FederalDaily - February 15, 2007
Measure Would Enhance Border Hiring
A bipartisan bill would authorize security improvements at land ports of entry along U.S. borders
with Mexico and Canada, including the addition of more border and customs agents. The bill, the Domenici-Dorgan
Border Infrastructure and Modernization Act of 2007, sponsored by Sens. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., Byron
Dorgan, D-N.D., would include hiring increases for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration
and Customs Enforcement and the Customs and Border Patrol. The bill would also require the General
Services Administration and DHS to develop a comprehensive plan to begin improving security. The last
border improvement effort in 1986 made $237 million in improvements. Congress has acted to improve
security at airports and seaports, but it has not addressed the busiest ports located at land borders,
Domenici noted. “This is where our infrastructure is its weakest, and we must act to prevent
criminals and terrorists from exploiting this weakness,” Domenici said Feb. 13. “It is
critical that we give our northern and southern borders the resources they need to address these vulnerabilities.” To
see more, go to: http://domenici.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=269265
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Senators Seek Changes at Corps of Engineers
In the wake of Army Corps of Engineers failings highlighted by the Hurricane Katrina disaster, two
senators are sponsoring a bill to modernize the Corps, including an overhaul of the process the agency
uses to plan the nation’s water projects. Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and John McCain, R-Ariz.,
sponsored the Water Resources Planning and Modernization Act of 2007. The bill seeks to add transparency
to federal decisions, update the basic planning guidelines used by the Corps, take better care of the
environment and ensure outside review of Corps projects, Feingold said on Feb. 13. “It’s
been over a year and a half since Hurricane Katrina tragically exposed how broken our current water
planning process is,” Feingold said. “It is irresponsible for Congress to allow the status
quo to continue.” Advocacy groups supported the bill. The levees and floodwalls that failed in
New Orleans were not overwhelmed by Hurricane Katrina, noted the conservation group American Rivers.
Instead, their design and construction was so fundamentally flawed that they simply collapsed in the
face of a storm they easily should have withstood, the group said. To see more, go to: http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/releases/07/02/20070213wrda.html
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OSC Rescinds Order to Monitor Probe
The Office of Special Council (OSC) rescinded a policy directive that had forced employees to work
through OSC when talking with government investigators probing reports of reprisal against its own
staff. OSC—which investigates whistleblower complaints—previously had mandated that these
outside investigators make appointments for staff interviews through the office of OSC head Scott Bloch,
the target of the original whistleblower complaint in the investigation, said the Public Employees
for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) on Feb. 13. The complaint alleges Block issued illegal gag
orders and subjected staff to cronyism and workplace retaliation which resulted in the resignations
of one-fifth of OSC headquarters legal and investigative staff, PEER said. PEER made public an email
by new Deputy Special Counsel James Byrne to all employees rescinding the previous directives. The
whistleblower complaint, first filed in March 2005, is pending with the Office of Personnel Management
Inspector General. “It is a small relief that this glacial investigation can now proceed to a
much overdue conclusion,” said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, whose organization joined with
current and former OSC employees in filing the original complaint. To see more, go to: www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=823
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