FederalDaily - June 1, 2007
USFS Contractor Employs Undocumented Workers
Even as lawmakers in Congress debated an immigration reform package, the Bureau of Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 14 undocumented immigrants working for a U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
private contractor in Idaho, said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas. Smith sent a letter Tuesday, May 30, to
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Rob Portman concerning reports that ICE arrested the
workers employed by Cutting Edge Forestry, a USFS contractor. The company, based in Phoenix, Ore.,
was hired under a $92,000 contract to replant parts of the Boise National Forest land burned in a 2003
fire, officials said. Of those arrested, 10 were deported to Mexico and four others were released pending
an immigration hearing, ICE officials said. “Incidents like this should persuade the administration
to rethink the ill-advised immigration bill now before the Senate,” said Smith. Also, Smith suggested
Portman should mandate that all federal agencies join the Basic Pilot Program—a voluntary effort
for private companies to verify worker immigration status. To see more, go to: http://lamarsmith.house.gov/News.asp?FormMode=Detail&ID=917
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VA Plans 38 New Outpatient Health Clinics
Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Jim Nicholson on May 29 announced plans to open 38 new community-based
clinics in 22 states in an effort to improve veterans’ healthcare access. The new facilities,
called community-based outpatient clinics, or CBOCs, will become operational by October 2008, said
Nicholson. “VA is committed to providing world-class healthcare to the men and women who have
served this nation,” Nicholson said. “These new clinics will bring VA’s top-notch
care closer to the veterans who have earned it.” The VA health network includes 153 hospitals
and about 700 community-based clinics—constituting the largest integrated healthcare system in
the country. The full network is supported by a $34 billion budget and will provide healthcare
to about 5.5 million people, in nearly 800,000 hospitalizations and 60 million outpatient visits, this
year. The additional outpatient clinics will make it easier for doctors have closer relationships with
their patients and permits easier follow-ups, the VA said. To see more, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1338
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OSC: Our Office Is Not Source of Doan Leak
Special Counsel Scott Bloch said his office did not leak to the press a report which concluded that
General Services Administration (GSA) chief Lurita Doan had violated the Hatch Act through her role
in a controversial videoconference on Jan. 26. Bloch, head of the Office of Special Council, turned
down requests by lawyers for Doan to end the OSC inquiry. In the May 25 letter to Doan’s attorneys,
Bloch said the leak most likely came from within GSA, and certainly did not come from his office. In
another development, House Government Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., asked Doan
again to testify before the panel on June 7 and explain herself. Waxman said he was particularly troubled
by unfounded allegations Doan made about other GSA senior employees who aided the committee investigation. “Your
allegations are a matter of grave concern to me,” Waxman said. “Government employees who
cooperate with congressional and federal investigations perform a vital service to the nation.” To
see more, go to: http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070524171723.pdf or www.govexec.com/pdfs/ScottBlochOSCMay252007.pdf
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