Senate confirms James as OPM director

President Bush's pick to head the Office of Personnel Management was confirmed Wednesday by the Senate. The Senate confirmed Kay Coles James' nomination to head OPM, after twelve lawmakers from the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee approved the administration's nominee by voice vote . James, who served in the first Bush administration as assistant secretary for public affairs at the Health and Human Services Department and as associate director at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, will play a key role in the future of federal pay and benefits. The Senate Wednesday also approved the nomination of Othoniel "Tony" Armendariz to serve on the Federal Labor Relations Authority. During her confirmation hearing last month, James said she would focus on helping agency leaders creatively use pay and other incentives already in place to attract people to public service. She also said attracting and retaining talented employees to the federal government would be her top priority as OPM director. On the issue of pay compression, James said she realized some "serious inequities" existed, but she did not endorse lifting pay caps on members of the Senior Executive Service. James also weighed in on several other issues impacting federal employees, including pay parity between military personnel and civil servants, labor-management partnerships and contraceptive health coverage.