Boeing is set to miss a significant contractual deadline in its KC-46 tanker program. According to a May 27, 2016 Defense News article, the contractor was supposed to deliver 18 aircraft to the Air Force by August 2017, the latest (and most significant) of many delays in the KC-46 program. The planes will now arrive […]
Senate Hearing on TSA Operations: Frustrated Travelers and Threats to Aviation
This morning, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs held a hearing entitled, “Frustrated Travelers: Rethinking TSA Operations to Improve Passenger Screening and Address Threats to Aviation.” The witnesses included: The Honorable Peter V. Neffenger, Administrator, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) The Honorable John Roth, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Jennifer Grover, […]
Hensarling’s CHOICE: “Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs”
With his newest catch-phrase, “Economic Growth for All, and Bank Bailouts for None,” House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) unveiled the key principles underpinning his proposal to replace the Dodd-Frank Act with “real reforms that work,” in a speech earlier today to the Economic Club of New York. The following represent the key […]
USPS and the Next Gen Vehicle
The United States Postal Service isn’t known for its whiz-kid, early adoption of shape-shifting technology innovations. While the private sector has been screaming along, birthing cutting-edge, disruptive technologies in the communications, transportation, and logistics sector, the USPS has remained mired in its top-heavy, sclerotic, analog, bricks-and-mortar past. For example, the USPS has been preparing to procure […]
Is Obamacare Teetering?
So many things have happened to Obamacare these past couple of months, it’s like drinking from a fire hose. Insurers say “Buh Bye” In April, one of the nation’s largest health insurers, UnitedHealthcare, announced it will pull out of most of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA), or Obamacare, marketplace exchanges by 2017. Why? Because in […]
OMB Tackles Some Low-Hanging Fruit
On January 20, 2016, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) weighed in on a request for comments from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on the requirements that should be included in its guidance to federal departments and agencies for improving the management and purchasing of software assets. CAGW recommended that agencies should be required […]
SCOTUS Provides Eagle Eye of Oversight for Hawkes Case
On May 31, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) issued its ruling in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co. The case raised the question whether property owners could challenge “jurisdictional determinations” by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). USACE considered Hawkes’ land to be “navigable waters,” based on the […]
In Jeopardy: Shuster’s Loftier Vision for Air Traffic Control Modernization
In today’s early edition of “Morning Consult,” an online digest of relevant public policy activities in the nation’s capital, the journal highlighted the disparities between the Senate and House versions of legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In April, the Senate passed their version overwhelmingly (95-3), while the House bill (approved by the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee) has not made it to the floor yet.
CAGW to NPS: Show Me the Data
Today, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies marked-up (read and amended) its fiscal year 2017 appropriations bill.
Let the USDA Catfish Inspection Program Off The Hook!
The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) catfish inspection program has already been called out on nine separate occasions, February 2011, March 2011, May 2012, February 2013, April 2013, April 2014, December 2014, February 2015, and April 2015, by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as a program that duplicates another catfish inspection program operating at the Food & Drug Administration. With the release of its April 2016 report on duplication, the GAO once again highlighted the problem.