Firefighters get what they want in the new Defense Authorization law

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne. Like much of the legislation enacted in the past couple of years, the National Defense Authorization Act has something for everybody. That includes the nation’s federal and military firefighters. For more, the Federal Drive turned to the president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Edward Kelly. Interview transcript: Tom Temin Let’s just establish that the NDAA mainly concerned federal firefighters, military firefighters, but they are also represented by your union. Edward…

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The Family-Separation Files

The Atlantic is publishing a collection of key internal government documents related to the Trump administration’s family-separation policy, known as Zero Tolerance. The records informed the reporting of my cover story on how it came to be and who was responsible. Our hope is to introduce greater transparency around a policy that gravely harmed thousands of families and whose development and intent were concealed from the public for years. During the Trump administration, more than 5,000 migrant children were taken from their parents as part of a dubious and ineffectual…

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CDC Urges Teachers, Administrators, School Nurses to Adopt LGBT Curriculum, Endorse Transgender Identity

Just days after Christmas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention republished a “self-assessment tool” urging teachers, administrators, school health staff, and others to become an “awesome ally” by advocating for LGBT causes in school. The document cites multiple LGBT activist groups, including a division of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The CDC did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment about the document, which it originally published in October 2020. “School administrators: Our LGBTQ inclusivity self-assessment tool can help you quickly gauge inclusivity at your school,”…

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The more industry peels open the omnibus bill, the stranger it looks

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne. The omnibus budget package is a lot more than a bill to fund government operations. Congress stuffed its five thousand pages with tax and business provisions. Some have real impact. For what federal contractors have discovered so far, the Federal Drive turned to the executive vice president for policy at the Professional Services Council, Stephanie Kostro. Interview transcript: Tom Temin And you and the council and your member companies have several themes…

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How Politics Compounded a Hostage Family’s Grief

On Friday, December 2, Elizabeth Whelan was at home on Chappaquiddick, off Massachusetts, when she received a text message from a State Department official—a representative from the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs—asking when she might be available for a visit. He had news concerning her youngest brother, Paul. “I thought, Okay, this is either one of those routine check-ins or something’s up and it’s probably not good news,” Elizabeth told me. Five days later, the official (whom she declined to name) arrived at her home. “It…

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