TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2010
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EZ SU THE FED PAGE
Campaign cash: Who’s spending the most on the midterms RANK
Spending by interest groups and political parties continues to grow ahead of the 2010 midterm elections. Groups reported spending $23.7 million supporting and attacking House and Senate candidates last week, up from $16.3 million the week before. Republicans benefited from about 68 percent of the spending, with the rest going to Democrats.
Te majority of Democratic spending came from the party itself. With the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spending a combined $5.3 million — 70 percent of the $7.6 million going to benefit Democrats.
Te Citizens for Strength and Security, a labor-backed group, is the only liberal interest group in this week’s top 10 list. Te group’s $640,000 investment went to aid Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
Te Democratic Party went up with ads in Connecticut and West Virginia last week, meaning it is now investing in seven races. By contrast, the Republicans spent only in Colorado and West Virginia last week.
Te National Republican Congressional Committee jumped to the top of the list of spending for the year, passing the DSCC’s $12.1 million with $12.3 million. A full list of spending by all groups active in 2010 is available online at
washingtonpost.com.
— T.W. Farnam
U.S. targets reform of Iraq’s civil service
Decentralizing system would improve local service, proposal says
BYWALTER PINCUS The United States has devel-
oped an ambitious plan to help Iraq reorganize its civil service of 3 million employees, including promoting a decentralized sys- tem that establishes provincial authorities to run governmental activities at the local level. The U.S. Agency for Interna-
tionalDevelopment (USAID) out- lines the proposal in its request for bidders on a four-year, $180 million contract to work with Iraq’s prime minister and parlia- ment in setting up civil servant laws and regulations, and also creating local institutions to de- liver services to the population. Meant to assist civil servants in
morethan 26 Iraqi ministries and 10 ministries of state, the “Iraq National and Provincial Adminis- trative Reform Project” is de- scribed byUSAIDas the “rightsiz- ing of Iraq’s federal structure.” The agency adds that it “is a monumental undertaking.” “In the past, lack of GOI [gov- ernment of Iraq] political com- mitment to carry through on re- forms has jeopardized efforts to achieve targeted reforms,”USAID notes. Potential contractors are ad-
vised that they need to be aware of changes in Baghdad’s leader- ship and must build “a broad and active Iraqi constituency” that would help hold the government accountable for reforms. The current system has several
obstacles, USAID has said. They include “obsolete and confusing” law and a large “number of em- ployees requiring skill develop- ment.” Up to now, according to
USAID, “hiring and promotions are not merit-based, but . . . based on political connections,” leaving the system vulnerable to corrup- tion. The agency said a cross section of Iraqis interviewed on the sub-
ject complained that “Iraq is led by self-interested leaders, rather than by leaders who care about the future of Iraq.” Current senior civil servants
are also resistant to change, USAID said. “They do need help, whether at
the federal or local level,” said Judith S. Yaphe, a Middle East expert specializing in Iraq and a professor at theNational Defense University. She is also a former senior CIA analyst. Yapheadded,however, that she
hopes the United States is not overreaching in pushing decen- tralization, since federal-vs.-cen- tral control is one of the issues delaying appointment of a new government — more than six months after Iraq’s parliamenta- ry elections. “Better us doing it rather than the Iranians,” she said. The new civil service proposal
follows a four-year USAID-con- tracted program that put U.S. advisers in 10 Iraqi ministries, as well as in the offices of the prime minister, deputy prime ministers, Council of Ministers Secretariat [the parliament] and the Presi- dency Council. The program pro- vided assistance in fiscal and project management, as well as human resources, leadership and communications. A five-year National Develop-
ment Plan was also part of the program. The Iraqi government wrote the plan, but “national leadership has not translated that strategy into a coherent set of national programs,” according to USAID. It cited a lack of commu- nication within the ministries and also within provincial direc- torates. Although national procure-
ment structures are being decen- tralized, “the planning process has not yet extended down to the community level,” USAID contin- ued. Nor is there any clear mecha-
nism to bring Iraqi citizen needs to the attention of provincial and thus central government minis- tries. A new contract is meant to
address such a gap.
pincusw@washpost.com
T
Previous rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10
2 1
3 5 7
6 TO (D) GROUP
National Republican Congressional Committee American Crossroads
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee National Association of Realtors U.S. Chamber of Commerce American Future Fund
Citizens for Strength and Security
National Federation of Independent Businesses Americans for Job Security
SOURCES: Federal Election Commission, staff reports
AMOUNT SPENT From Sept. 20 to Sept. 26 $5,382,422 3,532,713 2,715,814 2,584,880 1,800,238 1,250,821 898,361 640,410 573,751 573,702
TO (R)
100% 100
100 100
48 52
100 100
100
Full breakdown, go to
wapo.st/midtermcash.
100 100
THE WASHINGTON POST
A13
Howls over JFCOM just a preview of what is coming
WALTER PINCUS Fine Print
he bipartisan uproar in Congress caused by Defense Secretary Robert
M. Gates’s attempt to reduce excess Pentagon spending by eliminating the no-longer- needed Joint Forces Command in Virginia is just a preview of the battle that will occur next year when the country awakens to the drasticmeasures needed to bring overall federal taxes and outlays in line. That argument wasmade last
week at a House Budget Committee hearing called primarily to give the Virginia congressional delegation another chance to complain about Gates’s plan to end the command set up nine years ago to promote jointness among the services. At that time, it had a staff of 2,000military and civilian personnel and cost $200 million. Today, with jointness an established service reality, JFCOMhas a $1 billion price tag because it has ballooned to 3,000military and civilian personnel and 3,000 contractors. “The defense budget is in
many respects amicrocosmof the rest of the federal budget, and the issues in the defense budget—such as the rising cost of pay, pensions, health care, contracting, infrastructure and education—are issues in other parts of the federal budget as well,” Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, told the House panel. CSBA describes itself as an
“independent, nonpartisan policy research institute established to promote innovative thinking and debate about national security strategy and investment options.” CSBA’s board includes former
congressman DavidMcCurdy (D-Okla.), former senator Dan Coats (R-Ind.), former Army vice chief of staff Jack Keane and former CIA director R. James Woolsey Jr. Harrison said the Defense
Department initially publicized “targeted cuts to programs and activities it has deemed to be a lower priority.” Calling it “a sound approach”
and “a step in the right direction,” he added that he recognized that “in some cases, it willmean lost jobs. In other cases, it will require taking on vested interests, both within the Pentagon and outside the building.” But he cautioned about the
first announced cuts, “They do not address some of the fundamental issues that plague the defense budget, such as the rising cost ofmilitary health care.” The details Harrison then
presented are stunning. The Defense Department
spends about $246 billion on the uniformedmilitary and DOD civilian personnel, a payroll of 2.3million direct, full-time employees. That is 51 percent of the federal workforce, he said. Military health-care costs are
SABAH ARAR/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Ayoung Iraqi girl considers her options in Baghdad’s book market as she buys supplies in anticipation of the start of the school year.
The Federal Worker Health insurance
The cost of health-care coverage continues to rise, but the increase for 2011 is smaller than it has been in recent years and beats the private sector. Federal Diary, B3
Whistleblower case When an official in an immigration services agency’s Miami district decided the agency wasn’t doing enough to fix a problem, she blew the whistle—a little too hard. B3
rising “due in part tomore and moremilitary retirees and their dependents electing to use their military health-care benefits,” Harrison said. That is not surprising, because the fee charged retirees under the Tricaremilitary health plan is $460 a year for a family. That fee was set in 1995 and has not increased, Harrison said. Compare that to the $3,500-a-
year average annual premium that workers in the private
sector pay for coverage, and you will not be surprised thatmore andmore of the 70 percent of military retirees with access to private health plans are staying with themilitary system. And with 9.5million
Americans eligible formilitary health-care benefits, the cost to the Defense Department will only grow. That is because Congress in 2001 approved Tricare for life,meaning that military retirees who are older than 65 and are onMedicare can also use Tricare as their supplemental insurance
program. “Accrual payments to this
trust fund now total $11 billion annually out of the DOD budget,” Harrison said. At a Senate Armed Services
Committee hearing last week about Gates’s planned reductions, Deputy Defense SecretaryWilliamLynn acknowledged that Pentagon health-care costs are growing “in dramatic fashion.” He assuredmembers that “as part of the fiscal 2012 budget, I think we will be proposing to Congress some ideas about how
ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is planning to eliminate the Joint Forces Command in Virginia.
to restrain health-care costs.” If you think the howls of the
Virginia delegation about eliminating JFCOMhave been loud, wait until the veterans organizations see the first steps toward limitingmilitary retirees’ health-care benefits. And all this is just a
Pentagon-based preview of what is to come when the inevitable steps are proposed to raise taxes for, and reduce payouts from, Social Security andMedicare and other broad federal programs.
pincusw@washpost.com
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