President Obama today sounded off on the hold that’s been placed on Martha Johnson’s nomination to head the General Services Administration, even as the Senate planned a procedural maneuver to force a vote on her confirmation. After addressing the Senate Democratic Policy Committee Issues Conference this morning, the president opened the floor to questions. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, voiced his frustration that many of Obama’s judicial nominees and political appointees were being blocked by Republicans. While conceding that Democrats have been guilty of the same thing in the past, Obama said Republicans are blocking nominees for reasons that have nothing to…
Monthly Archives: February, 2010
Federal Times reported last week that the 2011 budget would propose a standardized slate of pay and benefits for federal civilians deployed to war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s apparently still coming, but it’s not here yet — the budget documents OMB released Monday contain no incentive package proposals. The Pentagon just sent this statement to Federal Times after we inquired about the missing proposals: “We are still working on the standardized combat pay provisions package for submission into the fiscal year 2011 budget.”
The Senate is expected to vote on Pres. Obama’s choice to lead the General Services Administration tomorrow. Or at least invoke cloture, a procedure to end debate about whether Martha Johnson is qualified to run the government’s procurement and real estate agency. The Senate convenes at noon, and according to the calendar, the cloture vote on Johnson’s nomination will occur after the chamber votes on the nomination of Patricia Smith to be solicitor for the Labor Department. If cloture is invoked, a final vote on Johnson’s nomination will follow. Johnson’s nomination has been delayed by Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo. Bond…
David Letterman’s crack investigative reporting team uncovered numerous surprises in the $3.8 trillion federal budget that somehow evaded our notice. . .
Reactions are starting to roll in on what may be the smallest pay raise in the General Schedule’s history. The three largest federal unions applauded the White House’s return to pay parity, but objected that the modest pay raise would do little to close the pay gap between federal and private-sector workers. The American Federation of Government Employees, National Treasury Employees Union and the National Federation of Federal Employees all pledged to push Congress to increase the administration’s modest pay raise. Here’s a sampling of comments: At best, 1.4 percent is a modest adjustment. But in this economy, a modest increase is…
Happy budget day! I’m running from one press conference to another — but a couple of quick notes from the just-ended press conference with OMB director Peter Orszag. First, he offered a couple of thoughts on the proposed 1.4 percent pay raise for civilian employees and military personnel. The raise is lower than most federal pay raises — lower even than last year’s 2 percent raise, which was widely criticized as too small.
Federal employees worried that their jobs will be outsourced to the private sector can rest easy for another year. The 2011 budget proposal continues a governmentwide moratorium on public-private competitions for federal work. But contractors may face further insourcing under the proposal. While blocking agencies from competing federal work, the budget’s “general provisions” section requires agencies to take a head count of all contractor employees performing services for the government. The so-called “service contract inventory” must also include the name of the vendor, the type of service provided and the cost of that service. Businesses may also see fewer federal…
The White House is proposing a 1.4 percent pay raise for federal civilian employees in 2011. That is the same pay raise the Obama administration is proposing for military service members. The budget document can be found here. Keep watching FederalTimes.com for more budget information breaking throughout the day.