP recommends new committee chairmen
Top House Republicans announced their recommendations Tuesday for the new Congress' committee chairmanships, an all-male list that includes returning Paul Ryan to the Budget panel and seven new faces to head other committees.
9 more Iraq, Afghan war veterans joining Congress
As Tammy Duckworth sees it, her path to Congress began when she awoke in the fall of 2004 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. She was missing both of her legs and faced the prospect of losing her right arm.
Fiscal cliff negotiators are facing high hurdles
The White House and leaders on the Hill will have to resolve deep political and fiscal disagreements that have stymied them time after time despite repeated promises to overcome them.
Congress faces agenda of unfinished business
Averting sequestration sits atop the to-do as Congress returns Tuesday from a seven-week election break to a long list of unfinished business.
Changes coming to key congressional committees despite status-quo election
Following Tuesday's election, Democrats maintain control of the Senate and Republicans continue to hold sway in the House. Retirements, term limits and a few new lawmakers alter the leadership of some committees.
Barack Obama wins second term
President Barack Obama won re-election Tuesday night despite a fierce challenge from Republican Mitt Romney, prevailing in the face of a weak economy and high unemployment that encumbered his first term and crimped the middle class dreams of millions. "This happened because of you. Thank you" Obama tweeted to supporters as he secured four more years in the White House.
Committee leadership changes likely after election
The election Tuesday could bring with it a number of changes to the makeup and leadership of key congressional committees with oversight of the federal workforce and management. The changes to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and others are expected from retirements, committee term limits and a few close races.
House Republicans blast OIRA over late regulations report
The chairmen of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees have written to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) demanding to know why the public release of a report on upcoming federal regulations is behind schedule. In a letter to the agency, Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the chairmen of the Oversight and Government Reform and Judiciary committees, respectively, say OIRA has not been forthcoming about the expected publication date of a report that should have been released months ago.
Column: Cyber dominance meaningless without skilled workforce
Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), co-founder of the bipartisan Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, says the U.S. is falling short when it comes to a skilled cyber workforce capable of operating at the highest levels of its field. His column is part of Federal News Radio's special report, Cybersecurity Rising.
Column: Cyber inaction may be our Achilles' heel
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the chairman of the House GOP Cybersecurity Task Force, argues that the country's national security cannot afford a stalemate on cyber legislation. His column is part of Federal News Radio's special report, Cybersecurity Rising.
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.
GOP lawmakers urge Obama to drop cyber executive order
Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate wrote to President Barack Obama urging him to not issue an executive order setting voluntary cybersecurity standards for private-sector operators of critical infrastructure.
FDA checking high-risk medical apps for safety
Last year, the FDA proposed a policy to test apps that included "very high-risk interventions" that did not cause any unintended consequences. The agency is now expected to release final policy by the end of this year on which apps it will oversee.
Republican lawmakers call for ouster of VA official who approved conferences
Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the ranking member of the Senate committee, called on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to fire his chief of staff, John Gingrich after an inspector general report said he failed to ask the right questions before approving two training conferences. The conferences costs $6.1 million, with as much as $762,000 in questionable spending.
House committee: Security requests denied in Libya
Despite two explosions and dozens of other security threats, U.S. officials in Washington turned down repeated pleas from American diplomats in Libya to increase security at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi where the U.S. ambassador was killed, Republican leaders of a House committee said Tuesday.
Congress posts member financial data on Internet
House Speaker John Boehner bought stock in two health care companies this year, while third-ranking House Republican Kevin McCarthy bought and sold Apple stock within a few days. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid bought two government bonds and sold two others.
President signs continuing resolution, extends pay freeze
President Barack Obama signed a continuing resolution Friday to fund government operations through March 27, 2013. The legislation represents a 0.6 percent across-the-board increase above fiscal 2012 levels. It also extends the federal pay freeze.
