Federal Newscast

Federal retirement processing times are slowing down. During June, it took OPM an average of 108 days to process a retirement claim, according to the agency’s latest data release. Processing times for digital-only applications averaged 96 days. That’s a full 30 days longer than the previous month’s average. But at the same time, OPM’s retirement claim inventory in June was the lowest it’s been all...

A move toward skills-based federal hiring is getting another push from Congress. A new bipartisan bill would push agencies to ease college degree requirements for many federal jobs. Agencies would have to consider alternative job qualifications like military service, apprenticeships and community college. If enacted, the bill would also create a separate USAJobs portal for positions not requiring...

The Army is replacing its long-criticized height-and-weight tables and tape test with a waist-to-height ratio to measure body composition. The change follows Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's push for a simpler, more consistent fitness standard across the military. The new policy is drawing mixed reactions from soldiers, with critics questioning whether a single waist measurement is enough. Soldier...

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has a new leader. Arvind Raman was sworn is as the fifth undersecretary of commerce for standards and technology on June 30th. He was confirmed by the Senate in May. Raman was previously the dean of engineering at Purdue University. His background is in atomic force microscopy, human biomechanics and electronics manufacturing. As the head of NIST,...

The Trump administration is looking to tweak the rules for federal employees’ paid administrative leave. Recent proposed regulations from the Office of Personnel Management would give agencies more leeway to use paid leave, including during workforce reduction efforts. During 2025, agencies used administrative leave to implement the deferred resignation program, paying thousands of employees for s...

The good news about your Thrift Savings Plan for June, only two funds saw month over month drops. As for the other funds, 13 of 14 experienced minimal growth of less than one percent from May to June. The big winner last month was the S fund with a growth rate of 4.34%. The S fund also remains the top performing TSP account for all of 2026, increasing by more than 18%. The "I", C and eig...

The IRS still doesn’t recognize a union that represents much of its workforce. But the agency has agreed it will no longer bar employees from keeping materials from the National Treasury Employees Union on their desks or in common areas. NTEU previously complained to a federal court that the IRS removed union materials from employees’ workstations and covered up NTEU information on bulletin board....

Two Democrats and two Republicans have teamed up on a bill that would give military families more time to make important financial decisions after a service member dies. Endorsed by groups like Gold Star Spouses of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, the bill would give families three years instead of one to roll over death gratuities and life insurance into tax-advantaged s...

Dozens of House Democrats are urging the Trump administration to abandon its proposal for a governmentwide non-disclosure agreement. The lawmakers say an NDA for federal employees would only serve to intimidate and silence them. They are demanding details on the scope of the proposed NDA, and how workers would still be able to make protected disclosures. Lawmakers sent their demands in a letter to...

A lawsuit challenging Schedule Policy/Career is doubling down on its arguments. The recently amended complaint now directly challenges the reclassifications of 8,000 federal employees earlier this month. The lawsuit alleges that Schedule Policy/Career violates the Civil Service Reform Act, inhibits due process for federal employees, and intrudes on congressional powers. The plaintiffs in the case...

The House's version of the 2027 defense spending bill is moving on to the full chamber for consideration. House appropriators voted 34 to 27 to approve the $1.1 trillion package at a markup Wednesday. The bill funds Trump administration priorities like the Golden Dome missile defense shield and greater investment in commercial technologies. Lawmakers also adopted a package of amendments on hot-but...

The Department of Defense's civilian employees could get another option for their grocery runs; their local commissary. Senators are suggesting that the defense secretary should launch a pilot program that lets civilian staffers shop at commissaries as part of the 2027 defense policy bill. If the idea isn't too expensive and doesn't interfere with feeding troops and their families, that access cou...

A new pilot program will try to pair active-duty military spouses in the Air Force and Space Force with potential job leads. The Global Military Spouse Connection program offers targeted outreach, networking opportunities, educational resources and direct contact with hiring managers, the Department of the Air Force said Monday. The pilot will start at Travis Air Force Base in California, Patrick...

The Office of Naval Research is rolling out a new science and technology strategy that focuses the service on meeting its own unique needs, not keeping up with commercial tech companies. Chief of Naval Research Rachel Riley says turning inward can stop the Navy from spending money to duplicate the private sector's efforts. It can also make the service better prepared for long-term upgrades to its...

More employees at the National Park Service have voted to unionize. About 650 employees in the agency’s Intermountain Region will now be represented by the National Treasury Employees Union. That’s following a vote of 317-11 in favor of the new bargaining unit. The National Park employees oversee 87 different parks across Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona and Montana. M...

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday released the details of a massive defense policy bill that authorizes $1.2 trillion in spending, in support of the Trump administration's request for fiscal 2027. The annual legislation would create a new command overseeing military drones and allow for a new under secretary of defense focused on cyber, as well as an assistant secretary in charge of h...

A second cohort of technology executives are joining the Army Reserve. The Army commissioned three more senior technology leaders into its Executive Innovation Corps, also known as Detachment 201. The service kicked off the new program last year in an effort to bring in senior tech executives to help integrate and scale commercial technology. The new cohort includes executives from Cloudflare and...

Lawmakers are renewing an effort to offer paid family and medical leave to federal employees. A bipartisan bill would give feds 12 weeks of paid leave in the case of a serious illness for themselves or an immediate family member. Legislation passed in 2019 to give federal employees access to paid parental leave. But family and medical leave remains unpaid, which lawmakers say makes federal recruit...

Senate Democrats are urging a federal appeals court to reverse a decision upholding the firings of two immigration judges at the Department of Justice. The lawmakers warn that the previous ruling from the Merit Systems Protection Board could give the president much broader firing powers over many civil servants. The Democrats’ new amicus brief follows a previous request in the same court case for...

House appropriators are backing the Trump administration's proposed pay raise for U.S. troops in fiscal 2027 as part of a $1.7 trillion defense spending bill. Military service members could see their paychecks grow by 5% to 7%, depending on their rank. It's a higher bump than the previous raise of 3.8%. The proposed legislation would help troops stay ahead of inflation as living costs continue to...

A House Democrat is demanding answers on the Trump administration’s proposed nondisclosure agreement for the federal workforce. In a letter to the Office of Personnel Management, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill) warns that pushing feds to sign an NDA would undermine First Amendment protections and whistleblower activities. OPM has two weeks to respond to the congressman’s new investigation into th...

Congress is one step closer to adopting a tougher name for the Department of Defense. An amendment added to the annual defense policy bill that passed the House would formally change its title to the Department of War. The name change echoes an executive order President Donald Trump signed in September. Only Congress has the authority to legally rename a federal department. Both chambers of Congre...

OPM is taking steps to fill positions related to tackling critical agency needs and building out AI systems across the government. In a recent memo, Director Scott Kupor says the agency has created a candidate pool of more than 3,500 qualified candidates through hiring actions including the Tech Force and CyberCorp. Those include positions in IT, project management, contracting, finance and h...

Federal employees with disabilities are suing the Justice Department for denying their reasonable accommodations requests to telework. A new class action complaint alleges that DOJ’s new policy violates the Rehabilitation Act. Two DOJ employees involved in the lawsuit previously had approved telework accommodations for years, due to a disability. But after strict return-to-office requirements, the...

Agencies are getting a green light to temporarily lift federal telework restrictions during the FIFA World Cup. A new memo from the Office of Personnel Management says agencies operating in U.S. host cities are allowed to offer some limited telework options to employees, as needed. OPM officials say telework may be helpful in cases where cities are experiencing high traffic congestion and commutin...