Senate sets date for vote on 2026 defense policy bill

Policy, Senate, Vote, Defense, Bill, Sets, date, 2026

 

  • The Senate will vote on its version of the 2026 defense policy bill on Sept. 2. The House has not yet scheduled a floor vote on its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, though the House Committee on Rules has set an Aug. 28 deadline for lawmakers to file NDAA amendments. The Senate bill authorizes nearly $ 925 billion for national defense, while the House version aligns with the White House’s $ 883 billion request. Congress has passed the NDAA every year for the past 64 years.
  • In the absence of this year’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, agencies can still conduct their own internal surveys, But there’s not been much movement on that. The Office of Personnel Management said so far, it’s not aware of any agencies who are actually planning to survey their employees this year. OPM itself will not be conducting an internal survey. And the Department of Veterans Affairs said it will follow OPM’s lead by nixing its own employee survey too. Under federal regulations, agencies are required to ask their employees each year how they feel about job satisfaction, leadership, performance and more. But the consequences of not conducting a survey are unclear.
    (Update on federal employee surveys – Office of Personnel Management, Department of Veterans Affairs)
  • More information is coming forward about how dollars are spent in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program. A new report from the Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general finds that treatments for cancer and heart-related disorders have been two of the highest contributors to FEHB costs in recent years. Health care costs have been rising rapidly for the last few years. For 2025, FEHB premiums increased by an average of 13.5%. OPM is expected to publish the premium rates for 2026 this September, ahead of the annual Open Season.
  • The IRS is gathering public feedback on free tax filing options, including its own platform that’s at risk of elimination. The IRS launched a congressionally mandated survey asking taxpayers for their thoughts on Direct File. That’s the free, online tax filing option the IRS launched last year. It also asks for feedback about possible alternatives. The “Big, Beautiful Bill” President Donald Trump signed last month gave the Treasury Department $ 15 million to research alternatives to Direct File that would allow up to 70% of all taxpayers to file their tax returns for free.
  • The IRS is rescinding hundreds of deferred resignation offers to fill critical vacancies. The agency’s human resources offices says the IRS will allow some employees to rescind their deferred resignation applications, to fill critical vacancies. The agency plans to bring back a total of 700 revenue agents and officers. The IRS was on track to lose about 25% of its workforce largely through voluntary separation incentives. According to IRS employees, management told staff in a recent town hall that the agency “let too many people go.”
  • Agencies will soon be more strongly encouraged to resolve contract protests at the agency level and avoid the complaints going to GAO or the federal court. As part of the FAR rewrite, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council changed Part 33 to include new requirements for agency level protests. For example, agencies will be required to give vendors a redacted copy of the source selection decision and other information. The council believes these changes will increase confidence in the agency-level protest process by capturing more data and allowing for agency leaders to respond to procurement issues raised in protests. Comments on the changes are due by Oct. 6.
  • Google is upping the ante in the race to get agencies to use artificial intelligence tools. Google signed a new deal with the General Services Administration that provides access to its Gemini AI tool set for 47 cents per agency. This is more than half the cost of the deals that other AI companies signed with GSA over the last few weeks. Google’s agreement under the OneGov strategy will give agencies access to Google’s accredited commercial cloud services, Gemini models and agentic capabilities to also include enterprise search, video and image generation capabilities and pre-packaged AI agents on deep research, idea generation and more. Agencies will have access to this agreement through 2026.
    (Google signs new AI deal with GSA – General Services Administration)
  • The Pentagon’s watchdog said the Air Force failed to fully integrate data license rights into contract requirements for its major weapon system. A new audit found that while program management office personnel for one the programs successfully defined and documented data license rights in their contracts, the other three programs were unable to show evidence to support how they defined and validated the data requirements needed for acquisition. The report also found that some personnel did not consistently integrate data license rights into their contract requirements because Air Force acquisition officials do not require personnel to attend training on intellectual property and data license rights. The watchdog recommended intellectual property policy changes. Air Force leaders have yet to fully address the inspector general’s recommendations.

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