Category: Congress

Congress has a 3-month CR, but it’s not all good news for contractors

Congress, GOOD, It's, Contractors, 3month, News0 comment

Now that the three-month continuing resolution looks like what we’re going to get, contractors wonder whether that’s good news or bad news. Relative to a lapse in appropriations, it’s probably good news, but delayed regular appropriations still have consequences. Federal sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss more. Interview transcript:  Tom Temin Now that the three month continuing resolution looks like what we’re going to get, contractors wonder whether that’s good news or bad news. Relative to a lapse in appropriations, it’s…

Read More...

House lawmakers advance bills on acquisition security, IT procurement

security, House, Lawmakers, bills, advance, acquisition, procurement0 comment

House lawmakers have advanced a raft of bills aimed at bolstering supply chain security efforts, streamlining technology purchases and increasing cross-agency sharing of software code. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Wednesday advanced 13 bills to the full House floor. Among them was the unanimously passed “Federal Acquisition Security Council Improvement Act,” which would bolster the council’s ability to ban products from federal supply chains. The council was created as part of the SECURE Technology Act of 2018. It currently has the authority to issue recommendations for removing or…

Read More...

The ticking sound you hear is the final days of the fiscal year

ticking, fiscal, year, Final, hear, days, Sound0 comment

Indecision mixed with turmoil and partisan politics. That’s the familiar brew on Capitol Hill this week. With precisely two weeks until the fiscal year ends, there’s no clear path to any budget deal at the moment. So it’s a busy week as we heard from Bloomberg Government deputy news director Loren Duggan on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Interview transcript: Loren Duggan Here we are. Every September, we have to do this dance where we figure out if the government will stay funded going into the new fiscal year.…

Read More...

Social Security Administration urging budget anomaly to avoid ‘devastating’ impacts

devastating, urging, impacts, anomaly, security, budget, avoid, Social, administration0 comment

The Social Security Administration is ringing alarm bells over what would be “devastating” impacts of flat agency funding, as Congress looks to hammer out a continuing resolution by the end of the month and avoid a government shutdown. During a hearing Wednesday, SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley urged lawmakers on the Senate Budget Committee to include the White House’s full fiscal 2025 budget request of $ 15.4 billion for SSA operations as a budget anomaly in the case of a stopgap spending agreement. Currently, SSA is operating under a budget of…

Read More...

House Republicans lead $3B VA supplement to fix year-end budget shortfall

lead, yearend, supplement, shortfall, Republicans, budget, House0 comment

House Republicans are leading a supplemental funding bill to address a multi-billion-dollar budget crunch at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Leaders of the House Appropriations and House VA committees introduced a bill Friday that would give the VA $ 3 billion to ensure the department can keep paying benefits to veterans for the rest of the fiscal year. The Veterans Benefits Continuity and Accountability Supplemental Appropriations Act would ensure the VA has enough funding to keep paying veterans’ compensation, pension and readjustment benefits for the rest of fiscal 2024. The…

Read More...

Congress returns soon — but not for very long

Congress, very, Returns, long, soon0 comment

When Congress returns next week after a long summer recess. It will only have 13 working days in September, before the end of the federal fiscal year. For a preview of what they’re likely to do, Bloomberg Government congressional reporter Maeve Sheehey joins the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Interview transcript: Tom Temin When Congress returns next week after a long summer recess, it will only have 13 working days in September before the end of the federal fiscal year. For a preview of what they’re likely to do, Bloomberg…

Read More...