Well, that didn’t take long. Less than 24 hours after holding a hearing on the candidacy of Jacob “Jack” Lew to become the next Office of Management and Budget director, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has set next Tuesday for a confirmation vote on sending his nomination to the full Senate, according to a just-released notice. Lew’s nomination also needs the blessing of the Senate Budget Committee, but no word yet on when that vote will be.
Monthly Archives: September, 2010
Most Americans favor higher government-imposed fuel-efficiency standards, according to a poll released last week. The survey of 1,000 likely voters showed 85 percent favor government requirements to increase fuel efficiency in cars and 78 percent favor government regulation reducing emissions from large trucks, SUVs and minivans. Respondents also support increased fuel efficiency standards even if the price of the car goes up by $3,000, with 66 percent still favoring the proposal and 28 percent opposed. The Environmental Protection Agency received a favorable response: 63 percent of respondents saw the agency favorably or very favorably. Environment America, the Natural Resources Defense…
The Washington Post today has an amusing piece on Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ penchant for corny, corny jokes about Washington. Even Gates’ loyal speechwriters try to strike the zingers — such as “Washington … a place where people say ‘I’ll double-cross that bridge when I come to it’ ” — from his prepared remarks, but Gates puts them back in. (Poor Bob gets no respect. But at least it’s better than Don Rumsfeld’s found poetry.) Give a listen to Sirius XM’s compilation of the SecDef’s greatest hits here. (My favorite part is the overdubbed guy bellowing “Yeah yeah!” At least,…
In case you missed my appearance last night on Capital Insider to discuss the government’s difficulties recruiting qualified Senior Executive Service candidates, here you go: [HTML1]
For weeks government regulatory geeks have been waiting with baited breath to see whether President Obama would formally nominate Elizabeth Warren to be the first head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, sidestep the highly contentious nomination process and give her a limited recess appointment, or duck the conflict altogether and choose someone else. According to ABC’s Jake Tapper, the answer is … none of the above. Tapper says Warren will be the — deep breath — Assistant to the President and Special Adviser to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Basically, she’ll be a…
The Smoking Gun today published a statement from a Transportation Security Administration screener who allegedly beat a co-worker with a baton for mocking the size of his genitalia. According to alleged assaulter Rolando Negrin’s statement to Miami police, several co-workers teased him day after day as a “little angry man” after a full-body scanner digitally exposed him, and he snapped. He said the relentless mockery became a form of “psychological torture.” There’s so much about this case that is messed up. Using physical violence to resolve a workplace dispute is, of course, never justified. But if this is actually what…
Slate’s Timothy Noah last night reported that Elizabeth Warren’s nomination to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a done deal. The real question, Noah says, is whether President Obama will send her through the normal Senate confirmation process — where she is sure to face hostility from conservatives who think she’s an anti-Wall Street radical — or install her with a recess appointment. Warren could get tied up in the normal nomination procedures, with partisanship running extremely hot these days and even Democrats like Chris Dodd doubting her chances of confirmation. But a recess appointment would only give…
For many employees, the 40-hour work week has long since faded into obscurity. According to a new online poll by Right Management, 76 percent of employees say the “almost always” work more than 40 hours a week. While most of you are probably not shocked by this revelation, this poll helps confirm that employees are now expected to work longer to meet goals. Results are broken out below for your reading pleasure. Yes, almost always 75% Yes, several times a month 11% Yes, once or twice a month 6% Seldom, if ever 6% “The findings are extraordinary and no doubt…
The Office of Management and Budget says hundreds of millions of dollars in budget reductions are expected to come from the restructuring or cancelation of selected financial system modernization projects. OMB acting director Jeffrey Zients and controller Danny Werfel will announce today the fate of financial system modernization projects that were halted for review last month. In August, a total of 26 IT projects were identified as “high risk” and subjected to a thorough review before moving forward. Improvement plans are being developed, and they should include details of projects risks, new contractor performance metrics and more rigorous project…
Almost two-thirds of the workforce at the Business Transformation Agency, a Pentagon shop slated for the chopping block, is made up of contract employees, according to figures obtained by Federal Times under the Freedom of Information Act. Of 1,124 workers, 725 are contractors, 375 are civilian and 24 are military personnel, the figures show. In announcing his decision to close BTA within the next year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last month that the agency employed “approximately 360 people.” Gates was apparently referring only to government civilian employees. Federal Times filed the FOIA request after repeated attempts to obtain the…