Civilian Agency Sequestration 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
Tons of cocaine entering U.S. due to sequestration cuts, rear admiral says
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Charles Michel, director of the Joint Interagency Task Force South told the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp that cuts from sequestration are limiting the resources available to stop large amounts of cocaine from entering the country.
Sequestration: Is there pain beyond the Beltway?
The Washington area is alive and very well as it enters the third month of sequestration, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. But what about feds in other places? Is their life beyond the Beltway? What's sequestration doing to feds in Ogden, Utah, and Maricopa County. Ariz.? How are communities like Hampton, Va., and Huntsville, Ala., holding up?
Sequestration solutions: Furloughs, buyouts, nothing
If you told your giant nationwide operation to make across-the-board cuts, you would think each manager would do roughly the same thing. But since sequestration has been imposed, each federal agency has acted differently, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. Some have frozen hiring while others are still recruiting. Some are furloughing employees while some are paying them to leave. So what's your agency doing?
EPA cuts furlough hours
In the second phase of furloughs at the Environmental Protection Agency, employees are now looking at 23 furlough hours instead of 47.
HUD reorg plan violates furlough agreement, union says
The American Federal of Government Employees says the Housing and Urban Development Department's plan to reorganize to save costs runs counter to an agreement it has with the union over employee furloughs.
U.S. Park Police cancels furloughs
Furloughs for employees of the U.S. Park Police will end June 1, the head of the National Park Service announced Friday. The Park Police have already taken three furlough days since sequestration went into effect in March.
5 percent of federal workforce to be furloughed Friday
The Department of Housing and Urban Development, Internal Revenue Service, Office of Management and Budget and the Environmental Protection Agency will all shut down Friday because of widespread employee furloughs — giving feds a four-day holiday weekend. The Labor and Interior Departments also are telling employees to stay home.
Don't work or we'll fire you!
The password next week at several federal agencies is this: Come to work and we fire you. Don't dare show your face on Friday or else, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
Uncle Sam's GPS: Are we there yet?
When you're on a vacation trip or long drive, do your kids keep asking "Are we there yet?!" Now, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says, suppose you are Uncle Sam and you've told your 1.8 million kids they are going on a sequestration vacation. If they keep asking are we there yet, what do you tell them?
Intelligence Community free from furloughs
In an email to employees, Director James Clapper said that he does not envision furloughs for feds that fall under the National Intelligence Program.
Sequestration slaps feds, punches contractors
For many federal workers, the threat of sequestration-triggered furloughs seems to be fading, at least a bit. But for some federal contractors, sequestration has meant layoffs, with perhaps more to come, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. So how's sequestration treating you?
Just how essential are you, really...
Back in the day, there were two classes of federal worker. Either you were essential or you were nonessential. Most were nonessential. Thanks to political correctness, the term of art now is emergency or nonemergency, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. So what impact does that have when furloughs come a knocking?
FAA to staff 72 airport control towers at night
FAA to keep 72 airport control towers open at night that were slated for closure
Furloughs: A soft landing for some?
Sequestration came in like a lion ... While there have been some furloughs, politicians on both sides of the aisle have learned that furloughing air traffic controllers, meat inspectors and FBI agents is not popular, even with fed bashers, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. So, is sequestration heading for a soft landing?
OPM: Some furloughs could be offset with annual leave
Some furloughed federal employees could offset their forced time off with annual leave -- but only under certain circumstances, according to updated guidance from the Office of Personnel Management. If an agency cancels the need for planned furlough days after an employee has already taken those days off, he or she is permitted to substitute annual leave to offset the furlough.
USDA says furloughs not expected
Furloughs at the Agriculture Department are looking increasingly unlikely following Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's request to shift funding and the department's ongoing efforts to find alternative cost savings. A USDA spokeswoman confirmed last week that the department wouldn't have to furlough employees in either the Farm Service Agency or the department's Rural Development division.
Sequestration: the new heartburn and Alka-Seltzer combo
The threat of furloughs is hanging heavy over tens of thousands of federal workers who say they won't be able to pay the bills if forced to stay home for five to 15 days. So, Mike Causey wants to know, is there light at the end of this tunnel?
White House recalculates sequestration cuts for some agencies
The White House budget office is recalculating how to apply automatic spending cuts for a handful of agencies, freeing up almost $4 billion for the Pentagon and another $1 billion or so for other agencies like the Homeland Security Department and NASA.
No sequester furloughs at State Department
Despite budget cuts requiring most federal agencies to furlough workers, the State Department says it will not have to force any of its employees to take unpaid leave.
Forest Service to states: Give subsidies back
The U.S. Forest Service is demanding that states give back $17.9 million in federal subsidies, saying the taxpayer cash is subject to automatic spending cuts called "sequestration."
