Friday Morning Federal Newscast – January 7th

SEC to shuffle workers from VA to DC

The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Amy Morris 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.

  • The House is planning a 2012 budget that would cut spending to below 2008 levels. House Republicans are also working to trim $60 billion from the current 2011 budget. This follows election promises by Republicans to cut spending. Majority Leader Eric Cantor says he’s optimistic Democrats will work with his party.
  • The House has approved a reduction to its budgets for committee and legislative offices. The measure would cut budgets of most House committees and all 435 legislative offices by five percent. The House Appropriations Committee would see a nine percent cut. Republicans say the move would save about $35 million this year.
  • Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposed cutting troop levels, weapons systems and military health care benefits. His goal – shrinking DoD’s budget growth by $78 billion over the next five years. Plans include shrinking the Army and Marine Corps by 69,000 troops. Meanwhile, President Obama issued an order to de-commission the Joint Forces Command, another cost-cutting measure proposed by Gates.
  • Pack your bags, SEC! Time to move! The Executive Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission told 740 employees and contractors that they’ll be moving from their current offices to Constitution Center by September. The Washington Business Journal obtained a memo that says the workers could be moving as early as February. The Journal reports only 35 so-called critical workers will stay at the Alexandria data center through October of 2013. The SEC has planned a series of meetings with employees and contractors from January 13th through the 21st.
  • Budget cuts at the Department of Homeland Security mean layoffs for some contract workers at Fort Detrick. Fifteen lab workers are losing their jobs. DHS has cut $8 million from its contract with a new biodefense lab run by the Battelle National Biodefense Institute. A Homeland Security spokesman says his department has decided to write risk assessment reports in-house, rather than contract them out. He also says no other budget cuts are on the table.
  • OPM details how federal agencies should end use of the outgoing Federal Career Intern Program. Director John Berry says agencies should convert program participants to competitive service. GovExec reports those with less than one year in the FCIP must complete a one-year probationary period. The memo also says, that for now, agencies can continue to hire under the Presidential Management Fellows, Student Experience and Temporary Employment programs. Those programs will eventually be phased out and replaced with a new approach for hiring students and recent graduates.
  • Federal employee union activity during business hours could end. Republican Representative Phil Gingrey of Georgia has introduced legislation to repeal portions of the Civil Service Reform Act that allow union work during official hours. GovExec reports, a similar bill was introduced in 2009. Gingrey cited Office of Personnel Management figures. They showed federal employees spent 2.9 million work hours for bargaining and arbitration in 2008. The cost: $121 million. Those numbers are disputed by the Internation Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.
  • More fallout from WikiLeaks. The State Department warning hundreds of people their safety is in danger. The New York Times reports, State has assembled a team of 30 people around the world to alert human rights activists, foreign government officials and business people named in leaked documents. The administration worries that people who supply valuable intelligence to the U.S. have been exposed by WikiLeaks. The State Department has helped a few people to relocate.
  • Federal officials are taking over the “shoe tree” investigation. The landmark tree was chopped down by vandals along U.S. 50 near Fallon, Nevada. The local Lahontan Valley News reports the cottonwood was covered with tangling pairs of shoes and has attracted tourists for decades. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management says the tree was within its jurisdiction. For now, the tree will stay where it fell near the highway. There’s even a memorial planned for the tree next month.
  • The National Parks are offering free days throughout 2011, so now’s the time to mark your calendars and plan your trips. All park properties will be free over the Martin Luther King Jr. birthday, which is next weekend. Plus the parks that charge admission – about 100 of them – will waive the entry fee on specific dates in April, June, September and November. And the concessions at the parks will be offering discounts too. So not only do you get to attend for free, but you get to save money on food, souvenirs, and tours. The National Park Service wants to promote awareness and park attendance.

More news links

Boehner: Spending cuts must accompany debt limit

NIH Whistleblower Wins Right to Federal Court Trial (press release)

Ex-CIA officer charged with leak to Times reporter

Cape Wind gets permit for work in fed waters

THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

Coming up today on The DorobekInsider:

** The Federal Career Intern Program — it was designed to attract and the brightest, but it has been controversial. And it is being shut down. What does that mean for the efforts to hire the best and the brightest?

** And the number two at the FDA is leaving that post. He has been instrumental in performance and transparency issues. We’ll have an exit interview.

Join Chris from 3 to 7 pm on 1500 AM or on your computer.

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