Budget News 
2013 Budget Resources
Top News
- OMB reworking financial system requirements to focus on outcomes, not inputs
- Hagel: Accountability breakdown a leading factor in sexual assaults
- PHOTOS: Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal Finalists
- Lew taps government retiree pension fund
- SBA starting new lending program for veterans
- More Obama aides knew of IRS audit; Obama not told
- Former IRS commissioner heads to Hill amid scandal
- Next-gen Apple devices cleared to join Defense IT networks
- In fight over intelligence IT system, Army prioritizes access to data
- DoD upends slow approval process for mobile devices
- Bonuses to senior execs under fire at GSA, other agencies
- VA's Gould moves the needle on many of VA's toughest challenges
- Tuesday federal headlines - May 21, 2013
USPS makes case for ending Saturday delivery as postal reform push continues
The U.S. Postal Service's worsening financial situation led Postmaster General Pat Donahoe to announce last week the agency would end Saturday mail delivery beginning in August. But lawmakers on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee were divided over Donahoe's announcement. The postmaster general told the committee during a hearing Wednesday the decision was necessary to save $2 billion a year and to begin shoring up the service's funding shortfalls.
Obama calls on Congress to stop sequestration, pass cyber bill
President Obama used his State of the Union speech Tuesday night to reiterate common management themes that have been part of the administration's push over the last four years.
Top officers issue urgent warning over budget cuts
US military's top leaders says looming spending cuts may leave troops unprepared for combat
Are contractors exaggerating sequestration impact?
As sequestration draws nearer, contractor groups have pointed to alarming studies that show the 9 percent in across-the-board Defense cuts would throw at least 1 million people out of work and potentially cripple the defense and aerospace industries. But in a new report, the Center for International Policy, a nonprofit group which advocates reducing military spending, presented evidence that far fewer defense-sector jobs would be lost than industry has claimed and that defense companies would likely be able to absorb the defense cuts.
Inside the Reporter's Notebook: 2014 IT budget passback is much ado about nothing
News and buzz from the last two weeks includes a new legislative proposal from Rep. Darrell Issa on suspension and debarment and round two of the Presidential Innovation Fellows program.
Air Force: Sequestration already creating 'chronic inefficiency'
The Air Force's long-range planning and modernization takes back seat to preparations for near-term crises, including contingency plans to scale back civilian workforce. Civilian furloughs would be "breach of faith," Air Force says.
OMB details widespread furloughs, cuts to agency programs under sequestration
OMB details hundreds of thousands of furloughs and cuts to nearly every agency program. Danny Werfel, OMB controller, said the effective percentage cut to each civilian agency would be about 9 percent and 13 percent for DoD over the next seven months.
Civilian discretionary spending under scrutiny
On this week's Bloomberg Government show, nine programs that make ideal targets for budget cuts.
February 7, 2013
Pentagon to pare back military pay increase request for 2014
DoD's 2014 budget will ask Congress for a 1 percent increase in military pay, down slightly from previous projections.
USPS employees to see less overtime, more buyouts under 5-day delivery plan
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said the service can no longer afford to delivery first class mail six-days a week. He said cutting back by one day a week would save about $2 billion a year. USPS still would have a $14 billion deficit and needs help from Congress to address other fiscal challenges.
GOP sequestration plan calls for reducing federal workforce
Republicans on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have proposed an alternative to the automatic budget cuts set to go into effect next month that includes reducing the size of the federal workforce by 10 percent through attrition.
Obama urges stopgap budget deal to avoid deep cuts
Obama urges a short-term budget deal to avoid deep cuts as deficits slightly shrink, for now
Furloughs vs. buyouts
Are you sick of hearing the F-word coming out of Washington? Would you offer yourself up as buyout bait? If the answer to either is yes, check out Senior Correspondent Mike Causey's Federal Report for the latest forecast.
Civilian agencies set to release sequestration details to employees
Civilian federal agencies are expected to begin telling their employees how automatic budget cuts set to go into effect in March will affect them, according to federal-employee unions who were briefed by Obama administration officials. The Office of Management and Budget gave agency heads the go-ahead to begin communicating to their employees as early as Tuesday about the possible effects of sequestration, including employee furloughs.
Obama seeks to delay sequester with short-term fix
President Barack Obama is asking Congress for a short-term deficit reduction package of spending cuts and tax revenue that will delay the effective date of steeper automatic cuts now scheduled to kick in on March 1. Obama said the looming cuts would be economically damaging and must be avoided.
Obama to visit Israel in first visit as president
President Barack Obama plans to visit Israel in the spring, marking his first visit to the nation since becoming president.
Contractors can expect uncertain, difficult times ahead, expert says
Michael Tinsley, CEO of NeoSystems Corp., tells The Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp, there's little contractors can do to influence agencies facing impending sequestration beyond maintaining good communications and weathering the storm.
Federal Drive Interviews -- Feb. 5, 2013
Robert Litan discusses a Bloomberg Government study about rule-making in the Obama administration. Michael Tinsley, CEO of NeoSystems Corp., offers insight on how furloughs might affect federal contractors. Procurement attorney Joe Petrillo weighs in on a a 2012 Supreme Court case that could come back to bite federal agencies facing budget cuts under sequestration. Gregory Wilshusen discusses a new GAO report on how prepared agencies are to fend of online assaults. John Palguta of the Partnership for Public Service talks about sequestration and the threat of furloughs.
Obama to campaign for gun proposals in Minnesota
The fate of his gun proposals on Capitol Hill uncertain, President Barack Obama is seeking to rally support from the public and law enforcement community for his calls to ban assault weapons and install universal background checks for gun buyers.
By year's end, troops will be unable to respond to crises, Pentagon says
Shortfalls in operating accounts would mean military units would be undertrained, underequipped and unable to deploy by the end of fiscal 2013, senior DoD officials predict.
