The Office of Personnel Management announced this evening that the federal government will be closed on Monday. OPM’s Web site was completely crashed for a while due to the onslaught of people checking on the status, but is now back up. Here’s the details: Emergency employees must show up for work on time. Nonemergency employees (including employees on preapproved leave) will have an excused absence for the number of hours they were scheduled to work. Telework employees may have to work from their home or other prearranged telework site. Employees on alternative work schedules who were already scheduled to have…
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The Office of Personnel Management declared federal employees will go home four hours early today. Emergency employees still have to show up on time.
Snow’s a-comin’, and the Office of Personnel Management just issued a memo recommending agencies allow any eligible employees to telework tomorrow. “This severe weather forecast presents a key opportunity for agencies to test their telework plans in the context of emergency preparedness,” OPM Director John Berry wrote. Berry also said employees on alternative work schedules should, if possible, schedule their day off or use credit hours tomorrow. As of now, agencies in the Washington area will be operating on an unscheduled leave policy tomorrow. If an employee doesn’t think he’ll be able to make it in tomorrow, Berry said he should…
The Senate has confirmed Martha Johnson to lead the General Services Administration, giving the agency its first permanent, Senate-approved leader in two years. The nomination passed in a 94 to 2 vote.
The Washington area is about to get smacked with its second major snowstorm this winter. Forecasters are predicting snow to begin around midday tomorrow, and it’s expected to get worse as the day goes on, eventually accumulating 16 to 24 inches. The Office of Personnel Management just declared that anyone who can’t make it in tomorrow can take unscheduled leave. Emergency employees are still expected to show up. FedLine’s crack meteorological team (which is pretty much just me checking the National Weather Service’s Web site) will keep you posted on the federal government’s operating status over the next few days. NWS is forecasting near-blizzard conditions…
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…
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…
Customs and Border Protection agents do a lot to serve our nation. They track terrorists. They stop drug traffickers. And they save puppies. Or at least one lucky pooch that was found nearly frozen to death in the cargo hold of a plane at New York’s JFK Airport on Saturday. According to the local ABC affiliate there, three CBP officers were informed that two puppies shipped from Mexico froze to death on the flight. Upon arriving on the scene, the officers noticed one puppy was clinging to life. The trio revived the pup and a vet tells ABC the dog…
The White House just announced that the federal government will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent by 2020, compared to 2008 benchmarks. The ambitious federal target is the aggregate of percentage reduction targets reported by 35 federal agencies earlier this month. President Obama ordered agencies in an October executive order to begin measuring and reducing their carbon footprints, the first such comprehensive effort by the federal government. I’ll be sitting in on a conference call at 11 a.m. with administration officials to discuss the initiative. Check back at www.federaltimes.com for a full report.