hiring | Voter.org

Trump’s NOAA nominee: Ongoing hiring freeze lift ‘challenging’ for its mission

July 9, 2025 freeze, lift, ongoing, NOAA, Mission, Nominee, challenging, hiring, trumps0 comment

President Donald Trump’s pick to run the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told lawmakers that if confirmed, adequate staffing for the agency will be paramount in preparation for major budget cuts next year. Neil Jacobs, Trump’s nominee to serve as NOAA administrator, told members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that a governmentwide hiring freeze, recently extended to Oct. 15, has made it “challenging” for the agency to meet certain parts of its mission. Jacobs on Wednesday told lawmakers that staffing up NOAA will be a “top priority,”…

More federal hiring reforms to come, as Congress passes Chance to Compete Act

December 17, 2024 Passes, chance, Reforms, hiring, compete, Congress, more, federal, come0 comment

A bipartisan bill to reform the way federal agencies recruit and hire their employees is heading to President Joe Biden’s desk for a signature. Congress has passed the Chance to Compete Act, a bill that will codify skills-based hiring practices for the federal workforce. The House cleared the bill Monday evening by voice vote, following shortly after the Senate’s passage of the companion legislation late last week. Once enacted, the Chance to Compete Act will require agencies to conduct technical and skills-based assessments of federal job candidates, rather than the…

State Dept sees record hiring, but seeks higher budgets through 2030 to fully replenish ranks

November 13, 2023 hiring, 'fully, budgets, state, 2030, record, replenish, Dept., sees, seeks, through, higher, ranks0 comment

The State Department is bringing in a record volume of new hires, but is calling on lawmakers for increased budgets through the end of the decade to fully replenish its ranks. Richard Verma, deputy secretary of state for management and resources, said last Thursday that the department saw about a 7% increase in its budget for FY 2022, and saw another 7% spending increase in FY 2023. Verma said those funding increases allowed the department to recruit and grow its workforce “in a way that we haven’t done for many…

VHA on track to meet 2023 staffing targets, but House lawmakers urge further hiring reforms

May 17, 2023 2023, staffing, House, urge, Lawmakers, Track, Meet, Targets, Reforms, hiring, Further0 comment

Ongoing recruitment challenges for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ health care workforce are gaining more attention — and concerns — from Congress. The Veterans Health Administration is on track to reach its year-end target increase for its total number of employees. But problems persist in VHA’s hiring and onboarding processes, lawmakers on the House Veterans Affairs Committee said. “We all know that this is a crisis situation. It was a crisis before COVID. It’s a bigger crisis now. And we have to treat it accordingly and work on this in…

Reintroduced bills aim to fix hiring process, Social Security benefits for feds

January 25, 2023 Reintroduced, security, Social, benefits, bills, Feds, Process, hiring0 comment

Lawmakers have teed up two familiar bills that differ in their priorities, but that both have implications for federal employees, as well as retirees from the public sector. The first bill, the Chance to Compete Act, aims to revamp longstanding challenges in the federal hiring process. The House passed the bill Tuesday evening in a vote of 422 to 2. The bipartisan legislation would expand the use of shared assessments among different agencies, in effect trying to expand cross-agency hiring. Also under the legislation, subject matter experts (SMEs) would be…

Biden’s pick for OPM deputy director addresses concerns about federal hiring, retirement processing

October 5, 2022 deputy, processing, about, director, federal, retirement, pick, Addresses, concerns, hiring, Biden's0 comment

President Joe Biden’s nominee for second-in-command at the Office of Personnel Management, Rob Shriver, shared his priorities for the federal workforce with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. During a Sept. 29 nomination hearing, the committee raised concerns about the future of telework, the federal hiring process and delays in retirement processing — all of which are involved in OPM’s mission. Telework was a prominent issue for a few of the committee members. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) asked Shriver about the governmentwide telework policy for agencies, saying that…