Updated
Management
Coast Guard leader fired by new DHS officials
Commandant Linda Fagan had received bipartisan criticisms from members of Congress who accused the USCG of resisting oversight.
Pay & Benefits
Democrats introduce bills to provide feds 4.3% average pay raise in 2026, standardize retiree COLAs
Lawmakers have reintroduced annual bills aimed at setting a marker for the upcoming federal pay raise debate and to end bifurcated cost-of-living increases for federal retirees.
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Oversight
Inspectors general have a new bipartisan caucus in the Senate
The president-elect has a record of removing inspectors general.
Workforce
House Oversight Republicans open Congress with rants against telework, unions
The first hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was ostensibly about telework yet frequently devolved into anti-union rhetoric.
Defense
‘I know what I don’t know,’ defense secretary pick says at confirmation hearing
Pete Hegseth faced questions about his inexperience and fitness as a leader.
Workforce
Ernst targets D.C.-area federal workers with trio of bills
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, proposed legislation this week that would force agencies to move 30% of their D.C.-based workforce out of the region, mandate telework tracking, and push agencies to move their headquarters out of the nation’s capital.
Oversight
Top Oversight Democrat says he’s open to collaborate with the DOGE
The new Department of Government Efficiency — which, despite the “department” referenced in its name, is an advisory effort, not a government department — has aims to trim the federal workforce and hunt efficiencies in tech and fraud reduction efforts.
Oversight
Energy Dept. watchdog reports that travel expense violations in secretary’s criticized EV road trip caused by lack of oversight and knowledge
House Republicans blasted the trip as “ripe with waste, fraud and abuse,” but the report found that some of the violations cost the federal government less than $100.
Oversight
Coast Guard is resisting oversight of mishandled sexual misconduct cases, lawmakers say
Congressional inquires were spurred by revelations that the Coast Guard did not disclose an investigation into possible sexual assaults at its service academy.
Tech
Here are the tech bills the 118th Congress passed right before the new session
Some proposed tech legislation didn’t make it into law.
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News
Johnson retains speakership, pledges to roll back 'totalitarian' administrative state
Some Republicans were concerned that a contested speaker election could delay implementation of Trump’s agenda.
Transition
Musk and Ramaswamy to confront Congress in struggle for control of the public purse
The duo will need to garner support from hundreds of members of Congress for any of their suggested spending cuts as co-chairs of the nongovernmental Department of Government Efficiency, to become law. That is an uphill slog many have failed at before.
Breaking News
Management
Congress averts shutdown with three-month stopgap at 11th hour
The Senate sent the bill to the president's desk after the deadline, but shutdown activities had ceased.
Updated
Management
Agencies begin sending furlough notices as shutdown nears
House Republicans are closing in on a plan C to avert agency closures, but its fate remains uncertain.
Management
Government shutdowns hurt federal worker morale, long after paychecks resume − especially for those considered ‘nonessential’
COMMENTARY | People don’t leave government because of a single event like a shutdown, but negative experiences accumulate over time.
Workforce
Federal employee unions dismayed—but not surprised—by sudden shutdown threat
President-elect Trump and Elon Musk on Wednesday blew up a bipartisan deal to fund the government past this week, increasing the odds of a government shutdown Saturday.
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Management
Latest Republican plan to avert government shutdown fails with one day until agencies shutter
Republicans had hoped a stopgap measure that suspended the debt ceiling would earn Democratic support and avoid Trump’s wrath, but Congress remains on a shutdown path.
Management
Trump seeks to spike stopgap funding bill, sending Congress into chaos days before shutdown
A short-term spending bill appeared dead less than 24 hours after its introduction and less than three days before agencies must shutter.
Pay & Benefits
Bill to repeal windfall elimination provision clears a key Senate hurdle
The Senate voted 73-27 to invoke cloture on the Social Security Fairness Act, clearing the way for a final vote to pass the bill later this week.
Management