News Briefs

THE DAILY FED

News Briefs

SECTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM:

ASPA's 58th National Conference

The American Society for Public Administration is hosting its 58th National Conference in Philadelphia July 26-30. The theme this year is "Global Challenges, Local Responses." Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala will address the conference. Download the registration form and fax it to (202) 638-4952.

DTIC Annual Conference

The Defense Technical Information Center is presenting its Annual Users Meeting and Training Conference on Nov. 3-6, 1997 at the DoubleTree Hotel, National Airport, Arlington, Va. The conference theme is Information in the New Millenium. Contact Ms. Julia Foscue at 703-767-8236 or by e-mail at jfoscue@dtic.mil.

The following news summaries are from OPM AM, the daily newsletter of the Office of Personnel Management. OPM AM is available on OPM Mainstreet, the agency's electronic bulletin board, at 202-606-4800.

**TSP OPEN SEASON**The Thrift Savings Plan Open Season runs through July 31. During this time, you may begin contributing to the TSP, change the amount of your TSP contributions, or allocate TSP contributions to your account among the three investment funds. To get more information and download the forms you will need, click here.

THE FEDERAL DIARY--Comparisons of pay for federal and private sector workers is the subject of a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study. The Federal Diary highlights differences between the CBO study findings and pay data reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (The Washington Post).

BUDGET AGREEMENT--Interpretations differ about the budget agreement reached by the President and the Congress. There were still celebrations at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue yesterday about the five year plan to balance the federal budget, lower some taxes, and strengthen federal health insurance programs(The Washington Post).

MORE ON THE BUDGET AGREEMENT--Social funding is to increase significantly. Cuts in the federal budget did not adversely affect some programs for America's neediest, including the elderly, the indigent, the college-bound and immigrants (The Washington Post).

OPPOSING VIEW ON THE BUDGET DEAL--Janet Yellen, chair of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, writes about the budget agreement. "At last, our fiscal house is in order ... and our citizens and the economy will benefit" (USA Today).

HISPANIC GROUP CRITICIZES CLINTON TEAM--Members of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda expressed disappointment that so few Hispanics have been tapped to fill high-level Cabinet positions, those that must be confirmed by the US Senate. Hispanic leaders pointed out that Hispanics make up about 11%of the US population but only 7% of President Clinton's appointees are Hispanic (The Washington Post).