House panel flexing its oversight muscles over JADC2 and CIO office

One subcommittee focused on cyber issues is flexing its oversight muscles in its proposals for the 2023 defense authorization bill, trying to get to the bottom of slow IT and investigating the Defense Department’s overhaul of its command and control system. The House Armed Services Cyber, Innovative Technologies and Information Systems Subcommittee is asking the government’s watchdog to take a look at the Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) program. JADC2 is a huge undertaking that will change the way the military delivers its power by using shared data…

Read More...

House Republicans look to get feds back to the office

<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>Some Republican lawmakers want to press pause on making remote work permanent. <a href=”https://herrell.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-herrell-introduces-show-act-ensure-federal-workforce-provides-timely” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-N.M.)</a> calls on agencies to give Congress a plan to address the adverse effects of remote work. The SHOW UP Act would require federal agencies to fully return to pre-pandemic telework policies, bringing employees back to the office. The bill…

Read More...

Lawmakers raise concerns about EEOC return to office plans

As some agencies start to reenter office spaces, lawmakers are raising concerns about return-to-office plans for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-Va.), ranking member on the Committee on Education and Labor, and James Comer (R-Ky.), ranking member on the Committee on Oversight and Reform, said the lag on reentry would delay the commission’s ability to efficiently review and resolve discrimination charges. “We are unaware of any plan for the commission to return the remainder of its workforce of approximately 2,000 employees to in-person service,” the authors said…

Read More...

Returning to the office will not solve the backlogs lawmakers are worried about

Republicans having been trying to coerce agencies to bring employees back to the office for the better part of the last year. Each of the previous bills, like Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s (R-Texas) and Sen. Roger Marshall’s (R-Kan.) bills from August that would have required agencies to return to the telework policies of Feb. 14, 2020, or the most recent one from Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) that would require agencies to reinstate their telework policies used before the COVID-19 pandemic as of Dec. 19, 2019, never moved from the starting line.…

Read More...

Patrick Leahy, longest serving US senator still in office, announces he won’t seek reelection

(CNN)Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and the longest serving US senator still in office, announced Monday he won’t seek reelection for a ninth term next year, after serving in the chamber since 1975. “While I will continue to serve Vermont, Marcelle and I have reached a conclusion: it is time to put down the gavel,” said Leahy, referring to his wife. “It is time to pass the torch to the next Vermonter, who’ll carry on this work for our great state. It’s time to come home.” “I will not run…

Read More...