The Foreign Service Journal, December 2009

A FSA had a busy and successful au- tumn on the legislative front. Federal workers, including For- eign Service personnel, will now get a break for not catching a cold; and For- eign Servicemembers who are first-time homebuyers may get a tax credit. Unused Sick Leave The conference report for the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authoriza- tion Act contained some key provisions which AFSA has long advocated. Specifically, it phases in the allowance of unused sick leave to count towards length of service when figuring retire- ment annuity under the Federal Em- ployees Retirement System, and it allows former federal employees under FERS to repay withdrawn contributions upon re- employment with the government. AFSA worked closely with other fed- eral employee unions urging members of the conference committee to keep these important provisions in the final report, including sending letters to key members of Congress. The NDAACon- ference Report passed the House onOct. 8. AFSA would like to thank all confer- ees, but House Armed Forces Commit- tee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., and Senate Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., played particularly crucial roles in mov- ing this bill forward. First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit On Oct. 8, the House passed a bill that will allow members of the Foreign Service and other intelligence commu- nity members to take advantage of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit. The Foreign Service community had formerly been excluded from this op- portunity because of the rule attached to the tax credit that required buyers to make the home their primary place of residence for 36months, a difficult obli- gation to meet when assigned overseas. The original bill, H.R. 3590, the Serv- ice Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009, counts time served abroad to- ward primary residency. Additionally, it extends the tax credit for another year. Unfortunately, however, it is not retroac- tive; the language in H.R. 3590 only ap- plies to residences purchased after Nov. 30, 2009. On Nov. 4, the Senate passed H.R. 3548, the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009, which included the exact same language asH.R. 3590. This bill has beenpresented to President Obama, and AFSA will ad- vocate for his quick signature. AFSAwould like to express its thanks to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., Rep- resentative Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., for their hard work in getting this bill to the floor. ❏ C onflicting interests are a part of life. In general, it is un- reasonable to insist that one side is totally right and the other is totally wrong. Each side gets passionate about defending its position, so compromises, while necessary, never really satisfy everyone. This is the case withmid-career hiring at USAID, where the solution has become the problem. Due to severe personnel cuts in the mid-1990s, the agency is now short-staffed in many of its mid-level posi- tions. Ironically, the reductions were a result of our win- ning the Cold War, which inspired efforts to lower the federal work force. Experience and talent went out the door through a reduction in force and restrictions in hir- ing. However, foreign assistance actually tripled during the intervening time, creating a situation where more person- nel — with more technical abilities — were needed to im- plement foreign aid programs. To solve the problem, USAID decided to hire new employ- ees at the FS-2 and FS-3 levels, hoping to fill in the gaps. This practice has always been a sensitive issue because the Foreign Service is a career-oriented profession, similar to the military, which begins at the junior-officer level and proceeds steadily up the ranks to the senior levels. Mid-level hiring is analogous to hiring majors and lieutenant colonels from the private sector to run military operations. In spite of this, AFSA reluctantly agreed to the induction of a limited number of mid-level hires because of the urgent need for staff overseas. AFSA’s position, however, is that these new mid-level hires are not to be treated as “trainees” and are not to supervise or formally evaluate other employees, at least initially. Also, unlike Development Leadership Initiative entry-level officers, who are sent to newly created training positions, new mid-level hires should bid and thereby com- pete with regular FSOs for overseas positions. Not surprisingly, AFSA’s position has upset the contingent of mid-level hires, who believe they are being treated unfairly because, unlike the trainees, they are not assigned to a coun- try after their five-week orientation. We regret this, but hope that they realize that AFSA has muchmore to offer themas an organization that will defend their greater interests through- out their careers. By insisting that the agency respect its insti- tutional agreements with AFSA — specifically, the Open Assignment System—we all win in the end. ❏ 56 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9 A F S A N E W S V.P. VOICE: USAID ■ BY FRANCISCO ZAMORA When the Solution Is the Problem LEGISLATIVE UPDATE AFSA Moving Forward on Key Issues BY CASEY FRARY, LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR