Government Executive - Authors - Jessica Brady

Panel backs customer service standards for agencies

Jessica Brady — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The measure (H.R. 404), approved on a voice vote, would establish a report card system to gauge customer service performance at each agency. Federal agency leaders would be responsible for gathering data using surveys and focus groups, which would then be submitted to and evaluated by the Government Accountability Office.

The head of each federal agency would also have to appoint a customer service representative to implement standards and oversee progress, according to language in the bill.

Performance measures would be set by the Office of Management and Budget, which would also issue a report each year on improvements and best practices at each federal agency, according to the bill. The GAO comptroller would also conduct an annual review of each agency, which would be made public and submitted to the House Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees.

The GAO currently does performance reviews of governmental offices, and follows up with a "high risk list" of underperforming offices that is also submitted to Congress. The new review created by the legislation, however, would focus solely on customer service.

First introduced by Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, the legislation was easily approved by the House Oversight and Government Reform Government Management Subcommittee last month. The legislation approved by the full committee alters the original language to make GAO's review annual rather than every two years. The bill now heads to the House floor for consideration.

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Committee OKs bill requiring agencies to reduce emissions

Jessica Brady — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400

"The federal government is the single largest energy consumer in the United States, but there is currently no requirement for the federal government to track or directly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions," committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chief sponsor of the bill, noted. The legislation (H.R. 2635), which passed on a voice vote, requires federal agencies to assess which harmful gases may be emitted from their buildings, and impose a freeze on those toxins by 2010.

The greenhouse gases targeted in the legislation are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydro fluorocarbons, per fluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. The bill would mandate that those gases would be entirely reduced by 2050, effectively making all government buildings "carbon neutral." Newly constructed buildings would be forced to be more eco-friendly and emit less gas than standing buildings.

"Approximately one third of the energy consumed by the federal government in 2005 was associated with the operations of federal facilities," a committee statement said.

Federal agencies taking inventory of emissions from their buildings would follow the same guidelines created under an existing Environmental Protection Agency program, which was created to assist private companies curb gas emissions. The EPA administrator would have to sign off on each agency's evaluation and plan for new environmental standards within two years of the bill's enactment. Agencies would also submit a status report annually to the Office of Management and Budget, which would then grade performance and submit a report to Congress.

Waxman's bill also targets government-used vehicles, which would be held to a maximum emission standard. That standard would be aligned with similar regulations yet to be determined by the California state government, which also aim to substantially cut vehicle emissions. Low emission alternative fuels are encouraged, according to the legislation.

The bill authorizes appropriations "as may be necessary" for any associated costs.

Stakeholders including the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council and U.S. Public Interest Research Group voiced their support for the legislation in a letter to the committee Tuesday.

"The bill backs up its commitment to carbon neutrality with a series of sound policy steps, including strong safeguards to ensure the integrity of any offsets used to meet the requirements of the bill," the letter to committee members stated.

The legislation unanimously approved by the committee is expected to be part of a package of energy bills taken up early next month.

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Watchdog group seeks probe of Education Department use of e-mail

Jessica Brady — Thu, 17 May 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington asked the department's inspector general to look into whether employees have violated the Federal Records Act, which requires agencies to archive records of official business.

CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan recounted in a letter to Inspector General John Higgins that the department's office of general counsel had informed her organization that Education Department personnel "often use private e-mail addresses" for business and that the department "wouldn't have access to that."

The information about private e-mail use surfaced during a discussion with Marcella Goodridge of the general counsel's office, other department officials and CREW's lawyer, Dan Roth, who had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents on the Reading First program, Sloan said.

Reading First, an elementary school literacy program, has come under fire from House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., for potential mismanagement and conflicts of interest. A September 2006 IG report found that the program director allegedly steered funding to states that implemented the literacy program using the director's favored approach.

"If, as Ms. Goodridge represented, Education Department employees are using or have used outside, non-governmental e-mail addresses for government business and have not retained copies of those records on the department's files, the department is failing to 'accurate[ly] and complete[ly] document the policies and transactions of the federal government' by failing to retain" federal records as required by law, Sloan told Higgins in her letter, dated Tuesday.

Besides her group, Miller has sought documents relating to Reading First program for his committee's own inquiry, Sloan added.

"In order for the department to respond to these and all other requests ... all responsive departmental records must be searched," Sloan wrote. "If, however, employees are regularly using private e-mail accounts to send official e-mail and the department neither tracks nor stores such e-mail, the full complement of responsive records clearly will not be produced to any requesters."

Education Department spokeswoman Katherine McLane dismissed CREW's claims that department staff were violating the law.

"Mr. Roth's portrayal of the conversation is simply wrong on very important facts," McLane said in a statement. "The truth is that department staff sought to help Mr. Roth get the information he needed with as little expense and delay as possible. No one at the department suggested that officials use private e-mail accounts for official business during those conversations."

CREW's call for an IG investigation is the latest in a series of developments that have brought e-mail use by federal officials under increased scrutiny.

The watchdog group, which often sides with Democrats, issued an investigative report in March, based on confidential sources, which disclosed the White House has lost more than five million e-mails generated between March 2003 and October 2005. The group has been trying to determine if White House officials using Republican National Committee e-mail accounts were doing so to avoid the mandatory record-keeping requirements under the Presidential Records Act.

In addition, the independent Office of Special Counsel has opened an investigation of allegations that General Services Administration employees used their government e-mail accounts for political purposes, a direct violation of the Hatch Act.

"How many other agencies are knowingly violating federal law?" Sloan said in a statement. "Complying with the law is not optional. One would think that those in charge of the government would understand this, but apparently not."

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Mine safety agency under fire for slow compliance with 2006 law

Jessica Brady — Wed, 16 May 2007 00:00:00 -0400

House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., who criticized last year's Republican legislation for not going far enough, criticized Assistant Labor Secretary Richard Stickler, who heads the Mine Safety and Health Administration, for not acting faster to implement the new standards.

"I don't get your sense of urgency. I'm lost somewhere," Miller said during the oversight hearing.

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who represents the district where the January 2006 Sago mine explosion killed 12 miners, called on MSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to require inflatable rescue shelters at each mining site.

"NIOSH and MSHA must speed up their process and ensure that miners across the country will have access to these life-saving chambers as soon as possible," Capito said.

Miller said MSHA's process for approving seals in a mine to secure abandoned areas and protect workers against deadly methane gas was too long. Stickler said the agency's approval process, which can take up to two and a half years, was fully compliant with the 2006 law.

"I believe that MSHA needs the time established in the Miner Acts to conduct testing and establish a protocol," he told Miller.

The new safety law, enacted in June 2006, requires mine owners to supply two hours' worth of emergency oxygen for miners, install fire-resistant lifelines to serve as escape routes and install wireless two-way communications devices and an electronic tracking system within three years.

Davitt McAteer, a former head of the MSHA who led investigations into two West Virginia mining disasters last year, told committee members that "miners still lack wireless phone systems, rescue chambers are not yet installed, and the mine rescue system, although improved, is not yet available to miners and the mine rescue system."

Echoing Miller's criticism of the bureaucratic logjam at MSHA, McAteer said that "this unfinished business of protecting workers' health and safety is the result of a broken rulemaking system." A total of 47 coal miners were killed on the job last year.

A Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday revealed that federal mine safety inspectors, who are employed by MSHA, do not receive adequate training and that the agency's "oversight of miner training is hampered." MSHA does not routinely assess its inspectors, consistently perform emergency simulation drills or regularly educate its staff on new technologies.

"Underground coal mine operators face significant challenges preparing for emergencies, including ensuring that miners receive training to satisfy new requirements," GAO said.

Wednesday marked the second hearing on mining safety this year. Miller, who has made the issue central for the committee's agenda, is expected to hold additional oversight hearings on MSHA and the mining industry.

"Members are clearly frustrated with the pace MSHA is moving on a number of issues," a Miller spokesman said. "We will be looking at all our options to make sure miners are protected, including legislation."

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Education secretary defends oversight of student loan programs

Jessica Brady — Thu, 10 May 2007 00:00:00 -0400

She used an appearance before the House Education and Labor Committee to defend her department's oversight of student loan programs and its response to disclosures of questionable ties between private lenders and college financial aid officials. And as lawmakers criticized her department, she turned the tables on them by asserting that Congress' failure to reauthorize the Higher Education Act since it expired in 2003 has made it "my duty to expedite reform."

Referring to higher education, Spellings said: "I've probably been the most active secretary in this arena in a long time."

As she went on the offensive, House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., took Spellings to task for the mismanagement of student loan and the Reading First elementary school programs, declaring "the department hasn't acted on this with any haste or urgency."

A noticeably heated Miller told her, "When I look at the whole body of evidence that has been amassed . . . it is clear that, at a minimum, the Education Department's oversight failures have been monumental."

He and Education and Labor ranking member Howard (Buck) McKeon, R-Calif., co-sponsored legislation that easily passed the House Wednesday to bring more transparency to the industry's ties to colleges. The bill also seeks to halt potential conflicts of interest by banning school officials from accepting gifts, financial perks and kickbacks from lenders, who have doled out such sweeteners to earn a spot on preferred lender lists.

In her testimony, Spellings announced that an Education Department task force created in April to examine the industry will soon be recommending similar statutes, including a ban on inducements and more transparency behind the creation of preferred lender lists.

Citing areas of common interest, Spellings told committee members she wanted to use two bills Miller hopes to move this year -- the Higher Education Act and No Child Left Behind reauthorizations -- to improve oversight and education programs. She criticized the "high legal barrier" in the higher education law that requires the department to prove improper relations between schools and lenders before taking action.

"Federal student aid is crying out for reform," she added, urging the committee to pass a full five-year reauthorization of the higher ed law instead of a one-year renewal.

Miller said that even with congressional action, "my concern about the department is in the broad the sense of its image since 2001."

Miller recently widened his investigation into the department's dealings with student loan providers by requesting information from Spellings and White House officials dating back to the beginning of the Bush administration in 2001.

Miller has also formally asked the FTC to look into deceptive marketing practices within the lending industry.

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Enforcement agency expands Hatch Act probe

Jessica Brady — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The OSC, which is charged with enforcing the Hatch Act, is focusing on improper political presentations and e-mail exchanges that may have occurred in each Cabinet department and executive branch agency, much of it coordinated by White House operatives, including presidential adviser Karl Rove.

Rove's name already has emerged in the current probe of GSA, where a meeting at agency headquarters in January featured a PowerPoint presentation by Scott Jennings, deputy White House political affairs director under Rove. The presentation allegedly focused on Republican strategy for the 2008 election.

Fearing similar potential Hatch Act violations have occurred elsewhere in the government, OSC spokesman James Mitchell told CongressDaily Tuesday it would "be irresponsible for us not to look into other agencies."

He said the officials under review will include those who act as the White House liaison in each of the agencies as well as White House staff.

"We're not saying that something's happened; we're saying there's cause to look into this," Mitchell said, adding that details of the investigation still need to be worked out. "If it happened at the GSA, it could happen elsewhere."

The decision to expand the probe apparently was made before Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, and 22 other Democratic senators and an Independent sent a letter to the White House Monday asking for information about inappropriate political activity at other government agencies.

In a response to the Los Angeles Times about the senators' letter, a White House spokesman said the Hatch Act did not prohibit providing informational briefings to government employees, calling the practice "entirely appropriate."

The OSC inquiry into possible Hatch Act violations across the government converges with another troublesome issue for the White House, as the OSC is already reviewing allegations of discrimination in the firing of one of the eight U.S. attorneys fired last year.

Earlier this month, David Iglesias, former U.S. attorney in New Mexico, filed a claim with the OSC asserting that he was unfairly fired because of a long leave of absence he took to fulfill his military obligations as a Navy Reserve captain.

By law, the OSC also enforces for federal employees the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act, which bars job discrimination against workers for their military obligations. "We're going to follow the trail and be prepared," Mitchell said about investigating the Iglesias claim.

The trail being reviewed at the GSA has already prompted Wyden and Dorgan to call for GSA Administrator Lurita Doan's resignation. It also brought a stern warning from House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., who said allegations of Hatch Act violations at the agency will make the appropriations process for GSA very difficult.

"It's much more difficult to present an appropriations bill with the GSA in it if the president is under fire," Serrano said Tuesday after learning of the expanded OSC's investigation. "It's going to get worse before it gets better."

Unlike Wyden and Dorgan, Serrano stopped short of calling for the embattled Doan to step down. "If we really want to get to the bottom of this, someone needs to be around to answer the questions," he said.

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GAO's bid for more money puts focus on staffing needs

Jessica Brady — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

"Our staff has become increasingly stretched and we are experiencing backlogs in several areas," such as health care, homeland security and energy, GAO Comptroller General David Walker told a House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee hearing.

He urged lawmakers "not just to consider what the budget is from 2007 to 2008, but [to] take a look at what's been going on the last five years and what you want your return on your investment to be." To support that statement, Walker said that GAO's oversight saves the government $105 for every dollar spent on the agency.

As Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., underscored the need to trim excess spending wherever possible, other committee members drew up something of a to-do list for GAO, the investigative and auditing arm of Congress.

Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., questioned whether the House should move to revive the Office of Technology Assessment, a nonpartisan policy and analysis arm of Congress that a Republican majority abolished in 1995. Walker said GAO now performs an assessment of the government's technology operations once a quarter, and that it would make more fiscal sense to expand the office within GAO rather than finance an independent OTA.

Rep. C.A. (Dutch) Ruppersberger, D-Md., chairman of the House Intelligence Technical and Tactical Intelligence Subcommittee, expressed interest in GAO expanding its oversight of the intelligence community.

"We need checks and balances, and that includes intelligence," Ruppersberger said.

Walker conceded that GAO "is not very involved in the intelligence community," adding that "a lot of the challenges it faces are the same challenges all agencies face," from its organizational structure to managing overhead costs.

Walker also touched on his plan for oversight of Iraq reconstruction projects, telling receptive lawmakers that his budget request includes funding to base three GAO officials in Baghdad's Green Zone for three-month tours of duty.

"We need a limited, recurring presence in Iraq to be able to have eyes and ears on the ground," Walker said. GAO labeled the Defense Department's contract management office "high risk" in its biennial review of all government agencies this year.

Wasserman Schultz, who said she was calling on all agencies to "detail the gotta-haves and the nice-to-haves" in their appropriations requests, hinted that GAO may have to do more with less this year. Wasserman Schultz questioned Walker on the need to increase GAO's staffing levels, and encouraged him to review discretionary spending for any excess.

Walker pointed out that GAO's budget, adjusting for inflation, has declined by 3 percent since 2003. That trend "does not adequately recognize the return on investment that GAO has been able to generate," he said.

The comptroller general said that an appropriations increase would allow the agency to both fulfill more report requests from committee chairmen and ranking members and also replace its retiring workforce. Eighty percent of GAO's total budget is spent on employee salaries, and Walker made a plea for help to cope with increasing costs.

"We help Congress do their job," he said. "Now it's time for you to help us do our job."

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Postal Service does not foresee layoffs despite pressures

Jessica Brady — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Still, Postmaster General John Potter assured the House Oversight and Government Reform Federal Workforce Subcommittee, "I do not foresee laying off workers" to cut labor costs, which amount to 80 percent of its budget.

Speaking at what lawmakers called the first congressional oversight hearing for the Postal Service in nearly a decade, Potter said that changes in the Postal Service's business model -- dictated by new rules set under legislation enacted in December 2006 -- could lead to dramatic changes to its workforce.

"I do not believe any law, however well intended, can repair [our] broken model, because mail volume is no longer growing at a rate sufficient to sustain the ever-expanding delivery network," the one-time mail clerk said.

Despite his assurances about the existing workforce, lawmakers expressed concerns about potential layoffs of letter carriers and the hiring of more private contractors as cost-cutting options for the Postal Service, which delivered 213 billion pieces of mail last year. Currently, 94 percent of all letter carriers are career employees.

Postal Service representatives told the subcommittee it will have to come up with creative ways to drive business and keep prices low.

"In a competitive market, raising the price of mail no longer solves the problem," said James Miller, chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors. The expansive legislation enacted late last year imposes a rate cap on the Postal Service for the first time, requiring that it tie pricing of stamps and first-class mail to the inflation rate.

The law requires the price of express and priority mail be aligned with the market, taking into consideration what competitors like FedEx and UPS charge for deliveries. The newly created Postal Regulatory Commission is to draw up a pricing plan for those products, which is not expected to be released for another year.

House Oversight and Government Reform Federal Workforce Subcommittee Chairman Danny Davis, D-Ill., announced a field hearing in his Chicago congressional district next month, responding to Potter's comments that the city's delivery standards were among the worst nationwide.

Davis said he planned to schedule a series of oversight hearings "to ensure the Postal Service can compete in today's market."

In the Senate, meanwhile, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Federal Financial Management Subcommittee Chairman Thomas Carper, D-Del., announced Tuesday that his panel would hear from Potter Thursday in its first review of progress made under the recently enacted postal service overhaul legislation.

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Political e-mails trigger surge in Hatch Act complaints

Jessica Brady — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

"As people become more comfortable with e-mail use, we see a spike in Hatch Act complaints," an attorney in the Hatch Act unit of the Office of Special Counsel told CongressDaily this week. "I expect to see a continued intersect between federal employees, the Internet and the Hatch Act."

OSC recorded 299 complaints last year -- an all-time high for the independent investigative agency charged with enforcing the Hatch Act. The law bars federal employees from engaging in any political activity during work hours, which includes circulating petitions and campaigning.

Sending a political e-mail, either on a personal or work account, is barred under the law.

Among the variety of recent e-mail cases brought to the agency's attention was one involving a federal worker who e-mailed an invitation to a party supporting the re-election campaign of Rep. Tim Holden, D-Pa.

The invitation, which was "obviously ... directed toward the success of Mr. Holden's re-election campaign," was e-mailed to more than 300 individuals, according to the OSC. The worker received a 60-day suspension.

In a case involving action against a supporter of President Bush's re-election, a federal employee had e-mailed a photo of the president in front of an American flag with the statement, "I Vote the Bible."

While the agency said it does not have an official count on how many e-mail violations occurred last year, the OSC attorney said the Internet is a rising problem area for enforcement. The attorney was allowed to be interviewed on the condition of anonymity.

The agency reported receiving 248 Hatch Act-related complaints in 2004, a general election year. That number was nearly matched with 245 complaints in 2005, despite it being a non-election year, which presumably would mean a dip in the volume of political e-mail.

The rise of popular Web sites like YouTube, which features politically charged video clips, has added to the challenge of keeping partisan politics out of the workplace, the OSC attorney said. Employees often pass along website links without knowing it violates the Hatch Act.

To educate workers and reiterate the law's extensive reach into prohibited political activities, the office issued an advisory last month highlighting decisions made by the Merit Systems Protection Board on cases of federal employees using their government e-mail address to circulate political messages.

The Hatch Act decisions "send a clear message to the federal community [that] no political activity means no political activity, regardless of the specific technology used," OSC Special Counsel Scott Bloch said in the advisory.

In one of the highlighted cases, an EPA employee was found in violation of the law for forwarding a letter from the Democratic National Committee to 31 agency co-workers that urged support for then-presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

The punishment decision for the employee is still pending, although the lightest sentence under the law is a 30-day suspension without pay.

Ward Morrow, assistant general counsel of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union, said such cases, where employees may not even be aware they are violating the law, "just aren't warranted."

Morrow said the Hatch Act "was designed for serious violations of bringing partisanship into the workplace." He said the law was never intended to punish a more minor offense like forwarding a video clip or campaign Web site.

The minimum penalty of a 30-day suspension is also too harsh, Morrow said, adding that the law should be revised to include less stringent punishments.

"The law seems to be a very heavy-handed way of dealing with e-mail," he said. "Congress needs to take up Hatch Act reform."

House Oversight and Government Reform Federal Workforce Subcommittee Chairman Danny Davis, D-Ill., said his panel will hold a hearing later this year on the Hatch Act generally -- and the use of e-mails, in particular -- but that overhauling the law was unlikely.

"There is a lack of knowledge, of federal workers just not knowing the rules," Davis said, acknowledging the upswing in Hatch Act complaints.

Davis said rather than change components of the law, more needs to be done to educate workers on the rules.

"The average employee does not set out to violate the law," he said, reiterating OSC's view. "Awareness is all they need to keep them from being in violation."

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Dems support expansion of GAO, but question affordability

Jessica Brady — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The GAO "makes sure the government spends its money wisely and well," Senate Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee Chairwoman Mary Landrieu, D-La., said recently, proclaiming it "pennywise and foolish to under fund that office."

Congress' investigative and auditing agency is seeking $523 million for fiscal 2008, an 8 percent hike over current spending. Testifying before Landrieu's panel last month, GAO Comptroller General David M. Walker said such an increase would help the agency expand its staff from 3,200 to 3,750 over the next six years.

Offering firm support for that request, Landrieu said that she "will do everything possible to fund that office."

For House Democrats, their political fortunes will be enhanced by the ability of the GAO to uncover waste, fraud and abuse in executive branch agencies and programs. The agency, funded at $484 million in fiscal 2006, more than supplements the ability of standing committees to conduct oversight.

GAO's research efforts fuel the kinds of high profile investigations launched by House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., earlier this year, including probes into drug pricing, Iraq reconstruction and the Coast Guard's $24 billion Deepwater modernization program.

Waxman said increasing the size of the agency "is certainly worthwhile; they may very well need more money." Likewise, House Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., whose panel has its own chief investigator on the payroll, said, "I would support [Walker] with vast enthusiasm."

But despite the support on both sides of the Capitol, House Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said the request is too tall an order in the current fiscal environment.

"It's an astronomically high number for this year," she said of the GAO's budget request.

Like her House colleagues, Wasserman Schultz agreed the GAO provides "a valuable service" for lawmakers, and said she had plans to meet with Walker and review the agency's needs.

Although predicting the request for more money would not be met this year, Wasserman Schultz said, "Right now, we're only dealing with the got to dos, must haves, and can't live withouts."

Walker is scheduled to discuss the GAO's budget request before her subcommittee April 19. He will likely make the case that money spent on GAO is an investment that now reaps nearly twice the return in tax dollars saved or recovered than it did eight years ago.

At a recent Senate hearing, Walker asserted that GAO's oversight now saves the government $105 for every dollar spent on the agency.

An increase in the agency's size and budget would therefore "clearly be a strategic asset for this Congress," Walker said.

The Democratic takeover of Congress has clearly changed the climate for government watchdogs, if not Walker's outlook for GAO. The last time Congress changed hands, after Republicans swept the House and Senate in the 1994 elections, GAO's budget saw a sharp decline.

Its fiscal 1995 budget -- the last one decided by a Democratic majority -- was $563 million. But Republicans approved an fiscal 1996 appropriation that slashed spending by more than 16 percent to $472 million, and a year later cut it even further to $411 million.

GAO's largest budget in the years under Republican control came in fiscal 2003, when the agency received $495 million.

The cuts were the result of a Republican effort to scale down the size of the government, fueled partly by suspicions that GAO and other support agencies were too willing to push the Democrats' agenda. The new GOP majority trimmed Congress' operating budget by $206 million, and at the same time the GAO's budget was cut, House Republicans successfully eliminated the Office of Technology Assessment and decreased the size of Congressional Budget Office and the Congressional Research Service.

"In a time when Congress is having to rethink its role and rethink the amount of money that it spends, we have to reduce everything that is not absolutely essential," then-Rep. Robert Walker, R-Pa., said in 1995 as Congress began to cut the size of the support agencies.

Now with congressional committees under the control of oversight hawks like Waxman and Dingell, and with a Democratic leadership team that has made oversight a priority, a GAO spokesman said there is an added need to expand the agency's workforce.

"There's a general sense that since the midterm election, Congress has wanted to do more oversight," he said.

The number of requests for hearing testimony is up this year -- especially for healthcare and homeland security issues -- and the influx indicates that committees will soon be following up with many more GAO report requests later this year, the spokesman said.

And while the GAO should be able to meet the requests, Walker argues the agency needs to move beyond issuing reports and provide greater transparency in government financial and budget reporting.

He has urged Congress to strengthen oversight of the more than $300 billion in annual federal grants awarded to private groups and other entities not part of the federal government as well as review and upgrade, if necessary, the role of federal audit agencies and inspectors general.

The GAO "has to move beyond fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement, and reform how the government operates," Walker testified recently. Such an effort, he added, would require a larger staff and budget.

"We decided not to ask for additional staff until we made the most of our existing staff," Walker said in a brief interview after a recent hearing. "We've done that, [and] now we're being squeezed."

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Lawmakers probe FDA response to harmful pet food

Jessica Brady — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Kucinich, whose panel has broad jurisdiction over domestic issues, has written to Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, requesting information on when the agency first discovered harmful toxins in Menu Foods Income Fund pet food.

Menu Foods issued a recall March 16 of dog and cat foods produced in two of their plants after discovering melamine in the wheat gluten used for wet food products. Tests also confirmed the presence of aminopterin, a rat poison. The Menu Foods announcement has led to the recall of 60 million pet food products and the FDA has confirmed at least 15 animal deaths from the incident so far.

Kucinich posed as many as 20 specific questions to Sundlof in a letter dated Tuesday, including a request for FDA plant inspection reports over the last two years.

"Millions of American families have a right to be assured that everything possible is being done to protect the health of their beloved family pets," Kucinich, owner of two beagles and a cocker spaniel, said this week. A Kucinich spokeswoman said the subcommittee might conduct a hearing on the issue.

Citing the additional recalls after the Menu Foods announcement, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., initiated their own inquiry into the FDA's oversight of pet food manufacturing facilities.

"Based on the evidence so far, it would appear that FDA is failing its responsibilities to protect animals from unsafe food as much as it is failing to protect American consumers," said DeLauro, whose subcommittee has jurisdiction over the FDA.

She and Durbin, a member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, wrote to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach seeking an analysis of FDA's oversight of pet food manufacturing facilities and a report of actions taken since the recalls began.

The Durbin-DeLauro probe of what they called "weak links" in the system follows recalls issued late last month from Del Monte Pet Products, Hill's Pet Nutrition and Nestle Purina PetCare Co., also in response to wheat gluten contamination.

Durbin and DeLauro introduced legislation in February that would create a single food safety agency. The measure would consolidate the food oversight responsibilities now spread throughout 15 government agencies.

"In light of recent events, it looks like we will need to broaden [our] effort to include pet foods" in the proposed agency, DeLauro said in a prepared statement.

Durbin released a statement saying his goal is to eliminate the "vulnerabilities" affecting food safety and American consumers. "Many cats, dogs and other pets, considered members of the family, are now suffering as a result of a flawed pet food inspection system," he said.

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GAO seeks money, staff to expand oversight role

Jessica Brady — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Government Accountability Office Comptroller General David Walker, speaking at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, made the case for his agency's fiscal 2008 budget request of $523 million, an 8.5 percent hike from last year, and for an increase in staff over the next six years.

In a nod to Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., who said in his opening remarks that GAO's oversight saved the government $105 for every dollar spent on the agency, Walker said such a budget increase next year would "clearly be a strategic asset for this Congress."

In addition to increased funding -- a request met by friendly comments from both Lieberman and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ranking member Susan Collins, R-Maine -- Walker said there needs to be greater transparency in government financial and budget reporting so GAO can offer better analyses and recommendations.

The congressional agency, Walker said, "has to move beyond fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement, and reform how the government operates."

He cited the recent overhaul of the U.S. Postal Service, which was greatly modernized thanks to legislation steered through by Collins and enacted in December, as a key example of using GAO recommendations to boost efficiency in a government agency. He also pointed to the 26 federal programs labeled as high-risk in the GAO's biennial review of the government as top targets for restructuring this year.

Reciting a list of legislative recommendations, Walker appealed to the committee to consider giving GAO officials the authority to administer oaths for investigative work and reaffirm the agency's audit authority to more quickly access information from the intelligence community.

The comptroller general, whose agency employs nearly 3,200 people and issues 1,000 reports annually, also used the hearing to highlight a handful of priority issues that he said should be addressed this year. Walker said Congress should move to rein in the growth of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, overhaul the alternative minimum tax, and make certain that pay-as-you-go rules become law.

"We're going to get the most money, in my opinion, with entitlement reform," Walker said, "and if we can do that, we can make a significant down payment on our national debt."

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FOIA reform bill moves through House subcommittee

Jessica Brady — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0500

"A cornerstone of our democracy is the ability of citizens to have access to government information and records," subcommittee chairman Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., said just before the panel approved the bill on a voice vote. Unfortunately, he said, "requestors are being forced to wait much longer than necessary for responses from agency FOIA offices."

The legislation upholds an existing requirement that government agencies respond to information requests within 20 days, but applies pressure to that deadline by imposing consequences on federal agencies for missing the deadline. It also mandates that agencies provide information requesters with a tracking number to follow the progress of their request either by phone or internet. Additionally, agencies would have to report on their progress in responding to requests in order to prevent excessive delays.

Co-sponsors of the bill include Clay, committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Rep. Todd Platts, R-Pa. It was introduced in the 108th and 109th Congresses, but died at the committee level each time. A similar measure was introduced in 2005 by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

The measure approved Tuesday would install an ombudsman at the National Archives, who would offer guidance to requesters regarding their rejected or delayed FOIA requests. It calls for an annual Government Accountability Office report on the Department of Homeland Security's use of its disclosure exemption for "critical infrastructure information."

The bill, which now heads to full committee, includes a provision ensuring attorneys' fees are recovered for individuals whose information requests are determined to have been unfairly denied.

The legislation actually follows up on a 2005 executive order from President Bush, which aimed to boost the government's response to information requests. According to the Sunshine in Government Initiative, a coalition of media groups which include The Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists, agencies have made little progress in reducing backlogs and delays in responding to FOIA requests since the 2005 order was issued.

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House government reform subcommittee assignments nearly complete

Jessica Brady — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500

"I have a pretty good idea of who's going to get what," Waxman said of the five subcommittee chairmanships. He declined to be specific, saying he will make his decision once his full committee roster is completed next week.

Kucinich, among Capitol Hill's most outspoken critics of President Bush and the war in Iraq, had been ranking member of the National Security Subcommittee in the last legislative session. As the panel's presumed chairman in the Democratic-led 110th Congress, he had a ready platform to advance his antiwar agenda.

But Kucinich said in a brief interview that he might wield more influence as chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee, which will have jurisdiction over all domestic issues and the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"I'm likely to have my top pick," said Kucinich, who noted that some Democrats ahead of him in seniority are taking leadership posts on other standing committees.

"Domestic policy could end up having the most influence of any committee [because] it has oversight of all domestic policy in the U.S," he said, adding that Waxman "made clear that he's going to use the full committee" to address foreign policy issues.

Among those with more seniority, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., is opting to lead the House Transportation and Infrastructure Coast Guard Subcommittee.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who ranks ahead of both Cummings and Kucinich on Oversight and Government Reform, will be chairwoman of the Financial Services Financial Institutions Subcommittee.

Besides Kucinich, Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., said he is likely to become an Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee chairman. He said he expects to take over the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, where he was ranking member in the 109th Congress.

Davis, who noted that some of his colleagues are still considering their options, said "it's difficult to know how it's all going to shake out."

Waxman's new lineup eliminates the Energy and Resources and the Regulatory Affairs subcommittees. Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., who served as the ranking member of the Energy and Resources Subcommittee, said she expects to be on the Domestic Policy Subcommittee this year. Rep. Stephen Lynch, formerly ranking member on the Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee, said he is still considering assignments.

Waxman said five vacancies remain on the full committee, which at least seven previously elected members are seeking to fill by obtaining waivers. They include Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., who both were on the committee last year. Also vying to get on the committee are Reps. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., Betty McCollum, D-Minn., Gwen Moore, D-Wis., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.

Once all the members are in place, Waxman said he will convene the full panel to nominate the subcommittee chairmen.

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Legislators make last-ditch push on postal bill

Jessica Brady — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0500

While Waxman said "it's something that could be passed this week," it remains to be seen whether the Senate would be receptive to the proposal.

Stakeholders have been tracking the discussions for months as key negotiators -- Davis, Waxman, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del. -- grappled with drafting a conference report.

According to Waxman, the proposal includes "a lot of accommodations for concerns were raised by" Collins and Carper, including a rate cap.

The overhaul bill that passed the Senate 99-0 in February would require the postal service to set rates according to inflation, a provision favored by mass mailers who want a bill that ensures the lowest possible prices.

The Davis-Waxman proposal offered Monday would uphold the Senate's version of the rate cap for 10 years, when the service would get access to a growing escrow account. Management of that account, which is another major sticking point, would be opened up in 2016 for the postal service to pay unfunded health retirement benefits.

The postal service is currently paying into an escrow account controlled by the Treasury Department.

A congressional aide close to the negotiations admitted that the House and Senate remain "deadlocked over literally dozens of issues," but said the Davis-Waxman offering had the best chance of pleasing all sides of the mailing community.

The National Association of Letter Carriers has criticized a proposal by Collins, which included a provision to require postal workers to wait three days before being eligible for worker compensation benefits.

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Mailers decry inaction on postal overhaul measure

Jessica Brady — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0500

With final passage of the overhaul bill likely to be bypassed in the last week of the lame duck, mailers -- who find the Postal Service's rate-making process unreliable -- say they will look at alternatives to sidestep budgeting for increased costs of postage and shipping.

"There will be a greater effort in getting out of the mail because it's not stable," said Jerry Cerasale, vice president of government affairs for the Direct Marketing Association.

Cerasale, whose group accounts for 70 percent of all postage sold in the United States, noted that credit card and catalogue companies trying to reach new customers have increased their presence on the Internet. Mass mailers accounted for $18 billion in revenue for the Postal Service in 2005.

The pending legislation awaiting conference would require the Postal Service to increase its prices annually and streamline the process by creating an independent Postal Regulatory Board to replace the Postal Rate Commission. The bill also says those increases cannot exceed the inflation rate. Currently, the agency does not have a price ceiling, and it considers price increases on an ad hoc basis.

Postal service spokesman Gerry McKiernan called the existing process "strenuous," adding that "we would always prefer a better system than the one we currently have."

But the outlook for a new system is grim. A spokeswoman for Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, a chief negotiator of the bill, said Collins "is not optimistic" about final passage.

The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent in February. The House overwhelmingly approved the sweeping legislation in July 2005, but opposition from labor groups and the White House have kept it from going to conference.

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Senator unsure of postal overhaul's lame duck prospects

Jessica Brady — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0400

"While I remain committed to the goal of passing the bill in the lame-duck session, I do not know if that will be possible," Collins said in a statement. Highlighting the contentious negotiations last week, she explained that "at the eleventh hour, various parties raised objections to some of the bill's long-standing provisions, and these objections caused certain members of Congress to block passage of the legislation."

A pivotal issue is whether the Postal Service should price single-piece parcels based on market forces alongside competitors such as UPS and FedEx, or have those rates set annually by the Postal Regulatory Commission. The Collins proposal -- which was to be the template for a conference report -- has parcel prices set by the commission.

Speaking against the provision, UPS spokesman David Bolger said the mailing giant "has voiced our opposition to it for years." Bolger said the company withdrew its support of the sweeping overhaul bill late last week, noting that "everyone knew this was the one sticking point we had."

Bolger also noted that representatives of UPS and the Postal Service, which did not oppose the provision, worked out a compromise on the pricing issue to be inserted to the bill, but the proposal they submitted to Collins' staff was not considered. He also said Collins' proposal was intended to be introduced last week to prompt a conference and approve a conference report, but that opposition to the pending bill stalled action.

The National Association of Letter Carriers also launched an attack on the proposal last week, spokesman Ron Bergen said, after being notified of a provision that requires postal workers wait three days before being permitted to collect worker compensation benefits.

White House staff had requested the overhaul bill include language to cut down on the Postal Service's labor costs, which comprise 80 percent of its budget. Bergen called the move "dangerous," and in a letter to union members, NALC president Bill Young said that "perhaps after the recess we can reconvene the parties and attempt to iron out the sticking points."

But Ben Cooper, who represents direct mailers at Williams & Jensen, said "the variables in the lame duck are too many to count." The Collins proposal, intended to serve as the conference report, has not been filed, and the House has not appointed conferees. Cooper, who said "the bill would have moved had it not been for the NALC's attempt to kill it," noted that time is running out. "The lame duck is a problem under any circumstances, but you still have Bill Young's opposition, other bills that must be acted on, and an election that could change everything."

Meanwhile, House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., continues to be optimistic about the bill's chances, although he identified the provisions for postal rate increases and workers compensation policies as potential hang-ups. "I think we are conceptually 99.9 percent there at this point. It's a death spiral [for the Postal Service] if you don't make some changes," Davis told a breakfast sponsored by the Council for Excellence in Government and the Washington Post.

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Postal overhaul languishing despite compromise offer

Jessica Brady — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0400

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, sent the proposal to House negotiators just before the August recess. It essentially mirrors the Senate-approved bill and is the result of talks between the Senate committee and House Government Reform committee staffs.

Members from both chambers have worked to smooth out differences between their bills while also attempting to write an agreement that would meet White House approval. The Collins proposal upholds the Senate's stricter rate cap provision, requiring that postal rate increases not exceed the rate of inflation.

An exit clause that would allow the agency to break that rate cap only in times of major emergencies is included in the conference agreement proposal. Both the strict rate cap and exit clause provisions are favored by mass mailers, who want a bill that ensures the lowest possible prices, but are opposed by unions seeking more flexibility in rate setting.

Despite the Collins proposal -- the most recent movement on the overhaul bill -- the outlook for final passage remains uncertain. White House officials oppose key sections of the House and Senate bills that would allow the agency to use some of its $3 billion escrow account to pay for operational costs rather than solely for its retirement benefits.

The White House also has demanded that the Postal Service continue paying the military pensions of its employees, which House and Senate members oppose. The bills passed overwhelmingly in both chambers would require the Treasury Department to pay for those pensions, which total about $27 billion.

Although Collins and House Government Reform Chairman Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., met with White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten in June to attempt to reach a compromise, the conference proposal maintains the approved Senate language on both issues.

A spokeswoman for Collins said House and Senate members have not discussed the proposal since returning from the August recess, but a spokesman for Davis said the Republican and others "continue to work on consensus language on a daily basis. We are closer than ever to reaching agreement, getting through conference, and moving legislation to the floor."

Davis' most recent prediction, made just before the House adjourned for the August recess, was that a conference committee would meet to approve the bill before October. The Senate named conferees shortly after approving its bill last February, while the House, which voted on its measure in July 2005, has yet to appoint conferees.

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Senate chair wants anti-smoking provision out of postal bill

Jessica Brady — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 00:00:00 -0400

House Government Reform ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., proposed earlier this month including the provision in the conference report, which also would crack down on Internet tobacco vendors who avoid paying state taxes on their online sales.

Collins said she is "sympathetic to the cause, but I don't think it belongs in this bill." She said she is cautious to add provisions to the overhaul bill that might make it more controversial, including the anti-smoking language, and that she would instead introduce a stand-alone measure.

Waxman, however, said he wanted to keep the underage smoking provision "on a vehicle that's moving."

Postal Service spokesman Gerry McKiernan said it would be difficult for the agency to police the issue since "we have to deliver anything anyone hands us that has the proper postage on it." Unlike private companies like UPS and FedEx, which no longer deliver packages containing cigarettes and tobacco products, "we can't open packages unless we have probable cause."

But Eric Lindblom, policy research manager for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, said carefully crafted legislation allowing the Postal Service to search packages if they had "reasonable knowledge and not just absolute knowledge" would help.

The Waxman language also would target American Indian-run Internet sites that avoid paying state taxes on their tobacco sales. While Native Americans can sell cigarettes tax-free on reservations, sales made online are subject to state and federal taxes.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has been leading an effort to require American Indians to pay the sales tax for online cigarette sales and has been critical of the Postal Service for delivering packages of cigarettes to private consumers.

Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Herb Kohl, D-Wis., introduced a bill in the 108th Congress that would have banned commercial shipping of tobacco products through the U.S. mail and would have required private shippers to verify that appropriate state taxes had been paid on tobacco shipments.

The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent in 2003, and a companion bill from Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis., easily passed the Judiciary Committee but never made it to the House floor. A Kohl spokesman said the senator might introduce the measure again this session.

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Committee OKs bill creating database to track federal spending

Jessica Brady — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0400

The bill (S. 2590), which was easily adopted on a voice vote, is the latest effort by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to curb unnecessary spending among all levels of government.

During the committee markup, Coburn said the Web site would "give taxpayers a greater understanding of how their money is spent, which I think will bring about more accountability." He noted that "we're going to give away $1 billion this year on contracts, grants and loans, and people should know where that money is going."

The Office of Management and Budget would be charged with running the Web site that would track the grants and procurements doled out to institutions starting with fiscal 2007. The legislation requires all corporations, associations, nonprofits, universities and individuals that receive federal money to provide OMB with information on how their grants and contracts are spent.

The database, which Coburn said would be the "Google for government spending," would include information on the names of grantees and sub-grantees receiving money, what industry they are involved in, their location and the location of the work, the nature of the work, when and how much they were awarded, and an itemized breakdown of any transaction above $25,000.

A similar bill sponsored by House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., in the House was easily adopted last month, but that measure would track only federal grants.

During a meeting last month of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Federal Financial Management Subcommittee, Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, said the difference might be a sticking point down the road during conference negotiations. OMB Watch is a nonprofit group that works to "promote open government, accountability and citizen participation," according to its Web site.

A pilot program on the reporting of subcontracts would start in July 2007, and the legislation sets the official Web site roll out at January 2008, one year later than the date set in the original text.

The bill requires those responsible for passing grant money to sub-grantees to report the data to OMB for the Web site. The bipartisan bill, whose cosponsors include Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., now heads to the floor for consideration.

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Senate panel approves FEMA overhaul measure

Jessica Brady — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0400

The legislation (S. 3595) responds to the "serious failures in leadership and urgent need for broad reform" of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said during the markup.

Collins said the sweeping legislation, which was approved on a voice vote, was a direct response to the weaknesses found in FEMA as a result of last summer's Hurricane Katrina.

The chairwoman also noted the bill included many of the recommendations offered by the committee's report evaluating the response to Hurricane Katrina, and said the bill "puts forth a careful and comprehensive program for improvement of our emergency management system. It is a concrete, nuts and bolts plan designed to rebuild and strengthen a broken system."

Katrina's high winds and waters flooded and destroyed homes, businesses and public structures along in the Gulf Coast late last August, affecting several million residents from eastern Texas to the tip of the Florida panhandle, but especially Louisiana and Mississippi.

FEMA came under a hail of criticism, including inadequate preparation, slow implementation of aid programs, poor coordination with local authorities and problems controlling fraud. Its fair share of blame in relation to local and state authorities is still unclear.

FEMA used to be an independent, Cabinet-level agency, but was subsumed by DHS after its creation. Detractors of the bill have criticized it for not restoring its status, independent of a department focused on combating terrorism, not Katrina-style emergencies.

Supporters point out in turn that a provision of S. 3595 does give the FEMA administrator a "direct advisory role" with the president for emergency management, in similar fashion as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Reporting lines still go up to the DHS secretary, however.

The measure establishes the overhauled emergency response agency as a distinct entity within DHS, similar to the U.S. Coast Guard, and makes it responsible for all natural and man-made disasters. An amendment to the bill by Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, which was accepted by the committee by voice vote, would also require the agency to respond to erosions resulting from natural disasters.

The bill charges the agency's administrator with overseeing all phases of emergency response, including mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery; and requires the administrator have a minimum of five years of executive leadership and strong experience in crisis management. (Michael D. Brown, FEMA's director during Katrina, since resigned, was ridiculed in the press when it came to light that his previous employer was the International Arabian Horse Association.)

The administrator would also have to work alongside state and local authorities, as well as the newly created National Advisory Council composed on government officials, nongovernmental agencies and emergency response providers, to draft emergency response and critical infrastructure plans. The council would also have a sub-based Regional Advisory Council to work with the 10 FEMA regional offices authorized in the bill.

The agency administrator would also be tasked with creating a credential system for first responders at the state and local level to ensure capable emergency response teams. The bill also formally authorizes a Chief Medical Officer under the administrator to serve as the point person for all medical issues, and creates a Homeland Security Academy for DHS employees to prepare for emergency situations.

Although the original bill changes the name from FEMA to U.S. Emergency Management Authority, or USEMA, the committee approved an amendment from Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to keep the FEMA name. Coburn made the case that creating a new agency name would be an expensive endeavor, and require unnecessarily spending money to change building signs and business cards. The amendment was accepted on a voice vote.

The bipartisan bill authored by Collins and committee ranking member Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., creates a centralized National Operations Center for situational awareness, and authorizes search and rescues teams dedicated solely for the agency's response efforts. It also creates an Office of Emergency Communications to ensure smooth dialogue among levels of government and FEMA. The bill requires the office to develop a backup communications system, and conduct assessments and annual reports on communication operability.

Lieberman said "the goal is to save people's lives and ease the recovery of survivors by bringing together the skills, resources and missions for effective preparedness to catastrophes."

A key section of the legislation clarifies the president's authority to direct federal agencies to assist in response through a governor's request and the declaration of a major disaster. It requires the president to conduct an assessment to determine damages during a catastrophic event, and after doing so, allows the chief executive to authorize rent and mortgage assistance, reimbursement of communities for emergency relief costs and 39 weeks of unemployment payments.

Lieberman offered an amendment to extend unemployment payments to 52 weeks, noting that 39 weeks "may not be adequate for these affected victims," but the measure was voted down 9-7.

The ranking member also proposed making Hurricane Katrina victims eligible for the individual assistant programs created under the bill, which Collins rebutted as "simply not reasonable for FEMA." The chairwoman said "the cost of this amendment is potentially staggering," noting that nearly 3.2 million would become eligible under the proposal, which was also defeated, 9-7.

The legislation caps total funding for a single disaster at $3 billion.

A provision also increases mitigation funding from the current 7.5 percent to 15 percent. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., attempted to pass an amendment that would allow the president to provide even more such funding, but the measure was voted down along party lines, 8-7.

The bill includes a section targeting waste, fraud and abuse, and prevents contractors working on rebuilding efforts from assigning more than 90 percent of their work to subcontractors, which Collins said would limit "the excessive tiering of contracts that was so prevalent in Hurricane Katrina." Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., offered an amendment, which was accepted on a voice vote, requiring the Government Accounting Office to conduct an assessment on the small business contracts awarded in the aftermath of an emergency.

The legislation includes a provision to set up a separate resource within the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to reunite families following a disaster; and per a voice-accepted amendment from Lautenberg, allows emergency-response teams to rescue animals in addition to human victims.

The bill authorizes an overall 10 percent funding increase for FEMA's two financial accounts, starting with the amounts granted in the fiscal 2007 Homeland Security Appropriations bill, which passed in the Senate earlier this month. Additional 10 percent increases in funding were authorized for fiscal 2008 through fiscal 2010. The legislation approved in committee does not include a total authorization figure.

The bill now heads to the Senate floor for consideration.

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Volume mailers look for service agreements in postal bill

Jessica Brady — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0400

Ben Cooper, who represents direct mailers at Williams & Jensen, said the language was originally kept out for fear that it might "open up more opposition to the bill."

The agreements serve as a tool for the agency to offer discounted rates to large volume mailers, but newspaper associations have long argued that they discriminate against smaller mailers.

The independent Postal Rate Commission determined in 2002 that the Postal Service could offer the rate deals; both the House and Senate overhaul bills are silent on the issue. But the president's commission that studied an overhaul of the Postal Service recommended that language on the agreements be included, and White House officials looking at ways for the agency to cut costs and boost revenues have floated the idea of including the provision in recent discussions with key House and Senate negotiators.

Having language in the bill would codify what the USPS has been doing, as well as establish guidelines.

Max Heath of the National Newspaper Association said his agency "lost the fight a long time ago" on the agreements, referring to the Postal Rate Commission's 2002 decision, but that representatives of his group nevertheless lobbied members of Congress on the issue when the overhaul bills were drafted. He said his organization maintains its opposition to the agreements.

Final approval of the legislation, which is 12 years in the making, has been stalled in recent months as members of Congress attempt to meet White House demands on the bill.

In a recent meeting, White House advisers called on Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., to find ways for the agency to cut its labor costs, which account for 80 percent of its budget.

Despite the gridlock on labor and other issues -- namely differences between the House and Senate on the Postal Service's inflation-based rate cap, how the agency should spend its escrow fund and whether to shift to the Treasury Department the cost of postal workers' military pensions -- Davis said he is still optimistic the bill will be sent to the president's desk by the end of the current legislative session. "We still have a ways to go," Davis said, "but it'll be out before October."

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Panel moves to tighten data security for veterans

Jessica Brady — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0400

The bill, H.R. 5835, would centralize the VA's information technology operation under a new undersecretary of information services, who would service as the department's chief information officer, and three deputies for security, operations and management, and policy and planning.

The VA would have to immediately report security breeches to Congress, federal authorities and the veterans whose personally sensitive information is affected. That information could be anything from a birth date or home address, to a Social Security number or financial data.

"Obviously, we cannot change the agency through mandates, but we can change their culture," committee ranking Democrat Bob Filner, D-Calif., said of the VA's "dangerously dysfunctional IT structure."

The legislation is a response to the May theft from the home of a VA employee of a laptop computer containing the personal information of 26.5 million veterans and military personnel. The incident received wide media attention and sparked a flurry of congressional hearings on the issue of data and Internet security.

The House VA committee conducted seven hearings on information security, which led to the crafting of legislation "to help ensure veterans the peace of mind that their personal data is secure," Chairman Steve Buyer, R-Ind., a colonel in the Army Reserves, said in a committee release.

The bill would require the VA secretary to hire an outside agency to conduct a risk analysis after security breaches to determine costs or potential information misuse. Buyer said the secretary also could request a risk analysis from the FBI, which investigated the May theft.

The measure calls for a study into using personal identification numbers instead of Social Security numbers at the VA.

Veterans affected by breaches would receive free credit monitoring and insurance against associated financial losses or costs, such as legal fees or lost wages. Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., who requested that the insurance component be included, said "the government's ability to respond to emergencies is not exactly stellar. There is more confidence in the private sector to respond on this scale."

To bolster the number of Internet security experts at the VA, the bill would create a scholarship program for students earning doctorates in computer science. The scholarships could not exceed $50,000 per person, per year. The secretary also could award tuition reimbursement up to $82,500 over five years to doctoral graduates working in the VA's IT department.

Committee members from both parties hailed the program. Buyer said "there's so much hacking going on out there, we need to induce more people to study this curriculum."

Members of the House Energy and Commerce and Financial Services committees currently are working to combine separate pieces of legislation aiming to protect personal financial data. A bill could reach the House floor by next week. It is currently unknown whether the VA bill also would be part of that package.

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Senators weigh bill on disclosure of government spending

Jessica Brady — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0400

The bill, sponsored by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Federal Financial Management Subcommittee Chairman Tom Coburn, R-Okla., would establish a public database that would track federal money doled out to institutions.

A similar measure coasted through the House last month, but unlike the pending Senate measure, the bill sponsored by House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., would not require that federal spending on government procurements be reported.

Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch and a supporter of the Senate bill, said the difference might be a sticking point down the road during conference negotiations. "This bill is about disclosure. It should show where the government's hand is reaching," he said.

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., co-sponsors of Coburn's measure, also testified before the subcommittee to drum up support for the measure.

McCain told members during the hearing that the bill would curtail excessive spending, and called it "the tool necessary to put us on track to real accountability and reform."

The legislation would charge OMB with creating a free and searchable Web site containing information going back 10 years on all the corporations, associations, nonprofits, universities and individuals that received federal money.

The database, which Coburn said would be the "Google for government spending," would include information on the names of grantees and sub-grantees receiving money, when and how much they were awarded, and an itemized breakdown of each transaction.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she intended to schedule a full committee markup on the measure before the August recess.

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Postal reform bill talks stall over labor costs

Jessica Brady — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0400

At issue is the Postal Service's labor costs, which consume 80 percent of the agency's budget. In the most recent negotiating meeting last week, White House officials called on Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., to "bring [Postal Service] labor costs more in line with the federal government," said Ben Cooper, who represents direct mailers at Williams & Jensen.

Cooper said that proposal could be possible through negotiated service agreements or an expansion of work sharing, but he added that political considerations make such a move unlikely.

"Postal Service employees make up a third of the workforce and are in every congressional district," he said. "It's an awkward and difficult time right now."

Cooper, who also chairs the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, said the Postal Service offers better benefits packages than other unionized companies, and he noted that President Bush's commission that studied overhauling the Postal Service recommended cutting labor costs, in its 2003 final report.

Gene Del Polito, president of the Association for Postal Commerce, also said White House advisers, headed by Deputy Chief of Staff Joel Kaplan, are pushing for a final bill to include Senate language that would require all labor negotiations to go through the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Currently, contract agreements are negotiated among three representatives -- one from labor, one from the Postal Service and one neutral negotiator hired by both sides. Under the Senate measure, the arbitrators would have to take into account the Postal Service's financial status when considering bargaining agreements, which Del Polito said could weigh heavily against labor unions.

Bob Levi, a spokesman for the National Association of Postmasters of the United States, said, "if the White House is pushing any provision that would undermine labor's collective bargaining, the bill goes down." William Burrus, president of the American Postal Workers Union, said he is "outraged" at the White House proposal on mediation, calling it a "hijacking of the legislative process."

The House and Senate have passed versions of postal overhaul; the Senate has named conferees and is negotiating with the House and administration as part of the pre-conferencing efforts.

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