Federal Daily - May 27, 2008

Senate Approves Post-9/11 GI Bill

The Senate on May 22 overwhelmingly approved a major expansion of veterans’ educational benefits that would allow most of those who have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to attend even the priciest public universities. The bill, S 22, sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., would offer education assistance to those veterans who have served in the armed forces for at least three years since Sept. 11, 2001. They could receive tuition assistance up to the cost of attending the most expensive public college in their state, plus a monthly housing stipend. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the new veterans benefits would cost $52 billion over the next decade. The proposal, adopted by a vote of 75 to 22, was included in a larger war funding bill which now goes back to the House. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill because it is too expensive. “This bill properly responds to the needs of those who answered the call of duty to our country,” Webb said, “those who moved toward the sound of the guns—often at great sacrifice.”  To see more, go to: http://webb.senate.gov.

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OPM Reports Reductions in Clearance Backlog

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has significantly reduced the backlog and improved the timeliness of the security clearance process for federal employees, OPM officials told lawmakers on May 22. Kathy Dillaman, OPM associate director for Federal Investigative Services, testified before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee about improvements in the process for providing security clearances for federal employees. “Not only have we met the initial goals outlined by Congress in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 [IRTPA], we have exceeded those goals and substantially reduced the inventory of pending investigations,” Dillaman said. About 80 percent of all initial clearance investigations are being completed in an average of 60 days—a seven-day improvement over 2007, and 30 days better than the standard mandated by IRTPA. Eighty percent of initial Top Secret investigations are being completed in an average of 84 days, an eight-day improvement over last year; and a corresponding percentage of Secret/Confidential investigations are being completed in an average of 56 days, a seven-day improvement over 2007. OPM has reduced the backlog of the applications that are 180 days old, from a peak of 98,000 such cases in October 2006 to just 3,728 today, she said. To see more, go to: www.opm.gov/news/opm-background-investigations-process-continues-to-improve,1399.aspx.

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DHS Reworks Diversity Recruitment, Retention

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has redoubled its efforts to recruit and retain minority employees and achieve a qualified and diverse workforce, particularly in its Senior Executive Service (SES), officials told lawmakers last week. Elaine Duke, DHS under secretary for management, testified at a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing which examined diversity at DHS. A recent committee report found that minorities were under-represented in the DHS senior ranks. “My concern is that this lack of diversity coupled with low morale will hamper this department’s mission effectiveness,” said Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss. Duke noted that she is leading a DHS effort to design a new DHS hiring and recruiting strategy. This includes an expanded recruitment outreach program beyond the USAJobs Web site, and participation in career fairs at historically black colleges and universities and Minority Serving Institutions. Duke said DHS also is increasing its efforts to develop a qualified and diverse pool of SES applicants by preparing current GS-14 and GS-15 employees through the SES Candidate Development Program (CDP). Of the 23 DHS employees recently selected for the next CDP, 22 percent are African American, 13 percent are Hispanic, and 30 percent are women, she said. To see more, go to: http://homeland.house.gov/Hearings/index.asp?ID=142.

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