Workforce

Feds on the job hunt are taking advantage of professional development opportunities tailored to them

Initiatives are focusing on topics ranging from wellness and career coaching to artificial intelligence.

Pay & Benefits

Senators fix their sights on OPM’s pay memo for political appointees 

Eight Democrats decried recent guidance encouraging agencies to pay Schedule C political appointees the maximum federal salary of $195,200 as an attempt to hire “underqualified and overpaid political elites.”

Workforce

Appeals court: Has Trump neutered the Civil Service Reform Act?

A three-judge panel on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals revived a lawsuit challenging the gag order on federal immigration judges in light of the president’s decision to fire the U.S. special counsel and members of the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Oversight

Potential shortcomings in USAID–State Department merger plan raise concerns

The inspector general found that the new hiring numbers aren’t based on any workforce strategy, the realignment implementation plan isn’t finished and the agency team overseeing the transfer is set to disband.

Management

Trump wants Congress to slash $9.4B in spending now, defund NPR and PBS

The rescissions request allows the White House budget office to legally freeze spending on some accounts for 45 days.

Workforce

Trump is planning to slash 107,000 federal jobs next year. See where

New details in the president's budget detail some of the proposed workforce reductions, though the final cuts will likely be steeper.

Management

White House budget request includes $45 million in additional DOGE funding

The request would support an estimated 150 full time employees, 80% of whom would be paid out of agency reimbursements, rather than DOGE-specific funds.

Defense

Pentagon won’t say how many civilians have left since February

The department has used a mix of layoffs and voluntary resignations to cut workforce.

Workforce

Federal judge blocks dissolution of union at TSA

Though the Transportation Security Administration has broad latitude to design and administer its own personnel system, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman found its contract with AFGE to be a “self-imposed restriction” on that power.

Oversight

Trump’s picks for oversight roles will jeopardize independent scrutiny of government operations, watchdog groups say

The president recently nominated individuals to serve as special counsel and agency inspectors general, both of which receive and investigate complaints of waste, fraud and abuse.

Exclusive Workforce

Lynch: OPM’s hiring plan includes ‘blatant loyalty test’

The Trump administration last week unveiled its new ‘Merit Hiring Plan’ that in part quizzes job applicants about their favorite Trump policy or executive order.

Pay & Benefits

TSP funds rebound following months of losses

Only one portfolio in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program finished May in the red.

Management

Senators urge DHS to reinstate disbanded cyber review board

The board — which was dismissed at the start of the Trump administration — has been viewed as a well-intentioned but imperfect tool for reviewing significant cybersecurity events.

Pay & Benefits

Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget would strip trans federal workers of insurance coverage

If enacted, the provision would bar the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program from covering federal employees and their family members’ gender affirming care treatments.

Workforce

Intelligence agency employee arrested for trying to share classified info with foreign government

Nathan Vilas Laatsch was allegedly disgruntled by the Trump administration and willing to share sensitive data with the foreign country. The FBI set up a dead drop operation to intercept the classified materials.

Oversight

White House says it will cooperate with top watchdog only when it does not ‘unduly burden’ Trump’s agenda

The Trump administration is elevating its feud with the Government Accountability Office, which recently found the administration is violating federal spending laws.

Workforce

DOGE reorganization of nuclear regulator prompts concerns about the agency’s continued focus on safety

President Donald Trump wants the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to lay off workers, while the agency has fallen short of its recruitment goals in recent years and struggled to replenish its aging workforce.

Defense

Hegseth halves staff of Pentagon’s testing-oversight office

The move may reduce the quality of the Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation’s second opinions, but may not affect safety, former officials said.