Thursday Morning Federal Newscast

Written by Ruben Gomez & Tom Temin Edited by Suzanne Kubota This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED: If you get deployed to a war zone, the pay ...

Written by Ruben Gomez & Tom Temin
Edited by Suzanne Kubota

This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED:

If you get deployed to a war zone, the pay and benefits you receive might soon change. Lawmakers are calling for uniform pay policies for federal civilians assigned to combat zones. Right now, what you get depends on who you work for, where and what you do. A House panel heard testimony on this, and Government Executive reports that lawmakers say a government-wide policy would improve recruiting and retention.

The White House is launching a competition to save money and streamline how agencies do business. The SAVE award opens the door for Federal employees to submit ideas on making government more efficient. The best ideas will receive funding in the fiscal 2011 budget. The Office of Management and Budget oversees the contest, and you can send in your ideas online at SaveAward.gov.

The White House may scrap part or all of a plan to build a missle shield on the European continent. The idea was hatched during the Bush Administration, but Russia has been a fierce opponent and relations with that country have strained in recent years. We’re expecting an official Pentagon announcement later today.

It sounds like a science-fiction disaster: A nuclear weapon is detonated miles above the Earth’s atmosphere and knocks out power from New York City to Chicago for weeks, maybe months. USA Today reports experts and lawmakers are increasingly warning that terrorists or enemy states could wage that exact type of attack, idling electricity grids and disrupting everything from communications networks to military defenses. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is pushing Congress for authority to require power companies to take protective steps, which could include building metal shields around sensitive computer equipment.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Wednesday named the first winning bidder under a test of the government’s program to back private purchases of toxic mortgage assets and get them off banks’ balance sheets. Fort Worth-based Residential Credit Solutions is paying $64.2 million for a 50% stake in a new company that will have about $1.3 billion in home mortgages from the failed Franklin Bank.

The House is poised to vote to push private lenders out of the federal college loan business and massively expand the government’s own lending program. Lawmakers debated a student aid bill Wednesday that has widespread support, including from the White House. The measure is expected to win passage Thursday and go next to the Senate.

Four months after its creation, a congressionally appointed panel modeled after the 9/11 Commission and the Iraq Study Group is opening a 15-month investigation into the causes of last year’s economy-crippling financial collapse. The 10-member, bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission holds its first meeting Thursday. With a budget of $5 million, its instructions are to submit findings to lawmakers by December 2010, long after Congress hopes to have a new regulations in place for preventing another Wall Street meltdown.

More news links

Former Interior Secretary Gale Norton is focus of corruption probe (LATimes)

Deep divisions over long-awaited health care plan

Military says mental wounds of war run deep

White House holds off on decisions on Afghanistan

Drugs suspected in death of Afghanistan contractor

DHS pulled SC gov’s security status for a week

Rockets vie in simulated lunar landing contest

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