Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Like the full moon you know will be rising soon, the continuing resolution for the 2021 fiscal year, it starts next week, is finally taking shape in Congress. Sort of a shame because, who wants to repeat 2020? For the week ahead in Congress, the Federal Drive spoke to Bloomberg Government editorial director Loren Duggan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Constitution gives the power of the purse to Congress. You may have heard. The contemporary reality is that a constant state of tug-of-war exists between Congress and the executive branch -- the White House. A coalition lead by the Project on Government Oversight seeks to shift more weight back to Congress. But there's a cloak of secrecy over White House spending decisions, according to my next guest. For more, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to POGO policy analyst Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Veterans Affairs Department office of inspector general has found critical flaws in two important functions at the Veterans Health Administration. They have to do with financial controls and whether it has a good grip on the millions of veterans' medical appointments canceled because of the pandemic. Inspector General Michael Missal joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The governmentwide initiative to modernize payroll services across the government is ready to come out from behind the curtain two years after launching. The General Services Administration will deliver its first set of capabilities under the NewPay program this fall. Executive Editor Jason Miller joined the Federal Drive with details about the administration’s effort to get shared services out of the starting gate in fiscal 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

COVID-19 has flipped almost every facet of life upside down, especially the workplace. A case in point: The Air Force. Six months in to the pandemic, the top brass say after seeing the repercussions of telework, the Air Force is never going back to the way it was. Other military services are following suit. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione has more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The idea of pay for performance has appeal in the federal workplace. The superior performers get rewarded for superior work, thereby helping keep the federal workforce strong and engaged. But is it true? One guest is skeptical. A professor in the Key Executive Leadership Program at American University, Bob Tobias joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Securities and Exchange Commission regularly points out how many millions of dollars whistleblowers receive as a result of tips about corporate malfeasance. Yet it has a rule in the offing that would limit the largest payouts. This is a big puzzle to the whistleblower community. For more, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center John Kostyack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Department of Veterans Affairs has yet another new IT modernization project on the table. VA this time wants to overhaul its education IT services - the platforms VA uses to process benefits under the GI bill. The Veterans Benefits Administration said it could achieve better customer service with the purchase and configuration of three commercial programs, if Congress is willing to reprogram the funding needed to get the project moving. More now from Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fee-funded agencies like the Patent and Trademark Office have to plan their budgets around the ebbs and flows of their revenue. Careful forecasting from the agency’s financial office helped USPTO recover from a sharp downturn in fees from the pandemic. In fact the agency received one of the Association of Government Accountants' highest awards: The Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting. For more on the agency's financial operations, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the Chief Financial Officer at USPTO, Jay Hoffman, on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Each year the government somewhere or another, proposes hundreds of new rules and untold thousands of people comment. Writing effective comments is an art form it pays to get good at. Steptoe & Johnson law firm partner Matt Kulkin shared some good advice on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the first time in a couple of dozen blue moons, Congress may not pass the National Defense Authorization Act before the end of the fiscal year. The House and Senate versions have some politically serious differences. For a comparison, we turn to Bloomberg Government senior national security reporter Roxana Tiron. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don't hold your breath waiting for Congress to do anything about reforming the civil service. So agencies will have to continue to take in on themselves to improve the personnel recruitment and hiring practices everyone professes to hate. Now some new ideas have come out in a study by the Partnership for Public Service and sponsored by the S. D. Bechtel Junior Foundation. For some of the highlights, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to the Partnership's director of government affairs, Margot Conrad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

These days for the Defense Department, it's all about speedy development of new capabilities. That usually starts with prototypes. Now an industry group, the National Armaments Consortium, has a new way of working with the Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium, a group sponsored by the Secretary of Defense. All aimed at better and faster prototyping. Joining the Federal Drive with more, the consortium's executive director Charlie Zisette. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Air Force revealed on Tuesday that it built and successfully flew a demonstration version of a new sixth-generation fighter jet. Officials aren’t saying much about the secretive program, other than the fact that it’s broken several records. But they’ve got plenty to say about how the plane was designed. As Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu reports, brass think it’ll change the Air Force acquisition process forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The military services have long complained when Congress fails to deliver budgets on time. Over the last ten years, continuing resolutions have become the norm. Now for 2021, Congress has another military branch tugging its sleeve for an on-time budget. Namely the Space Force. The newest service says a long-term CR could delay its full setup. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione joined the Federal Drive with more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices