On Tuesday, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) introduced and successfully shepherded through debate a meaningful contracting reform amendment to the FY 2010 Defense Appropriations bill. The amendment will defund contractors that block their employees from bringing workplace sexual assault cases to court, forcing contractors to amend their policies or face losing tons of money.
With the end of the fiscal year upon it, Congress, as expected, passed a continuing resolution (CR) last Wednesday to provide short-term funds to government agencies and prevent a government shutdown. As reported by Congressional Quarterly (subscription required), the CR will keep most discretionary programs operating at fiscal 2009 levels through Oct. 31. Congress intends to use the extra time to pass its remaining FY 2010 appropriations bills.
The new Recovery.gov went online this morning, and it is...less than revolutionary. I've spent the morning poking around it and checking out the new features. Even though the really important stuff -- the recipient data -- will not be available until Oct. 15, I was hoping that the new site would significantly change the way Recovery watchers would be able to access Recovery spending data. This version, however, is not that site.
A new report by GAO on Uncle-Sam-dependent AIG finds that the insurance giant is "stabilizing" due to the $182 billion in financial assistance from the Treasury Department and the Fed. However, the "the ultimate success of AIG’s restructuring and repayment efforts remains uncertain."
National Journal (subscription required) is reporting today that the House plans on taking up stopgap legislation on Wednesday to continue funding the federal government after appropriations for the year run out on Sept. 30.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report yesterday before a House Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on the embattled Secure Border Initiative (SBI) program - a multi-billion dollar program designed to secure the U.S. borders. A subset of that program, called SBInet is supposed to be building a fancy, virtual fence along the U.S. southern border. The program, begun during the Bush administration, has consistently been behind schedule and over budget - and that's when the new technologies have worked at all. And now it looks like Congress may want to cancel the program altogether.
The Nextgov blog Tech Insider is reporting that on the eve of All Hallows' Eve, the public will be treated with its first look at Recovery Act recipient report data. Recovery Board chief Earl Devaney has told Tech Insider that that the reports will become available after the 20-day correction and revision period allowed by the law to "mitigate[] the board's concern that large amounts of uncorrected data could actually harm transparency rather than enhance it."
Yesterday, as per Recovery Act requirements, the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) released their quarterly report on the "impact of programs funded through [the Recovery Act] on employment, estimated economic growth, and other key economic indicators."
