FederalDaily - March 12, 2007
Union, Mikulski See Walter Reed Disrepair/Outsourcing Link
In the wake of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center debacle, union leaders and Sen.
Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., pointed out that facility maintenance there had been subjected
to a public-private competition that vastly reduced the center’s upkeep workforce.
When the A-76 outsourcing process started at Walter Reed, more than 300 employees
were performing maintenance work at the facility, Mikulski said in a statement. When
the contractor took over the work last month, fewer than 60 remained. “What
happened at Walter Reed is all too typical of the results of federal contracting,” National
Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen Kelley said on March 8. The most
immediate impact of an A-76 competition, she said, is that federal employees, fearful
of losing their jobs in an agency reduction-in-force, begin looking for other work.
As many leave, their agency finds it virtually impossible to recruit replacements,
with the result that the work suffers, she said. To see more, go to: www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1054
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Chertoff Issues New DHS Ethics Restrictions
New ethics guidelines for senior staff at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) limit former
top managers from lobbying DHS for at least one year after they leave their posts. The rules go into
effect immediately and were announced March 8 by DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff. The previous policy
prohibited senior DHS officials from lobbying only the specific agency in DHS where they previously
worked, but allowed them to solicit other agencies inside DHS. This change applies to Senior Executive
Service and other non-general schedule employees who earn more than 86.5 percent of Executive Schedule
II pay—$145,320 in 2007. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joe Lieberman,
I-Conn., approved of the change, citing recent press accounts of former DHS officials who left the
department to pursue lucrative jobs lobbying DHS agencies. Those executives earned enormous sums of
money from the same contractors they had been recently overseeing, he said. “This is a positive
step toward slowing the revolving door between special interests and government service,” said
Lieberman. To see more, go to: www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1173370911052.shtm
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NARFE Supports Pre-Tax Healthcare Option
The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) urged lawmakers to adopt legislation
that would allow retired military and civilian federal workers to pay their monthly healthcare premiums
with pre-tax dollars. The Senate bill (S. 773) would amend the tax code to allow federal civilian and
military retirees—as well as active duty military employees—to pay their health insurance
premiums on a pre-tax basis, as active federal civilian employees already do. “Federal and military
retirees lose ground every year health insurance premiums skyrocket,” NARFE President Margaret
Baptiste said on March 8. The bill “would help retirees and survivors living on fixed incomes
keep pace with rising health insurance costs.” The legislation was sponsored by Virginia Sens.
John Warner (R) and Jim Webb (D). A companion House measure, H.R. 1110, was introduced Feb. 16 by Rep.
Tom Davis, R-Va. The effort is supported by the Military Coalition—a group of 35 military, veterans
and uniformed services organizations—and numerous organizations that represent federal and postal
workers. To see more, go to: www.narfe.org/departments/hq/guest/articles.cfm?ID=1107
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