FederalDaily - September 14, 2006
AFGE Says Bill Could Endanger Federal Prison Workers
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) signaled its opposition to a House bill that
seeks to overhaul the Federal Prison Industries (FPI) prison inmate work program. AFGE on Sept. 12
said it opposed the Federal Prison Industries Competition in Contracting Act (H.R. 2965), sponsored
by Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., which eliminates the FPI mandatory source preference and requires FPI to
compete for its contracts. According to Hoekstra, the bill would minimize the “unfair” competitive
advantage FPI now enjoys over private-sector firms and their non-inmate workers. AFGE, however, said
the bill would alter important parts of the federal prison-inmate work program that is now used to
minimize violence, control inmates and keep them productively occupied in labor-intensive work activities.
The bill could cause the loss of jobs and lead to an increase in inmate idleness that would eventually
endanger the safety of federal correctional officers and other federal employees working in the Federal
Bureau of Prisons system, said AFGE Council of Prison Locals 33 President Bryan Lowry. To see more,
go to: www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=660.
:: Back to Top ::
Senate Amendment Lifts Caps on TSA Screeners
The Senate on Sept. 12 overwhelmingly approved a measure to lift the ceiling on the number of federal
employees who screen U.S. airline passengers and their luggage—a number now capped at 45,000.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and offered as an amendment to port security
legislation, was approved by a vote of 84-12, and would allow the Transportation Security Administration
(TSA) to determine the number of screeners needed. Lautenberg said the cap has undermined TSA’s
efforts to hire an adequate number of full-time screeners. To get around the cap’s requirements,
TSA has been forced to hire part-time screeners, but has seen dramatic turnover among these part-time
employees, Lautenberg said. The House did not include the screener provision in its port security bill
and the matter will have to be decided in upcoming House-Senate negotiations, probably later this week.
To see more, go to: http://lautenberg.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=262885&&
:: Back to Top ::
Senators Move Against Private IRS Collections
Two Democratic senators introduced a measure Sept. 12 aimed at ending a new IRS program that sends
private debt collection agencies after delinquent taxpayers. The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Byron
Dorgan, N.D., and Patty Murray, Wash., calls for a “permanent prohibition” on the program,
which began last week when the IRS assigned 12,500 delinquent accounts to three private companies.
The senators’ legislation, S. 3887, would force the IRS to immediately and permanently suspend
its plan to outsource part of its tax debt collection responsibilities to private companies, and prohibit
the use of any IRS funds for that purpose. According to a release from Dorgan’s office, under
the privatization plan, the IRS will pay 21 cents to 24 cents for every dollar private debt collectors
would collect, while past IRS reports suggest the agency would pay only 3 cents for every dollar collected
by IRS employees. The House already has voted overwhelmingly for measures to stop the IRS from implementing
the privatization plan. To see more, go to: http://dorgan.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=262856.
:: Back to Top ::
|
