Government Executive - Authors - Roxanne Yaghoubi

House budgeteers seek fraud-fighting advice

Roxanne Yaghoubi — Fri, 18 Jul 2003 00:00:00 -0400

The hearing was a result of the Budget Committee's mandate that all House committees should hold hearings on how best to reduce the federal deficit by stopping fraud and waste within government agencies.

Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., said while the options for eliminating fraud sounded modest, they could produce as much as $33 billion in savings.

However, Ways and Means ranking member Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. made clear his stance on the issue by saying that when he first saw the committee's press release detailing their plan to get rid of the deficit, "I thought it was put out by Democrats!"

In defense of the plan, Walker mentioned several cases in which he believed it would be possible to reduce fraud, including eliminating from the Medicare rolls fugitives and those who were citizens of the United States, but were not currently residing in the country.

During the question and answer period, committee members detailed their own problems understanding Medicare and tax regulations, despite the fact that several of them are certified accountants.

For example, Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash., described how several months after she contested the IRS' claim that she made a mistake when filling out her taxes, they still have not gotten back to her.

Dunn said she could not begin to imagine what the typical taxpayer had to go through.

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Agencies quizzed on management of terror suspects

Roxanne Yaghoubi — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 00:00:00 -0400

At a hearing Tuesday, members of the Senate Judiciary Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee asked why, almost two years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, federal agencies were allowing terrorism suspects to enter and stay in the United States.

Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Chairman Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., expressed concern that information about suspected terrorists was not being shared quickly and effectively between agencies, a fear that arose from a June 18 GAO report (03-798).

GAO official Jess Ford testified that the report had found 240 visas had been revoked because of terrorism concerns since the attacks, but the Immigration and Naturalization Services often was not notified immediately of the revocation. In 43 cases, the agency was not notified at all.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., asked why the average notification time was 12 days, joking that he did not know of any e-mails that took that long to arrive. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., agreed and asked why, if businesses could share vital information quickly all the time, government agencies could not.

Michael Dougherty, director of operations in the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Homeland Security Department, expressed hope that the reorganization of the INS in the Homeland Security Department would help with communication and notification between agencies.

Besides expressing concern that the agencies were not equipped or prepared to communicate with one another, subcommittee members wondered what obstacles kept these agencies from expelling a suspected terrorist from the country.

In trying to expel such terrorists, officials make a distinction between suspects who entered the country without a valid visa and those whose visas were not revoked until after they entered.

Ford explained that there are significant legal challenges to expelling those in the latter category, because no matter what their legal status, suspects are still entitled to due process.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said, "We must make sure our enemies cannot thread the cracks in the system."

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NASA personnel bill advances with union support

Roxanne Yaghoubi — Fri, 27 Jun 2003 00:00:00 -0400

The House Science-Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee approved a measure Thursday that would give NASA greater flexibility in attracting and retaining employees.

The panel approved the measure (H.R. 1085) in a voice vote, despite the opposition of Democrats. The ranking Democrat, Bart Gordon of Tennessee, argued that the subcommittee should not move forward with the bill until the Columbia Accident Investigation Board had completed its report.

The investigation board expects "half of the investigation to deal with the needs of the NASA administration," so it is counterproductive to pass a bill dealing with NASA's workforce without knowing the board's recommendations, Gordon said.

"Let's take the time to do it right," Gordon urged the panel.

But House Science Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., argued that NASA urgently needed to attract and retain workers. A quarter of the NASA workforce will be eligible for retirement in five years, he said. He also said the panel did not need the Columbia report to act, since the bill's provisions would not be radical departures from current laws.

Boehlert denied Democratic charges of partisanship. Republicans were continuing to keep the Democratic staff advised of Republican plans.

The panel approved by voice vote a manager's amendment by Boehlert reflecting compromises reached between Boehlert, the House Government Reform Committee, NASA and NASA's largest union, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE).

Under the bill, NASA would be given flexibilities including:

Recruitment, redesignation, retention and relocation bonuses worth up to 50 percent of an employee's salary. Current law limits such bonuses to 25 percent of salary.
A $10 million annual scholarship program under which NASA would pay for a student's tuition in return for a commitment to work for NASA after graduation.
Authority to hire employees at any step of a grade for employees with superior qualifications and additional duties.
Buyouts of up to 50 percent of an employee's salary. The current limit is $25,000.
The ability to provide new NASA employees with no prior federal service to accrue leave at the same rate as federal employees with similar levels of experience.

The bill does not include a proposed exchange program in which NASA employees and contractors could swap jobs for short periods of time. "IFPTE believes that such a program, in any form, would seriously compromise the agency's independence from the very contractors it must oversee," union president Greg Junemann said in a letter to Boehlert.

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, has introduced a similar bill in the Senate (S. 610)

Brian Friel contributed to this report.

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