Federal Daily - August 25, 2008

Senator Releases Federal Worker AWOL Report

Federal civilian employees are increasingly absent from their jobs without having a legitimate excuse, according to a report released on Aug. 21 by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. According to the report, since 2001, 18 federal departments and agencies reported that employees have been absent without leave (AWOL) for at least 19.6 million hours. The report said annual AWOL hours in 2007 were 45 percent higher than in 2001—and that since 2001, nearly 300,000 federal employees have been AWOL for some period of time. The report noted that getting a handle on cumulative AWOL hours is difficult because the reasons for charging an employee as AWOL can vary by agency. One agency indicated that an employee can be charged with being AWOL if he or she is late to the office by as little as 15 minutes without prior permission. The State Department was the only agency of those queried that did not provide data for the study because its payroll system does not track the number of cumulative agency AWOL hours. The investigation did not examine whether AWOL employees lost pay for AWOL periods, nor did it calculate an estimated cost impact. To see more, go to: http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=LatestNews.
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VA Raising Home Loan Ceilings, Expanding Aid to Disabled Vets

Veterans looking to buy a home will get a boost from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which now will use a locality-based approach to raise ceilings on its no-down-payment loans from $417,000 to as much as $729,000, VA said. The ceiling hike is a result of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 recently signed by President Bush, VA said in an Aug. 21 statement. The law also expanded VA’s Specially Adapted Housing Program, increasing primary grants from $50,000 to $60,000 for constructing a new home or modifying an existing home to meet adaptive needs of veterans or active duty servicemembers with certain service-connected disabilities. One new feature will allow veterans with certain service-connected disabilities resulting from severe burns to receive the adaptive housing grants. The new law also makes future increases in ceilings on the Specially Adapted Housing Program automatic. The increased limits in the general home loan program for all veterans’ home purchases or construction will be based on local housing costs, and tied to the similar locality adjustments of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac). VA home loans are available for veterans to purchase or construct single-family homes and to purchase condominiums or cooperative apartments. To see more, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1551.

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Many DHS Agencies to Provide Security at Conventions

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Aug. 22 that it will be tapping a range of federal agencies to provide security to the two national political conventions being held over the next several weeks. The Democratic and Republican National Conventions are taking place, respectively, in Denver from Aug. 25-28, and in Saint Paul, Minn., from Sept. 1-4. DHS did not release the number of federal employees to be deployed at the events. The Secret Service is designated as the lead agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency will be the lead federal agency for disaster response, DHS said. Customs and Border Protection will provide its advanced Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System—a high-tech gamma-imaging system that allows non-intrusive inspection of vehicles and packages—to scan all incoming commercial vehicles and deliveries to the two venues. Also, the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office will provide a Mobile Detection Deployment Unit to scan for radiological or nuclear threats, DHS said. Among other agencies assisting in the security effort are Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and the Office of Intelligence and Analysis. To see more, go to: www.dhs.gov.

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