FederalDaily - July 10, 2006

Congress Debates Pay for Performance Bill

Union and administration officials debated pay for performance legislation proposed by Sens. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, at a June 29 Senate hearing. Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, praised Akaka’s proposal, which requires performance management training for supervisors. However, Kelley had concerns over whether such training efforts would receive adequate funding. In addition, she strongly opposed language in Voinovich’s bill that would deny across-the-board and locality pay increases to those not rated as fully successful. “These increases are tied to the position, not the individual in the position, and therefore, withholding these increases based on the performance of the individual in the position completely drops the goal of comparability,” Kelley said. Dan Blair, deputy director for OPM, defended the new legislation. Both bills, he said, would ensure federal agencies have a modern performance evaluation system and managers trained to use them.

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Bill Pushes DoD to Address Crime Reporting

Legislation introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., would set a Jan. 1, 2007, deadline for the Department of Defense (DoD) to fully implement a new system developed to track crimes committed within the armed forces. Though 18 years have passed, DoD has not fully implemented the Defense Incident-Based Reporting System (DIBRS), Maloney said in a July 6 statement. Maloney was hopeful that the system could help reduce the number of sexual assaults that occur in the services. “We need to monitor any crimes that are committed within the ranks of the armed forces,” she said. “By fully implementing DIBRS and acquiring accurate data, the military can take effective measures to address and reduce sexual assault and sexual harassment.” If DIBRS is not completely in place by Jan. 1, 2007, Maloney’s bill calls for the DoD secretary’s salary to be reduced $1,000 per day.

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NTEU Renews Calls to Drop Private Tax Collection

Concerned by recent media reports of abuses by private tax collectors, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) again called for a stop to the privatization plan in a July 5 press release. NTEU President Colleen Kelley pointed to a New York Times article that “provides frightening examples of the lengths to which debt collectors will go, and the abuses they will pile on people in pursuit of their profits.” Language in the U.S. House version of the Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development Appropriation Act of 2007 would prevent the IRS from spending money from the program.

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