Category: Congress

An influential Congressional staffer is now a NAPA fellow

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Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne. Among this year’s fellows added to the National Academy of Public Administration are several still-working, senior federal employees. One of them is prominent on Capitol Hill and the Federal Drive with Tom Temin had a chance to conduct this extended 17-minute interview with her. She’s Wendy Ginsberg, staff director for the Subcommittee on Government Operations of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Interview transcript: Tom Temin: Staff director on a subcommittee. What…

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The Senate has returned and will try to focus on the NDAA

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Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne. The Senate is back in session today from recess mainly to work on the annual defense authorization bill. Traditionally, Congress sends this bill to the president before the end of the calendar year. For more on this and what else is happening in Congress, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin  turned to WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent, Mitchell Miller. Interview transcript:  Tom Temin: Mitchell, let’s start with the NDAA. The Senate is the one…

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For 2023, federal retirees will see largest COLA increase in over 40 years

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Federal retirees and Social Security recipients are about to get the largest increase in their cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in over four decades. The COLA will increase 8.7% for 2023, the Social Security Administration announced on Oct. 13. But not all federal retirees will see that amount added to their checks. Those in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) will receive a 7.7% COLA starting in January. The large COLA announcement for 2023 is no surprise, given high rates of inflation and climbing consumer prices this year, said Ken Thomas, national…

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Federal building security agency short-staffed amid rise in threats

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Federal employees and their office buildings are facing an increase in threats at a time when the agency sworn to protect them is running into challenges to fill law enforcement vacancies. The Federal Protective Service secures 9,500 federal buildings across the country. But FPS Principal Deputy Director Kris Cline said last month that about 21% of its authorized positions remain vacant, and that filling them is a “continued challenge.” Cline said told the oversight subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee that FPS has an authorized end strength of 1,131 law enforcement…

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Biden’s pick for OPM deputy director addresses concerns about federal hiring, retirement processing

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President Joe Biden’s nominee for second-in-command at the Office of Personnel Management, Rob Shriver, shared his priorities for the federal workforce with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. During a Sept. 29 nomination hearing, the committee raised concerns about the future of telework, the federal hiring process and delays in retirement processing — all of which are involved in OPM’s mission. Telework was a prominent issue for a few of the committee members. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) asked Shriver about the governmentwide telework policy for agencies, saying that…

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Biden signs continuing resolution into law averting government shutdown, FDA furloughs

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President Joe Biden signed a short-term continuing resolution bill into law on Friday, averting a partial government shutdown. The House passed the bill earlier in the afternoon. The Senate passed the CR on Thursday after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) agreed to drop a provision in an earlier version of the CR that would streamline the permitting process for energy projects. The bill funds the federal government through Dec. 16 and gives Congress more time to work out a comprehensive spending package for the rest of fiscal 2023. The continuing resolution…

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