Federal Newscast

The Postal Service has largely failed to meet service standards, even after reducing those standards. A new report from the Government Accountability Office finds that the declining services are in part due to cost-cutting initiatives. In response, USPS officials say they have made some progress to modernize and improve services, but emphasized that a full solution would require significant structural reforms made by Congress and the White House.

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In today's Federal Newscast, the public’s trust in government is declining, new research from the Partnership for Public Service shows.

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In today's Federal Newscast, as Congress pushes to eliminate the Space Development Agency as an independent organization, the organization’s director said he “has some concerns, but not too many.” 

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For the second time in a matter of weeks, the Justice Department won a big settlement from a federal contractor to settle claims it violated the False Claims Act.

Plus, a federal court holds up one of the White House's reduction efforts for one agency, and a large swath of soldiers get the ok to rejoin the military after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.

These stories and more in today's Federal Newscast!

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House Republicans are calling for fair compensation and benefits for more federal law enforcement personnel. A letter addressed to the Office of Personnel Management points out discrepancies in how some law enforcement officers are classified for retirement purposes. The GOP lawmakers are calling on OPM to review the benefits specifically for police officers at the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, as well as DoD’s Force Protection Agency, and personnel at the Federal Protective Service. 

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The National Park Service has designated the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial as an affiliated area. The National Park Service, the Department of Defense and the Pentagon Memorial Fund signed a memorandum of agreement earlier this week to create a formal affiliation with the National Park Service. The agreement leaves ownership and day-to-day management of the memorial by DoD unchanged. Through the partnership, the organizations will work together to strengthen public understanding of the memorial, its national significance and the events it commemorates. Dedicated on September 11, 2008, the memorial honors the 184 victims killed at the Pentagon and aboard Flight 77.  

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All 11 Democrats on the House Veterans Affairs Committee are pressing Doug Collins, the VA secretary, for answers about why the agency is rejecting requests from employees for reasonable accommodations. In a letter sent to VA yesterday, Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano and 10 other lawmakers want Collins to provide answers to nine questions about the department's policies and actions in granting telework and other workplace flexibilities. The committee members say they continue to hear cases of veteran employees who were previously approved for telework accommodations now being required to commute to a duty station. The lawmakers want answers from VA...

Federal wildland firefighters will continue to earn overtime pay, even after they hit a legal cap on overtime hours. The continuing resolution that Congress passed last week included a provision to extend a waiver on the cap for federal overtime pay, at least until the end of 2027. Many wildland firefighters work extensive overtime during peak wildfire season. But due to a legal loophole, they often meet a ceiling on earning overtime pay. The National Federation of Federal Employees is calling for the passage of legislation to permanently scrap the overtime 

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Two Democrat lawmakers are demanding Elon Musk, the former head of the U.S. DOGE Service, explain why 99% of the claimed savings from at the Homeland Security Department never materialized. Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, and James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) called on Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), chairman of the committee, to hold Musk accountable for DOGE’s actions. Thompson and Walkinshaw say a recent report by the Government Accountability Office shows DOGE alleged savings were mostly from IT contracts that it cancelled, but DHS continues to buy these services through other acquisition vehicles. 

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Adam Telle, the Army's assistant secretary for civil works, will serve as acting Army secretary. President Donald Trump announced the pick on social media Thursday, calling Telle a "great patriot who is respected by all." Telle took the job overseeing the Army Corps of Engineers in August 2025 after serving as a longtime Senate staffer. He also worked in the White House's legislative office during Trump's first term. Telle has not served in the military. He replaces Dan Driscoll, who resigned this week amid clashes with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

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The Postal Service is finalizing a new portal to provide election officials with a simple, secure and efficient way to share lists of individuals receiving ballots by mail in their respective states. The U.S. Federal Ballot Mail Portal will soon be available to election officials who voluntarily wish to familiarize themselves with the platform. USPS says it also will provide tools, presentations and other resources to help election officials understand the platform and make decisions about whether and how they wish to use it. USPS is facing new questions from lawmakers about the portal after a whistleblower claimed...

August was a month of rebounds for the Thrift Savings Plan. All TSP funds ended in the black, the highest increase being the I Fund at 3.3%, followed by the C and S Funds at 2.7% and 2.3%, respectively. The G and F Funds posted more modest increases, both below 1%. For 2026 so far, all but one of the 16 TSP funds have grown, with more than half seeing double-digit percentage increases.

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Defense Department employees can now use three major AI products at work. The department on Monday launched military versions of OpenAI's ChatGPT and Elon Musk's Grok to help the workforce with everyday tasks. DoD says ChatGPT can read documents for unclassified administrative and policy work. Grok is built for operational needs like market research and supply chain management. Google's Gemini was the first product launched on the Pentagon's AI hub last year. More than 1.7 million have signed up to use those services so far.

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The General Services Administration has removed the AbilityOne Commission and National Prison Industries' exception from the Trade Agreements Act for all of its contracts. In a deviation to GSA's acquisition regulations, the agency will now require the commission and all of its non-profits like SourceAmerica and the National Industries for the Blind, to only use products from countries that have existing trade agreements with the U.S. This means there are 78 countries, including China, Vietnam and Thailand, that the AbilityOne Commission and NPI can no longer import products from. This deviation comes on the heels of a letter from...

Up to 400 federal positions can now earn salaries of $400,000. A new final rule from the Office of Personnel Management allows the higher pay rates for hundreds of workers under an authority known as “critical position pay.” The authority is meant to help agencies recruit and retain highly qualified and specialized government workers in mission-critical roles. OPM’s final rule this week aligns with President Donald Trump’s orders earlier this year to use the pay authority for up to 400 national security roles.

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Federal wildland firefighters can now earn higher pay rates for more types of work. A recent final rule from the Office of Personnel Management authorizes a 25% “hazard pay” boost for work on prescribed burns. That’s in addition to firefighters already getting hazard pay when working on uncontrolled wildfires. OPM says the final rule creates “pay parity,” since both types of work involve similar health and safety risks from fire and smoke. 

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Thousands of federal employees who left the government via the deferred resignation program have essentially been replaced. That's according to new data analysis from the Partnership for Public Service. The nonprofit finds that the agency and occupational series for more than 20,000 employees who took the DRP can be matched to a position later filled in the same category. The turnover marks a loss of institutional knowledge and capacity, the Partnership says.

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The National Security Agency doesn’t appear to be complying with federal laws that require the agency to outline whistleblower protections in its nondisclosure agreement. The NSA’s inspector general said the agency doesn’t have a central repository of its NDAs or an overarching policy. But for four of the five agreements the IG did find, whistleblower protection notifications were left out entirely. The agency said it has a plan in place to fix the issue.

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The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is coming under scrutiny for workforce cuts as cyber and physical threats to critical infrastructure rise. A group of Democratic lawmakers are pushing for a Government Accountability Office report on the impact of recent workforce reductions and program cuts on CISA’s ability to fulfill its mission. The lawmakers, from the House Committee on Homeland Security and Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, pointed to CISA’s loss of nearly 1,000 employees, or about a third of its workforce, in the first half of 2025. Though CISA has announced plans to hire 300 employees to rebuild, the...

Add the employees at the Agriculture Department's Rural Development Agency to the growing list of successful feds who have won grievances before an arbitrator after losing their remote work and telework rights. Arbitrator Margaret Donaghy ruled Wednesday in favor of RDA employees represented by the American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees. The union filed a grievance when USDA ended teleworking and remote work agreements without bargaining in April 2025. Donaghy ordered USDA to restore the telework and remote work arrangements and make the employees whole by paying any travel expenses, compensation or credit for additional hours worked. Suzanne...

The Space Force has opened its own recruiting squadron nearing seven years after the newest service was created. The 320th Recruiting Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, is the service's first unit dedicated to bringing in new generations of guardians. Air Force united handled Space Force recruiting to save money as the youngest service matured. Now the military space workforce has expanded enough that the Space Force wants to grow its recruiting apparatus to keep up. The service has already reached its goal of enlisting 730 new guardians in 2026.

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The Space Force’s fiscal 2027 budget request would significantly increase funding for missile warning, missile tracking and command and control programs. That would account for more than 45% of the proposed growth, according to a recent analysis. Classified spending would account for about 30% of the service’s overall budget growth. The Space Force budget could see a major budget increase in fiscal 2027. The White House requested $71 billion for the newest military branch. But that figure is not guaranteed. The White House’s base budget request is around $59 billion. Another $12. 1 billion is contingent upon Congress passing another reconciliation package, which faces a diff...

The Department of the Air Force is updating its rules for determining whether civilian applicants are a good fit for federal jobs. New interim guidance says candidates must be deemed initially favorable before receiving a firm job offer and must earn a final decision that they are suitable for employment in order to retain the job. “It is important to ensure individuals hired are loyal, trustworthy and of good character,” the memo says. The memo follows a broader Trump administration directive on the same topic and will be replaced with a permanent rule.

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The Federal Aviation Administration has hired over 2,000 new air traffic controllers, all with a shared passion: videogames. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says in a recent online post that the FAA hiring initiative focused on gamers, launched in April, has met 94% of its hiring goal. Duffy says this is the highest-ever number of hires at FAA in a year. The hiring surge comes as FAA has struggled with workforce shortages in recent years. 

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A top House democrat is demanding a hearing to examine the effects of the Trump administration’s actions at federal statistical agencies. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), ranking member of the Education and Workforce Committee, said committee members should understand how recent challenges of understaffing and underfunding at these agencies are impacting their work. Scott pointed to a recent report from the American Statistical Association that highlights problems like halted projects and reports, low response rates, decreased data production and smaller staff across agencies including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Economic Research Service and the National Center for Education Statistics. Sc...

The Merit Systems Protection Board is officially transitioning away some of its authority over adverse action appeal decisions. A new final rule from MSPB removes all references to the board’s prior jurisdiction over appeals due to firings or demotions during a reduction-in-force, probationary period or for a suitability-related reason. The adjustments at MSPB come after the Office of Personnel Management finalized rules to take over decisions in those three categories of workplace disputes. The change takes full effect in early September. 

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The Army has lost 18% of its civilian workforce at two of its major depots. The Government Accountability Office found that the Anniston and Red River Army Depots lost nearly 800 permanent and term-limited employees when comparing fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2025. Specifically, Anniston’s workforce decreased by 616 people. Meanwhile, its contractor workforce more than doubled during this period. Depot officials said the hiring freeze has prevented them from replacing skilled maintainers who retired or took the deferred resignation program. They also said that contractors “often arrive without the required skills,” and that “contractor employee turnover and skill gaps can affect production continuity.”

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The backlog of federal retirement claims is at the lowest point in 2026 with just over 24,000 in OPM's inventory. New data shows OPM processed more than 17,000 claims last month, of which 14,000 were done digitally. Additionally, OPM says it of the 14,000 claims it received in July, 10,500 were provided to them in an electronic format. Despite this progress, processing times inched up to 98 days on average for digital claims and 109 days for all claims. OPM says, on average, paper based claims took 156 days to process. 

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A federal union is urging the Forest Service to reverse course on its upcoming reorganization plans. The National Federation of Federal Employees warns that shuttering facilities and relocating Forest Service staff will worsen federal response during wildfire season. After staffing reductions at the Forest Service during 2025, union officials say the agency now is likely to lose additional workers due to the reorganization including those with “red cards,” who are qualified to respond as wildland firefighters.

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The Department of Government Efficiency touted that it saved $110 billion across federal contracts, grants and leases. But many of DOGE’s claims don’t have supporting evidence and some are simply incorrect. A new report from the Government Accountability Office finds that 96% of DOGE’s claimed savings on federal grants cannot be verified. And some savings that DOGE posted on its “wall of receipts” website were already being phased out before DOGE was established.

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June was not a good month for your money in the Thrift Savings Plan. Fifteen of 16 funds saw month-over-month declines, including the S Fund which dropped more than 4% over the last 30 days. Of the 15 funds that dropped in July, the good news is 12 of them saw declines of less than 1%. The G Fund was the only account to come in positive last month with a growth of just under 0.4%. For the year, 15 of 16 funds are growing at a healthy rate with nine earning double digit returns.

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The Army is overhauling how it treats discrimination and harassment complaints. Beginning later this year, the service will no longer allow soldiers to anonymously file allegations of discrimination or harassment with military equal opportunity offices. Instead, EO offices can process claims while keeping soldiers' personal information confidential. Troops who opt to file a confidential claim will not be required to notify their command or initiate a complaint that could lead to an investigation. Commanders may still act on anonymous allegations that warrant further review.

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The Education Department transferred another 64 employees from K-12, special education, higher education and career, technical and adult education programs to other agencies. The American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, which represents Education employees, is denouncing the decision, calling it illegal and part of the administration's effort to dismantle the department. AFGE says Education transferred 10 Native education workers from multiple offices to the Department of the Interior. AFGE says two postsecondary education employees are going to the Department of State and another 52 workers in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and Office of Postsecondary Education are headed to the...

The Senate's version of the continuing resolution released last week not only keeps the government open through December 11 but would prohibit OMB from implementing the rewrite of the federal grants regulations. A provision in the CR agreed to by both Republicans and Democrats would pause the new regulations until at least December 11. In addition to the grants provision, the CR also would extend the Technology Modernization Fund for another 10 weeks. Senator Susan Collins, the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, says the CR also avoids any "poison pills" that could lead to a government shutdown. The House passed its version...

The Army is offering certain helicopter pilots six-figure bonuses to stay in uniform, hoping to retain active-duty warrant officers who are mid-career or approaching retirement eligibility. Bonuses range from around $75,000 over three years for aviators with 12 to 14 years of service, to nearly $210,000 over six years for those with at least 18 years of service. The 2026 program aims to convince at least one in four eligible soldiers to stay, with a particular focus on instructor pilots and maintenance test pilots.

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Two former Office of Personnel Management directors are urging the reversal of a decision that could broadly impact federal job protections. Their brief to a federal appeals court comes ahead of a full bench hearing slated for this fall. The hearing will reconsider a Merit Systems Protection Board ruling that allowed the president to fire some civil servants, claiming constitutional authority. The two former OPM directors warn that upholding MSPB’s decision will threaten the integrity and expertise of the career federal workforce. 

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The Navy is turning to industry for ideas to help address temporary housing shortages impacting thousands of sailors nationwide. The service has issued a request for information seeking solutions to provide temporary unaccompanied housing while the Navy renovates its aging barracks. The Navy is asking companies to propose a range of options, including trailer or RV housing, leased apartments, extended hotel stays or houseboats. The Navy estimates it will need approximately 4,200 temporary beds to house displaced sailors. 

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A dozen Senate Democrats are pressing the Pentagon for a full accounting of U.S. troops who have been killed or injured in connection with the Iran War. In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other senior defense leaders, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee criticized the Defense Department for appearing to leave nearly 100 troops who were wounded in action out of the Pentagon's monthly statistics for July. The Pentagon's public casualty count for Operation Epic Fury also fell from 18 to 14 deaths last week. A response is due Thursday.

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The National Guard is moving thousands of Guardsmen mobilized to Washington, D.C., from hotels into apartments. The National Guard Bureau has awarded a $292 million contract to Placemakr to provide up to 2,000 apartment-style units for troops supporting Joint Task Force–District of Columbia. The housing contract is the largest interagency lodging acquisition in National Guard history that will “provide a long-term housing solution to improve troop readiness.” The National Guard troops will be deployed in D.C. until January 2029. 

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The House has cleared a bill to correct pension payments for close 8,000 federal retirees. The “Pensions for Retired Uniformed Servicemembers Act” comes after feds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Public Health Service missed payments during the 43-day shutdown last fall, due to an unintentional loophole. Although the bipartisan legislation to close that loophole has now passed the House, it has not yet been introduced in the Senate. 

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