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Govt watchdog faults Postal Service analysis of new trucks
While the Postal Service estimated in 2020 that gas would cost $2.21 to $2.36 per gallon, the national average in March was $4.24 per gallon, according to the AAA Gas Prices website.
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Federal Oversight
Murkowski, Romney back Jackson, all but assure confirmation
The senators from Alaska and Utah announced their decisions Monday night ahead of a procedural vote to advance the nomination and as Democrats pressed to confirm Jackson by the end of the week.
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Postmaster General says he’s been cleared in federal probe
The Justice Department declined to comment. But it is standard practice for department officials to reveal to defense lawyers that their investigations have concluded without charges rather than make that announcement themselves.
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Jackson heading for likely confirmation despite GOP darts
In her final day of Senate questioning, she declared she would rule “without any agendas” as the high court’s first Black female justice and rejected Republican efforts to paint her as soft on crime in her decade on the federal bench.
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IRS unit gets no funds to enforce sanctions on rich Russians
The White House request to give the IRS $30 million for tracing financial activities associated with sanctioned people appeared to run afoul of broader reluctance by Republicans to put more money into IRS enforcement actions.
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Jackson pushes back on GOP critics, defends record
Jackson responded to Republicans who have questioned whether she is too liberal in her judicial philosophy, saying she tries to “understand what the people who created this law intended.” She said she relies on the words of a statute but also looks to history and practice when the meaning may not be clear.
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Vaccine mandate for federal employees awaits court ruling
A requirement that federal contractors and subcontractors require employee vaccinations is on hold. A federal judge in Georgia blocked that mandate nationwide and the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit appeals court is to hear arguments in that case April 8.
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Report: Feds should create guidelines on less-lethal weapons
The report — released Friday by the Police Executive Research Forum, an organization dedicated to improving the professionalism of policing — examines how police departments handled the thousands of protests and civil unrest in the U.S. in the summer of 2020, after George Floyd was killed at the hands of officers in Minneapolis.
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Senate confirms health care watchdog assailed by Trump
No Republicans objected to confirming Christi A. Grimm, a longtime civil servant to be HHS inspector general. Her division includes some 1,600 auditors, law enforcement agents, and management experts, and is known for its annual health care fraud takedowns. The voice vote came Thursday evening.
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Senate confirms Biden’s FDA pick despite political divisions
The 50-46 vote means Dr. Robert Califf, a cardiologist and prominent medical researcher, will again lead the powerful regulatory agency, which he briefly headed during the end of President Barack Obama’s administration.
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Federal and military users can now track potential terrorist activities with an app
Need a “onestop shop for counterterroism analysis”? There's an app for that, and it's called aCTknowledge.
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Demilitarize civilian cyber defense, and you’ll gain deterrence
By constantly flexing the military’s cyber muscles to defend the homeland from inbound criminal cyber activity, the public demand for a broad federal response to illegal cyber activity is satisfied. Still, over time, the potential adversary will understand our military’s offensive cyber operations’ tactics, techniques and procedures.
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Justice Dept. signals it may allow safe injection sites
The Justice Department is signaling it might be open to allowing so-called safe injection sites, or safe havens for people to use heroin and other narcotics with protections against fatal overdoses.
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White House considers expanding limits on ‘no-knock’ warrant
A “no-knock warrant,” as its name implies, is an order from a judge that allows law enforcement officials with a search warrant to enter a home without announcing their presence first. It’s an exemption to usual practice; in most cases, the law requires that officers must knock and announce themselves before entering a private home to execute a warrant.
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FBI chief: Threat from China ‘more brazen’ than ever before
The speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library amounted to a stinging rebuke of the Chinese government just days before Beijing is set to occupy the global stage by hosting the Winter Olympics.
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Why aren’t more agencies using the personnel mobility program?
The personnel mobility program allows federal agencies to temporarily bring in outside workers to address critical skills gaps, but a government watchdog report finds the program is underutilized.
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Watchdog says key federal health agency is failing on crises
The federal Department of Health and Human Services is failing to meet its responsibilities for leading the nation’s response to public health emergencies ranging from the coronavirus pandemic, to extreme weather disasters and even potential bioterror attacks, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog says in a report Thursday.
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Biden picks 6 lawyers for US prosecutor posts
The nominees, announced by the White House on Wednesday, would run the federal prosecutors’ offices in Alaska, Connecticut, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Utah.
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Bill would require Senate confirmation for US prison chief
The Bureau of Prisons is the Justice Department’s largest agency, but it’s the only agency whose director isn’t subject to Senate confirmation.
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Most federal agencies still aren’t meeting cybersecurity targets
A Jan. 11 Government Accountability Office report found that as of fiscal year 2020 federal civilian agencies were inconsistent in implementing cybersecurity policies and practices.
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DOJ creating unit to focus on domestic terrorism
Officials said the department treats domestic extremist violence the same regardless of ideology.
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Biden praises Guard response to Jan. 6 attack in fiery anniversary speech
The commander-in-chief's remarks came on the one-year anniversary of the attack.
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Congress’ doctor wants ‘maximal telework’ amid virus surge
The seven-day average rate of infection at the Capitol's testing center has grown from less than 1% to more than 13%.
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DOJ says federal inmates on home confinement can stay out of prison
More than 35,000 inmates were released as part of the effort to ease pandemic conditions as long as they met certain criteria, including they were not likely a danger to others.
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FY22 defense bill gives feds parental bereavement leave, makes changes at the Pentagon
Feds will receive two weeks of paid leave to grieve the death of a child, under the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.
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Congress passes defense policy bill with budget boost, military justice reforms
After months of debate and weeks of angst, the Senate has sent its annual defense bill to the president.
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