Thursday Morning Federal Newscast – February 17th

White House sounds retirement tsunami alert

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.

  • Your pay’s already frozen…your step increase, your bonus or your promotion might be next. Republican congressman Todd Rokita of Indiana is introducing an amendment to the continuing resolution the House is working on, that would kill step increases, promotions, bonuses, and raises from pay-for-performance systems. President Obama’s pay freeze left those alone.
  • The White House is says agencies need to prepare for a wave of federal worker retirements. The fiscal 2012 budget cites an aging workforce combined with a recovering economy as factors that could push more feds to retire now. The White House says the government will likely see 230,000 retirements in 2011, and that number could jump to more than 300,000. Federal Times reports the White House is encouraging agencies to start collecting important information from potential retirees and transferring that knowledge to younger workers.
  • Energy Secretary Steven Chu says the House Republicans’ spending bill could jeopardize the country’s nuclear security if enacted. Chu says the continuing resolution would have an adverse impact on the department. As it stands, almost $12 billion of the agency’s $30 billion budget goes to its nuclear weapons and nonproliferation missions. GovExec reports that Chu also says the cuts for his department’s budget could compel some of the nation’s brightest scientists to find work elsewhere.
  • You and your fellow career senior executives are the newest recruits in the Federal performance fight. Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner says career managers are important sources of information about what programs are, and aren’t, working at agencies. GovExec reports Senator Warner wants Congress to lift some of the reporting requirements GPRA put on your agency. Senator Warner says Congress could use a few more of what he calls “government performance nerds.”
  • You’re getting new colleagues…faster. The Office of Personnel Management says agencies are filling openings more than 40 percent of the time, within 80 days. The Federal Times reports OPM says it used to take an average of more than 150 days to bring on most new hires. OPM’s Angela Bailey says the main reason for the speedier process is that 89 percent of job announcements no longer require KSAs in the first part of the application process.

More news links

AP sources: House GOP looks for deeper budget cuts

What might a government shutdown look like? (WashingtonPost)

EADS lowers bid for KC-X tanker (UPI)

Arrest made in case of stolen military laptops

2 TSA agents accused of stealing $40,000 in NYC

TSA Confirms Security Lapses at Newark Aiport (FoxNews)

Obama promotes plans for wireless expansion

Elephants blamed for TB outbreak

THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

Coming up today on The DorobekInsider:

** It’s the list you don’t want to be on — GAO’s high risk list. We’ll flesh out the list with comptroller general Gene Dodaro — we’ll find out what the list tells us about government management.

** And it’s telework week. Is telework working? What are the challenges? Insights from Ron Sanders, the former Chief Human Capital Officer of the intelligence community.

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

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