Federal Daily - May 15, 2009

Lawmakers Praise Decision to Keep FEMA Within DHS

Lawmakers on May 13 applauded a decision by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano to keep to keep the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under the auspices of DHS. Following FEMA’s dismal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, critics wanted to strip it out of DHS and reestablish it as a stand-alone agency, as it had been before the creation of DHS in 2003. However, Congress resisted the idea, and in 2006 passed the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act to increase accountability at the agency, while keeping it a component of DHS. “FEMA is exactly where it belongs,” said Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who had opposed the move. “When the Department of Homeland Security was created in 2002, FEMA was intended to be at the core of this new, unified focus on protecting Americans where they live and work.” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the committee’s ranking member, agreed. “Keeping FEMA within DHS improves efforts to reform our nation's emergency response system, allows for better coordination among agencies, facilitates partnerships among emergency responders, and advances an all-hazards approach.,” Collins said. To see more, go to: http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.
Detail&Affiliation=C&PressRelease_id=da31e0db-8de3-45ce-
87f3-46b024e42d82&Month=5&Year=2009.

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House Bill Would Increase Certain Military Survivor Benefits

A new bipartisan House bill would—if passed into law—increase benefits the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) pays to widows and widowers whose spouses died while on active military duty or as the result of a service-connected injury or illness. The measure, the Surviving Spouses’ Benefit Improvement Act of 2009 (H.R. 2243) was introduced earlier this month by Reps. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., and Tim Walz, D-Minn. It is designed to eliminate an offset between the VA benefit and a military survivor benefit. The bill would increase Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) by 12 percent so that the base rate of DIC is equal to 55 percent of the rate of compensation paid to a totally disabled veteran. As a result, the ratio would be equivalent to that which is paid to survivors of federal civilian employees who are killed while performing their duties. Lawmakers noted that career military retirees pay approximately 6.5 percent of their retired pay to ensure that their family has a guaranteed income. If the retiree dies due to a service-connected disability, the person’s survivor also becomes eligible for DIC—but to accept DIC, the law requires an equal cut in the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP), which is a purchased annuity. The bill deems such cuts as unfair because the two benefits have separate and distinct purposes; SBP is like premium-based life insurance, and DIC is compensation for a service-connected death, Buyer said. “While their sacrifices are not readily discernible, spouses of seriously disabled veterans often limit their own careers and other opportunities to serve as caregivers,” Buyer said. To see more, go to: www.house.gov/apps/list/press/in04_buyer/bill_increases_
widows_widowers_benefits.html.

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Ex-GAO Subcontractor Sentenced to Prison for Laptop Theft Scheme

A former Government Accountability Office (GAO) subcontractor was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing 89 government laptops and re-selling them on Craigslist.org, the Justice Department (DOJ) said in a statement. Darryl Roger Lyles, 37, of Capitol Heights, Md., was sentenced this month to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $180,000 in restitution following his conviction of one count of theft of government property. DOJ said. According to the statement of offense signed by Lyles, he began work in June 2006 with RGB Technology, Inc., which held a GAO contract for information technology services. Lyles was assigned to work as a full-time information technology analyst at GAO’s headquarters and was given access to GAO’s facilities as if he were directly employed by GAO, the statement said. Part of his job assignments included assisting with the issuance and retrieval of computers to and from GAO employees. Between June 2006 and December 2007, Lyles used his access to steal at least 89 laptop computers and other types of information technology equipment which he then resold, the statement said. Ten of the Craigslist.org advertisements were posted from a computer located at GAO’s headquarters in the District of Columbia, the statement said. To see more, go to: www.justice.gov/usao/dc/Press_Releases/2009%20Archives/May/09-109.pdf.

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