Members of Congress who’ve spent the year fighting over health-care have found an area on which to strike a bipartisan accord: bathrooms. Democrats and Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee joined together on Thursday to introduce the “Potty Parity Act,” a bill that would require future federal buildings to have a 1Read… Read more »
Happy Wednesday and Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Have you wondered how so many people safely escaped last month’s plane crash at Internal Revenue Service offices in Texas? The plane’s pilot and only one IRS worker were killed in the crash — thanks to quick-thinking employees who had regularly rehearsed fire and evacuation drills. National TreasuryRead… Read more »
The Obama administration’s economic recovery program has triggered more than 1,700 fraud complaints since it launched last year, according to a new report. The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board and federal inspectors general are investigating 147 of those allegations and federal prosecutors have opened investigations into 43 cases, the RAT Board said in its quarterlyRead… Read more »
Happy Tuesday! The Transportation Security Administration is back in the spotlight again, playing a prominent role in the new movie, “She’s Out of My League.” The comedy debuted over the weekend and stars Jay Baruchel, who plays Kirk, a TSA security agent at the Pittsburgh International Airport. Kirk wins the affection of “the perfect woman”Read… Read more »
Heirs to a supermarket fortune will launch a multimillion-dollar scholarship foundation on Tuesday designed to encourage college graduate students to pursue federal government careers in national security, foreign policy and international development. The Robertson Foundation for Government plans eventually to provide full financial support to hundreds of graduate students in those fields who agree toRead… Read more »
Happy Monday! The Obama administration’s first year of efforts to improve access to government information have yielded mixed results, according to an audit of freedom of information act requests set for release on Monday. The report also found that the oldest FOIA requests date back to 1992. The report by the National Security Archive atRead… Read more »
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is blocking Senate passage of a bill that would compensate the roughly 2,000 Transportation Department workers who were furloughed during an impasse over federal funding for highway and transportation projects. Coburn wants to pay the workers back with $1 million from the congressional budget, rather than tapping the federal coffers. ThatRead… Read more »
Office of Personnel Director John Berry blasted a Friday Washington Times editorial critical of the federal pay system and bonus system. The newspaper criticized the 2.4 percent annual pay raise workers earned earlier this year and $285 million in incentive payments to keep employees from retiring or transferring to other agencies. “The left shrieks aboutRead… Read more »
Happy Wednesday! Threats against Internal Revenue Service workers and facilities continue to pour in following last month’s plane crash at agency offices in Austin. IRS watchdogs are investigating more than 70 reported instances of inappropriate comments made to agency workers by taxpayers, union officials said earlier this week. Despite earlier reports suggesting it was 70Read… Read more »
A group memorializing astronauts killed in the line of duty and their families has invoked their names in an effort to convince the Obama administration to drop its planned changes to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The group’s outreach comes as lawmakers and other space advocates have called on the White House to continueRead… Read more »