Monday morning federal headlines – June 11

The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp 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.

• House members may want to cut your budget, but they voted to keep their own budget level. They voted 3-1 to maintain a budget of 3.3 billion dollars for congressional operations. But the portion of that figure that goes to House staff and travel is down 13 percent from two years ago. For the coming year, the House voted to reduce spending only on a maintenance project for the Capitol dome. After passing their own budget, members departed for a weeklong recess. (Federal News Radio)
• The Government Accountability Office says the Veterans Affairs Department isn’t doing enough to ensure only veterans with financial need receive a pension. Under the current system, it found that some veterans were transferring millions of dollars in assets to family members just before applying for benefits. VA also doesn’t ask for information about private retirement income or trust funds. Among the changes GAO recommended: requesting information about asset transfers prior to application, better verification of financial information and clearer guidance to claims processors. Government Accountability Office)
• The Justice Department has designated two U.S. attorneys to lead criminal investigations into national security leaks. Classified information has made its way out from both the executive and legislative branches in recent weeks. The FBI has already launched the probes. Attorney General Eric Holder assigned Ronald Machen, the U.S. attorney for D.C., and Rod Rosenstein, the U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, to lead them. President Obama has denied purposefully leaking cyber and drone warfare information that flatters the administration. Holder says he’ll back the prosecutors no matter where their investigations lead. . (Federal News Radio)
• Intelligence leaders on Capitol Hill say they’ll stand aside as the Justice Department probes leaks. Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein and Republican Congressman Mike Rogers chair their respective intelligence committees. They tell Face the Nation, they’ll let prosecutors appointed by Attorney General Eric Holder run a few plays. Rogers says he’ll keep an eye out for political influence into the probe. Recent leaks concerned drone and cyber warfare attacks mounted by the administration. The FBI is already investigating. (Federal News Radio)
• The conference noose has snared the Defense Department. DoD brass have ordered a freeze on all large-scale conferences and conference-related travel. USA Today reports, the Department will review pending conferences costing more than 100 thousand dollars. The order came from Deputy Secretary Ashton Carter. Defense leaders will approve only conferences they think support the DoD mission. President Obama has ordered all federal agencies to cut travel costs by 30 percent for fiscal 2013. USA Today
• The Labor Department will postpone changing the way newswire organizations get access to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Labor had said that, as of July, the newswires would no longer be allowed to use so-called lockup facilities to send new numbers to their subscribers. Department communications staff cited security concerns. But communications advisor Carl Fillichio e-mails news groups, telling them he’ll give them and the department more time to negotiate the changes. The Federal Drive will have more on this story when economist Diana Furchgott Roth joins us at 7:30 a.m.. Wall Street Journal
• The 2013 farm bill will hit the Senate floor this week, and a small but controversial catfish inspection program will likely be on the chopping block. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has added an amendment to the farm bill to do away with the USDA program. He says it’s duplicative, since the Food and Drug Administration already randomly inspects some imported catfish. Doing away with the program would save $14 million. It could also prevent a possible trade war with Vietnam where most imported catfish comes from. But domestic catfish groups say imported catfish poses a salmonella risk and that all catfish should be inspected. The amendment to end the program has garnered bipartisan support and is expected to pass. The Hill

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