Federal Newscast

The Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs will no longer hold vendors accountable for promoting diversity, taking affirmative action and engaging inworkforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion or national origin. President Donald Trump revoked these requirements earlier this week in one of several orders. Additionally, contractors must agree that they are complying with all applicable federal anti-discrimination laws and it will factor in the government’s payment decisions. The President's order also says contractors and grant recipients must certify that they do not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable federal anti-discrimination laws.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More details are emerging about President Trump’s federal hiring freeze executive order. A memo from the Trump administration confirms that military personnel, as well as hires for many national and public security positions, are exempt from the freeze. But there are some additional exemptions as well. Agencies can still make new hires for the Postal Service, and for federal employees who are up for an internal promotion. OPM says agencies should also review any recent appointments in the Pathways Program for early-career workers on a case-by-case basis. Agencies can make further requests for exemptions to the hiring freeze by submitting paperwork to the Office of Personnel Management.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s nomination for homeland security secretary is moving forward in the Senate. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 13 to 2 on Monday night to advance Noem’s nomination to the Senate floor. Noem will play a key role in overseeing the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and border security policies. She has also pledged to rein in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s work on mis- and dis-information. The director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, Benjamine Huffman is currently leading DHS as acting secretary.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

All agencies are under a 90-day hiring freeze with the exception of military personnel of the armed forces or of positions related to immigration enforcement, national security or publicsafety. The freeze will last until OMB, OPM and the new advisory board Department of Government Efficiency submit a plan to the White House to reduce the size of the government’s workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition. The freeze would lift for all agencies except for the IRS, which would remain unable to hire new employees until the Treasury Secretary, OMB and DOGE determine it's of national interest to lift the freeze. The new hiringfreeze is nearly identical to an executive action Trump took on his first day in office in 2017. The 2017 hiring freeze lasted for nearly three months. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Civilian federal employees just got a 2 percent average raise added to their pay checks. But Democrats are already looking ahead to next year’s federal pay raise. The FAIR Act would give federal employees a 4-point-3 percent pay increase beginning next January. Congressman Gerry Connolly and Senator Brian Schatz have reintroduced the bill each year for about the last decade. But beyond its introduction, the legislation has never seen action in Congress. Still, Democrats say the larger raise in the FAIR Act would help federal pay keep pace with rising costs of living. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal employees are facing a familiar bill in a long line of legislation aiming to cut telework options. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer reintroduced the SHOW UP Act this week. The bill would return federal employees to the work arrangements they had prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. In practice, it would largely scale back federal telework. The House passed the bill in the last Congress. But the Senate did not take any action on the companion legislation. During a hearing this week, Comer said there’s “no reason” feds shouldn’t goback to pre-pandemic telework levels.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A record number of Americans hold a U-S passport. The State Department says there are more than 170 million in circulation and that it issued or renewed 90 million passports during the Biden administration. Applicants saw long wait times to apply or renew their passports at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the department says it’s gotten processing times down to four-to-six weeks. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Office of Personnel Management is finalizing rules meant to bring the wages of blue collar feds more geographically in line with their General Schedule counterparts. Under the changes set to take effect in October, OPM says nearly 15-thousand workers will see higher wages. Around 500, meanwhile will get lower pay under the new wage area boundaries. Most of the affected employees work for the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As Inauguration Day approaches, federal employees in the D.C. area should plan to telework all this week, and into next week, if they’re able to. The Office of Personnel Management says preparations for Inauguration Day next Monday will create traffic disruptions and road closures in the nation’s capital. OPM is asking agencies to work in a maximum telework posture to try to ease at least some of that traffic. Federal employees who do have to go into the office should build in extra time for the expected delays. Employees will also get a federal holiday on Monday, January 20th, to observe both Inauguration Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal employees who telework at least once a week would lose locality pay under a new House bill. Under the Federal Employee Return to Work Act, teleworking employees would receive "Rest of U.S." locality pay even if they live and work in a region with a higher cost of living. Rep. Dan Newhouse introduced the bill. He and Sen. Bill Cassidy led the bill during the last session of Congress.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is putting a hold on hundreds of millions of dollars for the State Department and the U-S Agency for International Development. Chairman Brian Mast says the agencies are rushing to spend the money on projects before the start of the Trump administration. Mast says those projects include studying climate change in the Middle East and LGBTQ awareness programs in Zimbabwe.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Political appointees who are resigning on Inauguration Day later this month have some special rules to pay attention to. A new memo from the Office of Personnel Management details how pay, benefits and leave typically work for non-career federal employees resigning at the end of an administration. Impacted appointees will mostly be ending their workdays at noon on January 20th. Because of that, OPM is telling agencies they should only receive a half day of pay. OPM added that resigning appointees should also not accrue annual and sick leave for the pay period that starts next week. That’s because they will leave their positions beforecompleting the full pay period. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The American Federation of Government Employees filed an unfair labor practice against the Bureau of Prisons for its decision to close seven facilities. AFGE says this decision impacts more than 400 union members in seven states. AFGE says the bureau made the decision to close the facilities without warning or consultation with the union , which violated the terms of its labor-management agreement. In the unfair labor practice, AFGE is asking the Federal Labor Relations Authority to halt the implementation of this reorganization and require BOP to bargain with the union.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The federal government is only paying out a small fraction of the settlement funds it set aside for victims of the 2015 Office of Personnel Management data breach. A federal courtin October 2022 finalized a $63 million settlement for those impacted by thebreach. But a recent court filing shows about the federal government paid about$4.7 million to more than 5,000 individuals who could demonstrate harm from thedata breach. The OPM breach impacted about 22 million current and formerfederal employees.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The 119th Congress begins today and several key Senate committee federal workforce committees have new leaders. At the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, former chairman, Gary Peters, is the new ranking member. Over at the Armed Services Committee, Democrats tapped Jack Reed from Rhode Island to be the ranking member. Senator Richard Blumenthal takes the ranking member reins at the Veterans Affairs Committee while Senator Edward Markey is the new Democratic leader of the Small Business Committee. Senator John Thune from South Dakota is the new Majority Leader. The new chairmen of the committees are expected to be finalized in the coming days. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

President-elect Donald Trump and D-C Mayor Muriel Bowser agree the federal government has more office space than its employees currently need. Bowser says her recent meeting with Trump centered on the federal workforce and underutilized federal buildings. The leaders of a new Department of Government Efficiency say they plan to bring federal employees back to the office five days a week. Trump says he also plans to challenge a new agreement the Social Security Administration made with one of its unions locking in current levels of telework for years to come.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Two new bills from Senator James Lankford are aimed to recovering improper payments from two large programs. The first bill, the Fraudulent COVID Funds Recovery Act, would extend the statute of limitations for all pandemic-era programs for five extra years. The new statute of limitations would let law enforcement officials go after fraudsters through 2030. The second bill, the Eliminate Fraudulent Unemployment Insurance Benefits Act, would require states to withhold payments from any claimant it deems ineligible and fraudulent. It also creates new definitions to help states appropriately classify fraudulent activity. COVID era programs and the Unemployment Insurance benefits faced higher than normal levels of fraud, federal auditors found. Lankford is expected to be the chairman of the Government Operations and Border Management Subcommittee of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is working under a new enterprise strategy to fill workforce gaps. ICE’s 2024 annual report details how the agency used direct-hire authorities to make several hundred job offers in the past year. And ICE also made 185 tentative job offers at the Department of Homeland Security’s June hiring expo. ICE says that recruiting and hiring is a major piece of a multiyear “Enterprise Transformation Initiative” kicked off in 2024. The immigration agency is expected to ramp up recruitment under the incoming Trump administration. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Junior enlisted troops will receive a historic pay raise next year after President Joe Biden signed the annual defense bill into law on Monday. Other service members will get a 4.5% raise beginning January. Junior enlisted service members ranks E-1 through E-4 will see the extra ten percent added to their paycheck beginning April. The bill also increases the income eligibility threshold for the basic needs allowance to 200% of federal poverty guidelines. Congress must still authorize a full fiscal 2025 spending bill once it’s back in session.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Thrift Savings Plan board is reminding participants about changes to contribution limits coming for 2025. Generally, TSP participants will be able to contribute a maximum of $23,500 to their accounts next year. But participants ages 50 and up can make additional catch-up contributions of $7,500. Those ages 60 to 63 can make even higher catch-up contributions of $11,250 due to the Secure 2.0 Act. As of December, there are 7.2 million accounts in the TSP, a new record high. About 155,000 of those accounts are TSP millionaires. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A new survey of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation employees finds that a majority feel safe, valued and respected in their workplace. But more than a quarter of the respondents say harassment is common in the workplace. The new survey, from the FDIC inspector general, comes as part of the ongoing investigation into long-standing workplace culture concerns. The IG received responses from more than 26 hundred employees out of more than 62 hundred who received the survey. From the results, the IG made six recommendations, including the agency needing a way to receive complaints confidentially and anonymously from FDIC employees. The FDIC management says it will implement the recommendations by June 30th.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 Senate has cleared the path to a final vote on the Social Security Fairness Act.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 Department of Homeland Security's new AI chatbot, DHSChat, is now available to roughly 19,000 employees.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, President-elect Donald Trump promised yesterday to dismiss any feds who don’t come to work onsite full time. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal agencies are facing a partial shutdown on December 21st at midnight if Congress doesn't pass another continuing resolution or the funding bills for fiscal 2025. Agencies began preparing for a partial government shutdown on Friday as required under Circular A-11, which initiates the process when the expiration of current funding is a week away. House Speaker Mike Johnson, however, said last week that negotiations to extend the current CR are moving forward. The White House asked Congress in November to add more than $98 billion to the next CR in additional funding to help respond to disasters.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A bipartisan bill in the House envisions a new way for the Department of Veterans Affairs to recruit doctors. The Supporting Medical Students and VA Workforce Act would create a new scholarship program in which the VA pays students to study medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Students who accept the scholarships would agree to serve as VA physicians after completing their residencies. House VA Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano and Congressman Neal Dunn are leading the bill. They say it would help the VA address a shortage of physicians in rural and underserved areas.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Department of Veterans Affairs is dealing with a multi-billion-dollar budget shortfall and awarded bonuses to career executives not eligible to receive them last year. Now the top Republicans on the House and Senate VA committees are calling on the department to hold its executives accountable for these issues during their annual reviews. House committee Chairman Mike Bost and Senate committee chairman Jerry Moran say department leaders should consider the role VA executives had in these management issues before making any performance-based compensation decisions. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The top Republican on the House Veterans Affairs Committee will keep his post in the next session of Congress. Congressman Mike Bost will continue to serve as the committee’s chairman for the next two years. Bost says he’ll focus on expanding veterans’ options to seek health care outside the VA’s medical system … and holding the VA workforce accountable to the veterans they serve. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The next leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee is backing President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to clear out top officials at the FBI. Senator Chuck Grassley is calling on FBI Director Chris Wray and his second in command … to step down from their posts. Grassley says the FBI hasn’t done enough to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct within its workforce or to protect whistleblowers from retaliation. Wray’s term doesn’t end until 2027. But President-elect Donald Trump says he plans to nominate Kash Patel to lead the FBI.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn plans to introduce a new package of bills this week, called the DOGE Acts. One bill would require agencies to report to Congress on the impacts of expanded telework and remote work for federal employees. Another bill in the package would freeze federal hiring and salaries for one year. The legislation aligns with the goals of the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency,” an external team led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy that promises to drastically cut government spending. Blackburn says her bills are aimed at holding the federal government more accountable. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Some employees at the Social Security Administration have locked in their current telework levels through 2029. The agency reached an agreement last week with one of its unions, the American Federation of Government Employees. The updated contract, which was first reported by Bloomberg, secures current hybrid work schedules for thousands of telework-eligible feds. The SSA agreement comes as leaders of the Department of Government Efficiency are alluding to plans of returning federal employees to the office full-time in the coming Trump administration.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth is asking President-elect Donald Trump to support her legislation to expand insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization for military personnel. In a letter to Trump, Duckworth is urging the President-elect to mandate the federal government and insurance companies to pay for all IVF-associated costs. Both House and Senate versions of the defense policy bill have provisions that would provide service members with the same level of IVF services coverage that federal employees and members of Congress are able to receive. Meanwhile, two House Republicans are urging Congress not to include any provisions in the 2025 defense policy bill that can expand access to in vitro fertilization. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A watchdog report finds Veterans Affairs incorrectly processed disability claims from veterans and underpaid benefits that some veterans were eligible for.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The IRS is raising the alarm on identify theft scams this holiday season. The agency says it's seeing an uptick in phishing email and texts and other scams to get taxpayers to hand over their personal information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

President-elect Trump tapped businessman John Phelan to serve as the next secretary of the Navy, saying Phelan will 'put the business of the U.S. Navy above all else."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Treasury Department says an IRS hiring freeze is possible if Congress doesn't address a $20 billion budget anomaly. The IRS already saw a $20 billion cut to its modernization fund.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Pentagon is out with its first draft of what could become the biggest government AI contract in history. Potential bidders have a little under a month to offer feedback on the draft RFP for what DoD is calling the Advancing AI Multiple Award Contract.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

SSA confirmed that President Joe Biden is expected to name Colvin, a 30-year SSA veteran and former acting commissioner for six years, to lead SSA during the transition.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

President Joe Biden is recognizing 236 federal employees across 30 agencies for their exceptional leadership and accomplishments. The Office of Personnel Management announced the winners of the 2024 Presidential Rank Awards on Thursday.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Two government contractors agree to pay a total of $4.3 million to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act and forced the Army to overpay for IT hardware. The Justice Department says Dell Technologies and Iron Bow will each pay more than $2 million to resolve a Qui Tam lawsuit. DoJ says Dell and Iron Bow allegedly conspired to collude on solicitations under the Army's AMDC-3 contract. Justice says from 2020 to 2024 Dell operated a deal registration program, whereby it gave advantageous pricing to Iron Bow to sell certain Dell computer hardware products and then also submitted their own direct bids on the same solicitations that were more costly.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At least one member of Congress wants to do away with the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program. Alabama Republican Gary Palmer has submitted a joint resolution of disapproval to overturn the CMMC rule.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The White House-led initiative to overhaul the security clearance and personnel vetting process has entered a new phase. The Performance Accountability Council in its latest report on “Trusted Workforce 2.0 says agencies have updated all major policies related to personnel vetting. The PAC is now entering phase three of Trusted Workforce implementation. That includes expanding continuous vetting shifting to more shared services and speeding up the clearance process to get people to work faster. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

OMB Director Shalanda Young says in the coming days the White House will send Congress a comprehensive disaster package to replenish funding for agencies ranging from FEMA to SBA to EPA to the Transportation Department. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Congress already passed legislation in Veterans Affairs to fire employees accused of misconduct in 2017, but federal courts and the MSPB block the law from covering VA's workforce.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Food and Drug Administration is having trouble retaining employees who inspect drug manufacturers. The vacancy rate for these FDA investigators nearly doubled between November 2021 and June 2024. The agency tells the Government Accountability Office that travel … pay … and work-life balance are contributing factors to turnover. Investigators can spend up to 75% of their work hours on travel. The FDA paused many inspections of drug manufacturing facilities height of the COVID-19 pandemic. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The new organization isn't an official department. It is charged with working from the outside of the government to offer the White House “advice and guidance."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The agency's Payroll and Compensation Branch tells FEMA's inspector general that it will complete all premium pay reconciliations for 2021 by January 31. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey officially assumes duties as the new commander of U.S. Southern Command, making history as the first Black commander of SOUTHCOM since its inception more than six decades ago.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The General Services Administration says it’s standing at the ready to give Trump’s transition team post-election resources. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The General Services Administration is gearing up for post-election presidential transition efforts. And this time around, the process will look a little different.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.