Legislation | Voter.org

Senate Democrats seek to restore, strengthen PMF program with new legislation

May 18, 2025 restore, Legislation, strengthen, Democrats, Senate, seek, Program0 comment

Two Senate Democrats hope to reinstate the recently eliminated Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program and permanently secure the nearly 50-year-old effort for recruiting and retaining federal talent. The Training Aspiring Leaders Emerging Now to Serve, or TALENTS Act, which Sens. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced Thursday, would reestablish the PMF program. The bill comes in response to President Donald Trump eliminating the PMF program by executive order in February. Under the TALENTS Act, the PMF program would not only be restored, but also codified in federal regulations, effectively…

Legislation to axe locality pay for teleworking feds gets Senate companion

October 26, 2024 Legislation, Feds, teleworking, locality, companion, Senate, gets0 comment

Senate legislation targeting locality pay for federal teleworkers now has a companion bill in the House. If enacted, the Federal Employee Return to Work Act would remove locality pay for any federal employee who teleworks at least one day a week. Federal teleworkers would instead only receive their base pay rates. The House bill, introduced this week, comes after Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) introduced the legislation in August. The Republican-led bill is one of many efforts to scale back telework options for federal employees. (Federal Employee Return to Work Act…

California Considers Legislation Concealing Students’ Gender Transitions From Parents

May 31, 2024 California, Considers, transitions, Legislation, Students, gender, parents, Concealing, from0 comment

In November, a poll found 68% of Americans across party lines thought parents should be notified “if their child changes their gender identification or preferred pronouns at school.” And while some are shocked this is a controversial topic to begin with, many are not-so shocked to learn the state of California has proved to be an epicenter of these debates. When the Chino Valley Unified School District board, led by President Sonja Shaw, met in July to discuss a potential policy that would require parental notification if their children attempted gender transitions…

Whistleblower protection legislation stalls amid congressional chaos

February 21, 2024 Amid, congressional, Legislation, protection, Stalls, chaos, 'whistleblower'0 comment

Whistleblower protection legislation often has bipartisan support. Yet it seems to take forever. A bill to extend federal protections to contractors was supposed to get marked up in January in the House Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. But now it is sidelined. For more, the Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Joe Spielberger, the policy counsel at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO). Interview Transcript: Tom Temin And this new bill, then is pretty significant. Let’s talk about the bill itself. What does it purport to do…

This legislation would turn Veterans Affairs whistleblower policy into law

July 1, 2022 'whistleblower', Policy, would, into, This, veterans, Legislation, turn, Affairs0 comment

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on <a href=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/federal-drive-with-tom-temin/id1270799277?mt=2″>Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href=”https://www.podcastone.com/federal-drive-with-tom-temin?pid=1753589″>PodcastOne</a>. In an agency as large as Veterans Affairs, with a third of a million employees, there is no shortage of things to go wrong. Often it’s whistleblowers that point them out, often to the Office of Inspector General. Now a bipartisan bill that passed the House would ensure continuance of a policy that every VA employee received training by the OIG to learn how to report alleged wrongdoing. For more…

DeSantis is raking in the DeVos family fortune in large part thanks to his anti-CRT legislation

April 4, 2022 antiCRT, large, Legislation, part, family, Thanks, fortune, DeVos, Raking, DeSantis0 comment

It’s no surprise that President Trump’s former Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, and her family would back Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential run. Because of course this family with practically zero experience in actual education are big fans of DeSantis’ ongoing war against teaching real American history (in all its brutality) and education that includes discussing gender differences and sexual orientation in classrooms. RELATED STORY: A tiny, largely unknown Christian college is at the epicenter of today’s dark conservative movement According to reporting from Salon, DeSantis’ campaign records show that between the middle…