Federal Newscast

Two new bills from Senator James Lankford are aimed to recovering improper payments from two large programs. The first bill, the Fraudulent COVID Funds Recovery Act, would extend the statute of limitations for all pandemic-era programs for five extra years. The new statute of limitations would let law enforcement officials go after fraudsters through 2030. The second bill, the Eliminate Fraudulent...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is working under a new enterprise strategy to fill workforce gaps. ICE’s 2024 annual report details how the agency used direct-hire authorities to make several hundred job offers in the past year. And ICE also made 185 tentative job offers at the Department of Homeland Security’s June hiring expo. ICE says that recruiting and hiring is a major piece of a multiye...

Junior enlisted troops will receive a historic pay raise next year after President Joe Biden signed the annual defense bill into law on Monday. Other service members will get a 4.5% raise beginning January. Junior enlisted service members ranks E-1 through E-4 will see the extra ten percent added to their paycheck beginning April. The bill also increases the income eligibility threshold for the ba...

The Thrift Savings Plan board is reminding participants about changes to contribution limits coming for 2025. Generally, TSP participants will be able to contribute a maximum of $23,500 to their accounts next year. But participants ages 50 and up can make additional catch-up contributions of $7,500. Those ages 60 to 63 can make even higher catch-up contributions of $11,250 due to the Secure 2.0 Ac...

A new survey of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation employees finds that a majority feel safe, valued and respected in their workplace. But more than a quarter of the respondents say harassment is common in the workplace. The new survey, from the FDIC inspector general, comes as part of the ongoing investigation into long-standing workplace culture concerns. The IG received responses from mo...

In today's Federal Newscast, the Senate has cleared the path to a final vote on the Social Security Fairness Act. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

In today's Federal Newscast, the Department of Homeland Security's new AI chatbot, DHSChat, is now available to roughly 19,000 employees. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

In today's Federal Newscast, President-elect Donald Trump promised yesterday to dismiss any feds who don’t come to work onsite full time.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Federal agencies are facing a partial shutdown on December 21st at midnight if Congress doesn't pass another continuing resolution or the funding bills for fiscal 2025. Agencies began preparing for a partial government shutdown on Friday as required under Circular A-11, which initiates the process when the expiration of current funding is a week away. House Speaker Mike Johnson, however, said last...

A bipartisan bill in the House envisions a new way for the Department of Veterans Affairs to recruit doctors. The Supporting Medical Students and VA Workforce Act would create a new scholarship program in which the VA pays students to study medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Students who accept the scholarships would agree to serve as VA physicians after completi...

Department of Veterans Affairs is dealing with a multi-billion-dollar budget shortfall and awarded bonuses to career executives not eligible to receive them last year. Now the top Republicans on the House and Senate VA committees are calling on the department to hold its executives accountable for these issues during their annual reviews. House committee Chairman Mike Bost and Senate committee cha...

The top Republican on the House Veterans Affairs Committee will keep his post in the next session of Congress. Congressman Mike Bost will continue to serve as the committee’s chairman for the next two years. Bost says he’ll focus on expanding veterans’ options to seek health care outside the VA’s medical system … and holding the VA workforce accountable to the veterans they serve.  See Privacy Pol...

The next leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee is backing President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to clear out top officials at the FBI. Senator Chuck Grassley is calling on FBI Director Chris Wray and his second in command … to step down from their posts. Grassley says the FBI hasn’t done enough to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct within its workforce or to protect whistleblowers from...

Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn plans to introduce a new package of bills this week, called the DOGE Acts. One bill would require agencies to report to Congress on the impacts of expanded telework and remote work for federal employees. Another bill in the package would freeze federal hiring and salaries for one year. The legislation aligns with the goals of the so-called “Department of Governm...

Some employees at the Social Security Administration have locked in their current telework levels through 2029. The agency reached an agreement last week with one of its unions, the American Federation of Government Employees. The updated contract, which was first reported by Bloomberg, secures current hybrid work schedules for thousands of telework-eligible feds. The SSA agreement comes as leader...

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth is asking President-elect Donald Trump to support her legislation to expand insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization for military personnel. In a letter to Trump, Duckworth is urging the President-elect to mandate the federal government and insurance companies to pay for all IVF-associated costs. Both House and Senate versions of the defense policy bill have pr...

A watchdog report finds Veterans Affairs incorrectly processed disability claims from veterans and underpaid benefits that some veterans were eligible for. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

The IRS is raising the alarm on identify theft scams this holiday season. The agency says it's seeing an uptick in phishing email and texts and other scams to get taxpayers to hand over their personal information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

President-elect Trump tapped businessman John Phelan to serve as the next secretary of the Navy, saying Phelan will 'put the business of the U.S. Navy above all else." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

The Treasury Department says an IRS hiring freeze is possible if Congress doesn't address a $20 billion budget anomaly. The IRS already saw a $20 billion cut to its modernization fund. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

The Pentagon is out with its first draft of what could become the biggest government AI contract in history. Potential bidders have a little under a month to offer feedback on the draft RFP for what DoD is calling the Advancing AI Multiple Award Contract. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

SSA confirmed that President Joe Biden is expected to name Colvin, a 30-year SSA veteran and former acting commissioner for six years, to lead SSA during the transition. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

President Joe Biden is recognizing 236 federal employees across 30 agencies for their exceptional leadership and accomplishments. The Office of Personnel Management announced the winners of the 2024 Presidential Rank Awards on Thursday. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Two government contractors agree to pay a total of $4.3 million to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act and forced the Army to overpay for IT hardware. The Justice Department says Dell Technologies and Iron Bow will each pay more than $2 million to resolve a Qui Tam lawsuit. DoJ says Dell and Iron Bow allegedly conspired to collude on solicitations under the Army's AMDC-3 con...

At least one member of Congress wants to do away with the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program. Alabama Republican Gary Palmer has submitted a joint resolution of disapproval to overturn the CMMC rule. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .