Federal Newscast

In today's Federal Newscast, the Small Business Administration’s inspector general raises red flags over 78 billion dollars in Economic Injury Disaster Loans during the coronavirus pandemic.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, while the Homeland Security Department dedicated more resources to stopping goods made by forced labor from entering the country, it still needs to address its workforce needs for the mission. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, he Oversight.gov Authorization Act would formally require the upkeep of the website where users can access all public reports released by agency IGs.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, Vietnam Veterans of America and DHS’s Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency now say they’re trying to stop disinformation campaigns targeted military and veteran communities.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, the Office of Personnel Management is out with preliminary guidance on the president's recent executive order.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, the Postal Service is working with the FBI to provide fingerprinting services at more than 100 post offices across the country. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, a former top political aide to ex-EPA administrator Scott Pruitt claims EPA violated his free speech and due process rights by removing him after he raised concerns about Pruitt's excessive spending and mismanagement. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, the inspector general plans to begin a probe this month, looking into whether DoD’s CARES Act spending complied with the law. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, the Army is embedding nutritionists, physical fitness experts and coaches into active duty brigades in hopes of increasing performance and cutting down on injuries.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, two House Democrats are introducing their own legislation that would give retirees a higher cost-of-living adjustment next year.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, the Postal Service reports an uptick in mail volume a few weeks ahead of Election Day, but on-time delivery is also on the rise.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, the Partnership for Public Service is sounding alarm bells over the state of the federal workforce ahead of the upcoming presidential election.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, top Democrats on the House and Senate VA Committees say Secretary Robert Wilkie is using government time and taxpayer money to take politically motivated trips to states key to the upcoming presidential and Senate races.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have questions for the Commerce Department regarding it's lack of standing in owning and operating a national 5G networkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, 11 industry associations are calling on the Trump administration to rescind the executive order on diversity and training. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, a cabinet secretary gets a bill and a slap on the wrist for a recent Hatch Act violationSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, the Marines Corps' number two officer has tested positive for COVID-19. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, the Office of Personnel Management wants to change how and when federal employees might receive back pay for an unjustified or unwarranted personnel action.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, former Vice President Joe Biden outlines what he’d do as president for the Postal Service.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, Congress makes another push to allow federal employees and military members to opt-out of the president's payroll tax deferral.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has extended waivers for agencies requesting more time to excise that gear from their networks.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, a key Senate committee advanced Chad Wolf's nomination to be permanent homeland security secretary. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, today is the last day of fiscal 2020 and the Senate is expected to move the continuing resolution forward to the President's desk.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

- The GAO offers a stark assessment of the V-A's community care program - Political appointees will now have a major role in diversity training - And Army officials are trying to figure out why suicides are up 30%See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, agencies have a little more guidance now on how they're supposed to implement the president's recent federal hiring executive order. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, medical centers at the Department of Veterans Affairs see a slight improvement in staffing shortages over the last year. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week’s update from the Pentagon shows just over half of the military’s worldwide installations are now in the “green” category – meaning servicemembers can move to and from those bases without special permission. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, the Office of Management and Budget issued guidance that details how the administration will implement a presidential memo to withhold funds from states that the White House says are permitting anarchy, violence, and destruction.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, Comptroller General Gene Dodaro implores agencies and Congress to implement what he called 16 concrete recommendations immediately to significantly improve the nation’s response to the current pandemic.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, a group of Democratic senators want to remove the National Rifle Association Foundation from the list of approved charities on the Combined Federal Campaign.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A former defense contractor is sentenced to prison for taking kickbacks. The Census Bureau’s IT infrastructure has performed better than officials expected. And the Air Force improves its policy for nursing mothers to improve retention.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, on-time mail delivery still hasn’t fully recovered from operational changes made nearly two months ago by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, the Congressional Budget Justification Act requires agencies to post budget request documents to a single website each year.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, a final rule from the Environmental Protection Agency gives the public a platform to request changes or removal of agency guidance documents.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, a survey from the General Services Administration and Office of Personnel Management employees spend an average of 13% a week on work they consider to be low-value. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, senior executives and federal managers have some harsh criticism for the Office of Management and Budget's recent directive on race training.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The mandatory and controversial payroll tax deferral policy has some in Congress trying to end the "mandatory" part. The president's pick to run OPM, says he has led and will lead in a non-partisan fashion. And the Postal Service gets the go-ahead to raise commercial package rates. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The president's latest pick to lead the Office of Personnel Management comes under fire, one of DC's industry experts is leaving his high-profile post, and a congressional committee is launching an investigation into recent tragedies at Ft. Hood, Texas. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

POTUS directs all agencies to stop all training on critical race theory or white privilege, OMB is reminding agencies they're required to prepare for a presidential transition and OPM wants to move away from a learning management system to a learning ecosystem.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, there is now an informal deal in place to avoid a potential government shutdown at the end of the month. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, the Pentagon has picked five of its health care facilities to help coordinate stage three clinical trials for a potential coronavirus vaccine.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, two million appointments canceled during the initial wave of the coronavirus pandemic still need rescheduling at the Veterans Health Administration. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, the Government Accountability Office says not all agencies have been tracking time and attendance fraud consistently.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) tells his colleagues what may seem inevitable: a continuing resolution is the likely outcome ahead of the upcoming government funding deadline.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases with NIH created a network of new organizations to provide early warnings of emerging diseases wherever they occur. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Defense Information Systems Agency plans to release a draft solicitation for what it estimates will be an $11.7 billion dollar contract over the next ten years. It’s called Defense Enclave Services, and much like the controversial JEDI contract, DISA plans to use a single-vendor ID/IQ approach. The main purpose is to build a shared I-T network for the DoD agencies and field activities outside the military services – commonly called the Fourth Estate. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Special Counsel Henry Kerner, in a statement, says the Hatch Act expressly does not apply to the President or Vice President and that only the Justice Department can advise on criminal provisions from the Hatch Act. He adds the Rose Garden and West Lawn of the White House are Hatch Act free zones, so feds attending events there aren't necessarily violators.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More than 30,000 TSP participants have taken money out of their Thrift Savings Plans. Over 9,100 have taken a loan, while nearly 1,600 have taken a special CARES Act loan. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The early retirement and buyout offers the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation made to its employees back in March are off the table. F-D-I-C made the offer to 20 percent of its workforce in early March, but that offer was withdrawn less than two weeks later, as the pandemic hit its stride.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More members of Congress are calling on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to delay upcoming employee furloughs at the end of the month. Top Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee have written to USCIS Deputy Policy Director Joseph Edlow to prevent job disruption for over 13,000 employees.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.