April 8, 2008
A summary of daily news relevant to the federal workforce produced by the Partnership
for Public Service.
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Calls About Tax Rebate Keep IRS Busy
The Washington
Post
By Stephen Barr
Nothing like a tax rebate to set the phones ringing.
Since mid-February, when President Bush signed the Economic Stimulus Act, the Internal Revenue Service has been averaging more than 50,000
telephone calls per day above their normal volume at this time of year.
The number of calls about tax rebates would have been substantially greater if the IRS had not spent about $45 million sending advance notices to
more than 130 million taxpayers, according to a report released yesterday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA.
The new law provides rebates ranging from $300 to $1,200 to individuals and couples who have filed a 2007 tax return. Before Congress closed the
deal on the rebates, the IRS had set up an executive steering committee to make sure the rebates got to taxpayers as soon as practicable. Checks
should be in the mail in May.
As of March 8, the inspector general said, the IRS's automated message-response phones had received 1.2 million calls about the rebate. Callers
who would not normally file a tax return are provided with the option to get more assistance on how to qualify for a rebate, the report said.
IRS officials expect the surge in rebate-related calls to continue through this month. The agency has taken about 1,500 employees off their
regular jobs to handle calls, the report said. The IRS also expects to pay for overtime and extend the employment of "seasonal" workers because of
the added workload.
Because of the calls regarding the rebates, the IRS is taking 71 seconds longer to answer taxpayer calls to its toll-free lines than it did a year
ago. The average wait is slightly more than 5 minutes. About 16 percent of callers hang up on the IRS while waiting in the queue for assistance, the
report said.
TIGTA did not find any significant problems with the IRS's processing of tax returns through March 8.
In a separate report, TIGTA recommended stricter controls over the IRS computer system, warning that current practices could make confidential
taxpayer data more vulnerable to hacking and identity theft.
The IRS said it was not aware that any taxpayer information had been compromised because of a security breach. "We continue to work to improve our
security capabilities of our technology assets, and we have extensive intrusion-monitoring capabilities to watch for potential breaches," the agency
said in a statement.
To read the entire article, click here.
Senators: DHS Needs Flexibility in Choosing Personnel Chief
Federal Computer Week
By Richard W. Walker
The Senate’s two federal workforce leaders say the Homeland Security Department needs a depoliticized chief human capital
officer (CHCO) to see the department through the transition to a new presidential administration next year.
Sens. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Oversight of Government Management
Subcommittee, and George Voinovich (R-Ohio), the panel's ranking member, have introduced legislation that would give the DHS secretary the authority
to appoint a career executive to the CHCO position. Under current law, the president must appoint the department’s CHCO.
“As DHS prepares for its first transition between administrations, it is imperative that an able and capable workforce remains in place to
continue the department’s important mission,” Voinovich said in a press release. “I believe a career-appointed CHCO is central
to a smooth transition.”
However, the bill (S. 2816) stops short of mandating a career CHCO at the department, pointing out that other agencies have the ability to choose
the candidate — a political or civilian employee — that “best fits into the framework of the agency and its human capital
strategy,” Akaka said. “But DHS, by statute, does not have this flexibility. The work of a CHCO is critical to the support of effective
government management and strategic workforce planning.”
Given DHS’ critical mission and the fact that the department remains on the Government Accountability Office’s high-risk list, it is
important to give DHS the same flexibility as other agencies in designating its CHCO, he added.
Of the 23 agency representatives on the CHCO Council, nearly half — 11 — are career executives.
A Shift Will Happen in the Future
FedSmith
By James O. Armstrong
No, it hasn't happened yet. But, the process has begun and it will continue as more and more employers of every possible description in America
come to understand about the current and coming labor shortage in the United States.
Here are the current facts. There is already a nationwide shortage of nurses, teachers, truck drivers and warehouse workers, pharmacists, certain
types of manufacturing employees and others. Plus, this analysis does not include the highly skilled worker shortage right now among technology
companies in the US, which each year requires our country to admit thousands of foreign workers with temporary visas to help us get this job done in
the United States. And, even after we've taken this step, Bill Gates, who is America's richest and perhaps the world's richest man, testified
recently before our US Congress that the number of such highly skilled worker visas continues to be grossly inadequate to meet the current demand for
such men and women.
Will this situation change for our US economy in the future? Yes, it will, but not in the way you may expect, according to recent testimony from
the current Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve before the US Senate Labor Relations Committee. He, too, predicted a labor shortage will continue
and become such a significant factor that our current economic growth, which has average 3% per year for the past 10 years, will actually drop by one
third to 2% per year beginning in five years because of our anticipated labor shortage.
With 77 million to 78 million Baby Boomers in America, many of which will choose at least some type of retirement, the United States already knows
that that there are significantly fewer Generation Xers to take their place in the workforce. In short, our nation cannot simply manufacture people.
At the same time, Americans are living longer than ever before, thanks largely to the wonderful medical breakthroughs of recent years. In fact,
one of four Americans can now expect to live until age 97 on an average. For its part, Social Security is already set to raise its previous
retirement age for full benefits from age 65 until a graduated age 67, depending on someone's date of birth. Further, not all of our Baby Boomers or
Active Seniors want to stop working entirely for a variety of different reasons, which range from needing the money to simply enjoying the work.
To read the entire article, click here.
ICE Faces Illegals Backlog
The Washington
TimesBy Arlo Wagner
Federal immigration officials acknowledge that they have failed to keep pace with the number of illegal immigrants arrested in Prince William
County and are meeting with county leaders to resolve the problem.
"Both parties recognized that due to the dramatic increase in the number of aliens being sent to [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] beyond
the originally projected caseload, closer coordination will be required," said agency spokeswoman Ernestine Fobbs. "It's a large influx. We are
removing them as efficiently and quickly as we can."
Miss Fobbs did not further explain the extent of the delay or the process.
In July, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted in favor of a local crackdown on illegal immigration. The program is expected to
cost $6.3 million next year to fund needs such as video cameras, equipment in police cruisers and staffing of the specially trained Criminal Alien
Unit, composed of six detectives and one civilian.
The crackdown began March 3, after ICE agents trained county police officers on how to deal with illegal immigrants suspected of violating local
or state laws.
County officials reported last week that officers encountered 89 illegals in the first month of the program and made 41 arrests on local and state
charges.
ICE officials said they met last week with Patrick Hurd, board chairman for the county jail, and jail Superintendent Pete A. Meletis to discuss
the backlog in inmate transfers to federal custody. They could not be reached for comment about the outcome of the meeting.
Corey A. Stewart, chairman of the Board of County Supervisors, said yesterday that he and the other supervisors plan to meet this week with ICE
officials to discuss the issue. Mr. Stewart, at-large Republican, said he expects only a short-term "bottleneck" because the county jail will be
expanded by 200 beds this year. The jail now can accommodate 780 inmates.
