New bill calls for penalizing career federal workers for policy resistance

  A new bill in the House would penalize career federal employees who don’t follow directives from a presidential administration. The so-called STRAFE Act would require agencies to report any policy resistance from federal employees to the White House. The penalties for violations would be on par with the consequences for Hatch Act violations. Texas Republican August Pfluger, who introduced the bill, said it’s meant to combat what he described as employees’ “coordinated resistance” to policies during the former Trump administration. It’s the same phenomenon that former Trump officials have…

Read More...

Proposed 2% federal pay raise gets support in 2025 defense authorization bill

With both Senate and House lawmakers advancing legislation that aligns with President Joe Biden’s 2% federal pay raise request, civilian federal employees appear to be a step closer to a smaller pay bump for 2025. The Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act last week showed support for a 2% raise for DoD civilian workers and a 4.5% raise for military members. In a vote of 22-3 on June 13, committee lawmakers advanced the 2025 NDAA to the full Senate for consideration. The House…

Read More...

Senators delay federal telework bill to consider adding work-from-home supervision

A few senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are digging in their heels on a federal telework bill, calling for more “accountability” of teleworking employees governmentwide. On a list of bills HSGAC considered for advancement Wednesday morning, the Telework Transparency Act aims to paint a clearer picture of telework across agencies. But during the committee’s consideration of the legislation, more questions than answers came up among members. There appeared to be at least some agreement among committee members on the intent of the legislation, but pushback from several…

Read More...

Senate bill would require feds to increase the amount of time they spend in the office

A pair of senators is looking to get feds back to the office even more. If enacted, the Back to Work Act would require federal employees to spend 60% of their work hours in the office. It would mean a slight increase from the current in-person policy at many agencies, right now at about 50% in-the-office. Lawmakers say the bill is a way to address federal office space concerns, while still allowing for *some telework flexibility. Under the legislation, agencies would also have to monitor teleworking employees. They’d also have…

Read More...

Passing 2025 defense spending bill will be ‘particularly difficult’

While passing the 2024 defense budget was arduous as lawmakers struggled to agree on government funding plans for nearly six months into the fiscal year, negotiating the 2025 defense spending is shaping up to be “particularly difficult.” The Pentagon proposed a fiscal 2025 budget of $ 849.8 billion, about 1% higher than this year’s budget request. The top line figure aligns with the Fiscal Responsibility Act passed last year, which sets limits on defense and non-defense discretionary spending. Defense officials said the 1% increase would not be enough to cover…

Read More...

USPS unions, top House Democrat back bill setting harsher sentences for robbing letter carriers

Ryan Pierani remembers getting robbed when he used to deliver pizzas. But he never expected to be robbed on the job while delivering mail and packages, as a letter carrier for the Postal Service. “When you carry cash on you, you always expect to be robbed,” Pierani, now a letter carrier in Cincinnati, Ohio, said in an interview Wednesday. “You have to be on high alert, and it happens here and there.” But Pierani wasn’t on guard, when a young man approached his USPS-marked delivery van in January 2022. He…

Read More...