Federal Newscast
2,340 episodes — Page 9 of 47
House lawmakers slam Sec. McDonough over VA request for emergency funding
Congress gave nearly $3 billion to the Department of Veterans Affairs at the end of fiscal 2024.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
IRS raises contribution limits for Thrift Savings Plan
Federal employees can contribute more money to their Thrift Savings Plan accounts in 2025. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
CISA issues warning to feds about large-scale spear phishing campaign by a foreign actor
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is warning federal executives about a large-scaling spear phishing campaign by a foreign actor. In a new alert issued late yesterday, CISA says the adversaries are often posing as a trusted entity by sending spear-phishing emails containing malicious remote desktop protocol files. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Lawmakers want a closer look at how agencies address improper payments
Top lawmakers on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee are calling on a government watchdog to take a closer look at how agencies are addressing improper payments. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
New bill would penalize career federal employees for policy resistance
A new bill in the House would penalize career federal employees who don’t follow directives from a presidential administration. The so-called STRAFE Act would require agencies to report any policy resistance from federal employees to the White House. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
DHS Cyber Safety Review Board to examine Salt Typhoon attacks
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Safety Review Board will look into an alleged China-linked hack of U.S. telecom networks. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Texas, Virginia and California top states for defense contract spending
The Defense Department’s contract obligations, payroll spending and grant awards across the country totaled 609.2 billion dollars in fiscal 2023, which is equivalent to 2.2% of the United States GDP. Approximately 59% that went to ten states, including Texas, Virginia, California, Connecticut and Florida. Top three states by defense grant spending are California, Maryland and Michigan. Top three states by defense contract spending are Texas, Virginia and California. Over $431 billion went to contracts for products and services and more than $167 billion was used for DoD personnel salaries. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
OPM is forced to evacuate its headquarters due to water troubles
In today's Federal Newscast, the Office of Personnel Management is forced to evacuate its headquarters due to water troubles.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Four companies face SEC fines for not disclosing they were effected by the SolarWinds hack
In today's Federal Newscast, the Securities and Exchange Commission fines four companies for misleading disclosures about a major cybersecurity hack.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
An unlikely agency joins the fight against opioid overdoses
In today's Federal Newscast, the Postal Service is joining the Biden administration’s efforts to combat opioid overdoses. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Education Dept. to offer early retirements to employees
In today's Federal Newscast, the Education Department has alerted its union that the agency plans to offer early retirements to employees.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Housing at the top of the Army's agenda this coming year
In today's Federal Newscast, the Army is putting a lot of focus on fixing its housing this year. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
AFGE calls for Labor Department to continue negotiations over return to office
Union officials are urging Labor Department leaders to continue negotiating over return-to-office changes. About 7,500 Labor Department employees will have to report to work in person at least half of their work hours beginning in December. That’s according to an announcement agency leadership made last week. But the National Council of Field Labor Locals, which represents the affected workers, says the announcement was made without completing bargaining obligations. The union is now calling on Congress members to get involved in the dispute and looking at options with the Federal Labor Relations Authority.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
National Guard and Army Corps of Engineers mobilized in hurricane aftermath
At the same time, recovery efforts continue for Hurricane Helene, with 3,000 National Guard members from 13 states and 1,500 active-duty soldiers engaged in various missions across the region. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Fewer seasonal hires at USPS this holiday season
USPS expects to make 7,500 temporary hires for its busy year-end peak season, 2,500 fewer than last year.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
FEMA sets new one day record for disaster assistance applications
FEMA took in more than 250,000 disaster assistance applications on Sunday alone, the most new registrations the agency has ever received in one day. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Emergency leave for federal workers impacted by Hurricane Milton
Feds impacted by the hurricane can then use the extra paid time off during the emergency, without having to dip into their own leave hours. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
DHS issues Hatch Act reminder to federal workers
In a new memo to DHS staff, the department's top lawyer runs down what is and isn't allowed under the Hatch Act. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Lawmaker questions FEMA on advanced forecasting models
In the wake of Hurricane Helene’s devastation a top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee is asking questions about the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s advanced forecasting models. New York Congressman Anthony D’Esposito, Chairman of the Emergency Management subcommittee says many communities caught in the path of Hurricane Helene weren’t aware of the potential for destructive flooding. D’Esposito is asking FEMA to provide data on its advanced forecasting models and prepositioning of resources. He’s also asking FEMA whether the agency has adjusted its rainfall modeling after Hurricane Helene. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Democratic lawmakers call for firing of DHS IG
Those calls come after the Council on Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency substantiated multiple allegations of wrongdoing by DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Lawmakers want more time off for service members
The 2025 National Defense Authorization Act has a provision that would bump it up to 20 days of leave. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
IRS looks to improve privacy protections in Free File program
The IRS told its inspector general that its reviewing privacy disclosures from Free File partners to mitigate risks of exposing personal information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Emergency leave for federal employees impacted by Hurricane Helene
OPM says employees who are adversely affected and seek to become emergency leave recipients must apply in writing to their agencies.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
CISA faces challenges sharing cyber threat information
The IG says CISA made some good improvements to the Automated Indicator Sharing program in recent years.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Federal employees get new source for 'official time' rules
The Federal Labor Relations Authority's new training video for federal employees, unions and managers highlights types of work that are included as part of official time. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Federal Trade Commission employees unionize
FTC began the process to unionize back in 2023, raising concerns about their access to telework, potential politicization of the civil service and other issues.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
FEMA prepares for Hurricane Helene aftermath
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is using a big part of the base's airfield as a holding area for truckloads of meals, cots and generators ready to move to other areas of the southeastern U.S. once the storm passes.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Senate hold on senior military promotion comes to an end
Senators voted Tuesday to confirm Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Clark for a fourth star and as commander of U.S. Army Pacific. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Federal trial will decide whether military academies can use race in admissions
The Supreme Court banned race-conscious admissions practices for most schools but left a possible national security exception for military academies.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Former IRS contractor employees retained access to facilities, systems and equipment
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration flagged 1,800 contracted employees listed as active but were no longer assigned to an ongoing contract.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
OPM asks agencies to review 2024 special salary rates
The Office of Personnel Management’s annual data call asks agencies to take a look at any jobs that might need a higher salary than General Schedule rates to help with recruitment and retention.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
New resources for Postal Service Health Benefit Program enrollees
Ahead of the new Postal health program's launch in 2025, the Office of Personnel Management has created a landing page with more information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Senators push for fix to potential Foreign Service pay cut
Congress has until the end of the month to reauthorize Overseas Comparability Pay.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
House Democrats introduce ‘Right to IVF’ Act
A new bill, called the Right to IVF Act, rolls together four previous bills all aiming to broaden fertility coverage nationwide.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Air Force to meet recruitment goals
The Department of the Air Force is on track to meet its recruitment goals for fiscal 2024 across all components.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Federal government saw less attrition in fiscal 2023
The government saw less staff attrition in fiscal 2023 but some demographic groups are still showing higher rates of quitting than others.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Continuing Resolution could mean more cuts to the IRS
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the cuts to IRS funding would reduce its total revenue collection by nearly $66 billion dollars over the next decade.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Pentagon urges Senate to confirm nominee being blocked by Sen. Tuberville
Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville is holding up the promotion of Lieutenant General Ronald Clark to lead Army forces in the Pacific. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
NARA offers agencies an exception to no longer accepting paper records
Agencies are getting an important exception to the National Archives policy of no longer accepting paper records. NARA says agencies can continue sending official personnel folders to the National Personnel Records Center through June of 20-25. And agencies will be able to deliver employee medical folders to the records center until June of 20-27. NARA stopped accepting most paper records at its facilities this past June. But Archives officials have acknowledged that agencies need more time to digitize their personnel and medical records. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Lawmakers file bill to repeal WEP and GPO
Lawmakers are officially filing their discharge petition today to try to move the Social Security Fairness Act to a floor vote. The bill aims to repeal the WEP and G-P-O, two provisions that reduce or eliminate Social Security for certain public servants. The discharge petition will only move forward if the document gains 218 signatures, a House majority. The Social Security Fairness Act currently has 326 cosponsors. NARFE is urging all House representatives to sign the petition to move the bill to a floor vote.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
IRS announces $1.3B recovered from high-income wealthy individuals under IRA initiatives
The agency is targeting two categories of tax delinquents — more than 1,600 millionaires with more than $250,000 dollars in tax debt, and 125 thousand high-income individuals, who haven’t filed a tax return since 2017.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
EPA union calls for temporary situational telework option
A federal union is calling for temporary work-from-home options for staff at the Environmental Protection Agency. The push from the American Federation of Government Employees comes after reports of Legionella outbreaks at several EPA facilities across the country. The affected EPA buildings are located in D.C., Boston, Houston and Chicago. The union called it “completely unacceptable” to continue letting EPA employees into the buildings in those areas. Using situational telework would let EPA staff continue their work safely, AFGE said, until the Legionella outbreak is under control.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
IRS Direct File adds more states for 2025
Governor Moore joins state and federal leaders to announce Maryland is adding IRS Direct File for 2025 filing season.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
New leadership at the Congressional Research Service
Congress' own think tank … the Congressional Research Service … is getting new leadership. Foreign policy expert Karen Donfried (DAWN-freed) will become its director … starting September 23rd. She’ll take over for an interim leader who’s held the top job for more than a year. Donfried previously served as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs … and as president of the German Marshall Fund. She also worked as a European specialist for C-R-S for 10 years. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Federal employees likely to see 2% pay raise in 2025
Civilian federal employees are now almost certain to see a 2 percent federal pay raise in 2025. President Joe Biden formally announced his plans for next year’s salary hike on Friday. Nothing will be truly official until Biden signs an executive order enacting the 2025 raise. If finalized, it would be the smallest annual raise enacted during the Biden administration. The 2 percent raise for the General Schedule would break down into a 1.7 percent across-the-board increase, plus a 0.3 percent locality pay adjustment. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Access to voting for federal workers
Don’t forget… federal employees do get some extra time off on election day this fall. A new reminder from the Office of Personnel Management details exactly how much time, and for what reason. Federal employees can take up to 4 hours of paid administrative leave to go vote on Nov. 5. On top of that, feds can take an additional 4 hours off to volunteer as a poll worker. The paid leave for feds on election day comes from an executive order that President Biden signed back in 2021. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
USPS wins $2M contract fraud settlement
On today's Federal Newscast, USPS wins $2M contract fraud investigation settlement.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
SBA protégé mentor program sees growth for contractors
On today's Federal Newscast, the number of small businesses in the mentor-protégé program skyrocketed in 2023.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
White House lays out how agencies can keep track of their AI uses
In today's Federal Newscast, the Biden administrative is showing agencies how to keep tabs on their use of artificial intelligence.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Agencies get the go ahead to continue paying higher salaries to feds stationed in Iraq
In today's Federal Newscast, civilian federal employees stationed in Iraq will continue to see higher pay rates until the end of the year. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.