The federal government resorted to a favorite accounting maneuver Tuesday to stay under its debt limit, suspending the issuance of securities in a retirement savings program for federal and postal employees. Read full article > >

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Treasury’s Thrift Savings Plan maneuver aims to keep government under debt cap

The federal government resorted to a favorite accounting maneuver Tuesday to stay under its debt limit, suspending the issuance of securities in a retirement savings program for federal and postal employees. Read full article > >

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Treasury’s Thrift Savings Plan maneuver aims to keep government under debt cap

With federal government, while Texas is “under assault.”

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Perry: SC ‘at War’

The president announced a new campaign to shrink the federal government, a proposal notable less for its goal than for its challenge to a hostile Congress.

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Obama Asks Congress for Powers to Trim Government

Updated and corrected 5:54 p.m. ET Tens of thousands of firefighters employed by the federal government battled flames last year that scorched more than 8 million acres and caused billions of dollars in damage. And what were the Capitol Hill staffers responsible for their fates doing? Playing games — literally. Read full article > >

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Congressional wildfire ‘office pool’ angers firefighters

In a year packed with important developments across the federal government, news of hurricanes, tax fraud, layoffs and a potential government shutdown earned the most Eyeballs from The Federal Eye’s loyal readers. Here’s a quick look back at our best-read items of 2011: 11.) Hurricane Irene moves north, FEMA sets expectations (Aug. 25) Read full article > >

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Top Eleven of 2011: Shut it down!

The Post asked John Palguta , vice president for policy at the Partnership for Public Service , to weigh in on the year for federal workers and what 2012 may bring. Palguta had a 34-year career in the federal government as a human resources and policy specialist, as a senior official with the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Office of Personnel Management , among other agencies. Read full article > >

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Federal workers: 2012 could be as tough as 2011

President Obama signs into law a spending bill, averting a shutdown of federal government services, with a vote on a payroll tax bill due next week.

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Obama signs funding bill into law

Stanmore Cooper and the federal government each did something wrong. Cooper pleaded guilty for his actions and paid a $1,000 fine. Now he wants the government to pay. An attorney for Cooper, a pilot who is HIV-positive, conceded to the Supreme Court on Wednesday that Cooper lied on official forms from 1994 until 2005 about his medical condition and the medication he was taking. Read full article > >

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Justices weigh whether Privacy Act violations allow for distress damages

The federal government isn’t doing enough to regulate their use.

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Foster Children Take Too Many Psychiatric Drugs

As he campaigns for his old Senate seat, George Allen is hammering a theme that has served Virginia Republicans well in recent elections: He wants to lower taxes and reduce government spending. “It’s clear to everyone outside of Washington that government spending is out of control,” Allen said. “The families, businesses and Virginia all know how to live within their means, and it’s time that the federal government does the same.” Read full article > >

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Virginia’s GOP targets government spending, a key driver of state’s economy

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) desperately wants to spare the Government Accountability Office from deeper budget cuts this year — and he’s gone so far as to publish a 29-page report to help convince his colleagues. The nonpartisan congressional investigative office (which ranked third this week in the annual Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings) could face cuts of up to $42 million this fiscal year, a move that agency bosses say will result in furloughs, layoffs, delays in updating agency computers and supportive services that lawmakers fear could force cutbacks in the investigations and audits the office publishes almost daily. Read full article > >

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GAO budget cuts panned in new report

More than six in 10 Americans see a widening gap between the wealthy and the less well-off in this country, and about as many want the federal government to try to shrink the divide, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll . Democrats and independents largely support government policies to reduce the wealth gap, while most Republicans oppose such action. The issue cuts even more sharply along a new political fault line, with tea party supporters and those backing the fledgling Occupy Wall Street movement on opposite sides of the question. Read full article > >

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Poll shows most see deepening wealth gap

A California Democrat wants to ban smoking in and outside all federal buildings across the country, reigniting a years-long attempt to ban smokers from lighting up on, near and in sight of federal property. The bill, introduced late Friday by Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.), would ban smoking in and 25 feet around all properties owned or leased by the federal government. Smoking areas — located inside or just outside some federal properties — also would be shuttered. Read full article > >

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Bill would ban smoking at federal buildings

The federal government, after an appeal by Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R), has reversed its position and approved disaster aid to people in the area most affected by the August earthquake, authorities said Friday evening. A statement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency said “the President’s action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in Louisa County.” Read full article > >

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Federal government approves disaster aid for Virginia’s earthquake