So is Sen. Joe Lieberman losing his Senate Government Oversight Committee chairmanship? If he knows, he’s not saying. Lieberman, I-Conn., called a news conference this afternoon. Many reporters were hoping he’d reveal his future in the Senate. After Lieberman campaigned heavily for Sen. John McCain , R-Ariz., many expected Lieberman to lose his chairmanship of the committee. Lieberman has caucused with Democrats as a senator. Sen . (Harry) Reid (D-Nev.) and I have just concluded what I could call a very good conversation between two colleagues and friends. I want to spend some time in the next few days thinking…
Yearly Archives: 2008
President-elect Obama has been touting transparency on the campaign trail. Many people know he was the Democratic voice behind the legislation that created the easy to peruse contracts and grants database, USASpending.gov. But the acquisition community is already moving ahead with its own attempt at improving contract transparency: the next generation of the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation. In the spirit of open government, the acquisition community is inviting user feedback concerning what improvements to the central procurement database are needed. The current iteration of FPDS is pretty hard to navigate and takes a long time to run requests. There…
The trickle of Bush administration officials headed for the door is likely to become a flood now that the election’s over. Immigration and Customs Enforcement head Julie Myers today became the first major appointee to resign after Barack Obama’s victory. Her last day will be Nov. 15. Myers’ nearly three-year tenure at ICE has been dogged by controversy, though she eventually won over some skeptics.
The General Services Administration, which provides logistical support for the presidential transition team, turned over the keys to the 120,000 square foot office space it has leased for President-elect Obama’s team today. But GSA is remaining tight lipped about where the space is. A press release issued by GSA just says the office space is somewhere in downtown D.C. Yesterday, Diane Merriett, a GSA spokeswoman, refused to tell yours truly where the office was located, stating that GSA decided to leave it up to the president-elect’s team to release. This FedLine found funny because the new boss is a transparency…
I just discovered the most outlandish thing I’ve seen in quite some time. JW Mariott is offering a “build your own inaugural ball” package for the three-day weekend for the mere sum of $1 million at its 14th and Pennsylvania hotel. Here’s what you’d get for your bucks: • Two Presidential Suites • Two Vice Presidential Suites • 300 guest rooms • $200,000 in food and beverage • Private access to the 12th floor balcony under a heated framed tent • Custom tailored events to fit 450 people • 24-hour Red Coat Serviceâ„¢ • 5% of proceeds will be donated to the Amazona Sustainable Foundation Oh yeah, and…
If you’re looking for tickets to President-Elect Barack Obama’s inauguration and parade, you may want to prepare yourself for disappointment. While stopping in various congressional offices today, I noticed one thing: the phones are ringing off the hook. In fact, all of the phone lines were ringing at once for five solid minutes in one representative’s office, and all of the callers had the same question: How do I get tickets? Aides told me tickets aren’t yet available, and some offices have started waiting lists. It’s likely that, due to demand, the majority of the inaugural tickets will be held…
Make sure you check out our latest stories on Barack Obama’s agenda for the federal work force. I just filed a story on some of his personnel and contracting plans, and Gregg Carlstrom has some interesting details on Obama’s plans for the Program Assessment Rating Tool, ethical rules, and other government reform ideas. Keep an eye on www.federaltimes.com for more updates.
All the things we’ve been moaning about for the last eight years, now we have to correct. – A noticeably hoarse John Gage, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, in a Nov. 5 conference call with reporters. Gage spoke from Chicago, where he and other supporters of President-elect Barack Obama celebrated the Democrats’ Nov. 4 victory.
I’m about to join a conference call with the American Federation of Government Employees to get their thoughts on what an Obama administration will mean for federal workers. But we already know that Obama could make some significant changes in the Defense Department’s National Security Personnel System. Obama in September told unions that he was unhappy with how NSPS was set up, and pledged to alter its regulations or even repeal the controversial program. Obama has not said how he might alter NSPS. There will be roughly 205,000 Defense employees under NSPS by the time Obama takes power, though observers don’t expect…
President-elect Barack Obama won what can only be described as a resounding victory yesterday: More than 62 million popular votes and at least 338 electoral votes. His victory caps off a grueling two-year campaign that overcame the well-funded Clinton machine, a popular Republican opponent and a series of domestic and foreign crises. That was the easy part. Obama now faces the most difficult presidential transition in a century: The economy is stagnating. The country is still fighting two wars. The national debt has ballooned past $10 trillion. The American people do not trust their government to serve the public good.…