Presidential executive orders are lofty, historical documents, generally signed in White House ceremonies with pomp and circumstance. Seldom do we think of them beginning in a small town on the eastern edge of West Virginia. But it was in Shepherdstown, with a population of 803 at last count, where President Obama's latest executive order, designed to facilitate the hiring of veterans ...

Civilian agencies should increase their acquisition workforce by at least 5 percent by 2014, according to a memo the Office of Management and Budget released on Tuesday. In a second memo, OMB sought to limit the use of noncompetitive and higher-risk types of contracts. "These steps are essential to achieving the president's goal of $40 billion in annual savings through contracting ...

Imagine you've just been hired to manage the Washington Nationals. Your contract is contingent on your ball club making it to the World Series. But the team's owner says you have to take the field with essentially the same players you inherited -- despite their losing record. Sound absurd? Of course, but it isn't far from reality, considering an administration proposal ...

President Obama on Monday signed an executive order designed to boost the number of veterans in the federal workforce. The directive creates Veterans Employment Program offices in federal agencies, to match veterans with job openings and help them navigate the application process. The offices also will give veterans guidance on how to adjust to civilian life after they are hired. "This ...

Groups representing federal and postal workers and retirees have delivered the goods as never before. This year, 2009, will go down in the books as as-good-as-it-gets. The new Defense Authorization Act contains an array of eye-popping new benefits for federal workers in both major retirement systems, retirees and former feds who want to make a comeback in government. The back-stage lobbying ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Census Bureau kicks off its $300 million campaign Monday to prod, coax and cajole the nation's more than 300 million residents to fill out their once-a-decade census forms. The bureau will mail out the 10-question forms to about 120 million households in March. On Monday, Census Director Robert Groves starts the nationwide campaign with an event ...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional negotiators sealed agreement Tuesday night on sweeping spending legislation that boosts housing and heating subsidies but curbs President Barack Obama's requests for aid to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The move comes as lawmakers wrapped the budgets of nine Cabinet agencies into a $1.1 trillion spending bill they hope to complete before a stopgap measure expires Dec. 18. The ...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A new poll shows Southerners are fretting about job loss and the economy and don't think the federal government is doing enough to address either. The Winthrop Poll of 866 respondents in 11 Southern states found the economy was the top concern of four in 10 — the same share of people who said they were concerned about ...

President Obama gave federal employee unions an early holiday present on Wednesday. But like a Santa Claus who can't grant all the items on a wish list, Obama didn't provide everything labor leaders wanted. Obama met a long-sought union goal when he issued an executive order creating labor-management forums within the government. The order creates a National Council on Federal Labor-Management ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The unemployment rate jumped to 9.7 percent in August, the highest since June 1983, as employers eliminated a net total of 216,000 jobs. The level of job cuts is less than July's upwardly revised total of 276,000 and is the lowest in a year. Analysts expected the unemployment rate to rise to 9.5 percent from July's 9.4 ...

Nearly two months after they were furloughed because of a temporary expiration of the Highway Trust Fund, 2,000 Transportation Department workers will receive back pay for the two days of missed. "I have seen nothing but dedicated, hardworking folks doing the work of the American people," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wrote on his blog. "It was unfortunate that they had to ...

WASHINGTON — The $787 billion economic recovery package also is stimulating growth in the federal government as agencies hire thousands of workers and spend millions of dollars to oversee and implement the package, according to government records and spokesmen. Fourteen of the top federal agencies responsible for spending under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act say they've hired about 3,000 workers ...

More than five months after she was confirmed by the Senate as deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management, Christine Griffin this week begins her new post overseeing federal personnel issues. "I am very pleased to be able to work with Christine on important issues that directly affect the federal government and its workforce," OPM Director John Berry said in ...

Delivering on President Obama's promise to boost the labor movement, the administration has announced a $35 million federal construction project in New Hampshire that requires union representation for the workers and forces nonunion employees to pay dues and contribute to a union pension fund. Mr. Obama issued an executive order in the first weeks of his presidency that would make the ...

WASHINGTON — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger praised President Barack Obama's drive to overhaul the nation's health care system on Tuesday and urged fellow Republicans to join in efforts to finish the job this year. Although Schwarzenegger stopped short of embracing a Democratic bill, his words of encouragement came on the heels of similar statements from other Republicans outside Congress, including former ...

RICHMOND, Va. - New numbers show more workplace injuries and illnesses were reported in Virginia from those in government jobs than in the private sector in 2008. According to a Virginia Department of Labor and Industry report released Monday, 97,900 workers were injured or became ill on the job in 2008. That's down from 104,200 in the previous year, Of those, ...

Six months after he fired their predecessors, President Obama has appointed new members to the panel responsible for resolving bargaining disputes between federal employee unions and agencies. Those appointments to the Federal Service Impasses Panel complete the new team at the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which includes the panel. Agency and union officials said they hope the agency will be able ...

A federal judge ordered that a Chevy Chase scientist remain jailed on a charge that he tried to pass national secrets to the Israeli government in exchange for $11,000. Stewart D. Nozette, 52, was arrested Monday afternoon on a charge of attempted espionage after authorities accused him of passing classified information to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence ...

There was no red carpet or pregame show. No musical acts or (good) jokes. No celebrity appearances, and perhaps best of all, the ceremony didn't drag on for hours (just 58 minutes). But the awards distributed Tuesday at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium honored achievements much more noble than "best supporting actor" or "best on-screen kiss." They heralded the federal watchdogs who ...

The federal government needs to hire more than 270,000 workers for "mission-critical" jobs over the next three years, a surge prompted in part by the large number of baby-boomer federal workers reaching retirement age, according to the results of a government-wide survey being released Thursday. The numbers also reflect the Obama administration's intent to take on several enormous challenges, including the ...