Federal workers have been wondering what employee benefits might be up for cuts under the new Congressional “Supercommittee”, but last week’s appointments don’t necessarily shed light on what the future might hold. The Washington Post has dug into the committee members’ voting records and found that most have little to no history in federal benefits.Read… Read more »
The Postal Service may be faced with a debt ceiling crisis of its own come September 30th. The agency is reporting third quarter losses in excess of $3 billion and anticipates that they will default on payments to the federal government by the end of the fiscal year. The loss for the quarter that endedRead… Read more »
The White House and Congress appear to be on the verge of closing a new agreement to fix the debt ceiling, a deal that features massive cuts and no new revenue. What does this mean for federal workers? While the deal does not include explicit cuts for federal workers, that doesn’t mean they won’t feelRead… Read more »
No one is exactly sure what will happen if Congress and the White House fail to raise the debt ceiling by August 2nd, but it might look something like the furloughs at the Federal Aviation Administration. On Saturday, the agency was forced to furlough 4,000 employees until further notice. As the Washington Post reports, federalRead… Read more »
Have you ever been afraid to speak up for fear of losing your job? Discrimination complaints are on the rise at federal agencies, but many employees are still afraid to complain for fear of retaliation, according to a new EEOC report. In particular, the EEOC found that the Bureau of Prisons had an unusually poorRead… Read more »
Is there anything good about the debt ceiling mess that we’re in? Maybe, according to Paul Light, professor of public service at NYU. Light recently suggested that reorganizing the federal government could save us up to $1 trillion dollars. The Washington Post‘s Joe Davidson summarizes his recommendations below: Light suggests, among other things, cutting theRead… Read more »
The mail has been losing out to faster forms of communication for some time now, and it’s put a serious financial strain on the Postal Service. Congress is now looking at dramatically overhauling the agency to return it to financial solvency. Last week, Representative Darrell Issa (R-California) introduced The Postal Reform Act, which would restructureRead… Read more »
The federal government hired 72,000 veterans in FY 2010, an increase of about 2,000 new hires compared to FY 2009. However, according to the Washington Post, representatives from the American Legion don’t think the government is doing enough for veterans. “We’re just not satisfied with that,” said Joseph Sharpe, director of the organization’s economic division.Read… Read more »
In an effort to further trim the fat from the federal budget, the White House is capping the amount of money available for employee awards, according to the Washington Post. The new policy limits the total amount of money available for performance awards, not how much can be awarded to an individual. Specifically, the awardRead… Read more »
Great news out of GovLoop this week! Beginning today (but from now on, appearing on Fridays), I’m going to be writing a column called the “Federal Buzz” for the Washington Post. These pieces will recap just what govies have been saying about a hot topic or major issue during the previous week and will beRead… Read more »