Bills Fizzle, Wait Until '98

Reorganization of the foreign affairs agencies and IRS reform will have to wait for Congress to reconvene in late January. Several other bills affecting the federal workforce were also tabled during the final weeks of the legislative session as Congress rushed to pass the 13 appropriations bills.

The foreign affairs reorganization was swept aside amid disputes surrounding funding for the United Nations and International Monetary Fund. Under the reorganization plan, the U.S. Information Agency and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency would be folded into the State Department. The Agency for International Development would remain a separate entity, but the Secretary of State would have more control over it. Congress is expected to take up the measure again early next year.

IRS reform passed the House, but it was stalled in the Senate after Finance Committee Chairman William Roth, R-Del., recommended the Senate wait until next year to take up the reform plan. The House-passed bill would create an oversight board of private citizens, an IRS employees' union representative and the Treasury Secretary. The bill would also give the IRS freedom to experiment with human resources practices, and managers would be given more flexibility in performance management.

In the realm of federal employee benefits, several bills failed to grab Congress's attention during the final weeks of the session.

• A bill that would protect the federal health plan from fraud, H.R. 1836, was passed by the House. Under the bill, OPM could fine or bar health insurance providers who defraud the system.
• Another bill, H.R. 2675, also approved by the House, would allow federal employees to purchase additional universal life insurance.
• Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., introduced a bill earlier this month that would increase spousal Social Security benefits for federal retirees. Under current law, the pension offset reduces a federal retiree's spouse's Social Security benefits by two-thirds of the retiree's government pension.
• A bill to allow all federal employees to contribute the maximum amount allowed under law to the Thrift Savings Plan was introduced for the second time this year. It was referred to the House civil service subcommittee.