Oversight
As Trump administration cries ‘fraud,’ experts worry it does more harm than good
“It’s dismaying,” one longtime anti-fraud expert told Nextgov/FCW of how the administration is using fraud as rationale but firing the watchdogs that are tasked with finding it.
Workforce
NTEU, White House spar over whether unions can challenge their ouster administratively
The Trump administration contends unions can seek review of their ouster from most federal agencies on national security grounds before the Federal Labor Relations Authority, but labor groups say that analysis misconstrues a term of art in federal labor law.
Workforce
Trump defends cutting nearly 300,000 feds from their ‘boring’ jobs
The president claimed without evidence that all federal workers forced out during his first year back were now in “better” jobs in factories making double or triple their government salary.
Management
‘Harder days ahead in 2026’: Good government group predicts increased political interference in the civil service in Trump’s second year
A new analysis from the Partnership for Public Service looks at the effects, so far, of the Trump administration’s reforms to the federal workforce and what they could portend.
Defense
I ‘did not expect to be told to build a battleship,’ Navy’s surface warfare director says
The Trump administration’s priorities are forcing the service to rethink its shipbuilding plans.
Workforce
Probationary appeal rights under further threat by OPM proposal
Under proposed rules issued last week, newly hired federal workers would no longer be able to appeal adverse actions to the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Management
White House creates new assistant attorney general focused on fraud
The vice president told reporters the new position will also be involved in addressing “the people who are defrauding the United States by inciting violence against our law enforcement officers” after an ICE agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Tech
BEAD changes broke the law, federal watchdog finds
The Government Accountability Office found that last summer’s tweaks to the program should be submitted to Congress for approval before they can take effect.
Workforce
The twists and turns of Trump’s 2025 war on unions
Since returning to office, the Trump administration has engaged in a series of efforts to sideline labor representatives within the federal government.
Pay & Benefits
Feds will have Dec. 24 and Dec. 26 off
Federal employees will now have a five-day weekend, beginning on Christmas Eve.
Pay & Benefits
Trump finalizes 1% pay raise for most feds
The president also tasked OPM Director Scott Kupor with analyzing whether to provide federal law enforcement officers with a 3.8% pay increase, in line with what military service members are set to receive next month.
Defense
Trump rebrands troop housing subsidy as ‘warrior dividend’ bonus checks
More than $2.9 billion in reconciliation funds was allocated to beef up troop housing allowances. Now, it’s being used for $1,776 checks.
Workforce
Appellate judges mull challenge to Trump’s efforts to bust most federal labor unions
Much of the discussion in oral arguments for three separate lawsuits revolved around whether an administrative board could hear unions’ legal claims and whether President Trump used a faulty definition of 'national security' when he devised two executive orders banning unions at most federal agencies.
Tech
White House instructs agencies to stop using ‘biased’ AI
The Office of Management and Budget clarified the steps agencies will have to take to ensure their contracted large language models do not produce “woke” outputs.
Workforce
Ex-feds axed in DEI purge file class action suit
A group of four former federal employees described the mass reduction in force of those in purportedly “diversity”-related jobs as a means for the Trump administration to “punish perceived political enemies” and disproportionally targeting protected-class employees for dismissal.
Management
Trump signs law requiring the IRS to clean up adjustment notices
Lawmakers hope that clearer notices when the IRS makes simple math or clerical fixes on tax returns should cut down on headaches for taxpayers.
Workforce
Feds will probably have to work on Christmas Eve, but a holiday miracle would not be unprecedented
Because Christmas falls on a Thursday this year, President Donald Trump may give government workers Dec. 26 off rather than Christmas Eve.
Management
Plan to break up the Education Department would strain other agencies, Democrats and students warn
Lawmakers and student leaders say shifting major Education Department programs to other federal departments after deep layoffs and downsizing would create service gaps, weaken oversight and leave vulnerable students without support.
Management
Trump says he is voiding Biden executive actions signed with autopen
In a social media post, the president declared any Biden-era orders, pardons or laws authorized with an autopen “terminated,” leaving legal authority unclear and federal agencies uncertain about whether any directives are actually affected.
Defense