Federal Newscast

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is getting new permanent leadership. The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's pick Susan Monarez to serve as CDC director. She'll be the CDC's first director without a medical degree in more than 70 years. CDC laid off about 2,400 employees in April. But the agency reinstated about a third of them. Nearly 600 employees took voluntary incentives to leave the agency and will be off its rolls by the end of the year.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Transportation Security Administration wants to use artificial intelligence and other private sector technologies to streamline airport screening. Under a recent request for information, TSA asked for feedback on turnkey solutions that could be used at airport checkpoints. The deadline to respond is August 1. The RFI was issued through TSA's Screening Partnership Program, which allows airports to contract for private security screening services. TSA says it's particularly interested in tech that can reduce manual labor and improve the passenger experience.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 closed out the month of June with just over $1 trillion dollars in assets, across 7.2 million TSP participants. Officials on the TSP board say that high number shows a strong level of trust among participants in the TSP. Board officials are also reporting high levels of satisfaction among TSP participants. For the last 12 months, more than 93% of TSP users have consistently said they're satisfied with the TSP's offerings. Satisfaction among callers to the TSP's customer service phone line also remain high.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A bill expanding veterans' access to non-VA health care is making its way through Congress. The House VA Committee advanced the Veterans' ACCESS Act. The bill would make it easier for veterans covered by the VA to seek heath care in the private sector and would create an online patient self-service scheduling system. Committee Chairman Mike Bost says the bill would help veterans avoid waiting for medical appointments.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Employees at the National Science Foundation are pushing back against the Trump administration's actions at the agency. Nearly 150 NSF employees signed a letter of dissent this week. They're criticizing the administration's terminations of agency workers, while also cutting appropriated funding. Altogether, the NSF employees warn that the administration's actions amount to a “systemic dismantling” of the scientific agency. NSF's letter mirrors similar efforts from employees at NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency and several others.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 Management and Budget has until Wednesday to turn the lights back on for one of its key public spending transparency websites. In March, OMB shut down its Congressionally-mandated database that tracks the apportionment of funds to individual agencies, saying it didn't believe it should have to provide “predecisional” information. On Monday, a federal judge found that decision violated the law, and gave the Trump administration until 10 a.m. on Wednesday to restore the Public Apportionments Database.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Government Accountability Office processed more than 5,700 allegations through its fraud hotline last year. That's according to the latest annual report on GAO's FraudNet program. FraudNet referred more than 2,100 allegations to federal agencies or other entities for further investigation, roughly the same number of referrals as in 2023. FraudNet analysts also supported more than 50 requests from GAO teams conducting audits and investigations. That includes helping GAO identify healthcare providers who were ineligible to work for the Defense Department's TRICARE Network. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is offering retired ICE employees as much as a $50,000 signing bonus to return to the job. The agency is recruiting both deportation officers and special agents. ICE received $8 billion under the Big Beautiful Bill to hire 10,000 new officers over the next four years. ICE says it has a Dual Compensation Waiver to hire retired annuitants on a term-limited basis. Re-employed annuitants will receive both their full basic annuity and full salary. But annuity supplements and Social Security benefits may be reduced depending on an individual's salary. 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 is creating a new classification for non-career employees. President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing Schedule G that would let agencies hire non-career employees who engage in policy-making or policy-advocating work. These employees would leave their position when the president's term is over. The EO says Schedule G will improve operations, particularly in agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs, by streamlining appointments for key policy roles. Current authorities under Schedule C or the new Schedule Policy/Career do not provide for non-career appointments to policy-making or policy-advocating roles. The White House says this leaves a gap in federal hiring categories.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hackers connected to China extensively compromised a U.S. state's Army National Guard network starting last March. That's according to a June intelligence memo from the Department of Homeland Security. It details the “Salt Typhoon” group's intrusion into National Guard networks and subsequent theft of sensitive data. DHS says Salt Typhoon's successful hack could undermine National Guard's efforts to protect American critical infrastructure. The group has been connected to intrusions into U.S. mobile networks and the hacking of dozens of high-profile U.S. officials. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

June saw the third largest number of federal employees retire in calendar year 2025. More than 13,400 feds submitted their paperwork. At the same time, the average number of days to process retirement paperwork dropped to 45, the lowest number since February and the second lowest in the last 18 months. OPM's backlog of retirement claims stands just over 26 thousand, the highest level since October 2023. In all, 70,351 employees retired in the first six months of 2025 as compared to 56,756 employees who left federal service during the first six months of 2024. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The head of the effort to fix the security clearance process is retiring. David Cattler, the director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, is retiring after more than 35 years of federal service. Cattler will step down from his role on September 30th. He has been director of DCSA for almost 18 months. Before he retires, Cattler will complete a major reorganization of the agency, which will help further reduce the backlog of security clearances. As of May, DCSA says it has decreased the backlog by 17% in 2025 alone. Along with DCSA, Cattler served in various leadership roles in the intelligence community, including on the National Security Council, with the Defense Intelligence Agency and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The agency says a successor has not yet be named. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The number of so-called TSP millionaires is on the rise. As of June, more than 171,000 participants in the Thrift Savings Plan have accounts totaling over $1 million. That's a little over 2% of all TSP accounts across the board. It also means roughly 24,000 more feds have crossed the million-dollar threshold in the last three months. Most TSP millionaires have spent decades investing in their accounts.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 has detailed the federal workplace changes that should already be in effect, in response to President Trump's orders on “gender ideology” from January. Agencies were required to cancel any diversity-related training programs and disband employee resource groups that focused on gender inclusion. Federal employees also had to remove pronouns from their email signatures. The White House says the requirements are meant to combat what it calls “gender ideology extremism.” But advocates of diversity, equity and inclusion say the new policies are harmful to transgender and non-binary employees. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Former federal employees have a new opportunity to study the Trump administration's impacts on the civil service. The non-profit Democracy Forward has launched a new civil service fellowship program. Throughout the program's inaugural year, fellows will be tasked with researching the impacts of the Trump administration's cuts. It's currently seeking applicants with experience working in the federal government.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Public sector retirees impacted by the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset should see their benefits fully updated by November. The majority of affected beneficiaries already began receiving their increased monthly benefit amounts in April. But the Social Security Administration says it's still working through some of the more complex cases. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law in early January, eliminated both the WEP and GPO. The two longstanding Social Security provisions had been reducing or eliminating benefits for many public sector annuitants.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Agencies will have to wait until another three months before they can start hiring employees again. The Trump administration has extended its governmentwide hiring freeze until mid-October. The freeze had previously been expected to lift next week. The hiring freeze doesn't apply to military members, or civilian positions dealing with immigration enforcement, national security or public safety. It's the White House's second extension of the freeze since President Trump's order on his first day in office. By the time the freeze lifts, agencies will have been barred from hiring for nine months.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The FBI is being urged to step up its efforts to protect government officials from mobile cyber threats. In a new letter to the bureau, Senator Ron Wyden says its current spyware guidance isn't enough to protect against advanced cyber tools. He pointed to how spyware has been found on the phones of dozens of government employees.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal employees retirement savings grew at a healthy rate last month. New data from the Thrift Savings Plan shows all 15 funds saw higher rates of return in June as compared to May. Investors in the C and S funds were among biggest winners, seeing over a 5% rate of return for June. All the Lifecycle funds also posted a higher returns last month with the L 2055, L 2060 and L 2065 all seeing returns over 4.6%. Year to date, the big winner is the I Fund with a return rate of over 18%.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Senate Republicans want to limit the size of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. A new bill led by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton would cap ODNI at 650 full-time staff. ODNI started out the year with roughly 1,800 employees. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says she has already reduced ODNI's staff by roughly 25% since then. Cotton's legislation would deepen the cuts by eliminating several ODNI organizations including the National Counterintelligence and Security Center and the National Intelligence University. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Small Business Administration is launching an investigation into the 8(a) business development program seeking to root out possible fraud. SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler ordered the full-scale audit after a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation uncovered a years-long fraud and bribery scheme involving a former federal contracting officer and two 8(a) contractors. SBA's Office of General Contracting and Business Development will lead the audit, starting with reviewing high-dollar ad limited competition contracts. The review will go back 15 years and work with other agencies, which awarded 8(a) contracts. The Justice Department found recently $550 million in contracts were fraudulently steered through bribery and abuse of a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contracting officer, including to one 8(a) contractor who was officially flagged by USAID as lacking “honesty or integrity."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Senate is moving closer to finalizing the GOP's reconciliation bill. And a few provisions affecting federal employees remain on the table. One proposal that was partially struck down would have made new federal hires choose between at-will employment and a 10% increase in retirement contributions. But even after a decision from the Senate parliamentarian, the provision could still include a 5% across-the-board retirement contribution increase. The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association is urging lawmakers to remove the remaining federal workforce proposals, which it says will negatively impact employees. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A bipartisan bill to revise the rules for federal workers' compensation cases unanimously advanced out of a House committee this week. The legislation would revise the Federal Employees' Compensation Act to allow physician assistants and nurse practitioners to treat feds in workers' compensation cases. A previous version of the bill passed the House in 2022, but did not clear the Senate. Co-sponsors of the bill say they're hopeful it will pass both chambers this Congress. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Army is turning to the private sector to bolster its tech talent. The service has launched a new website to recruit “top-tier, uniquely skilled” technology professionals into the Army Reserve. The effort follows the creation of Detachment 201, a new program where four senior executives from tech giants like Palantir, Meta and OpenAI were commissioned into the Reserve to help the service integrate and scale commercial technology. According to the website, these Detachment 201 officers will “contribute to accelerating Army modernization, evaluating technology adoption and advising on scalable solutions to enhance tactical innovation and lethality.” The website includes a form that tech professionals can fill out to express interest in Army Detachment 201. 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 has arrested a Defense Department employee for removing classified documents from a Missile Defense Agency office in Huntsville, Alabama. Ewa Ciszak made her initial appearance in federal court Monday. Beginning in February, the FBI says Ciszack began taking classified documents from MDA facilities without authorization. A June 18 search warrant turned up multiple secret-level documents at her personal residence and in her vehicle and backpack. Ciszak had been employed at MDA since January 2023. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A top lawmaker is pressing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to immediately reverse his decision to gut the Pentagon's independent weapons testing office. In a letter to Hegseth, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren is demanding documentation justifying the cuts, the office's current oversight list, and how DoD is adhering to the statutory requirement for the office to be independent and whether the office will continue its cyber assessment program, In May, Hegseth instructed the director of operational test and evaluation office to “immediately eliminate any non-statutory” functions of the office, slashing the office's staff by 74% and its budget by nearly 80%. Warren said cutting this deep into the office can violate the law. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Democratic committee leaders are disputing the Trump administration's plans to shuffle components of the Education Department into the Labor Department. A group of four senators say moving career and technical education programs between agencies is not within the President's authority. The lawmakers reiterated that it's up to Congress to decide whether federal agencies should be rearranged or dismantled. They're demanding that the administration leave Education's programs as-is, since Congress has not approved the transition.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Both House and Senate lawmakers are looking to eliminate the IRS' free online tax filing platform. The Senate Finance Committee is proposing to axe Direct File as part of its contribution to the budget reconciliation bill. The House passed its version of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill last month which would also eliminate the Direct File program. Direct File had nearly 300,000 users during this year's tax filing season and saw higher favorability scores compared to last year's pilot. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Congressional Democrats are sounding the alarm over reports that a federal contractor is helping the Trump administration build a “mega-database” of sensitive government records. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are leading their colleagues in a letter to the company Palantir. The New York Times reports the company is building a single, searchable database of taxpayer records across multiple agencies. The lawmakers are asking for a full list of Palantir's federal contracts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Postal Service strikes a deal with another one of its unions. Members of the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association approved a tentative contract that lasts through 2027. About 67% of voting members approved the tentative agreement. Next up, the American Postal Workers Union which votes whether to approve its contract or not next month. Members of another union, the National Association of Letter Carriers voted against a tentative agreement with USPS in January. A third-party arbitrator eventually struck a deal with both parties.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Interior Department and the Forest Service are facing a deadline to consolidate their wildland fire programs. President Trump signed an executive order last week giving the agencies 90 days to combine their two offices into one. The White House says it will make wildland fire prevention and response efforts more efficient. But some federal wildland firefighters question the need for consolidating the programs when a larger response is already needed. The Forest Service lost about 1,400 qualified wildland firefighters over the last several months amid the Trump administration's workforce cuts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Participants in the Thrift Savings Plan will soon see a few changes to the TSP's Lifecycle, or “L,” Funds. Starting June 30th, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board will add an “L 2075” Fund. That's meant for any current or future federal employees who plan to retire during or after the year 2073. The TSP board will also be rolling over the current “L 2025” Fund into its broader Income Fund. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Civilian agencies have spent nearly 23% less during the first eight months of 2025 as compared to the same time period in 2024. The Department of DOGE Services says that means non-defense spending has been reduced by almost $25 billion. Overall non-defense agencies have obligated over $85 billion in 2025 down from $110 billion at this point last year. Some of the spending reduction comes from the cancellation of contracts, which DOGE says agencies have terminated more than 11,000. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Agriculture Department has cancelled hundreds of contracts under the Trump administration … including one that helped households locate food assistance programs. The nonprofit Hunger Free America says it ran an “information clearinghouse” of food assistance programs for USDA for more than a decade. But it claims in a lawsuit that USDA terminated the contract last month. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Postal Service is falling into pattern raising stamp prices each January and July. But its regulator is considering limits to those price increases. A proposed rule from the Postal Regulatory Commission would cap UPSP to only raising prices once per year. The regulator gave USPS the freedom to set mail prices higher than the rate of inflation in 2020 when the agency was at risk of running out of cash. USPS is planning to set the price of a first-class Forever stamp to 78 cents next month. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A separation health assessment administered to more than 50,000 service members found that about 67 percent of troops screened positive for at least one mental health condition. Post-traumatic stress disorder and depression were among the most common issues identified. A government watchdog found that over 50 percent of service members declined referrals to the DoD's inTransition program that provides mental health resources during transition periods. DoD officials told the Government Accountability Office that many factors may contribute to the high rate of positive screenings among separating service members, including that many intend to file disability claims.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More federal employees filed retirement papers with OPM in May than in the last three months. OPM says it received more than 15,000 claims last month, driving the backlog up over 21,000. The processing time for these retirement claims remain consistent at 49 days on average in May and 52 days on average for the entire 2025. The increase in applications comes as OPM is requiring agencies to send retirement paperwork only in digital formats by July 15. OPM launched two new tools this week to improve the retirement services process. One is a new platform for agency HR and payroll providers and another to modernize the Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF) platform.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Commerce Department dropped health insurance coverage for some recently fired employees sooner than promised, according to the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Acting Ranking Member Stephen Lynch says Commerce fired about 800 probationary employees under the Trump administration, and that some of them lost health coverage on April 8, days before they were officially fired. Commerce employees were briefly reinstated under a federal judge's order. But an appeals court allowed the firings to remain in effect. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

President Donald Trump's permanent pick to run the IRS is one step closer to taking office. The Senate Finance Committee advanced the nomination of former Missouri Congressman Billy Long. Democrats on the committee raised concerns that Long promoted tribal tax credits that don't exist, according to the Treasury Department and IRS. Long told lawmakers that if confirmed he'd help the IRS modernize its legacy IT systems. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Every fund but one in the Thrift Savings Plan saw positive returns last month. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The White House is not requesting an increase in pay for federal employees in fiscal 2026. President Donald Trump released more details of his budget request for next year late Friday afternoon. The appendix section of the budget proposals also includes provisions to continue the pay freeze for certain career Senior Executive Service members and political appointees. In all, the new budget document details more specific discretionary spending requests for each agency. Unlike the "skinny" budget released in early May, the administration did include funding requests for OPM, Education and independent agencies like CFBP.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The 19 agency inspectors general fired by President Donald Trump had a collective impact of saving the government more than $50 billion in fiscal 2024. New data from Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, shows the IGs played a key role in investigations and audits that uncovered significant fraud and abuse. Peters highlighted two examples: The Energy Department's IG who halted an illegal semiconductor export scheme, which led to the cancellation of $100 million in grants and the DoD IG who uncovered fraudulent financial practices targeting Gold Star families, leading to a 12-year prison sentence and a $1.4 million penalty. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.