Tag: increase

Colorado’s First-in-the-Nation Bill to Decriminalize Prostitution Would Increase Human Trafficking, Critics Claim

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Colorado Democrats have filed a bill that could make it the first state to decriminalize prostitution, and critics warn that the bill would make the Centennial State the “Wild West” for purchasing sex and lead to an increase in human trafficking. “We have a billion-dollar budget shortfall here in Colorado, and so there’s a lot of talk about budget and affordability and cost of living,” Jarvis Caldwell, the Republican minority leader in the state House of Representatives, told The Daily Signal in an interview Wednesday. “This isn’t the Republicans’ idea…

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Hicks presses Congress to increase support for Replicator, RDER

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Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks on Wednesday sent a pointed message to Congress at the NDIA emerging technologies conference, saying that congressional trust will “need to substantially expand” when it comes to the department’s innovation programs. “Take Replicator,” Hicks said. “We’ve done nearly 40 Hill briefings since last October, averaging almost one a week.” “On an initiative that represents 0.059 percent of DoD’s budget — that depth of engagement isn’t scalable for Congress across the breadth of what we’re all trying to accomplish.” Replicator, unveiled last August, is Hicks’…

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

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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…

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Amid safety concerns, AFGE urges Congress to increase Bureau of Prisons funding

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Union officials are urging Congress to provide more funding to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. BOP has spent years struggling with staff attrition, and safety and security issues. The American Federation of Government Employees said the fiscal 2024 budget for BOP, as part of the recent government funding deal, would only worsen the agency’s current 40% staffing shortage. And AFGE warned that a 38% cut to funding for facility maintenance would make federal prisons more dangerous environments for both employees and inmates. (BOP needs more funding, not Less, to address…

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For 2023, federal retirees will see largest COLA increase in over 40 years

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Federal retirees and Social Security recipients are about to get the largest increase in their cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in over four decades. The COLA will increase 8.7% for 2023, the Social Security Administration announced on Oct. 13. But not all federal retirees will see that amount added to their checks. Those in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) will receive a 7.7% COLA starting in January. The large COLA announcement for 2023 is no surprise, given high rates of inflation and climbing consumer prices this year, said Ken Thomas, national…

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