FederalDaily - September 8, 2005

House Committee to Investigate Federal Hurricane Response

After the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs announced it would investigate the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, the House Government Reform Committee on Sept. 6 said it will also hold hearings beginning next week on issues and questions related to the hurricane. Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., said in a statement: “It has become increasingly clear that local, state, and federal government agencies failed to fully meet the needs of the residents of Louisiana and Mississippi. Now it's our job to figure out why…” Davis said he received a letter from his committee's Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., asking for hearings. Although Davis agreed to hold hearings, he said Waxman’s letter “prematurely faults the federal government for all governmental shortcomings.”

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Unions Ask for Gas Break

To help ease the impact of sharply rising gas prices on those who use their vehicles in their jobs—including federal workers—the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) on Sept. 6 called on the IRS to raise the maximum mileage reimbursement rate allowed as a business expense tax deduction. Such action by the IRS would allow the General Services Administration (GSA) to boost the reimbursement rate for federal employees. Although GSA sets the reimbursement rate for federal employees who use their vehicles in the course of their work, the rate cannot exceed the maximum set by the IRS. The high gas prices are “placing an especially heavy burden on those who must travel to perform their work duties, including many employees of the IRS and other employees of the federal government,” said NTEU President Colleen Kelley.

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Whistleblower Complains about Reassignment

The worker who revealed that leak-detection devices for deadly agent at the Bluegrass Army Depot in Kentucky were not working properly has filed a federal whistleblower complaint that he was reassigned from his job for asking questions about plant safety, according to a filing released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The depot stores more than 500 tons of chemical warfare agents in 45 storage units called igloos. Donald Van Winkle, who operates air-monitoring units designed to detect leaks of chemical warfare agents, disclosed last week that the monitors to detect VX agent had been configured so as to be ineffective until very recently. Van Winkle’s disclosure has already triggered a Defense Department inspection of the facility later this month, PEER said. After Van Winkle’s clearance was removed and he was reassigned to a desk job, he filed a whistleblower complaint. For more, go to www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=585.

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Washington Area Telework Centers Free

Effective immediately, the Washington Metropolitan Telework Centers are offering free use of centers by federal teleworkers through Dec. 31, 2005. To apply to use a center and for a complete list of center locations click here.

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