Congress
House GOP spending cuts are a preview of Project 2025, lead Dem appropriator says
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., told reporters Tuesday that the major spending cuts in Republicans’ fiscal 2025 proposal to fund the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education would have significant impacts on workers, families and students.
Secret Service director resigns after Trump assassination attempt, bipartisan criticism
Biden said he would appoint a new director soon.
The DOOBIE Act would codify federal hiring policy for former marijuana users
The bill, introduced by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., would enshrine in law that past marijuana use cannot be the sole basis for denying federal job applicants a position or security clearance.
Administrative law judge union to push for expanded annual carryover leave
Officials with a union that represents administrative law judges at the Social Security Administration said their jobs are more akin to those of senior-level federal jobs than General Schedule positions.
Bill to strengthen oversight of beleaguered Bureau of Prisons is cleared for president’s signature
The Senate approved the measure by unanimous consent, following several misconduct investigations into the federal prison system.
Republicans look to cull agency powers in wake of Supreme Court rulings
Agencies should adjust their postures going forward while also unwinding previous actions, lawmakers say.
Senate's FY25 spending bills gain bipartisan momentum
Committee reaches bipartisan agreement to boost funding levels that lawmakers say are key to avoiding furloughs and layoffs at agencies.
The FLRA is nearly back at full strength following Senate confirmation vote
The Senate voted 55-37 to confirm Anne Wagner as the third member atop the Federal Labor Relations Authority, allowing the agency to consider controversial cases again for the first time in more than a year.
House fails to pass measure to hold attorney general in ‘inherent contempt'
House legislators on Thursday rejected a resolution to fine Attorney General Merrick Garland for withholding audio tapes from the Justice Department special counsel’s interview with President Joe Biden.
House GOP defeats effort to restore SSA funding to appropriations bill
Democrats said the planned half-billion-dollar cut to the Social Security Administration’s administrative budget would bring the agency’s workforce to the lowest level in 50 years.
A House funding bill would make recent federal firefighter pay raises permanent
The House Appropriations Committee is set to advance a spending package Tuesday that would codify recent temporary pay raises for federal wildland firefighters into law and fund them to the tune of $330 million.
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A US agency focused on foreign disinformation could shut down after the election
The State Department’s Global Engagement Center recently opened an anti-Russian propaganda center in Poland, but needs congressional action to continue operations.
House GOP official bashes VA leader for ‘budgetary mismanagement’
House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost’s letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough takes the leader of the Veterans Health Administration to task over recent hiring restrictions within the department and controversial but since-rescinded bonus payments.
Social Security in line for half-billion dollar cut in House GOP funding bill
Republican appropriators blamed “reduced in-person staffing” at headquarters to slash the already overworked and under-resourced agency’s budget.
Why do federal employee background checks take so long? Panel points to delayed IT system
The Defense Department agency responsible for vetting workers at most federal agencies originally planned to have a new background check system fully functional in 2019.
Lawmakers press VA to report on the delays in its burn pit registry revamp
An October 2022 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said VA should “initiate a new phase” of its Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry to make it “a user-friendly, efficient and effective resource.”
The House’s DHS funding bill preserves TSA’s recent pay increases
Although lawmakers have yet to act on a bill to codify the Biden administration’s decision to provide Transportation Security Administration employees with Title 5 protections and compensation, Congress is poised to continue funding the initiative.
Senate bill aims to streamline how agencies respond to wildfires
Much like the workforce-focused wildfire bill introduced last week in the House, the EMBER Act draws its provisions from the recommendations of a recent bipartisan commission report.
Biden’s 2% raise more likely upon advancement of Senate defense policy bill
The Senate Armed Services Committee last week advanced its version of the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, endorsing a 2% average pay raise for civilian federal workers alongside a 4.5% increase for military service members.
Dems warn of agency furloughs, layoffs if spending caps are not lifted
FBI agents, meat inspectors and others could face job cuts under the current fiscal 2025 spending plan, Democrats say.
