Thursday Morning Federal Newscast

This morning's federal news as heard on WFED:

Federal employees could be in line for a hefty tax under a Senate proposal for healthcare reform. Government Executive reports the Senate Finance Committee bill would levy a 40-percent tax on the overall value of some health insurance plans starting in 2013: specifically those costing more than $8,000 dollars for individuals, and family plans costing more than $21,000 dollars. The tax would be imposed on insurance companies, but analysts believe that cost would be passed on to employers and consumers. Two local Democratic lawmakers Gerry Connolly and Jim Moran wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to express concern about the bill.

The young trust you: A new poll finds that young people put more faith in government to protect their private information than they do in the market. That trust is especially strong for agencies that that store a lot of sensitive information like the Department of Homeland Security and IRS. The findings were published in NextGov and the research conducted by Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates. The firm surveyed more than 1,000 Americans.

Government labor experts step up training to smooth relationships between federal managers and employees. The Federal Labor Relations Authority is planning a set of 14 classes on dispute resolution. They'll be held at regional offices around the country. The first session in D.C. kicks off on December second.

E-Verify gets 3 more years to live. Congress Tuesday approved an extension to the program in a $43 billion dollar spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security, reports the FederalTimes. Many federal contractors are required to use E-Verify to check whether their workers are in the country legally.

The head of the Justice Department public integrity unit is leaving. The departure after the unit was forced to abandon its case against former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. William M. Welch, will step aside and return to Massachusetts. He will remain an employee of the department's criminal division. The mishandling of Stevens case is the subject of a probe by the department's internal ethics investigators and a separate criminal investigation from the Judge who heard the case.

If you don't like Windows Vista, you can upgrade to Windows 7 starting today. Microsoft's latest operating system is intended to look less cluttered than Vista and streamline navigation with fewer clicks. It also adds support for multi-touch screens that respond to finger gestures. Microsoft faces stiff competition from Apples' Mac O-S; and Google is working on its own operating system too.

More news links

OPM claims victory in huge e-payroll system consolidation (NextGov)

Senate sends $42.8 billion DHS spending bill to White House (NextGov)

McCain vows to hold up labor board nominee (GovExec)

McCain calls for watchdog over U.S. tanker rematch (Reuters)

Hispanic farmers fight to sue USDA

HHS secretary has minor skin cancer removed

US marshal pick was already gay rights pioneer

Hatch urges Obama to investigate college's BCS