How will agencies spend stimulus money? Let me count the ways. According to Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., agencies have five different ways they can disburse their stimulus funds and meet tight spending deadlines in place under the bill: “By formula,†meaning agencies will use existing statutory requirements for programs like highway infrastructure investments or Medicaid to determine how much each state or municipality is entitled to. “By competition,†meaning states, localities or contractors will submit proposals for grants and contracts. “By demand†to programs with eligibility requirements, such as unemployment insurance, education grants, small business loans and food stamps. “By one-time…
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Although the details of what should be the final stimulus bill have only just been made public, earlier this week the White House ordered agencies to get cracking on plans to manage and oversee the unprecedented amount of spending they’ll be asked to do. In a Feb. 9 memo first reported by Government Executive, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag wrote: Meeting these commitments will require sustained focus by managers throughout the federal government, particularly in planning, awarding, managing and overseeing contracts and grants. Departments and agencies should immediately begin developing plans…
The Senate last night voted to confirm Leon Panetta as the CIA’s new director. Panetta and new Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair have promised to reduce the size of the intelligence community’s contractor work force, and pledged to bring interrogation positions almost entirely back in house.
Update: Judd Gregg spoke to congressional reporters a few minutes ago and denied he offered his name as commerce secretary, saying a “third party” brought his name to the White House’s attention. “I didn’t campaign for this job,” he said, adding that he did call the White House after hearing he was a candidate to check on the status of the nomination. Gregg said the reorganization of the Census Bureau was only a “slight issue” in his decision to pull his name from consideration. He said President Barack Obama is a “strong, effective and good president” and that his nomination…
After weeks of delay, Rep. Hilda Solis is one step closer to being confirmed as labor secretary. Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee met quickly between floor votes Wednesday afternoon to vote to approve Solis’ nomination. In a statement after the vote, Chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said, “Hilda Solis comes from a working family herself so she understands how the troubled economy is hurting average Americans. American workers deserve to have her voice and her leadership as their Secretary of Labor, and I’m pleased that our committee approved her.†Republicans were concerned about Solis’ public advocacy…
Sen. Daniel Akaka and Rep. Bob Filner plan to introduce bills Thursday to provide advanced appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Akaka, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, have long argued that advanced appropriations will help the VA provide better health care, make needed hires and operate more efficiently. The Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009 would provide the VA with funding one year in advance of the regular appropriations process, according to an Akaka news release. Akaka, D-Hawaii, and Filner, D-Calif., will announce details…
The Senate voted 93-4 Wednesday afternoon to confirm William Lynn as deputy defense secretary. During his January confirmation hearing, several senators questioned Lynn’s past as a senior lobbyist for Raytheon Co. of Waltham, Mass., a top Pentagon contractor. President Barack Obama had initially taken a hard line against lobbyists, saying they would have no place in his administration, but later softened his position.
Defense contractor KBR has pleaded guilty on charges it bribed Nigerian government officials to obtain contracts there. The company will pay $579 million in fines, $402 million of which are criminal penalties. According to the Justice Department, which announced the plea deal today, KBR won $6 billion in contracts to build liquefied natural gas facilities in Nigeria between 1995 and 2004 by paying approximately $180 million in bribes to Nigerian officials. “The successful prosecution of KBR, and its agreement to pay a more than $400 million fine, demonstrates that no one is above the law,†said Rita M. Glavin acting…
The Defense Contract Audit Agency  has issued new guidelines for reporting fraud found during contract audits. In this Feb. 9 memo first reported by the Center for Public Integrity, DCAA’s assistant director for operations, Karen Cash, said if an auditor finds potential fraud– such as repeated over billing, false labor charges, improper transfers or bribes—the auditor can refer those cases to the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, even if the auditor cannot prove those questioned costs are fraudulent. “There is no requirement for the auditor to prove the existence of fraud or other contractor irregularities†before referring suspected cases to the Defense investigators,…
We bring you House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s take on the new $1.5 trillion financial rescue program unveiled today by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. “What an era in which we live where a serious question can be asked whether $1.5 trillion is enough,” he said Tuesday after a reporter asked if $1.5 trillion would solve our economic woes.