News
Fed Workers Could Be Banned From Meetings
March 18, 2013
Associations are fighting a CR amendment that would ban federal agencies from sending over 25 employees to any meeting or conference in the US unless the relevant agency head provided justification five days prior. ASAE, which is leading the charge, says the Sen. Tom Coburn-sponsored amendment is in response to wasteful conference spending by GSA and VA. Associations say federal agencies won't be able to have face-to-face meetings with the industries they regulate. But Coburn says federal agencies spent $267M on 767 conferences in FY12. The figure covers "big ticket" conferences costing over $100,000. And that much spending, he says, is "unacceptable given our current fiscal crisis."
