WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2010


KLMNO THE FED PAGE These jobs won’t be open forever. We think.


Jobs requiring Senate


Cabinet-level agency


Agriculture EPA


AL KAMEN In the Loop


ooking for a top job in a Cabinet-level agency? The pickings now are pretty slim, with only 43 such jobs available in the larger agencies. As a result of the Senate’s shocking realization of its constitutional obligations two weeks ago — who knew it was supposed to confirm presidential appointees? — the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency have no openings at all. The departments of Energy and Homeland Security have but one opening each.


L Of the 369 jobs at these


agencies tracked by The Washington Post’s Head Count, the White House has filled 88 percent (if those announced or formally nominated are included).


Still, some pretty good jobs are


available. For example, there’s the assistant secretary for import administration at the Commerce Department. That’s the person who watches out for such things as illegal dumping of goods into this country. The job has been vacant since the beginning of the administration, and as recently as last month, Undersecretary Francisco Sanchez was saying that Commerce were still looking for someone. This led to some grousing amongst the rank and file that if Sanchez were to spend more time looking and less time traveling, they’d find a candidate. It’s certainly true that Sanchez,


a late-March recess appointee himself, has been on the road a goodly amount of late: a week or so in early May with health companies on a trade mission to Saudi Arabia and Qatar; another week in China at the end of May;


Transportation Energy


Homeland Security Defense Interior Labor


Treasury State


Health and Human Services Education Commerce


Housing and Urban Development Veterans Affairs Justice


SOURCE: washingtonpost.com/headcount confirmation


17 14 20 23 21 52 18 18 23 44 20 17 26 15 14 27


Percentage filled %


100 100 100 96 95 90 89 89 87 86 85 82 81 80 79 78


THE WASHINGTON POST


speaker-in-waiting escaped through the jet-bridge stairway and into a black SUV waiting on the tarmac. The Bunnings, on the other hand, were left having to exit like every other passenger — up the jet bridge, through the often-near-empty terminal and onto the moving sidewalks.


then a week in Lima, Peru, and Bogota, Colombia, in late June. Next Wednesday he’s off for a week to Eastern Europe (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia) and Austria for a civil nuclear trade mission with U.S. executives. But that may not be the reason for the opening. It seems the job is not an easy one to fill, especially because many of those qualified for it have been lobbyists. Apply quickly, though — we hear Commerce is getting close to picking somebody. On the other hand, we’ve heard that before.


GOP in Cincinnati Spotted Friday morning on a


Delta flight from National to Cincinnati: House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.). Boehner, on his way home for some R&R after starting an antstorm with his comments on financial reform, was the first to board, settling into an exit-row window seat in coach. Another passenger complimented Boehner for his comments earlier in the week. Meanwhile, in the first-class cabin, Bunning and his wife, Mary, found more comfortable seats partitioned away from the hoi polloi.


But upon arrival in Cincinnati, it was Boehner who avoided “the people,” a Loop Fan reports. The


Sadly, no MMS M&Ms Hurry! Only a few hours left to pick up some fine memorabilia from the late Minerals Management Service (MMS) being auctioned by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Some of our favorites — the oil-drop paperweight ($125), the 1997 Al Gore Hammer Award for innovative achievements ($100) and Petey the Petroleum Loving Whale ($50) — were quickly bid up to the asking prices. Other fine items — the MMS “Never Take a Brake From Safety” lunch box ($100), the MMS Pedometer ($75), the exquisitely embossed MMS pen-and-pencil set and the MMS computer bag ($75) — are still available. The only two items without bids were both featured in MMS Safety Week 2009 — the MMS antimicrobial hand sanitizer ($50) and the MMS snack calorie counter ($50). Germs and trans fats were a major MMS concern just months before the Great Spill! The auction ends at noon


Wednesday. kamena@washpost.com


Graphics guru Karen Yourish and research editor Alice Crites contributed to this column.


CIA puts history lessons on film The agency delves into documentaries such as “Extraordinary Fidelity,” a tale of two officers shot down over China in 1952 and imprisoned for two decades. The Federal Worker, B3


Price of a stamp could increase by 2 cents


But the Postal Service will face by Ed O’Keefe The price of a first-class post-


age stamp could jump to 46 cents early next year if a Postal Service proposal goes through, but hundreds of the nation’s largest mailers are banding to- gether to try to block the in- crease. The Postal Service announced its proposed rate changes Tues- day, but some mailers — organiz- ing, they say, in an unprecedent- ed effort — argue that the agency should make deeper cost cuts be- fore raising prices on first-class stamps, magazines and packag- es.


Along with a two-cent stamp increase, the cost for each addi- tional ounce of first-class mail would climb to 18 cents from the current 17 cents. The price to mail a postcard would rise to 30 cents, and magazine publishers would see an 8 percent rate jump, according to the proposal. Officials anticipate that the


changes would generate $2.3 bil- lion in revenue during the first nine months of next year, help- ing close a $7 billion budget gap to $4.7 billion. The Postal Service declined to provide the expected impact on mail volume. First-class stamps have cost 44 cents since May 2009. All “forev- er” stamps would remain valid, officials said. (Officials on Tues- day also unveiled a new “forever” stamp design of evergreen trees, which will be available in the fall.) The government-backed Post- al Regulatory Commission has 30 days to consider the rate plan. The average price increase pro- posed Tuesday is 5.4 percent, well above the rate of inflation currently set by regulators at .6 percent, according to the Postal Service. By law the agency must demonstrate “exceptional or ex- traordinary circumstances” to regulators to justify a price in- crease beyond inflation.


stiff resistance from a new coali- tion called the Affordable Mail Alliance, formed in the past week to represent hundreds of nonprofits and corporations, in- cluding magazine publishers and catalog mailers, such as kitchen retailer Williams-Sono- ma. The group said it wants the agency to rein in labor and op- erations costs before raising rates. Tony Conway, executive direc- tor of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers and a spokesman for the Affordable Mail Alliance, said the Postal Service’s delivery net- work “is a system that’s built to handle about 300 billion pieces of mail, and they’ve got about 170 billion, and it’s set to decrease. It’s basically twice as big as it needs to be. It’s that excess ca- pacity and costs that are creating the need in their minds to do this.” In addition to Williams-Sono- ma, the alliance includes Conde Nast Publishing, Reader’s Di- gest, the American Girl doll com- pany, the Envelope Manufac- turers Association and the Catalog Mailers Association. The Postal Service has cut more than 200,000 jobs through attrition and will trim $3.5 bil- lion in costs by Sept. 30, said Maura Robinson, the agency’s vice president for pricing. “We’re going to continue those cost and operational improve- ment programs,” she said. The proposed price increases come as the Postal Service antici- pates losing at least $6.5 billion in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30 and $7 billion next year. Rais- ing rates is part of a series of re- forms introduced to close an an- ticipated 12-figure budget gap in the next decade. The Postal Service wants Con- gress to end billions of dollars of required prepayments for retiree health benefits and to allow the end of Saturday mail deliveries. ed.okeefe@washingtonpost.com


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