A smoke-free outdoors?
November 20th, 2009 | Agencies Congress Facilities | Posted by Rebecca Neal
Rep. Eliot Engel is trying again to ban smoking near federal buildings.
The New York Democrat unsuccessfully introduced a bill during the last Congress to ban smoking within 25 feet of any federal building’s entrances, exits, windows that can be opened and ventilation intakes. Engel reintroduced the bill Nov. 18 to correspond with the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smoke Out smoking-cessation campaign.
The Surgeon General reported in 2006 that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. One step we can take in limiting such exposure is to free the entrances of buildings of the clouds of smoke often found when smokers gather outside of entrances and exits. The problem with this is simple – how else are people going to avoid secondhand smoke when the only ways in and out of a building is blocked by smoke?”
The bill would clarify various levels of guidance involving smoking near federal buildings. The General Services Agency banned smoking in courtyards and within 25 feet of doorways at GSA-controlled buildings, effective June 19, 2009.
A 1997 executive order banned smoking in all Executive Branch buildings, as well as all inside space owned, rented or leased by the Executive Branch.
What say you, feds? Is smoking an annoyance at your workplace? Or are you a smoker that would be annoyed by any new regulations?
Tags: Congress, Facilities, GSA, Smoking
We’re close to having TSA, OFPP leaders confirmed
November 19th, 2009 | Agencies Congress Homeland Security OMB | Posted by Rebecca Neal
Two critical federal leadership positions may soon be filled.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has unanimously approved Erroll Southers as administrator of the Transportation Security Administration and Daniel Gordon as administrator for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. The committee approved both nominations by voice vote Nov. 19.
It’s unclear whether the Senate will vote on these, or any other nominations, before it recesses sometime next week for Thanksgiving. Both nominees are considered non controversial.
House committee passes domestic partners bill
November 18th, 2009 | Congress Pay & Benefits | Posted by Rebecca Neal
After more than five hours of debate, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted 23-12 on H.R. 2517 Wednesday, which would grant federal benefits to same-sex domestic partners of federal employees.
The bill would entitle domestic partners to myriad federal benefits, including medical benefits and long-term care insurance. To receive the benefits, the partner and the federal employee would have to sign an affidavit affirming that they are in a committed, long-term relationship and live together except for financial, work or other reasons.
Votes on the bill were split along party lines. Republicans spent several hours offering a series of amendments, including one to open federal benefits up to anyone living in a federal employee’s home.
The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.
For more on H.R. 2517 and the committee’s debate, check back with Federal Times Thursday.
Tags: Congress
House Oversight squabbles over health care
November 5th, 2009 | Congress Pay & Benefits | Posted by Rebecca Neal
Will the House’s health care bill change your Federal Employees Health Benefits Program? It depends who you ask on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which oversees the FEHBP.
Sixteen committee Republicans sent a letter to Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., on Nov. 4, calling on him to schedule immediate hearings to analyze the impact H.R. 3692 may have on the FEHBP. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said Nov. 5 she has the votes to pass the health care bill on Nov. 7.
In the letter, Republicans said they need clarification on what the bill could do to participants in the FEHBP.
We believe the legislation in its current form may have a significant impact on FEHBP, including the possibility that FEHBP may not be deemed a ‘qualified health benefits plan’ for purposes of the bill, which will have the effect of either forcing federal employees out of their current coverage and into the ‘public option,’ or subjecting them to a tax for failure to obtain ‘acceptable health coverage.”
The Republicans are just trying to stall the health care bill with “baseless concerns,” Towns replied in a Nov. 4 news release.
Any suggestion that federal employees may be forced out of insurance coverage and subjected to an additional tax is false and has no basis in the text of the bill. Under H.R. 3962, federal employees will remain in their current system, and will also benefit from the same improvements to health insurance plans that all other Americans will enjoy, such as ending copayments for preventative medicine and automatic enrollment. Insurance providers participating in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) will be subject to the same rules and regulations covering all other health insurance plans.”
Rep. Lynch knows his video games
November 3rd, 2009 | Agencies Congress Pay & Benefits | Posted by Rebecca Neal
In the video game world, your Web site is ‘Pong.’”
– Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., told Greg Long, executive director of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, at a Nov. 3 hearing in reference to the state of the TSP’s Web site, comparing it to one of the first arcade games.
The board is working to make its Web site more user friendly and improve the information available, Long told members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s subcommitee on the federal workforce, postal service and the District of Columbia.
Senate confirms surgeon general
October 29th, 2009 | Agencies Congress HHS | Posted by Rebecca Neal
Senators unanimously confirmed Dr. Regina Benjamin Thursday as the next U.S. surgeon general.
Benjamin is the founder of the Bayou Le Batre Rural Health Clinic in Bayou La Batre, Ala., a fishing village, and has served as its chief executive officer since its founding in 1990.
Benjamin has rebuilt the clinic several times, including after Hurricane Georges in 1998 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Atlanta neurosurgeon and CNN correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta was rumored earlier this year to be Obama’s first choice for surgeon general, but Gupta pulled his name from consideration, citing his desire to spend more time on his current work.
NSPS repeal update: Return to GS by 2012
October 7th, 2009 | Defense | Posted by Steve Losey
Here’s a few new details on the Defense Authorization Bill’s repeal of the National Security Personnel System that lawmakers on a House-Senate conference committee have agreed upon:
- All 205,000 employees currently under NSPS will be transferred back to their original pay system by Jan. 1, 2012, according to a statement from Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y. The bulk of NSPS employees were originally under the General Schedule system.
- American Federation of Government Employees President John Gage — who in June compared NSPS to Dracula — thinks the Defense Authorization Bill will be the final stake in the heart of the program.
- But it’s not a done deal yet. Army Times reporter Rick Maze tells me that other issues could scuttle the authorization bill. Rick said that one provision in the bill, which would authorize more spending for Joint Strike Fighter engines, could get the whole thing vetoed. Also, Republican opposition to a Hate Crimes Prevention Act rider could trip the bill up in the Senate.
- And Gage told me that the bill provides one slim chance for the Defense Department to save NSPS. According to Gage, language in the authorization bill says that if the Pentagon manages to “reconstruct,” or radically overhaul, NSPS to Congress’ satisfaction within a certain time period, and if Congress passes a bill saying it’s satisified with the NSPS reconstruction, the system could be saved. But, of course, that’s an awful lot of “ifs,” and at this point, it’s not looking good for NSPS.
- Gage said that new department-wide flexibilities on hiring, assigning personnel and appraising employee performance will be subject to collective bargaining.
Keep watching www.federaltimes.com for more information.
Tags: Congress, Defense Authorization, John Gage, NSPS
Thanks, DHS!
October 1st, 2009 | Agencies Congress Homeland Security | Posted by Rebecca Neal
If you work at the Homeland Security Department, the House of Representatives has some kind words for you.
Members of Congress love to bash DHS and interrogate officials at frequent congressional hearings, but the House voted Thursday to approve a resolution, H.Res. 731, expressing appreciation for the work DHS employees do. Here’s the official description of the bill:
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the employees of the Department of Homeland Security, their partners at all levels of government, and the millions of emergency response providers and law enforcement agents nationwide should be commended for their dedicated service on the Nation’s front lines in the war against acts of terrorism.
Senate considers continuing resolution
September 30th, 2009 | 2010 Budget Agencies Congress | Posted by Rebecca Neal
The Senate may vote on a continuing resolution late this afternoon, just hours before the end of the fiscal year at midnight.
The House passed the CR Sept. 25, which includes additional funding for veterans health care and the Census Bureau. All other federal agencies would operate under fiscal 2009 funding levels until their appropriations bills are passed or the CR expires Oct. 31.
We’ll keep you posted on any congressional action on the continuing resolution.
Eliminating FEHBP? Not so fast.
September 24th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Rebecca Neal
Sen. Charles Grassley has introduced a health care amendment that would eliminate the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, but feds shouldn’t panic that they’ll be losing their health coverage as recent news stories have hinted.
Grassley’s amendment would have ended FEHBP and required feds to purchase insurance through state-based exchanges, just as average civilians would. But a modified version of the amendment accepted Tuesday as part of the Senate Finance Committee chairman’s mark weakens the language, allowing federal workers the option of leaving the FEHBP and enrolling in state exchanges.
Grassley, R-Iowa, offered his amendment to draw attention to a main point pushed by Republicans — why should federal employees receive coverage that’s much better than anything that would be offered through a public plan or a state-based health exchange? If a state-based exchange is good enough for the average taxpayer, why shouldn’t feds participate?
A Grassley staffer said the original amendment requiring feds to enroll in exchanges is a matter of fairness.
Sen. Grassley’s amendment to require elected officials and federal employees to buy insurance through exchanges is meant to apply the same standards to elected officials and federal employees as everyone else.”
The Senate Finance Committee’s markup of a draft health care bill is expected to continue into next week. We’ll keep you posted on any news affecting feds.