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Sen. Ernst bill would monitor federal employee computer use

December 13, 2024 would, Sen., Monitor, federal, Bill, computer, Ernst, employee0 comment

Republican lawmakers are taking aim at where federal employees work, how well they work and what it takes to fire them. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) introduced or plan to introduce several bills that would impact federal employees in multiple ways. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) introduced two bills focused on federal workers and telework. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File) Ernst, the chairwoman of the Senate’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) caucus, would move at least 30% of all employees at the Small Business Administration out of Washington,…

New bill calls for penalizing career federal workers for policy resistance

October 30, 2024 Policy, calls, federal, workers, Bill, Resistance, career, penalizing0 comment

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…

Another federal rule lands in court

October 2, 2024 rule, lands, Court, another, federal0 comment

A Supreme Court decision earlier this year overturned the notion that courts should defer to federal agency regulatory authority when agencies make rules to carry out vaguely-written laws. It was known as the Chevron doctrine. The case that sparked the change is known as Loper. Loper is the fishing boat operator that didn’t want to pay for a federal monitor it was forced to let aboard its boat. Now several parties are suing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency that made the rule that sparked the Loper case.…

Federal firefighters could see bigger paychecks next year

July 14, 2024 could, year, Next, federal, Bigger, firefighters, paychecks0 comment

House appropriators are taking steps that could give federal firefighters a permanent pay raise. Fiscal 2025 spending legislation advanced this week, and it includes about 300 million dollars to boost pay for firefighters working at the Interior Department and the Forest Service. Although House Democrats opposed many of the GOP’s proposed spending cuts, they came out in favor of the pay raise for the frontline workers. Federal firefighters currently have a temporary pay boost, but many advocates have been pushing to make the raise permanent. (House Appropriations Committee – Fiscal…

The federal workforce is growing, as House appropriators consider agency spending cuts

July 2, 2024 House, growing, cuts, spending, federal, Agency, consider, workforce, appropriators0 comment

With a net gain of more than 80,000 civilian employees during fiscal 2023, the federal workforce posted yet another year of growth. Between 2019 and 2023, more than 140,000 employees joined the civil service, an increase of about 7%, according to data that the non-partisan, non-profit Partnership for Public Service compiled and released this week. The majority of the growth in the past couple of years occurred in 2023 alone — the federal workforce grew by 4% in just that one year, the Partnership said. The latest increase brings the…

Flurry of House activity on 2025 federal spending, but not much bipartisanship

June 24, 2024 House, spending, federal, bipartisanship, much, 2025, flurry, activity0 comment

In the House, it’s one down and 11 to go for the appropriations bills that make up the federal budget for 2025. And lawmakers are set to make a lot of progress over the next several weeks, with an aggressive schedule of votes coming up. Loren Duggan is Deputy News Director at Bloomberg Government spoke with Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Interview Transcript: Loren Duggan This is the latest week that’s very spending focused in the House. As you mentioned, three of the…