FederalDaily - May 1, 2007
Agencies Increasingly Paying Off Workers’ Student Loan Debts
As a recruitment tool, agencies are increasingly making payments to reduce the student loan debt of
federal workers, said an April 27 report by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). In FY 2006, agencies
committed to repay the student loans of 5,755 employees, an increase of 31 percent from FY 2005. The
total amount of repayments also grew dramatically, from $28 million to nearly $36 million—a jump
of 28.6 percent, the report said. However, the individual loan repayment averaged $6,245 in FY 2006,
down slightly from $6,347 in FY 2005. Under the program rules, the maximum annual payment allowed for
one employee is $10,000; the lifetime maximum is $60,000 per employee. Employees accepting the repayments
must agree to stay with the agency for at least three years. “OPM applauds the increased use
of student loan repayments in FY 2006,” said OPM Director Linda M. Springer. To see more, go
to: www.opm.gov/news/opm-issues-report-on-federal-agencies-use-of-the-student-loan-repayment-program,1174.aspx
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Senator: Administration Falls Short on FBI Funding
President Bush’s proposed $6.4 billion FBI budget for FY 2008 isn’t nearly enough as America
faces a double whammy of surging domestic crime and increasing terrorist threats from abroad, said
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. Speaking at an April 26 Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations subcommittee
hearing, Mikulski said the increase of 5 percent was insufficient, considering that the administration
cut $1.5 billion from the federal aid program that helps state and local law enforcement. Since 9/11,
the FBI has shifted 2,000 agents from violent crime into counterterrorism, forcing state and local
law enforcement to take up the slack, she said. New statistics show that domestic crime is on the rise:
robbery is up by 9.7 percent; aggravated assault is up by 1.2 percent; murder has increased by 1.4
percent—and for larger cities, the murder rate has increased by 8.4 percent, Mikulski said. “I
believe we need more resources dedicated to violent crime,” she said. “The number one job
of government is to keep our communities safe from violence.” To see more, go to: http://mikulski.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=273142
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Union: FAA’s ‘Craigslist’ Hirings Undercut
CTI Program
The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) mass air traffic controller hirings—using
help-wanted ads on the “Craigslist” classified ads Web site—are undercutting the
agency’s Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI), which seeks controllers from the ranks of college
graduates, said the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). The union said prospective
controllers may not want to rack up thousands of dollars in college loans when they could simply respond
to FAA’s many current help-wanted ads. The CTI was implemented in response to FAA’s projected
future needs for air traffic controllers. NATCA said one way FAA could help is by offering CTI grads
the chance to participate in a student loan repayment program where agencies pick up part of the loan
obligation. So far, FAA has rejected that program—as well as an FAA child-care subsidy program—suggested
by the union, NATCA said. “This is another example of the FAA’s lack of both integrity
and planning and its business-first attitude,” NATCA President Patrick Forrey said on April
26. To see more, go to: www.natca.org/mediacenter/press-release-detail.aspx?id=419
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