Federal Drive

Friday morning federal headlines – Sept. 16

On today\'s Federal Drive: The Senate has reached an agreement to reauthorize funding for the FAA, the Army prepares a new renewable-energy land-sharing agreeme...

Federal News Network Staff

September 16, 2011 8:37 am

4 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 Senate has reached an agreement to avoid forcing another shutdown of FAA — a day before funding was set to expire. Action on the bill had been blocked by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who objected to funding for bike paths and walking trails in the bill. But negotiations late Thursday helped cleared the way for its passage. Coburn dropped his protest in exchange for promises from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) that the funding requirement will be removed later. The bill extends FAA’s operating authority through January and extends highway and transit programs as well as the federal gasoline tax through March. (Federal News Radio)
The Army has hatched a new plan to make its bases energy independent. It wants to use millions of vacant acres to install wind farms and solar panels. But it doesn’t have the money to build them. So the Army’s new task force on energy and acquisition hopes to persuade private companies to invest in energy production on Army property. Repayment would take two forms. The Army would become a guaranteed customer for the resulting power. Or it would simply trade the land for the electricity. (Federal News Radio)
A continuing resolution introduced in the House would keep government funded through Nov. 18. The current fiscal year expires in two weeks, but Congress is nowhere near enacting a 2012 budget. The House Appropriations Committee has hatched the latest CR. Chairman Hal Rogers of Kentucky says it funds federal agencies at a rate of slightly more than $1 trillion. That’s 1.5 percent lower than 2011, called for in an earlier deficit-reduction agreement between Congress and the White House. The bill also lets the Postal Service defer a payment to its retiree health benefit fund. Postal is facing a multi-billion-dollar loss for the year. (Federal News Radio)
The National Reconnaissance Office celebrates its 50th anniversary. Director Bruce Carlson said recently NRO’s Gorgon Stare satellites helped the Navy Seals find Osama Bin Laden. The agency has launched six new satellites in the last seven months. Carlson said NRO has fixed problems with a multi-billion-dollar project with Boeing to create a future generation of low-cost birds. A new program called Red Dot has been effective at spotting roadside bombs in Afghanistan before they explode. Carlson said that in the event of a budget cut, his top priority would be keeping the NRO’s highly specialized staff. Congress established the National Reconnaissance Office in 1961, at the height of the Cold War. (Federal News Radio)
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill that freezes defense spending at $513 billion dollars for 2012. That figure conforms to the agreement between the Obama administration and Congressional Republicans. It represents the first down payment on a 10-year, $350 billion reduction in future Pentagon budgets. The bill includes a 1.6 percent pay raise for military personnel. But it trims 600 programs, including the F-35 fighter project. (Federal News Radio)
Two independent agencies would see budget increases next year under a bill approved by the Senante Appropriations Committee. The panel recommends a 19 percent hike for the Securities and Exchange Commission and an 18 percent hike for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. No Republican on the Appropriations committee voted in favor. Meanwhile, the committee approved a four percent cut for the IRS and a three percent cut for NASA. (Federal News Radio)
The controversy surrounding LightSquared just got uglier. The Daily Beast reported that the White House pressured an Air Force general to change his congressional testimony about the wireless startup. Gen.William Shelton was reportedly asked to alter his planned remarks to be more supportive of LightSquared. One of the major investors in LightSquared is prominent Democratic donor Philip Falcone, The Hill reports. LightSquared plans to provide high-speed wireless service nationwide through a network of satellites and land-based cell towers, but tests earlier this year revealed it interferes with GPS devices. (The Hill)
It’s science fiction come to life. Astronomers have found a planet orbiting two suns, and they’re calling the new planet Tatooine after the fictional planet in Star Wars, which also had a double sunset. The discovery was made by NASA’s planet-hunting telescope Kepler. Scientists described the find in Friday’s issue of the journal Science. The alien planet, about the size of Saturn, is frigid and inhospitable. It orbits two stars 200 light-years from Earth. Kepler was launched in 2009 to find out how common other planets – especially Earth-like planets – are in the universe. (NASA)