Oversight
U.S. long-term debt outlook worsens
Increasing debt will make it harder for lawmakers to adopt spending priorities in good times and will give them less flexibility during recessions.
Oversight
Postal Service suspends pension contributions
Halting payments to the FERS defined benefit plan will save $800 million in fiscal 2011, officials say.
Oversight
Panetta confirmed as Defense secretary
He will be tasked with implementing the start of troop withdrawals from Afghanistan.
Oversight
Former Fed chairman backs new plan for overhauling government
Volcker and Sen. Warner welcome NYU professor’s plan to save $1 trillion by reorganizing to attack waste.
Oversight
Education considers buyouts
Department is weighing whether to join a growing list of federal agencies attempting to downsize in response to budget pressures.
Oversight
Biden talks intensify; Gang of Six considers options
Groups are seeking way to conquer debt limit, deficit.
Oversight
How Baseball Is Different From Politics
Explaining Palin's decline in popularity by analogy to statistical scoring methods on the diamond.
Defense
Pain of Defense service contractor cuts might not be felt evenly
Spending decreases in Senate policy bill wouldn’t necessarily result in across-the-board pay or hiring freezes, industry reps say.
Oversight
Misconduct could cost SEC its building leasing authority
House panel pursues reports of waste and criminal acts in abandoned bid to make Constitution Center the agency’s headquarters.
Oversight
Environmentalists hail Grand Canyon ruling
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's plan bans uranium mining on more than one million acres around the Arizona site.
Defense
Gen. Petraeus would endorse 30,000 troops home by end of 2012
The commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan is expected to be confirmed by September as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Oversight
Golf gives insights into presidential character
Obama is set to play 18 holes with House Speaker John Boehner this weekend.
Defense
Senate panel cuts $6.4 billion from Pentagon request
Cut represents a modest portion of the $682.5 billion authorization plan.
Defense
Case closed: District court dismisses bin Laden charges after nearly 13 years
Bin Laden had been wanted for more than a decade in New York.
Oversight
Biden deficit group gives itself July 1 deadline
The six lawmakers are aiming to either reach an agreement or decide their differences are too substantial to reconcile.
Oversight
SBA called slow to kill duplicative programs and curb improper payments
Administrator defends progress against criticisms from the agency’s IG and a GAO specialist.
Defense
Appropriators back $1 billion decrease in nuclear agency budget
Figure is $1.1 billion below Obama's initial $11.7 billion request for NNSA.
Defense
House Committee slashes conventional "global strike" funds
Defense officials say a small number of these arms are necessary as an alternative to some nuclear weapons.
Oversight
Influential federal CIO to step down
Vivek Kundra is credited with saving taxpayers $3 billion through smart tech policies.
Oversight