Wednesday Morning Federal Newscast

Written by Jane Norris & Ruben Gomez
Edited by Suzanne Kubota

This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED:

The Transportation Security Administration wants to know why Senior Executives are leaving the agency, reports GovExec. The Government Accountability Office reports that TSA has high attrition rates among the agency’s top career staff. The report found that TSA relied heavily on Senior Executives and during its early years shed those executives more quickly than other federal agencies. TSA officials say they are looking into the reasons why Senior Executives are leaving through its exit surveys.

A Federal Career Job Fair is coming to Frederick County Virginia. Congressman Frank Wolf is organizing the event which will bring together Federal Government employers and people looking for work. The Federal Agencies include the CIA, US Secret Service, Customs and Border Protection and non-government employers like FedEx. The job fair will be held on Monday October 19th from 11-3PM at the new Virginia National Guard Armory in Frederick County Virginia and everyone is invited to attend.

As Health Care passes a key committee vote in the Senate, one local member of Congress has concerns about the reforms’ impact on the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program. Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia told Federal News Radio that federal employees and retirees have to be very careful as this bill moves forward because it may make some fairly dramatic changes in five years that people don’t quite understand.

A controversial amendment that would require the Census Bureau to ask for the first time whether people are in the USA illegally is headed for a Senate vote today. The measure was proposed last week by Sens. David Vitter of Louisiana and Bob Bennett of Utah. USAToday reports it would exclude illegal immigrants from the population count used to allocate congressional seats after the 2010 Census and would require the Census to ask people whether they are citizens. The amendment comes less than six months before 2010 Census questionnaires are mailed to 135 million households.

The number of convicted criminals who were hired to check home addresses this summer for the Census Bureau is probably fewer than the 200 estimated in a recent report by the Government Accountability Office. This according to Census Bureau Director Robert Groves who says the bureau is trying to determine whether it is possible to get a second security check on job candidates whose fingerprints could not be read the first time they are run through the FBI database. The Washington Post reports that the bureau is spending $100 million this year checking fingerprints, the first time it has been done for temporary workers.

The criminal probe involving former Interior Secretary Gale Norton is heating up. The National Journal reports that a grand jury has subpoenaed her. They’re looking into whether she broke a law that bars government officials from negotiating future jobs with a company that could benefit from official actions. In early 2006, the Royal Dutch Shell company won three lucrative oil shale leases on federal land. Months later, Norton resigned from her post at Interior and took a job at Shell.

Recruiting is no problem for the Pentagon. The Defense Department says they’ve met their best recruiting year since 1973! DOD’s personnel chief, Bill Carr, credits money spent to FIND recruits. He also points to raises in military pay. All four branches met goals for active duty and reserve hiring during fiscal 2009 — the first time that’s happened since the all-volunteer force was established.

More news links

AP sources: Afghan corruption worries McChrystal

Where things stand with health care overhaul

Latin party guest chef raids White House garden

Farmers try to plant hemp at DEA office, arrested

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