News

CBO: Deal to avert government shutdown increases spending for fiscal year

Total discretionary outlays in 2011 will be $3.2 billion higher because of defense spending.

Pay & Benefits

OMB employees seek union representation

Elections could be held as soon as August, labor official says.

Oversight

Playing with fire: A manmade debt-limit crisis

Congress may take a page from the book of firefighters in negotiatiing the debt limit crisis

News

Analysis: Beyond big or small government

Collaborative governance is growing because many crucial missions cannot be accomplished by any sector acting on its own.

Oversight

Fleeting Favor

President Obama can’t bank on his job-approval ratings staying high unless the economy improves.

News

From Nextgov.com: Impact of data center closures is unclear

Three weeks after the White House announced a plan to close 137 federal data centers, details on the extent of the move remain unclear.

Pay & Benefits

Agriculture may work with Shirley Sherrod’s nonprofit

Wrongly dismissed rural office director is in contract talks with department to have her nonprofit help with outreach to minority farmers.

Pay & Benefits

Locality pay will remain unchanged in 2012

Officials decline to modify pay boundaries in six metropolitan regions or add any new areas.

News

TSP expenses likely to rise next year

Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board has trimmed costs to stay under budget for fiscal 2011.

News

Treasury taps federal pensions as Uncle Sam hits debt ceiling

Federal law requires government to repay with interest retirement funds once debt limit is increased.

Defense

Was U.S. intelligence on bin Laden off target?

Officials have yet to report evidence that any of the plots the terrorist mastermind mulled over in his Pakistan compound actually became operational.

Oversight

As government hits debt limit, tensions rise

Vice President Joe Biden is heading up talks with congressional leaders designed to reach a deficit reduction framework and pass an increase in the debt ceiling.

Tech

Fatter Federal Paychecks

Surveys show high-end federal IT employers outearn non-IT feds and private sector counterparts.

Management

Look Me in the Eyes

Tech

From Nextgov.com: SOCOM eyes Android smartphones, tactical cellular networks

U.S. Special Operations Command seeks a radio with a 1-mile range and the capacity to plug-and-play with Android devices.

Pay & Benefits

Ex-SEC employees enjoy ‘revolving door,’ study says

Project on Government Oversight database documents more than 200 Securities and Exchange Commission veterans who represented clients before the regulators.

Oversight

Most of the money allotted for defunct DHS financial management project went unspent

Official says department obligated just a fraction of the millions associated with unsuccessful IT project.