Federal Newscast

Top officials at the Department of Homeland Security will testify in front of the House next month. Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow are all slated to testify February 10 in front of the Homeland Security Committee. They'll face a barrage of questions about the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino says transparency and communication are needed to “turn the temperature down.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee want answers from the Social Security Administration about DOGE sharing its data. Chairman Mike Crapo and Ranking Member Ron Wyden are asking SSA what agency data was shared with outside groups. The Justice Department recently told a federal court that DOGE staffers at the agency discussed sharing agency data with an advocacy group looking to “overturn election results” in some states. DOJ referred the two DOGE employees for potential violations of the Hatch Act.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The IRS says it's ready for an increased workload after the start of this year's tax filing season on Monday. The agency expects to receive 164 million individual income tax returns with most taxpayers filing electronically. The agency lost about a quarter of its workforce last year. Last week the IRS announced a last-minute shakeup of its executive leadership. Taxpayers have until April 15 to file their tax returns or request an extension. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A top House Republican is calling on Department of Homeland Security officials to testify in front of Congress. Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino formally requested testimony from the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Garbarino says he wants to make sure those agencies are effectively using their resources. But his letter comes in the aftermath of another deadly shooting by a federal agent in Minnesota as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The House on Thursday passed the final group of spending bills needed before the January 30th funding deadline. In a vote of 341 to 88, lawmakers approved fiscal 2026 funding for the departments of Defense, Labor, Education, Transportation and Health and Human Services. But due to Democratic opposition over ICE funding, the spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security passed with a much narrower margin, in a party line vote of 220 to 207. The appropriations package now heads to the Senate for consideration.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lawmakers are still waiting for the Defense Department to provide details on how it plans to spend $23 billion already approved for the Golden Dome effort. Congressional appropriators say the Pentagon has not provided key budget information such as deployment schedule, cost, schedule and performance metrics, as well as a finalized system architecture. The White House has estimated the project could cost as much as $175 billion over the next three years. As a result, House and Senate appropriators were unable to conduct oversight of Golden Dome programs for fiscal 2026. Lawmakers want Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to submit a detailed spending plan within 60 days of the bill's enactment.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul is facing calls to ramp up oversight of the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats on the committee are calling on him to investigate the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations. They say Paul should issue subpoenas if necessary and have senior officials like Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testify in front of the panel. Their letter comes in the wake of the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minnesota.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Justice Department recovered more money through the False Claims Act in fiscal 2025 than ever before. New data says DoJ won $6.8 billion in settlements for healthcare, procurement and tariff fraud. A significant amount of those cases were driven by whistleblowers. DoJ says there were 1,297 qui tam lawsuits filed last year, the highest number in a single year, and the government opened 401 investigations. Of the $6.8 billion in False Claims Act recoveries last year, $5.7 billion related to matters that involved the health care industry. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Coast Guard has a new leader. Admiral Kevin Lunday officially assumed command of the service on Thursday during a ceremony at Coast Guard headquarters. The Senate confirmed Lunday last month after his nomination was temporarily delayed due to a controversy over the service's policy regarding hate symbols. He had been serving as acting commandant since January, following the dismissal of Admiral Linda Fagan by President Donald Trump. Lunday previously led Coast Guard Cyber Command. He also held a senior leadership role at U.S. Cyber Command.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is at the center of new calls to replace Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. In a letter to President Donald Trump on Wednesday, 14 House Democrats say Trump should fire Noem over what they say are damaging cuts to FEMA's workforce. They also say Noem's policy of signing off on all spending over $100,000 is slowing down FEMA's disaster response efforts. The letter comes a day after more than 50 House Dems filed articles of impeachment against Noem citing her handling of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Close to 5,000 more Thrift Savings Plan participants have joined the club of so-called TSP millionaires. As of January 1st, nearly 195,000 TSP participants now have accounts totaling over $1 million. That represents about 2.7% of all TSP accounts. The pace of growth appears to be slowing down though. In the previous fiscal quarter, the number of TSP millionaires rose by about 19,000.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The secretive National Reconnaissance Office has announced a new top official. William Adkins was appointed principal deputy director of the NRO on Monday. Adkins previously served as professional staff on the House Appropriations Committee. He's also a veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency and had been detailed to the NRO to manage technology development projects in the late 1990's. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Presidential Rank Awards are back for 2026, and the Office of Personnel Management is now looking for nominations. The prestigious honors program is reserved for career members of the Senior Executive Service and other senior career employees. OPM's new call for nominations marks a restart of the awards program, which the Trump administration canceled for 2025. Agencies have until February 5th to submit nominations to OPM for any executives they want to be considered for a 2026 award. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A government watchdog found that the Defense Department has never formally evaluated telework and remote work programs against agency goals. DoD officials, however, reported “perceived” benefits and challenges. The Government Accountability Office says without formal evaluation of these programs, DoD cannot determine whether these programs help meet agency goals. While defense officials told the Government Accountability Office that their use of these flexibilities improved productivity, efficiency, and recruitment and retention; some officials said that telework reduced opportunities for collaboration and information sharing and decreased morale. The watchdog also found that the data on the number of teleworkers and remote workers DoD previously reported is likely inaccurate. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal wildland firefighters would keep their higher pay rates under the latest congressional appropriations package. The spending “minibus” maintains funding for wildland firefighters' permanent pay raise, as well as job updates that were initially included in the 2021 infrastructure law. The new appropriations package also would ‘not' adopt President Trump's plan to combine wildland firefighting forces into a single agency. According to the legislation, wildland firefighters from the Forest Service and the Interior Department would remain separate. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The federal retirement inventory has reached yet another new high. The Office of Personnel Management now has over 50,000 applications still awaiting a finalized annuity. The increase comes after more than 13,000 retirement applications entered OPM's systems in December. It's taking OPM about 67 days to process a retirement case from start to finish. But OPM's numbers don't include any retirement cases still pending with agencies. Some retirees report major delays in receiving their payments, months after separating from government.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kirsten Davies has officially taken over the role of the Defense Department's chief information officer. She was sworn in right before the Christmas break. Congress confirmed Davies on December 18th as part of the final tranche of nominees from President Trump. Davies succeeds Katie Arrington, who has performed the duties of DoD CIO since March. Arrington spearheaded a number of major initiatives during her tenure, including an overhaul of the department's legacy processes for buying software.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Thrift Savings Plan's I fund continued its year-long positive run in December, posting a month over month increase of more than 3%. That, by far, was the best performing TSP fund in the final month of 2025. For the year, the I fund saw a return of more than 32%, which was more than 10% higher than any other account. Overall in December, 13 of 15 funds came back in the black. Only the F and S funds posted negative returns in December as compared to November. For the year, 12 of 15 TSP funds returned more than 11%.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Department of Homeland Security has agreed to push back plans to dissolve a union agreement for airport screeners by one week as part of an ongoing court case. The Transportation Security Administration had planned to eliminate the collective bargaining agreement for TSA staff on January 11. But the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA staff, is seeking an emergency order to block that action. TSA says it will delay the effective date to January 18, to allow for arguments over the motion. The judge in the case had already issued a preliminary injunction blocking an earlier attempt by TSA to eliminate the union agreement. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency has new leadership in place. Justin Overbaugh has been serving as acting director of DCSA since November. Overbaugh was confirmed by the Senate in September to serve as deputy under secretary of defense for intelligence and security. His appointment to also lead DCSA comes after full-time director David Cattler stepped down in September. Overbaugh is a retired Army colonel with 25 years of intelligence and special operations experience.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Department of Homeland Security is looking to cut down on the number of paper Freedom of Information Act requests it receives. Under a final rule set to go into effect next month, DHS will require most people to submit FOIA and Privacy Act requests electronically. DHS will allow for alternative submission methods in limited circumstances where an electronic request isn't feasible, such as for incarcerated people. The department says the new rule will allow FOIA officers to spend less time on data entry and more time searching for and reviewing records.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Veterans Affairs will no longer perform abortions in emergency cases in light of a new legal opinion from the Justice Department. The VA started providing abortions to veterans in certain life-threatening circumstances in fall 2022. This comes after the Supreme Court ruling on the Dobbs v. Jackson case. The department began the process of rolling back the policy this summer. That process is still making its way through the official rule-making process. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency would be required to create a universal disaster assistance application under a bill passed by the Senate last week. The goal of the Disaster Assistance Simplification Act is to make it easier for disaster survivors to access federal aid. Lawmakers say the current process is complex and time consuming, with different agencies using different forms. The bill would also require all information shared between FEMA and partner agencies to meet federal data security standards. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Defense Department failed to pass its annual audit once again. Auditors found 26 material weaknesses and “two significant deficiencies related to the DoD's internal controls over financial reporting.” The review covered the department's $4.7 trillion in assets and another $4.7 trillion in liabilities. The Pentagon has failed every audit since launching its first agency-wide review in 2018. Congress has set a goal for the DoD to achieve a clean audit by fiscal 2028. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

House Republicans are seeking annual reauthorization of key programs at the Veterans Affairs Department. Top lawmakers on the House VA Committee are leading a series of bills that would reauthorize the department's Veteran Readiness and Employment program. This is the third wave of VA reauthorization bills lawmakers have introduced. The legislation would also move the Labor Department's Veterans Education and Training Service program to the VA. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There's a new recruitment opportunity at Health and Human Services. The agency has just launched the Roy Wilkins Fellowship. It's reserved for students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs, who are interested in public service. Many of HHS's divisions will host career fairs to promote the new fellowship, including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The opportunity comes in response to an executive order President Trump signed in April, on promoting innovation at HBCU's. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Pentagon inspector general found the Defense Health Agency failed to issue finalized guidance defining roles, responsibilities and access-to-care standards after reorganizing the military health system. The average wait for urgent medical appointments at military medical treatment facilities outside the United States stretched as long as 21 days in some locations, while routine appointments were delayed by as much as 37 days. Auditors also said many overseas facilities were understaffed, and personnel working in military clinics and hospitals experienced burnout and low morale. The inspector general recommended that the DHA director track data on why personnel are leaving military medical facilities.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Pentagon inspector general found the Army and Navy miscalculated the number of low-scoring recruits entering the military through their preparatory programs. The watchdog found the services used recruits' improved test scores instead of the scores they had when they first signed up. As a result, both services exceeded the legal limits of recruits with low test scores entering the program. The courses are designed to help recruits meet academic and physical standards before starting basic training. The services also failed to notify the Secretary of Defense and Congress that they had exceeded that limit, as required by law.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More than 60% of the government's security clearance data last year was either inaccurate or incomplete. That's according to a recent review conducted by the Government Accountability Office. In a new report, GAO says delays and issues with IT systems continue to make the security clearance process a top management challenge in the federal government. The issue has remained on GAO's High-Risk List since 2018.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal retirement numbers at the Office of Personnel Management are continuing to skyrocket. In November, OPM took in another 23,000 applications from retiring employees. That's on top of more than 20,000 that entered OPM's systems in October. Together, those numbers mean retirement applications are triple the volume they were at this time last year. In total, OPM's retirement inventory is now closing in on 50,000 applications that are still awaiting finalization. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The House has passed a $900 bill defense policy bill, which includes a 3.8% pay raise for service members. The must-pass legislation now heads to the Senate. Once it clears the chamber, the bill will go to President Trump for his signature. The bill seeks to streamline the way the Pentagon buys its capabilities. Congressional leaders said the legislation would deliver "the most significant acquisition reforms in a generation." It also fully supports Trump's priorities, including banning all diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the Defense Department and fully funding the department's border security efforts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Recent changes to the Postal Service's network could mean slower deliveries of prescription drugs in the mail. A study from the Brookings Institution finds 6% of Americans live far away from a brick-and-mortar pharmacy, rely heavily on mail-order prescriptions and live in areas impacted by USPS consolidation. Brookings finds nearly half of all Americans face at least one of those scenarios. USPS this year has been running trucks less often between its processing plants and post offices to transport mail and packages. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The nation's largest federal employee union is urging Congress to vote against the House rule for the 2026 defense policy bill. The American Federation of Government Employees says negotiators removed a bipartisan House provision that would have restored collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of Defense Department civilian employees. The union says removing that language means the legislation fails to protect basic rights of workers who maintain ships and aircraft and support service members. AFGE is calling on lawmakers to reject the procedural rule and restore the worker protections before the National Defense Authorization Act moves forward.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More discouraging news for the Pentagon's prospects of obtaining a clean financial audit by the current 2028 deadline. A new evaluation by the Defense Department inspector general finds the department's plan to remediate one of its key, longstanding material weaknesses, an inability to keep track of government property in the possession of contractors, doesn't appear to be working. DoD intended to fix the problem largely by tracking the contractor-managed property in a software module within the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment. But according to the IG, key DoD leaders haven't mandated the use of that module, and the military services haven't updated their own systems to properly interface with it.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More moves to reorganize the Army take effect today. The new Army Western Hemisphere Command will officially come into being with its headquarters at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The new organization combines the existing U.S. Army North, U.S. Army South and Army Forces Command under one umbrella before those organizations are formally disestablished next October. The new command will also absorb the Army's 18th Airborne Corps, Air Traffic Services Command and the 1st Army. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Office of Personnel Management is requiring all federal supervisors to enroll in a new training program on performance management. A new memo says the mandatory training will cover how to both reward and discipline employees, as well as how to create effective performance plans. All supervisors are required to complete OPM's new training by February 9, 2026. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal executives may soon see even more changes coming from the Trump administration. The Office of Personnel Management is now encouraging agencies to consider possible reassignments of Senior Executive Service members. In a new memo, OPM argues that the SES has not served as a “mobile corps” of managers, and members are instead being “entrenched” at agencies. The new memo comes after OPM also advised agencies to consider lowering their staffing allocations for senior-level positions.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Most funds in the Thrift Savings Plan saw minimal growth in November with 15 of 16 coming in higher than where they finished in October. But no fund saw an increase greater than 0.64% for the past 30 days. And only the S fund saw a month over month decline, dropping 0.45%. The I Fund remains the biggest winner for the year with a total increase of 28.54%, while four L Funds also produced returns of greater than 20% in 2025.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 trying to eliminate underutilized space in their buildings. But a watchdog report finds the Postal Service generally isn't asking those same questions. The USPS inspector general's office finds the agency hasn't collected space utilization data for more than 60% of its properties. USPS operates more than 34,000 properties across the country. The IG's office says that by not collecting this data the agency missed out on an opportunity to save nearly $15 million. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Customer satisfaction with benefits and services provided by the federal government is higher than it's been in nearly two decades. That's despite a tumultuous year where agencies have seen a major downsizing of the federal workforce. Scores are higher on average, but the latest scorecard from the American Customer Satisfaction Index does show a few agencies are seeing lower scores. The Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Homeland Security are among the agencies with lower customer experience scores. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Trump administration says it's finished updating federal employee records to remove some of the negative consequences of this year's mass firing of probationary employees. Federal agencies say the personnel records have all been updated to reflect the fact that those workers were not fired for performance reasons. That step was ordered by a federal judge, who found agencies wrongly asserted that employees' terminations were connected to their performance. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Federal Aviation Administration is giving 776 air traffic controllers and technicians a $10,000 bonus for working during the 44-day partial government shutdown. The bonuses will be sent to those employees who maintained perfect attendance during the shutdown. Recipients will receive an automated notification this week and receive their payment no later than December 9. The FAA's decision to offer bonuses to employees follows a similar effort by TSA to reward Transportation Security Officers who also worked during the government shutdown.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.