Author Archive
Oversight
Budget chief catches flak on deficit commission
OMB director says plan is the way to prevent fiscal disaster.
Oversight
Panel presses FAA on pilot fatigue rules
Agency official calls process of updating regulations "a difficult and complicated effort."
Defense
FEMA is unable to measure funding benefits
Agency official says billions spent on homeland security since 2002 have made country safer, but admits FEMA has no way to definitively assess the improvement.
Oversight
Experts say policy 'czars' fall within presidential authority
Analysts agree Obama's use of White House czars does not represent an abuse of power as long as they do not attempt to give orders to agency heads or issue regulations.
Oversight
Transportation chief defends stimulus spending efforts
Ray LaHood says agency's component of the Recovery Act has provided a huge boost for construction jobs.
Oversight
'Plain English' bill advances in Senate
Measure would require government documents to be clear, concise and free of jargon.
Oversight
Pressure grows on Obama to alter NASA space proposals
Former government officials advise agency to focus less on space exploration and more on efforts to develop wind and solar energy and to combat global warming.
Defense
Lawmaker lays down markers on fiscal 2010 shipbuilding budget
Mississippi Democrat says Navy should abandon the DDG-1000 next-generation destroyer.
Oversight
Former FBI chief supports AG nominee as 'man of integrity'
Ex-director says he believes Holder would be politically independent.
Oversight
Orszag promises scrutiny of stimulus spending but stalls on tighter rules
OMB nominee says he would post bailout contracts on a public Web site and create an oversight board, but would defer to Treasury on imposing terms of use requested by Democrats.
Oversight
Senator promises TVA crackdown after coal ash spill
Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., also pledges to establish federal standards for the handling of coal ash.
Oversight
HUD warns losses endanger mortgage program
Agency official says Federal Housing Administration needs more staff, technology for oversight.
Oversight
Justice IG calls attorney firings 'fundamentally flawed'
Report recommends criminal investigation into dismissals.
Defense
Senate panel approves policies for release of sensitive documents
Bill would establish a Controlled Unclassified Information Office within the National Archives and Records Administration.
Oversight
Grant program approved to preserve presidential documents
Amendment would allow the National Archives to publish the founding fathers' documents online.
Oversight
Utah senator stalls 'plain language' bill
Lawmaker is concerned the measure would have the unintended consequence of forcing election commissions to oversimplify legal terminology.
Defense
GAO unsure about TSA's ability to meet security deadlines
Official says agency has yet to complete basic assessments of the technology and the additional personnel needed for comprehensive air cargo screening.
Oversight
IRS head says agency to focus efforts on enforcement
Commissioner says the agency has largely met the goals of a 1998 measure requiring it to shed its geographic-based structure.
Defense
Shoddy standards blamed for electrocutions in Iraq
The Pentagon has acknowledged that 11 soldiers and two contractors have died in Iraq as a result of faulty wiring systems.
News
Subcommittee backs $27.9 billion Interior spending bill
Funding includes $175 million to revitalize the National Mall, whose plan has not been updated since 1902.
