161 results for tag: Big Government
Labor Department orders private companies with federal contracts to give employees up to seven sick days
Officials at the Labor Department Thursday ruled federal contractors – private companies who contract with the federal government like Humana, General Electric, General Dynamics, Hewlett-Packard Company, MIT, AT&T, the list goes on – are required to give employees up to seven days of sick time annually, allegedly creating a new benefit for more than 650,000 workers.
The Washington Examiner has the story:
In addition to the new Labor rule, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that starting in March, it will collect new data from employers that will let it improve investigations of possible pay discrimination…
The EEOC ...
Bill demands stronger protections for VA whistleblowers
Congressional plans to encourage Veterans Affairs employees to speak out against departmental abuses like waste and negligence – and shield such whistleblowers from retaliation – may soon be put to a vote.
Stars and Stripes has the story:
A long-stalled plan in Congress to strengthen protections for Veterans Affairs Department employees who disclose waste and misconduct – and to punish officials who retaliate against them – is poised to hitch a ride to enactment this week on the high-priority measure to head off a partial government shutdown…
While the measure would continue funding most government operations only through Dec. 9, the ...
Senators seeking answers in case of vet who allegedly committed suicide while on VA waiting list
U.S. Senators Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) Tuesday requested an investigation into a report an Army veteran committed suicide when he was awaiting care for post-traumatic-stress disorder from those at a Veterans Affairs office in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The department will work with the inspector general and the senators to determine what happened, agency spokesman Paul Sherbo said.
The senators did not identify the soldier who killed himself but said he was 26 and had served as an Army Ranger.
Gardner said he wanted to avoid a repeat of a 2014 scandal over long wait times that veterans endured to get health care, and ...
President Obama: Regulator in chief
President Obama in his almost eight years in office has upped the number of major regulations 31 percent over his predecessor George W. Bush adding more than $750 billion in overall costs to business and citizens and nearly 500 million more hours of paperwork, according to recent analysis.
The Washington Examiner has the details:
Businesses and conservative politicians have complained that the overwhelming burden of new federal regulations, especially in the health and financial world, has led to massive job cuts and bankruptcies.
But the administration shows no sign of slowing down in the final leg of its eight years, said analyst Sam Batkins, ...
Inspector general accuses Denver-based VA of ‘gross mismanagement’
Federal investigators Wednesday accused those at a Denver, Colo.-based Veterans Affairs office of improperly overseeing construction of a VA hospital that ran over budget by millions of dollars.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has the details:
The inspector general accused the VA of “gross mismanagement” for assigning far too few engineers and project managers.
[Sloan Gibson, deputy secretary of Veterans Affairs] said the department has taken responsibility for the problems and has made changes.
Two weeks ago, [Fla. Republican Jeff] Miller’s committee subpoenaed documents on a separate internal VA investigation into the cost overruns. The ...
Arkansas VA spent $408 million on solar-panel project as veterans faced brutal wait-times
Officials at an Arkansas Veterans Affairs hospital over a five-year period spent $408 million a so-called “green management” solar-panel project that went over schedule and over budget as former servicemen and women awaited care long overdue, according to a VA inspector-general report spurred by members of Congress.
The Daily Caller has the details:
The move to solar is part of the VA’s Green Management Program, which is tasked with installing renewable energy sources at various medical facilities. The probe included 11 out of 15 solar panel projects awarded from 2010 through 2013, which were still incomplete in 2015.
Each of the 11 solar ...
Justice Department denied FBI request to probe Clinton Foundation
President Obama’s Justice Department declined a request from the FBI to look into the Clinton Foundation to determine whether Hillary Clinton – during her tenure as secretary of state – engaged in corrupt practices, according to a recent CNN report.
The Washington Examiner has the story:
The Justice Department's public integrity unit declined to pursue the probe given what it characterized as insufficient evidence, according to a CNN report Wednesday.
The State Department's seemingly preferential treatment of foundation donors under Clinton's leadership has raised questions about whether she and her aides ignored conflicts of interest in ...
Report: Detroit VA spent $300,000 on televisions it can’t even use
Staff at the Veteran Affairs medical center in Detroit, Michigan signed off on the purchase of $300,000 worth of incompatible televisions now languishing in a dark VA office, according to a report recently released by federal inspectors.
ABC 7 has the details:
The report says the items were purchased before an installation contract was awarded, and it was later determined the units were not compatible with design plans.
The VA spent nearly $20,000 to adjust their installation design, but still, the majority of the units have not been installed.
Adding further to the frustration, the warranties have since expired, which could lead to additi...
Here’s what you have to go through to become a hair braider in some states
If our leaders really wanted to create jobs, they could start by keeping government from crushing small business ventures.
In yet another example of bloated regulation, an Institute for Justice report has found that burdensome licensing laws require hair braiders to spend as much as 2,100 hours in training and thousands of dollars on tuition. These barriers prevent entrepreneurs, many of whom are lower-income, from working at a job that many learned in childhood and have practiced for years.
Via the Washington Free Beacon:
The report also finds that these requirements kill jobs and prevent hair braiders with less capital from entering the job ...