What the House appropriations bill means for a federal pay raise

House appropriators have aligned with President Joe Biden’s proposed 4.6% federal pay raise. The fiscal 2023 financial services and general government bill, which the House Appropriations Committee advanced on June 24 in a vote of 31 to 22, makes no mention of the pay raise proposal for federal employees. Similar to their silence last year, House appropriators’ lack of comment on the federal pay raise essentially endorses the White House’s 4.6% proposal from March’s budget request. In 2022, federal employees received a pay raise of 2.7% on average. Military service…

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Federal workers injured on the job may soon have more treatment options

<p><em>To listen to the Federal Newscast on your phone or mobile device, subscribe in <a href=”https://www.podcastone.com/federal-newstalk?showAllEpisodes=true”>PodcastOne</a> or <a href=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/federal-newscast/id1053077930?mt=2″>Apple Podcasts</a>. The best listening experience on desktop can be found using Chrome, Firefox or Safari.</em></p> <ul> <li>Federal workers who get injured on the job may soon have better access to workers&#8217; compensation. The House <a href=”https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2022233″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>passes legislation</a> that would expand federal employees&#8217; choice of medical providers. The act would cover the cost of medical care for injured federal workers who seek treatment from physician assistants and nurse practitioners. The current law limits…

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Biden blasted from all sides for opening more federal land to oil, natural gas drilling

The Biden administration is under fire for opening the door to selling new leases on public lands for oil and natural gas drilling but at a higher cost to producers, resulting in opposition from climate groups and the energy industry alike. The Department of the Interior (DOI) announced Friday it … The Washington Times stories: White House

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An old hand at federal budgeting analyzes what the 2023 proposal really says

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne Nearly every agency would see more money in 2023 under the Biden administration’s top line request, but it also shows the increasing pressure of the so-called discretionary spending, as mandatory spending expands. As part of our ongoing analysis of the skinny budget, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turns to former federal budget official, now the managing director of Grant Thornton public sector, Doug Criscitello. Interview transcript: Tom Temin: Doug, good to have…

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9 Reasons Not to Pass Yet Another Federal COVID-19 ‘Relief’ Spending Package

Now almost two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and after $ 6.6 trillion in total federal spending on it—the equivalent of $ 51,600 per household—some policymakers want to pass yet another so-called COVID-19 relief package. Not only has Congress already spent more than it should have, some of the previous COVID-19 relief spending is actually hurting our economy today by adding to problems like rising costs, supply chain problems, and an unprecedented labor shortage. The following are nine reasons why Washington should not enact any more COVID-19 spending. 1)…

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18 More Federal Agencies Eye Making Vaccine Religious-Objector Lists

This week, we revealed that an obscure federal agency plans to keep lists of the “personal religious information” employees who had religious objections to the federal employee vaccine mandate. As it turns out, the little-known Pre-trial Services Agency for the District of Columbia isn’t the only federal agency involved. As we feared, a whole-of-government effort looks to be underway. A little digging at the Federal Register revealed that there are at least 19 total federal agencies—including five cabinet level agencies—that have created or proposed to create these tracking lists for…

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