Federal Drive

Tuesday Morning Federal Newscast – March 1st

SSA encouraging early retirement Annual, sick leave app launched OPM opposes changes to USPS retirement funds

Federal News Network Staff

March 1, 2011 9:46 am

5 min read

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 appears ready to vote today on a two-week continuing resolution. If agreed to by the Senate, the bill would extend government operations until March 18. The current CR expires Friday. The House measure would cut $4 billion from 2010 spending levels, which have been carried over to 2011. The two week extension would put off the more difficult task of agreeing on how to fund the remainder of 2011. House Republicans and Senate Democrats remain far apart in how much to cut.
The Social Security Administration reportedly is encouraging its eligible employees, to retire early. In an announcement obtained by Federal Times, SSA is offering the early retirement option to employees who are at least 50 years and have 20 years of credible service, or employees of any age with 25 years of service. The agency is working under a partial hiring freeze imposed by the budget stalemate that has left most funding at last years level. Those wanting to take advantage of the deal must let supervisors know by April 29 and be out the door by June 3rd.
The Federal Thrift Savings Plan is seeing growth in it’s new fund, and a boost in overall federal employee participation. GovExec reports TSP says $300 million flowed into the L-2050 fund its first month. TSP also says overall participation in the Federal Employees Retirement System by new enrollees, grew 1.4 percent from December 2010 to January 2011. The jump comes in part from a new program that automatically signs up new hires to contribute 3 percent of their pay to retirement unless they change it.
The Postal Service is deep in the red. The prevailing theory is that the agency’s retiree benefit plan needs to be recalculated, because it has been overfunded for years. But the Office of Personnel Management has done a study of its own and says that changing the retiree benefits won’t help either. The study says not only would changing the plan have a negative effect on retirement programs for postal workers, but it won’t help the Postal Service’s future profitability. It also concludes that the proposal to change the retiree benefit plan could shift the costs from the Postal Service to the taxpayer.
The Office of Personnel Management wants to change the way you go through background checks, and the National Treasury Employees Union is none-too-happy about it. NTEU says the changes will make “public-trust employees” subject to more detailed questions normally reserved for national security employees, including requiring feds to fill out a medical release form. Union president Colleen Kelley issued a statement accusing OPM of rejecting reforms that were put in place in 1995, which tailored Standard Form 85-P to the nature of the position.
Want an easy way to track your annual and sick leave, whenever you want? Yes, There’s an app for that. Geico has launched the application especially for federal employees. The mobile federal leave card can be accessed on iPhone, BlackBerry and Androids. It allows users to access up to date annual leave balances, credit hours and comp time. It even lets you calculate leave accrued and track sick days.
The Government Accountability Office issues a report today detailing billions of dollars in redundant federal programs. The report was obtained by the Wall Street Journal. It could serve as a template for both Congress and the administration as they try to rein in spending. The Journal writes, the GAO report shows 15 agencies overseeing food-safety laws. It cites 20 separate programs to help the homeless, and 80 programs for economic development. Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) commissioned the report. He estimates it identifies up to $200 billion in savings.
Contracting officers can’t avoid bad contractors if the past performance database has no information on them. Testimony before the Commission on Wartime Contracting reveals, agencies don’t put enough effort into recording how well contractors perform. GovExec reports, information on only 10 percent of contracts finds its way into the database. Agency witnesses tell the commission, they are understaffed, but they agree to put more effort into preserving past performance information.
We’re learning more about a health study on the effects of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from the National Institutes of Health. NIH is launching the study to follow 55,000 cleanup workers and volunteers over the next ten years. It is called the GuLF Study, which stands for Gulf Long-term Follow Up Study. It is the largest health study of its kind, and will make up one part of the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The goal is to find out if exposure to crude oil and dispersants affect physical and mental health.
Opening statements begin today in Salt Lake City in the trial of a man accused of running up prices at an auction for federal drilling leases in an effort to protect the land. Prosecutors say Tim DeChristopher racked up nearly $2 million in bids for 13 oil-and-gas leases without the ability to pay for them. DeChristopher was a University of Utah economics student at the time. He had offered to cover the bill with an Internet fundraising campaign, but the government refused to accept any of the money after the fact. He faces ten years in prison and $750,000 in fines.
Watson, the famed IBM computer that beat human Jeopardy champions on national TV, came to Capitol Hill last night. There, Watson was closely defeated by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), a former Jeopardy champion himself. But Watson easily bested four other members of Congress. That’s even after a momentary loss of connectivity between the D.C. Hotel where IBM staged the event, and Watson’s location in Yorktown Heights, New York. Following his defeat, Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT)kissed the monitor displaying Watson’s avatar.