Friday Afternoon Federal Newscast

The House of Representatives will vote to raise the national debt limit by $1.8 trillion dollars — to $1.9 trillion — as part of a must-pass defense spending bill next week. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says the increase will allow the government to borrow enough money to keep operations afloat through December of next year. The Treasury Department has said Congress must raise the debt limit by the end of the year to allow the government to continue functioning. (Reuters Wire)

A massive year-end spending bill has cleared a key obstacle in the Senate. By a 60-36 vote, the Senate has defeated a GOP procedural move that would have unraveled the $1.1 trillion measure. The bill bundles six spending bills into a more than 1,000-page behemoth. The bill would finance 10 Cabinet-level agencies for the coming year and help fund the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs for the elderly and poor. A vote to stop a Republican filibuster is scheduled for Saturday morning.

The Pentagon’s fiscal 2011 budget and five-year defense plan will probably include funding for a new long-range bomber for the Air Force, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday. Gates delayed funding a new bomber in fiscal 2010, which began Oct. 1, saying the program should be scrutinized in the Defense Department’s Quadrennial Defense Review, a major review of weapons programs conducted once every four years. That review, which is now wrapping up, pointed to the need for both manned and unmanned long-range strike capabilities, Gates told U.S. troops on Friday during a visit to the contested northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. (Reuters Wire)

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has announced the launch of a virtual job fair to recruit cybersecurity experts. DHS is looking for applicants with experience in cyber risk and strategic analysis; malware/vulnerability analysis; incident response; exercise facilitation and management; vulnerability detection and assessment;and other types of analysis.

The Government Printing Office has been evacuated after several small equipment fires. D.C. fire department spokesman Pete Piringer (PEHR-in-jur) says a fire started with equipment connected to a shredder-type machine on a loading dock earlier this afternoon. Piringer says the machine is connected to upper floors through a chute that allows paper to flow through. The building in Northwest DC was evacuated as firefighters worked to control fires on the third and fifth floors and the loading dock. It’s unclear what caused the fire. Piringer says there was some light smoke in the building. No one was hurt. (AP Wire)

Bo, the White House dog, has his very own Christmas stocking. First lady Michelle Obama made the revelation in an interview with Oprah Winfrey for her “Christmas at the White House” special, scheduled to air Sunday night on ABC. Winfrey’s company, Harpo Productions, released excerpts of the interview on Friday. Asked which members of the Obama family have a stocking, Mrs. Obama named President Barack Obama, herself, daughters Malia and Sasha and said “of course” the family’s Portuguese water dog has one too. This will be the first Christmas for the puppy, which the Obamas got in April.

Coming up on Monday on the Federal Drive

How serious it the effort to reduce the ballooning $12 trillion deficit? We’ll talk to the Peterson Commission on Budget Reform who are warning that another crisis could come if we keep spending.

And . . .

If you’re a cyber-sleuth there could be a gold your Christmas stocking just for cracking the code of an IT encryption company.

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