Category: Congress

DoD-commissioned report seeks to overhaul confusing reserve duty status system

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More than 30 different duty statuses under which National Guard members and reservists can be called to service could be consolidated into just four categories, a new Defense Department-commissioned report found.  Unlike active-duty troops who remain in one status, reservists and National Guard members move between multiple duty statuses depending on the type of service they perform. Over time, the system has grown to include more than 30 separate statutes scattered across about 20 different titles of federal law, creating inequities in pay and benefits and frequent administrative delays when…

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How the Evidence Act pushed agencies to make data a strategic asset

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What: The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act When: Passed by Congress and signed into law in January 2019 Why it matters: The Evidence Act required agencies to name chief data officers focused on improving data quality, data management, data governance and data stewardship. To celebrate our 25th anniversary in 2025, we’re spotlighting 25 pivotal moments that reshaped the way the government operates. Visit our anniversary page each week as we look back on these defining moments. The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act set agencies down a path of using an…

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Trump removes Billy Long as IRS commissioner, giving him the shortest-ever tenure in the role

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has removed former U.S. Rep. Billy Long as IRS commissioner less than two months after his confirmation, a White House official said Friday. It was not immediately clear why Long was dismissed. His quick exit makes him the shortest-tenured IRS commissioner confirmed by the Senate since the position was created in 1862. Long said in a social media post that Trump had nominated him for an ambassadorship. “It is a honor to serve my friend President Trump and I am excited to take on…

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House committee’s top Democrat presses for details on HHS layoffs

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The top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee is renewing his call for details about the reductions in force that have taken place at the Department of Health and Human Services. In a letter sent to HHS on Monday, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the committee’s ranking member, pressed HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to explain how the layoffs of thousands of federal employees this year are impacting the agency’s mission. “As a result of these actions, operations of vital programs are in jeopardy — threatening to deprive…

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GAO responds to Congress on suggested changes to the bid protest function

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Interview transcript: Terry Gerton So we’re going to talk about Section 885. It’s in the 2025 National Defense Authorization. It got some press when that bill was passed. Can you refresh our memory about what this requires? Eric Crusius Sure, and this kind of has a longer history. For many years, Congress has been looking at curtailing protests and seeing if protests kind of get in the way of the efficient use of the procurement system, so to speak. There was a Section 809 panel a number of years ago.…

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Lawmakers push to eliminate TRICARE premiums for dependents under 26

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A bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers wants to bring TRICARE in line with most civilian health insurance plans by allowing military dependents to remain on their parents’ coverage until age 26 without paying additional premiums. The legislation, dubbed the “Health Care Fairness for Military Families Act,” aims to align TRICARE eligibility with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which requires most civilian insurance plans to cover dependents until they turn 26 at no extra cost. The bill has bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate. Under current TRICARE rules,…

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