Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said he will put a hold on President Obama's nominee for director of the Office of Personnel Management until the administration provides more details about the status of members of Congress and their staffs under the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Coburn, the ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, announced the hold during a July 31 committee business meeting held in part to consider the nomination of Katherine Archuleta, Obama's pick to be the next OPM director. Committee members voted 6-4 to advance Archuleta's nomination, but no further action will be taken on the nomination until Coburn removes his hold.

Draft OPM regulations to set up health care exchanges under the ACA - and presumably describing the status of current members of Congress and their staffs, who may be able to stay in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program under "grandfather" provisions in the health care law - have "gone to OMB and back," Coburn said. He was referring to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which is responsible for approving agency regulations.

There is no reason why the administration can't provide Congress with the information many federal lawmakers have been seeking regarding the status of their offices under the ACA, he said.

Although the ACA includes provisions requiring members of Congress and their personal staffs to move to the exchanges, it is unclear at this point whether current members and their staffs will be required to leave the FEHBP and also whether committee and leadership staffers are subject to the ACA requirements.

A Coburn aide told BNA in a July 31 email that the senator "is holding the nomination because OPM has not met their own deadlines to release regulations regarding the implementation of Obamacare for those employed by the legislative branch."

Under the ACA, enrollment in state-based health insurance exchanges is scheduled to begin no later than Oct. 1 and the exchanges are supposed to be certified and operational by Jan. 1, 2014.

In other public sector news:

• The Defense Department, which reportedly is considering reducing the number of unpaid furlough days for DOD civilian employees in fiscal year 2013, should eliminate the remaining furloughs altogether, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees said in a letter to Defense Secretary Hagel.

• New limits on furloughs of civilian defense employees, including an amendment that would prohibit fiscal year 2014 Defense Department funds from being used to implement sequester-related furloughs of department employees, were added to an FY 2014 DOD spending bill (H.R. 2397) before the measure passed the House.

• Thousands of former employees of the city of Chicago have banded together in a class action challenge to Mayor Emanuel's plan to shift them from a city-sponsored retiree health system to health coverage available under the Affordable Care Act.

• A federal judge in Connecticut granted preliminary approval of a $3 million settlement of class claims by female corrections officer candidates who failed a physical fitness test that allegedly was biased against women.