Monday Morning Federal Newscast – April 18th

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 Republican budget plan for 2012 passed by the house Friday would freeze federal salaries through 2015. And it would increase the amount that federal workers pay into their defined benefit pension plan. The vote was largely along party lines. The bill’s principal author, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, says the plan will save $6 trillion over 10 years.
• The Office of Management and Budget wants to help agencies pay vendors and grant recipients only the money they are entitled to. OMB is updating guidance for complying with the with the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act. The President signed the law last summer. The guidance covers everything from measuring improper payments to compliance reviews and requirements for agencies that don’t follow the law. The White House is also asking for $10 million in the fiscal 2012 budget to create an operations center for recovering payments, and to fully launch it’s Do Not Pay Web portal. OMB says agencies wrongly paid out $125 billion last year.
• Extra time off, but no naps. That’s the administration’s answer to the problem of sleeping air traffic controllers. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says controllers working the overnight shift will get an extra hour off between shifts so they don’t doze off at work. But he rejected the idea of allowing controllers to take naps during breaks during their shifts. The FAA’s fatigue working group recommended naps. Several other nations already allow them. The new policy follows several highly publicized cases of planes circling while controllers dozed.
• The Senate has confirmed 19 Obama administration nominees. GovExec reports, among them is Carolyn Lerner. She was unanimously approved as director of the Office of Special Council. That nomination carries a five-year term. Also confirmed was Raphael Borras to be undersecretary for management at the Homeland Security Department. He’s been holding that job under a recess appointment.
• Twenty nine percent of federal IT professionals are currently using cloud computing and another 29 percent plan to be using it within the next 12 months. That’s according to the latest survey from InformationWeek. They questioned more than 130 federal IT professionals. Of those experts, 77 percent say security is a major concern in moving to the cloud.
• When you think of federal property, you probably don’t think of residential housing. But that’s just what the General Services Administration is putting on the market. The Washington Business Journal reports three government-owned residential homes in Montgomery County are hitting the auction block. There’s one in Chevy Chase, one in Potomac, and one in Bethesda. GSA says they came from the Coast Guard and likely housed military personnel and their families. It isn’t clear when the houses will be auctioned off…but GSA wants to have the paperwork wrapped up by May first.

More news links

Obama Takes On Congress Over Policy Czar Positions (NYTimes)

Taste test: Panel tries 12 new items for MREs (NavyTimes)

Odd work schedules pose risk to health

THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

Coming up today on In Depth with Francis Rose:

–Your agency could save a lot of money with improvements in the purchase card program. Former OFPP Administrator Steve Kelman will tell you how.

–Cutting improper payments is an administration priority. You’ll hear from OMB Controller Danny Werfel on how your agency is doing.

–It may be time to do some spring cleaning in your TSP account – looking at rebalancing to keep your financial goals on target.

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

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.