Category: Congress

Reducing the government’s real property portfolio: Meeting the moment

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The hybrid and remote work paradigms spawned by COVID, coupled with the severe downsizing of the federal workforce, are resulting in a surfeit of federal office space, both owned and leased. Add the aging of the federal inventory and the growing cost and impact of decades of deferred maintenance, and literally hundreds of government properties nationwide have the potential to be vacated and disposed of. And yet, in the world of federal real estate, there persists the sense that despite all the alignment on the requirement for action, the government…

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VA in 2026 looks to get EHR rollout back on track, embark on health care reorganization

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The Department of Veterans Affairs is embarking on major changes next year. It’s looking to get the rocky rollout of a new Electronic Health Record back on track. VA medical facilities already using the system have been beset with problems for years. Meanwhile, the VA is planning to roll out the biggest reorganization of its health care operations in decades. Here’s a look ahead at VA’s plans for 2026. VA EHR next steps VA is planning for its new EHR from Oracle-Cerner to go live at 13 sites in 2026…

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Senate confirms GSA leader, top tech official, raft of DoD nominees

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The Senate approved 97 Trump administration appointees before leaving town for the holidays on Thursday, with the confirmed list including top officials at the Defense Department, the General Services Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The vote on Thursday leaves just 15 nominations awaiting confirmation in the Senate heading into 2026. It also brings the total number of confirmed presidential appointees to 417 so far in Trump’s second term. Tech officials confirmed Ethan Klein was confirmed to serve as the fifth U.S. chief technology officer and as associate director…

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Trump’s ‘Warrior Dividend’ for troops is housing money approved by Congress

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President Donald Trump’s “Warrior Dividend” bonus for service members, which he suggested would be funded by tariff revenue, is actually a one-time basic allowance for housing stipend already approved by Congress, according to a senior administration official. The $ 1,776 bonus payment Trump announced while addressing the nation Wednesday night will be paid using funds Congress appropriated to the Defense Department in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was passed into law in July, to supplement the basic allowance for housing. Congress appropriated $ 2.9 billion to supplement the…

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New York Democratic Rep. Nydia Velázquez says she won’t run for reelection in 2026

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NEW YORK (AP) — New York Rep. Nydia Velázquez — a trailblazer known by the nickname “La Luchadora” or the fighter — announced Thursday that she will retire next year after more than three decades in Congress. Velázquez, 72, is the second long-serving New York Democrat to say she’ll step aside after Rep. Jerry Nadler, 78, announced in September that he’d exit at the end of his current term. Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress, said representing the people of New York City has been the…

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Lawmakers to finalize NDAA by week’s end, bring the bill to the floor in early December

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House and Senate negotiators are racing to finalize the 2026 defense policy bill by the end of the week, with all House and Senate Armed Services Committee disputes resolved and only a few Senate jurisdictional details still holding the legislation’s advancement to the House floor in early December. “I think what they’re doing is, there’s been a couple of pencils-down time frames, but it sounds like it’ll be done by the end of the week. That’s what the focus is. Get it done by the end of the week, and…

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