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Monday Afternoon Federal Newscast

Obama says we need to create more jobs; military community plans town hall on swine flu; Census begins education campaign in the schools; and the search is off ...

Federal News Network Staff

November 2, 2009 5:14 pm

2 min read

President Barack Obama says the public and private sectors must find more ways to create jobs to continue the nation’s climb out of an economic recession. Mr. Obama says the economy has pulled back “from the brink” but still has a long way to go. He said job losses will likely continue for weeks and months to come and called for bold, innovative action by his administration, Congress and the private sector to create more well-paying jobs.

The Treasury Department says its will need to borrow $276 billion in the current quarter as it struggles to manage the government’s books, pending a decision by Congress to boost the debt limit. The department’s projected borrowing for the October-December period is down sharply from an estimate of $486 billion it made in August. The improvement reflects the winding down of a program designed to help support the economy and created at the height of the financial crisis last year. The move will delay the point at which the government will hit the current debt ceiling of $12.1 trillion to give Congress more time to approve an increase.

The Office of Management and Budget wants agencies to start tracking the cost, schedule and performance metrics of major non-technology projects. Lesley Field is the acting administrator in the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. He has issued a memo, telling some of the largest civilian agency chief acquisition officers that by Dec. 10 they should provide a list of their top 10 largest planned or current real property asset construction projects. The goal is to bring the performance management system used for technology projects to non-IT programs.

Questions about H1N1 flu? If you’re in the military, the Military Health System will host a Web-based town hall on Nov.10 to respond to your questions. Military service members, their families, healthcare providers and Department of Defense civilians can submit questions starting today, using the comments box at the MHS Web site. Participants are asked to limit questions to H1N1 flu-related topics.

The 2010 Census is less than five months away. Now the Secretary of Commerce and the Census Bureau Director have launched “Census in Schools” to educate kids about the importance of the census. The publication company, Scholastic, Inc., will partner with the Census to create supplementary education materials to provide to 118,000 schools across the nation. The schools can decide on their own if they want to use it.

The search is off for survivors of a midair collision between a U.S. Coast Guard plane and a Marine Corps helicopter over the Pacific Ocean. Petty Officer First Class Allison Conroy says there’s little chance of finding survivors among the seven military personnel aboard the Coast Guard C-130 and the two in the Marine Corps AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter. The two aircraft collided Thursday evening as the Coast Guard was searching for a missing boater.