Wednesday Morning Federal Newscast – April 13th

Obama plan cuts feds\' benefits 2011 budget vote to come on Thursday

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.

  • President Obama will reportedly back a plan that would cut feds’ benefits, when he announces his deficit reduction plans this afternoon. The president is expected to endorse some recommendations of the deficit-reduction commission he appointed last year. The Federal Times reports that includes freezing federal pay raises and bonuses for three years, slashing 200,000 positions from the federal workforce by 2020, and basing retirees’ pensions on their highest five years of salaries, instead of the current method of using the average of their highest three salaries. The plan also includes cuts to entitlement programs and military spending. The plan will also include tax reform designed to boost revenue. The White House says the plan will reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years. Mr. Obama delivers his speech mid-day at George Washington University.
  • The House will vote Thursday, not Wednesday, on the agreement to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. The agreement promises to cut $38 billion from the rest of the 2011 budget. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor had originally scheduled the vote for today. But, The Hill newspaper reports, because the final legislation was not introduced until 2 a.m. on Tuesday, Republicans were forced to push back the vote or violate a rule requiring all legislation be posted online for three days before a vote.
  • The administration’s e-government fund takes a big hit. The budget compromise from last Friday includes a 76 percent cut in funds to operate open government web sites such as data.gov, USAspending.gov, and the IT Dashboard. The e-gov fund is administered by the General Services Administration. Congressional and White House conferees agreed to $8 million this year. That’s down from $34 million in fiscal 2010. Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra tells reporters the cuts took him by surprise.
  • A new IT oversight bill would hold federal agencies and the Office of Management and Budget responsible to fix or eliminate IT projects that are failing. Senator Tom Carper of Delaware will introduce the Information Technology investment Act of 2011. Federal Computer Week reports the legislation would codify the federal government’s IT Dashboard and TechStat sessions. Full details on the bill have not yet been released.
  • Federal supervisors need to go to school. And at least one Senator wants to make sure that happens. The Federal Supervisor Training Act was introduced into the Senate yesterday. Its chief sponsor is Democratic Senator Daniel Akaka of Hawaii. The bill would require each agency head to set up a training program for supervisors. Supervisors would have a year to complete their training. Topics would include mentoring and motivating employees, fostering a fair work environment, and managing poor performers. Managers would also get training in understanding collective bargaining and other union issues.
  • A new review board at Navy will evaluate contracts for fraud. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus created the review board following allegations of a bribery and kickback scandal involving a Navy contract in Rhode Island. The board will also evaluate the Navy’s contracting process to prevent any future incidents. GovExec reports the Navy cancelled has all active contracts with the company involved in the bribery scandal.
  • They’ve been used to hunt down and kill militants in Afghanistan, but now an unmanned U.S. drone has killed two American servicemen who were apparently mistaken for insurgents. Two senior U.S. defense officials say the two were killed last week by a missile fired from a Predator. The incident is under investigation. The father of one of the Americans says he doesn’t want to blame anyone for what happened.
  • The cloud is spreading at the General Services Administration. Chantilly-based Citizant has won a three-year renewal contract to expand cloud computing coverage across the agency. In 2008, Citizant deployed a cloud-based management system for the GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service. Washington Technology reports, under the new contract Citizant with customize and deploy an enterprise-wide system.
  • One of the nation’s leading nuclear security researchers is retiring after nearly 40 years on the job. George Miller is stepping down as director of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Miller joined the lab in 1972 as a physicist, and became director in 2006. He will retire in October.

More news links

IRS’ lips sealed on globetrotting State contractors with big tax bills, GAO says (WashingtonTechnology)

White House bars gay groups from military families event (CBSNews)

NASA space telescope in budget limbo

NASA to send shuttles to Fla., Calif., suburban DC

Yellowstone Supervolcano Bigger Than Thought (LiveScience.com)

THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

Coming up today on In Depth with Francis Rose:

– The new Chief Procurement Officer at the Homeland Security Department lays out his vision for the acquisition shop at the agency.

– There’s good news from the RAT board. Earl Devaney will share it with you.

– And there’s still plenty of room to improve the way your agency gets and uses technology. Advice from the Government Accountability Office this afternoon.

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

And Finally…

The USO of Metropolitan Washington’s Annual Awards Dinner last night was a patriotic, black tie affair attended by senior government and military leaders, members of Congress, business and community leaders, as well as our own Tom Temin (right) and Miss America, Teresa Scanlan of Nebraska. This event is a celebration of the service and sacrifice of the U.S. Armed Forces.

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