Pay & Benefits
Senate appropriators endorse 2% pay raise for feds next year
With neither chamber in Congress willing to override President Biden, his plan to increase federal workers’ pay by 2% on average appears headed for implementation later this year.
Pay & Benefits
Retirement planning pro-tips for feds
Some crucial tips for every stage of your federal career.
Management
Senate appropriators propose $500 million budget increase for Social Security overhead
The decision to include $14.7 billion for the Social Security Administration’s administrative budget sets up a fight with the House, which is proposing a nearly half billion-dollar cut.
Tech
Hackathon imagines federal agency websites enhanced by artificial intelligence
GSA sponsored Wednesday’s competition, which took place in Washington, D.C., New York City and Atlanta.
Pay & Benefits
TSP boasts strong performance in July
Each of the portfolios in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program gained value last month.
Management
Trump, Harris offer starkly different paths on transportation policy
The next president will decide how best to carry out President Joe Biden’s infrastructure initiatives. They could affect what cars Americans drive, the air they breathe and how easy it is to get a job in construction for transportation projects.
Workforce
A Senate panel has advanced bills codifying skills-based hiring, restricting IG employees’ political activity
Bipartisan legislation would add employees in agency offices of inspectors general to the list of those “further restricted” from political activity under the Hatch Act.
Oversight
The federal judiciary has improved its policies against workplace misconduct, but not at all levels
The GAO found that while the judiciary has taken steps to address workplace misconduct, there are gaps at the circuit level, as well as in measuring effectiveness and data reporting.
Tech
Acting Secret Service head suggests that better tech could have thwarted would-be Trump assassin
Ronald Rowe Jr. told a Senate panel that additional cellular bandwidth and the use of counter-drone technology could have averted the attempted assassination of former President Trump.
Workforce
Democrats demand employee protections after a GAO report reveals sexual misconduct in federal courts
More than 30,000 employees work as law clerks, staff attorneys, office managers and other positions within the federal judiciary, which includes the U.S. Supreme Court, circuit and district courts.
Pay & Benefits
Retiree Annuity Supplement: The icing on your retirement cake
This extra money can provide an income bridge until federal retirees are eligible to start Social Security.
Workforce
Agencies get creative to recruit AI experts
The federal government has hired more than 200 technologists through the national artificial intelligence talent surge, which is one part of President Biden’s AI executive order.
News
House leaders name members of Trump assassination attempt task force
House leaders announced a bipartisan 13-member task force to investigate the July 13 assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.
Tech
Treasury’s funding request for IRS cloud tech far outpaces other civilian agencies, report says
Treasury’s request is the largest out of a combined federal civilian total of almost $9 billion for cloud-related programs in their fiscal year 2025 IT budget requests.
Tech
Senate Democrats push an accessibility refresh
A new bill would revamp the decades old law requiring the government be accessible online, where many agencies are still falling short
Management
Federal employees exposed to lead and bacteria in water due to delayed GSA response, IG says
A new report found that water quality at a federal building in Detroit included potentially harmful levels of lead, copper and Legionella bacteria, and the Public Buildings Service did not respond to the threat promptly.
Management
Senators take another crack at solving over-classification
The bipartisan Classification Reform for Transparency Act would establish a new task force to narrow the criteria for classifying documents and make it harder for agencies to exempt records from automatic declassification.
Management
Senate bill could reduce feds salary to $1 if they don’t respond to congressional requests
The Upholding Standards of Accountability Act would require agency leaders to testify before congressional committees after publishing any new major rule, among other provisions, in the wake of the Chevron deference decision.
Management
White House roadmap looks to guide emerging tech standardization
The Biden administration unveiled a to-do list for federal agencies developing standards for cutting-edge technologies, focusing on external communications.
News