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White House threatens veto on sequestration bill — 7 Stories you need to know

Emily Jarvis

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER:


The SEVEN stories that impact your life

  1. The House is expected to pass a measure today to keep the government funded for six more months. The continuing resolution increases the federal budget by $19 billion compared with a House GOP plan. Federal News Radio says overall, it’s a 0.6 percent raise in government spending. Tea party Republicans oppose any increase, but some said they could be in a better bargaining position when the CR ends. The Senate is expected to pass the bill next week. Then members will once again leave Washington and hit the campaign trail.
  2. The White House issued a sharp veto threat of a bill tailored to avoid Pentagon budget cuts slated to take effect in January. Federal Times says the veto threat came in a state of administration policy that stated White House officials believe the bill “fails the test of fairness and shared responsibility.” The legislation, called the National Security and Job Protection Act, was introduced by Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., who stringently opposes new defense cuts. West’s bill would slash $19 billion from discretionary spending accounts, and also contains language that would force the president to replace billions in cuts to planned Pentagon spending set to take effect Jan. 2.
  3. How much money does it cost to protect your federal office? Federal Times reports, the Federal Protective Service collected $236 million in fees last year from agencies to perform security threat assessments on federal buildings, but the agency is failing to perform that job. The Government Accountability Office found FPS currently is not assessing risk at the over 9,000 federal facilities under the custody and control of in a manner consistent with federal standards
  4. The Office of Special Counsel is accusing an agency leader of violating the Hatch Act. It said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius crossed the line in a February speech. CNN reports she was on duty when she urged people at a Human Rights Campaign gala to vote for President Barack Obama. Sebelius says OSC was wrong. She reclassified the speech as a political event, which political appointees are allowed to attend. The Obama presidential campaign reimbursed the government for the travel costs. The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees, including political appointees, from politicking while on the job.
  5. Just one day remains for voting in the first HHS innovation People’s Choice Award. The Department of Health and Human Services is asking the public to vote on employee projects for innovation within the department and health care. Finalists’ projects range from a little box that can sniff out coal mines for explosive dust accumulations to a food sanitation training course. Voting ends on Friday.
  6. Lynn Mofenson, a doctor at the National Institutes of Health who helped pioneer the use of a drug to combat the transmission of HIV from infected pregnant women to their babies has been named federal employee of the year by the Partnership for Public Service. The annual gala known as the Service to America Medals honors feds who have gone above and beyond the call of duty.
  7. The FOIA backlog is growing. Agencies received more than 640,000 Freedom of Information Act requests last year, an 8 percent increase from the year before. And the backlog grew to more than 83,000 pending requests even though the government added more staff and spent an extra $20 million on FOIA activities. But it still couldn’t keep up. The Department of Homeland Security had the biggest number of overdue requests. The Justice Department has released the latest figures in its summary of annual FOIA reports.

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