Workforce

The missing piece of the puzzle for advancing Biden’s racial equity executive order

COMMENTARY | Chances of success are drastically reduced without a unified data system, two experts argue.

Management

Proposed contractor climate change rule faces more questions from Republican lawmakers

House overseers demand a briefing from acquisition officials on the draft regulation requiring companies doing business with the federal government to report on their greenhouse gas emissions. 

Oversight

Labor Dept. office rolls back portions of Trump-era policy on handling discrimination claims against contractors

Regulations implemented Friday said that a 2020 rule change aimed at making investigations into allegations of discrimination more efficient in practice did the opposite.

Defense

Veterans exposed to burn pits, toxins urged to apply for retroactive benefits

Nearly a year ago, President Joe Biden signed the PACT Act, a law supporters describe as the largest expansion of veteran benefits in U.S. history.

Pay & Benefits

Split in U.S. House GOP raises potential for government shutdown this fall

The stalemate stems from disagreement about how much the government should spend and whether bills should be filled with far-right policy objectives.

Oversight

Stimulus fraud prevention isn’t a lost cause, it’s an opportunity for new tools and techniques

COMMENTARY | The lessons learned – and the data – from Paycheck Protection Program fraud can be used to build better models for sifting through fraud data.

Oversight

The most serious Trump indictment yet – a criminal law scholar explains the charges of using ‘dishonesty, fraud and deceit’ to cling to power

All of the charges rest on the claim that Trump and his co-conspirators knew the former president lost the 2020 election.

Tech

House panel probes China-linked email hacks

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating how the State and Commerce departments responded to a cyberattack that successfully gained access to unclassified government email accounts of top-level officials.

Oversight

Fixing accountability first: Another look at the Restore VA Accountability Act

COMMENTARY | If we really want to rid the VA (and the rest of the federal civil service) of poor performers, we need to find a middle ground between making every employee “at will” and defaulting to today’s status quo. 

Oversight

House GOP demands info on Biden’s implementation of vaccine mandate for feds

A subcommittee is probing several agencies to look for "wrongdoing by government officials" during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Workforce

Cannabis users could become feds under bipartisan House bill

The legislation also would allow federal job applicants who were previously denied positions or security clearances over marijuana usage dating back to 2008 to have those decisions reviewed under the newly proposed policy.

Pay & Benefits

Some of the biggest regrets of retiring federal employees

COMMENTARY | As they face the realities of life, retirement, and getting older, some federal employees have shared a few regrets with financial planner Dallen Haws.

Management

USPS faces bipartisan pushback as it ramps up consolidation efforts

While lawmakers and employees ask the postmaster general to rethink his network changes, the Postal Service is accelerating the reforms.

Workforce

House Republicans question the SEC’s hiring and pay practices

The chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee wants to know more about the agency’s use of a program designed to bring on skilled hires for short-term rotations.