FederalDaily - February 2, 2007

SSA Staffers Would Avoid Furloughs with CR Funding

Legislation approved by the House Jan. 31 restores to the Social Security Administration (SSA) $200 million in administrative funding that would spare staffers there from the prospect of forced furloughs. The funding is part of HJ Res. 20, which revises the Continuing Resolution to fund the government. The legislation was passed by a 286-140 margin with bipartisan support, and sent to the Senate. Without the funding, SSA workers were threatened with possible 10-day unpaid furloughs. The restoration of funds to SSA would prevent the furloughs, as well as keep backlogs for disability benefit claims from getting worse, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. “The continuing resolution still doesn’t give Social Security all the operating funds it needs, but at the very least we won’t see the 10-day staff furlough that was feared,” Baucus said. In a separate matter, the Finance Committee on Jan. 31 favorably reported to the Senate the nomination of Michael Astrue as the new SSA head, Baucus said. Former SSA Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart left the agency Jan. 19 as her six-year term expired. To see more, go to: www.senate.gov/~finance/press/Bpress/2007press/prb013107.pdf.

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GAO: Congress Should Question Military Growth

Congress needs to look closely at the Pentagon’s plan to increase the size of the active Army and Marine Corps by a total of 92,000 troops over the next five years, the director of defense studies at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has told lawmakers. GAO Director of Defense Capabilities and Management Janet St. Laurent testified before the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee Jan. 30. Among other things, St. Laurent said the Army may be underestimating its future force needs when it dissolves Cold War-era divisions into modular brigades. Also, both the Army and Marine Corps are coping with additional staffing demands that may not have been fully reflected in their own service analyses, St. Laurent said. DoD “has not provided a clear and transparent basis for its military personnel requests to Congress that demonstrates how these requests are linked to the defense strategy,” she said. To help, Congress may want to ask DoD what analysis it has done to demonstrate how the proposed increases are linked to the defense strategy, she said. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-07-397T.

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Tunnel Workers Request NIOSH Evaluation

Ten federal utility tunnel workers who previously filed a whistleblower complaint against their employer, the Architect of the Capitol (AoC), have requested that the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) conduct a Health Hazard Evaluation of their workplace. The workers maintain that the NIOSH evaluation is necessary because the AoC has downplayed asbestos exposure and other hazards the workers face, said David Marshall, an attorney representing the workers. “We need a health hazard evaluation from NIOSH because the Architect cannot be trusted to be truthful about issues of worker safety,” said Marshall on Feb. 1. The workers filed the whistleblower complaint late last year after they allegedly were subjected to retaliation and a resulting hostile work environment when they exposed dangerous working conditions and environmental hazards. The workers, represented by the Government Accountability Project, are “Tunnel Shop” employees whose job it is to maintain the plumbing systems that provide steam and water to Congress, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court and other federal buildings. To see more, go to: www.whistleblower.org.

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