Copyright 2000 The Washington Post
The Washington
Post
June 23, 2000, Friday, Final Edition
SECTION: METRO; Pg. B02; FEDERAL DIARY
LENGTH: 706 words
HEADLINE:
Local Drive for Combined Federal Campaign Surpasses Its Goal by $2.5 Million
BYLINE: Stephen Barr
BODY:
Every year, the government's employees provide crucial support for
communities across the nation through their charitable contributions in the
Combined Federal Campaign. In the Washington area, the CFC provides half the
money collected by the United Way.
Yesterday, CFC leaders reported that
the National Capital Area beat its 1999 pledge goal. The area CFC had promised
to raise $ 42 million and collected $ 44.5 million. The local fund drive,
chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala, will provide
assistance to about 3,000 organizations in this region. The average CFC
contribution by Washington area employees was $ 224.
The figures for the
national CFC drive are equally impressive. Across the country, federal employees
and military personnel pledged $ 218 million in 1999. That pledge total
represented a 5.5 percent increase over 1998.
Government employees in
the King County CFC, based in Seattle, made the highest average contributions: $
304.54.
In addition to the National Capital Area, the Overseas Area CFC,
which raised $ 9.9 million, and the San Diego County CFC, with $ 5.7 million,
were the campaigns that gathered the most money.
Janice R. Lachance,
director of the Office of Personnel Management, announced the results yesterday
at a ceremony honoring CFC groups and officials. OPM said that nearly $ 2
billion was distributed to charities during the 1990s through CFC drives.
Lachance also announced a pilot program that will let federal retirees
contribute to the CFC through deductions from their monthly annuities. Under the
pilot program, about 300,000 retirees in the Washington area and seven local
campaigns elsewhere in the nation will be able to use the Internet or a CFC
pledge card to authorize deductions, OPM said.
"The federal retirement
community donates its time to a variety of worthwhile causes," Lachance said.
"Giving them the opportunity to participate in the CFC can help them stay
connected to a program they believe in."
Hold Urged for GAO
Buyout Measure
Sens. Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.), Charles S. Robb
(D-Va.) and John W. Warner (R-Va.) asked the Senate Appropriations Committee
yesterday to pull back legislation that would allow the General Accounting
Office to change its personnel policies.
The senators said many of their
constituents had contacted them about the legislation, which would give the GAO
authority to offer cash buyouts and order layoffs to reshape its work force.
The measure was folded into the fiscal 2001 legislative branch
appropriations bill without hearings in the House or Senate, the senators said
in a letter to Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and others.
"We do not believe that provisions of such wide-ranging consequence
should be included in an appropriations measure without full consideration of
their impact on our civil service system," the senators wrote.
Hearing on Pension
'Offset' Law Rep. E. Clay
Shaw Jr. (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Social Security subcommittee, has
scheduled a hearing Tuesday on the government pension "offset,"
a contentious issue for many federal retirees.
The offset law prevents
numerous federal retirees from collecting both a government annuity based on
their work and Social Security benefits based on their spouse's work. The
National Association of Retired Federal Employees has been lobbying to have the
law changed, in part because it reduces pensions of low-income widows.
The hearing will focus on why the offset was created, how it works and
suggestions for modification. "We now need to determine whether it should be
changed to improve the fairness of the Social Security program," Shaw said.
On the Radio, SES and GAO Issues
John Euler and
Nancy Flynn will discuss issues affecting the Senior Executive Service at 10
a.m. tomorrow on "Fed Talk" on WUST radio (1120 AM). Euler is the chair and
Flynn the vice chair of the Senior Executives Association board of directors.
Gene Dodaro, chief operating officer at the General Accounting Office,
will appear on "The Business of Government Hour" at 8 p.m. Sunday on WWRC radio
(570 AM).
Stephen Barr's e-mail address is barrs@washpost.com.
LOAD-DATE: June 23, 2000
