Monday morning federal headlines – April 29, 2013

The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp discuss throughout the show each day. T...

The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp discuss throughout the show each day. The Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the stories you hear on the air.

  • Charlotte, N.C., Mayor Anthony Foxx is expected to be nominated today to be the next secretary of the Transportation Department. The White House plans to make the announcement this afternoon. Foxx would replace Ray LaHood, who served the last four years at the helm of DoT. LaHood was one of the few Republicans to serve in the Obama administration. Foxx has experience in boosting transit infrastructure and using those projects to create jobs. He was first elected mayor of Charlotte in 2009. If confirmed by the Senate, Foxx would take over DoT at a time when the Obama administration has renewed its calls to improve the nation’s roads and bridges while facing continued budget pressures. (Federal News Radio)
  • Scott Gould is leaving as the deputy secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department, Federal News Radio has learned. Gould’s last day is May 17. VA would not confirm or deny Gould’s decision. A spokeswoman says they do not comment on personnel actions. But industry and government sources confirmed Gould’s decision to move on after four years of being the chief operating officer of the largest civilian agency in government. Gould would be the fourth senior VA official to leave in the last two months. Va’s chief technology officer, chief information officer and chief of staff all moved on since early March. He has spent most of his career in government starting as a Navy officer and serving in both the Commerce and Treasury departments. (Federal News Radio)
  • The Air Force is in the market for a new civilian leader. Mike Donley, the current secretary of the Air Force will step down this summer. He made the announcement last Friday after serving in the post for the last five years. He’s the longest-serving secretary in the service’s history. Former Defense Secretary Bob Gates hired Donley after a shakeup that led to the firings of both the Air Force secretary and chief of staff in 2008. Before that, Donley had served as the Pentagon’s director of administration and management and as a professional staffer for the Senate Armed Services committee. His last day on the job will be June 21. (Federal News Radio)
  • The Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control operations are getting back on track following congressional passage of a bill that solved part of the agency’s sequestration problem. Just before catching flights out of town, lawmakers on Friday overwhelmingly signed off on budget flexibility that lets the agency move money from other funding areas in order to stop the furloughs of thousands of air traffic controllers. The agency said in a statement over the weekend that it had suspended the furloughs and expected the national airspace system to be operating normally again by last night. (Federal News Radio)
  • One lawmaker wants to speed up the process to cancel or consolidate federal programs. Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) introduced a bill last week to expedite congressional consideration of the recommendations made by the White House in the Cuts, Consolidations and Savings report. The administration submits this report annually to Congress as part of the fiscal year budget request. In the 2014 request, the White House listed 215 programs that could be cut or consolidated, and estimated a savings of more than $25 billion in 2014. In each of the last three budget request, the administration said it identified more than 150 programs that could save at least $25 billion a year. (White House)
  • Two bills are taking aim to further limit and reduce overlap among federal programs. Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) introduced legislation to require a Congressional Research Service report identifying if a new bill would duplicate or overlap existing federal programs. Reps. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Cory Gardner (D-Colo.) will put forth a bill to require hearings on the Government Accountability Office’s cost-savings recommendations. Both bills built off GAO’s annual report of redundant federal programs. GAO found 17 areas of duplication and 14 areas of potential cost savings that could save the government $95 billion. The Coburn- Udall bill is a third attempt to prevent future duplication of federal programs. Two other attempts failed to get the support needed to move forward in the legislative process. (Senate)

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