FederalDaily - January 16, 2007

Legion Supports Military Construction/VA Bill

The leader of the nation’s largest veterans organization urged lawmakers to tackle a bill that would appropriate money to fund military construction projects already authorized in the FY 2007 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In a Jan. 10 letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., American Legion National Commander Paul Morin urged them to move ahead with the FY 2007 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (MCVA) appropriations bill. MCVA was not passed into law when Congress last year could not finish the FY 2007 appropriations process. It won overwhelming support in both the House and Senate, and a new measure, S.113, was introduced to allow DoD to proceed with more than $17 billion in new construction and Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) projects already authorized by Congress in the NDAA.  “America’s servicemembers, veterans and their family members deserve the thanks of a grateful nation,” Morin said, “and not the current budgetary ‘sleight-of-hand’ or ‘check-is-in-the-mail’ approach agreed to by the previous Congress.” To see more, go to: www.legion.org/?section=pub_relations&subsection=pr_listreleases&content=pr_press_release&id=421.

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GSA Fails to Meet Mileage Reimbursement Deadline

The General Services Administration (GSA) has failed to meet a Jan. 1 deadline to increase the mileage reimbursement rates for federal employees who use private vehicles for government business, said Colleen Kelley, President of the National Treasury Employees Union. Kelley said on Jan. 11 that GSA had promised to increase its rate to 48.5 cents per mile, matching the one used by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to calculate deductibility for taxpayers. Kelley said she was assured last year by the GSA administrator that the agency would post rules by Jan. 1, matching the IRS rate. “Now that Jan. 1 has passed, and a decision has not been reached, I urge you to expedite that decision and increase the rates to 48.5 cents per mile for federal workers without delay,” Kelley said. GSA sets the rate for the federal sector, and its practice has been to raise the rate for federal employees who rely on their vehicles in their work to the level set by the IRS, Kelley said. To see more, go to: www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1008.

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Lawmaker Asks That Agents Remain Free on Appeal

A congressman asked that the government allow two former Border Patrol agents—who were convicted of the non-fatal shooting of a fleeing suspected drug smuggler on the Mexican border—to remain free on bond pending their appeals. Ex-Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean were convicted in the Feb. 17, 2005, shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, a legal resident alien, just north of the border near El Paso. Ramos was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison and Compean received 12 years. Ed Royce, R-Calif., asked on Jan. 11 that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales allow the former agents to remain free on bond pending appeal. Aldrete-Davila is suing the Border Patrol for $5 million over the incident, and “has been apprehended again, with an even larger cache of drugs,” Royce said. “I find this (subsequent arrest) simply astonishing,” Royce said. “Meanwhile, the families of both agents are struggling under the financial and emotional strain of impending lengthy prison terms.” To see more, go to:  www.royce.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=55244.

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