A ‘modest’ raise is not enough for many

(JEWEL SAMAD / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

FEDERAL DIARY | President Obama won’t please many folks with the federal employee provisions in the fiscal year 2013 budget plan he released Monday.

Columnists

The Federal Eye by Ed O'Keefe

Obama backs Postal Service changes in budget

The White House plan would permit an end to Saturday mail and give USPS more time to fund worker health benefits.

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Ed O'Keefe

The Federal Eye by Ed O'Keefe

Ex-federal government reporter switches sides

Former Federal Diary columnist joins federal agency as a top spokesman.

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Ed O'Keefe

The Federal Eye by Ed O'Keefe

Obama’s budget boosts military, civilian pay

But the proposed pay raises differ and are likely to spark criticism.

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Ed O'Keefe

The Federal Eye by Ed O'Keefe

Obama budget: Who wins, who loses?

Here is an agency-by-agency breakdown of Obama’s 2013 budget proposal.

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Ed O'Keefe

The Federal Eye by Ed O'Keefe

Keep or cut? Your thoughts on the federal budget.

What insight do you have into the federal budget? First, delve into the federal budget document. Then share your thoughts.

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Ed O'Keefe

Federal Diary

Pay raises for federal vs. private workforce

Pay raises for federal vs. private workforce

This chart from President Obama’s proposed fiscal year 2013 budget indicates that pay raises for federal workers recently have dropped sharply in comparison with the private workforce.

A ‘modest’ raise is not enough for many

US President Barack Obama speaks on his FY 2013 Budget to students at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia, on February 13, 2012. Obama unveiled a budget packed with populist tax hikes on the rich and infrastructure and jobs spending designed to outmaneuver Republicans before he seeks reelection. The measure, including billions of dollars in transportation and education and training projects, is expected to put the emphasis more on securing the accelerating US economic recovery than early cuts in the huge deficit.  AFP Photo/Jewel Samad (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

FEDERAL DIARY | President Obama won’t please many folks with the federal employee provisions in the fiscal year 2013 budget plan he released Monday.

Obama budget: Fed workers should contribute more to pensions

The Obama administration is proposing to increase the contribution of federal employees to their retirement program by 0.4 percent each year over three years.

In the Loop

Funny Valentine

The RNC bashes Democrats in its new batch of V-day cards.

Bright idea

In the Loop’s roundup, Newt Gingrich plans an idea barrage; the White House recycles a Twitter campaign; and Sen. Grassley eyes the Smithsonian again.

HANDOUT PHOTO:  
President George W. Bush answers questions from 2011 NADA Chairman Stephen W. Wade during the general session at the NADA Convention and Expo in Las Vegas Feb. 6, 2012. 
(Courtesy of NADA)

Bush claims auto bailout his

President George W. Bush again claims credit for auto industry bailout

The Influence Industry

Return of the RNC big donor

Return of the RNC big donor

Money from wealthy supporters gave the Republican National Committee a boost in 2011.

Big donors return to the RNC

An employee at a foreign currency exchange receives U.S. dollar notes from a customer, to be changed into Indonesian rupiah currency, in Jakarta August 30, 2005. The rupiah recouped losses suffered earlier on Tuesday as the central bank pushed up interest rates after the currency's 17 percent plunge this month heightened worries about the impact of record prices. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the government will announce a package of policy measures by Wednesday to support the rupiah, which hit a four-year low on Tuesday morning. REUTERS/Enny Nuraheni

Checks of $10,000 or more rolled in again in 2011, helping to boost Republican coffers; small donations, however, were lagging previous years’ totals.

Obama’s track record on reining in lobbyists

FALLS CHURCH, VA - FEBRUARY 01: U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the economy February 1, 2012 at the James Lee Community Center in Falls Church, Virginia. Obama spoke on the mortgage principle reduction plan he had mentioned in his State of the Union address. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Will his latest proposal, from his State of the Union address, gain more traction than his previous ideas?

In Session

Congress looks for ways around Supreme Court

Justice Ginsburgh, fourth from left, and her fellow Supreme Court colleagues, seated from left, Anthony Kennedy, John Paul Stevens, John G. Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and, standing from left, Samuel Alito, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, pose for their official photograph in Washington, DC.

Lawmakers are trying to get around Supreme Court decisions they dislike or simply go over the nine justices’ heads by rewriting the Constitution.

Want to ‘fix Congress?’ There’s a caucus for that.

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 3:
Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va), L, and Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) talk outside the U.S. Capitol on February 3, 2012, in Washington, DC.  Two freshmen lawmakers have formed a 'reform caucus' in which they are pushing to end congressional pensions and other benefits.
(Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

A pair of House Republican freshmen have formed a well-timed new group — the Fix Congress Now Caucus.

Congress tries again to hand president a line-item veto

Rep. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) onl Tuesday, January 24, 2012.

It’s not often that Congress voluntarily surrenders power, but that’s what will happen if the latest version of legislation granting the president a line-item veto becomes law.

The High Court

Justices are being served on late-night TV

Television host Jon Stewart is seen during a taping of 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' in New York, Wednesday Nov. 30, 2011. (AP Photo/Brad Barket)

THE HIGH COURT | All of a sudden, the Supreme Court is fodder for late-night comedians, and the result is not something for which the image-conscious justices are likely to set their DVRs.

Supreme Court has shown unity, but little guidance

The nine justices were unanimous in three recent decisions, including one about the use of a GPS tracker in the case of a D.C. nightclub owner, but those rulings also left many questions unanswered.

Court asked to overturn bone marrow decision

Powerful women in Washington: From the American Red Cross to the Supreme Court, more and more institutions of power in the nation’s capital are seeing women take the lead.

The Obama administration last week asked an appeals court to overturn a recent decision that said bone marrow donors can be paid for what their bodies produce.

Fine Print

U.S. shippers watch for progress in Panama and ports

Cranes works in part of the new set of locks of the Panama Canal as a part of their expansion project in Panama City, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. Two new sets of locks, one on the Pacific and another on the Atlantic side of the canal, are part of the waterway's biggest expansion projects since it opened in 1914, which will allow larger Post-Panamax ships to cross the canal. The locks are planned to be finished by 2014. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)

A project to deepen and widen the Panama Canal aims to help U.S. businesses meet a new foreign challenge.

An Iran strike wouldn’t be easy

Iran’s Natanz uranium-enrichment facility (toured by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2008) is below ground.

At the Pentagon and in Israel, plans show the difficulties of an operation targeting Iran’s nuclear sites.

A leaner fighting machine

FILE - In this June 28, 2011 file photo, Navy Vice Adm. William H. McRaven, center, is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. As traditional military operations are cut back, the Pentagon is moving to expand the worldwide reach of the U.S. Special Operations Command to strike back wherever threats arise. U.S. officials say the Pentagon and the White House have embraced a proposal by special operations chief Adm. Bill McRaven to push troops that are withdrawing from war zones to reinforce special operations units in areas somewhat neglected during the decade-long focus on al-Qaida. At left is Gen. James D. Thurman, nominee to become commander of U.S. forces in Korea. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The Defense Department’s new way of looking at warfare.

The Federal Buzz

Should recent graduates consider a career in government?

Should recent graduates consider a career in government?

The 2011 National Association of Colleges and Employers survey shows that only 2.3 percent of more than 35,000 college students said they plan to work in the federal government.

The Federal Coach

Getting the best, despite the bashing

In a recent survey, only 2.3 percent of college students said they plan to work for the federal government.

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Featured Opinion Writer

Federal Player

Using social media to improve airport security

Have you ever wondered what you can and cannot carry on an airplane? How about knitting needles, a wedding dress, ski poles or fried rice? Lynn Dean of the TSA has the answers.

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President Barack Obama unveiled a $3.8 trillion spending plan on Monday for 2013 that seeks to achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade but does little to restrain growth in the government's huge health benefit programs. (Feb. 13)
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Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin brought her anti-Washington message to this year's Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. She also urged conservatives to support the GOP's eventual nominee. (Feb. 11)
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