#GovShutdown Reader Day 2 – Plus the DorobekINSIDER’s 7 Stories

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER:

• One of the only ways to get through the horribleness that is the government shutdown is to remember all the good work that federal employees do on a daily basis. We profile a metallurgist who is saving lives on stent at a time.

Not much hope in with the shutdown. The only glimmer of hope is word that President Obama has invited congressional leaders to the White House.

With that as background, GovLoop’s DorobekINSIDER #GovShutdown Reader – Day 2:

• Bloomberg News: Reps. Moran, Wolfe intro House bill seeking to ensure backpay for furloughed feds

  • Huffington Post: Republicans Split On Whether To Give Back Pay To Workers Furloughed In Government Shutdown

  • The Washington Post: Lawmakers continue to get paid:

  • The Washington Post: Shutdown hits the wallets and the spirits of federal employees

• Foreign Policy: In Shutdown, Government-Funded News Declared ‘Essential to National Security’

• Foreign Policy: Pentagon Spent $5 Billion on Weapons on the Eve of the Shutdown

• The Hill: White House braces for extended funding fight

• Politico: Shutdown hits military academies: The government shutdown disrupted the daily rhythms of the nation’s most orderly college campuses: the five federal military service academies.

• Politico: Nearing debt ceiling: The Treasury Department has begun using the last set of accounting maneuvers at its disposal to allow the government to keep paying its bills until Congress raises the country’s borrowing limit, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told congressional leaders Tuesday night.

• FCW: E-Verify shuttered during shutdown

• Defense News: DOD Websites Go Dark as Shutdown Enters Second Day:

• Politico: Collision course: CR and debt ceiling: A harsh reality began setting into Capitol Hill on Tuesday: The U.S. government may not reopen until the two parties reach a deal to raise the national debt ceiling.

• Reuters oped: Schneider: Shutdown: A fight with no room for compromise

  • To end the government shutdown, all Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) needs to do is let the House of Representatives vote on a budget. It would pass within 30 minutes. Virtually all 200 House Democrats would vote to keep the government open, as would as many as 50 Republicans. An easy majority.

• Bloomberg View’s Cass Sunstein: Shutdown Psychology Made Simple

• In The Capital: Ten More #Shutdown Restaurant and Bar Specials for You to Check Out

• USA Today: Freebies to furloughed workers ease shutdown pain

• Washington Post: D.C.’s workforce not have the highest percentage of federal workers. These cities do:

The SEVEN stories that impact your life

1. Ron Binz, the Obama administration’s nominee for the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has withdrawn his nomination, stating that he did not have enough support for confirmation by the Senate Energy Committee. Federal News Radio reports that opponents to Binz’s nomination objected to his views regarding natural gas as an energy source and his ties to certain green energy groups and lobbying firms. Thus far, the administration has not chosen a new nominee for the position.

2. The Defense Department will continue to award hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts for acquisition and other services during the shutdown with funds appropriated to the agency in previous years. The Federal Times states, however, that the Pentagon will not release any information about these contracts until after the shutdown ends.

3. The Pentagon’s Inspector General has found that there are more than 700 quality control problems with the F-35 fighter jet. The Inspector General blames both the F-35 program office and the Defense Contract Management Agency for the jet’s defects, stating that both did not provide sufficient oversight of the project. The Inspector General’s report lays out the jet’s quality control issues and provides recommendations for addressing these problems.

4. The online launch of Obamacare was coupled with technical malfunctions and heavy internet traffic as millions of individuals visited the site to apply for health insurance. Reuters reports that close to three million people have visited the site since it’s opening at midnight on October 1, but that thousands have had to reach out to call centers or live chats as they received error messages or experienced technical difficulties. State and federal agencies are asking citizens for patience as officials deal with the high volume of traffic and technical glitches.

5. A military judge ruled yesterday that the legal proceedings for the 5 Guantanamo Bay prisoners charged in the 9/11 attack will continue despite requests for a delay by the Pentagon. Federal News Radio reports that the Pentagon wanted a delay so that its officials would have the opportunity to improve the security of their computer network, which had been used by defense lawyers for the case. Another round of pretrial hearings for the prisoners has been set for October 21.

6. DHS recently awarded a ten-year, $102 million contract to HP Enterprise Services to improve its internal security capabilities. This award is part of the agency’s effort to adhere to the Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12, which aims to create a mandatory standard to secure all forms of ID issued to federal employees and contractors. FCW states that facial, fingerprint, and iris recognition on IDs is part of DHS’ contract with HP Enterprise Services to improve its identification methods.

7. The upcoming Symantec Government Symposium, which was to have as its guest speaker, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, has been postponed until March of next year as a result of the government shutdown. FCW notes that other prominent conferences featuring top level executives have been cancelled or postponed as well, demonstrating how the government shutdown is negatively impacting both the public and private sectors.

DorobekINSIDER water-cooler fodder

• Neiman Journalism Lab: Is the government shut down? Quartz will tell you (and drive a little traffic in the process)

• The complete history of Twitter as told through tortured descriptions of it in the New York Times

You can find all of GovLoop’s Shutdown Coverage here.

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