Federal Daily - April 8, 2009

Gates Proposes Weapons Cuts, More Civilian Jobs

Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week recommended that DoD abandon a number of massive weapons programs—and replace thousands of private contractors over the next five years with civil servants. Gates presented the recommendations on April 6 with the release of DoD’s $534 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 budget. The budget blueprint—which will need the approval of Congress—represents a broad overhaul of DoD spending, including the elimination of the $65 billion F-22 Raptor jet fighter program. Gates’ proposed budget plan also aims to reduce DoD’s reliance on private contractors—shrinking the proportion of DoD private contractors from 39 percent of the DoD workforce to the pre-9/11 level of 26 percent, and replacing them with full-time federal workers. The acquisition workforce would see significant changes, with 11,000 contracting positions converted to civil service, and 9,000 government acquisition professionals added by FY 2015, beginning with 4,100 in FY 2010, Gates said. Gates intends to hire as many as 13,000 new federal workers in FY 2010 (which begins Oct. 1) and up to 30,000 over the next five years. The proposal also would increase health care funding by $300 million, ramping up efforts to treat traumatic brain injury and issues of mental health, Gates said. Under the proposal, the department would spend over $47 billion in health care in FY 2010. It also would increase funding by $200 million for improvements in childcare, spousal support, lodging and education, he said. “Our struggles to put the Defense bureaucracies on a war footing these past few years have revealed underlying flaws in the priorities, cultural preferences and reward structures of America's Defense establishment,” Gates said. To see more, go to: www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4396.

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Support Grows for Bill to Suspend USPS Health Care Pre-Funding

Congressional support is growing for a bill that would reverse a 2006 postal reform law that requires the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to “pre-fund” retiree healthcare benefits, draining $5 billion a year from USPS coffers. The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) notes that more than half of the members of the House, 252, have signed on as co-sponsors of H.R. 22. The bill, introduced on Jan. 6 by Reps. Danny Davis, D-Ill., and John McHugh, R-N.Y., would allow USPS to pay for retiree health benefits out of its Retiree Health Benefit Fund—as it did before Congress imposed the pre-funding requirement—instead of its operating budget. No other federal agency is required to pre-fund retiree health care benefits, said APWU President William Burrus in an April 6 posting to the union’s Web site. Absent relief from the pre-funding requirement, Burrus warned in congressional testimony last month, it is unlikely that the Postal Service can survive in any recognizable form. “The most important thing Congress can do is to pass H.R. 22,” Burrus said. With continued losses (the Postal Service lost $2.8 billion in Fiscal Year 2008), USPS could reach its $15 billion statutory debt limit and would be unable to pay its bills later this year, according to Postmaster General John Potter. Such an outcome would be a disaster for both the Postal Service and the nation’s fragile economy, Burrus said. To see more, go to: www.apwu.org/news/webart/2009/09-042-hr22-cosponsors-090406.htm.

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FAA Puts Hiring of Military Spouses on Fast Track

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on April 6 announced it is making it easier for FAA managers to hire military spouses for permanent jobs. In some cases, hiring decisions can be made on the spot when the job in question has been hard to fill, the agency said in a statement.
The move is designed to provide the agency’s managers with an additional recruiting source, as well as support military families across the country. Restrictions apply: applicants must meet all of the qualifications for the job and the policy covers those whose spouses are full-time, active-duty servicemembers who are relocated by change-of-station orders. In certain cases, the policy also applies to retired or separated servicemembers with a disability rating of 100 percent. To see more, go to: www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=58247.

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