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Countdown to Cuts, Sequestration Reader – Plus the DorobekINSIDER’s 7 Stories

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER:


But up front: Sequestion, of course, with just days before those automatic spending cuts start to kick in later this week.

The 02.25.2013 DorobekINSIDER sequestion reader:


The SEVEN stories that impact your life

  1. Federal News Radio reports, Karen Mills, head of the Small Business Administration, said she won’t need to order furloughs because enough people have retired early. Mills said sequestration will have little effect on the number of loans the agency guarantees. The White House has warned that Section 504 loans would be cut by $900 million. But Mills said demand for the loans has already dropped by that much. Mills has announced her departure once a replacement administrator is confirmed.
  2. GSA has canceled it’s 2013 Expo conference. Federal News Radio reports, conference had been scheduled for May 14-16 in Orlando. GSA spokesman Dan Cruz confirmed the decision, saying the current budget situation is leaving GSA and other agencies without the money to travel.
  3. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced that government-sponsored scientific research published in expensive journals will become more readily accessible to the public. Secrecy News reports, federal agencies that fund at least $100 million per year in scientific research were directed by White House science advisor John Holdren to develop plans to make the results of such research publicly available free of charge within a year of original publication.
  4. MSPB is preparing for the flood of expected furlough petitions. Government Executive reports, if Congress doesn’t reverse the dreaded automatic spending cuts scheduled to begin taking effect March 1, hundreds of thousands of federal employees could be furloughed on and off for the rest of the fiscal year. Furloughed employees can appeal those personnel decisions to the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent, quasi-judicial agency in the executive branch with just 203 employees in Washington and in eight regional offices across the country.
  5. Sequestration could lengthen the federal job freeze? Federal News Radio reports, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) wrote to Jeff Zients, OMB’s deputy director for management, asking for 10 “lower-priority” positions advertised on USAJobs.gov to be frozen, and for agencies to redirect that money to mission-critical jobs that could be affected under sequestration.
  6. The U.S. Postal Service is turning to the public for technology ideas on how to build a “dynamic routing” system that will better speed deliveries, according to the Reuters. A new advanced routing system based on the latest technologies, including GPS, would allow the Postal Service to introduce new products, find better routes for delivery and in the process increase revenue.
  7. And on GovLoop, if you are looking to advance your federal career. Check out of Secrets of the C-Suite panel coming up this Thursday at 2pm. You can still register for this free event here.

The DorobekINSIDER water-cooler fodder:

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