Management
Agency layoff rules to get an overhaul under nearly finalized Trump administration proposal
OPM’s reduction in force revamp plan will put performance ratings over tenure and strip some employees of protections.
Tech
ICE — overwhelmed with applicants — leans on cyber talent program to speed tech hiring
ICE’s acting CIO, Dustin Goetz, said the agency will need more personnel as it seeks to meet sweeping deportation and detainment demands set by the White House.
Workforce
A federal employee morale survey is worthwhile...but not this way
COMMENTARY | The future of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey may be in question, but while the Partnership for Public Service aims to preserve its own version of the employee poll, there may be another way to gauge the organizational climate of the federal government.
Management
CFPB to issue mass furlough by year's end and transfer outstanding cases to DOJ
The initiative marks the latest effort by the Trump administration to close the bureau.
Exclusive
Management
Trump admin acknowledges difficulties in transferring Education programs to other agencies, internal documents show
The work Education has done so far is "minuscule" compared to what's to come, department says.
Tech
Login.gov director departs for the private sector
Whoever officially leads the government’s identity proofing service next could impact how millions of Americans interact with the government online.
Management
Democrats try again to reestablish legal deference to agencies on regulations
The bicameral bill also seeks to limit the ability of businesses to influence the rulemaking process.
Pay & Benefits
Mailbag Week: Retirement applications and processing
A look at common retirement-processing snags, what causes delays and where OPM’s newer systems fit into the picture.
Oversight
House Dems urge Trump administration to act on health insurance claim denials
Reps. Bobby Scott, D-Va., and Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif., call on the Labor Department’s EBSA to strengthen staffing, improve data collection and enhance appeals protections as claim denials continue to harm participants and beneficiaries.
Management
SSA abandons planned disability program overhaul expected to cut benefits for thousands
Trump administration officials informed the co-founder of a nonprofit disability advocacy group that a proposed rule — which would have updated decades-old occupational data, in addition to changing eligibility considerations — will no longer be moving forward.
Exclusive
Management
Doug Burgum is charging Interior Department agencies a premium to subsume their employees
The Interior Department's consolidation efforts is coming with a cost to National Parks and other components of the agency.
Workforce
In spite of more public awareness about federal workforce cuts’ impacts, opposition to them hasn’t grown, survey suggests
Democrats and young adults are more likely to report being affected by or knowing someone impacted by the Trump administration’s government workforce reductions.
Workforce
Satisfaction with government services rises, despite recent layoffs and turmoil
The Trump administration has touted some service delivery projects and launched a design initiative, but it has also fired and pushed out thousands of civil servants.
Pay & Benefits
Open Season advice for annuitants
Federal annuitants often don't have the same flexibility as federal employees when it comes to offsetting their health insurance costs, making it important to keep certain strategies in mind when weighing Open Season enrollment.
Workforce
Final Schedule F regulations to describe civil service protections as ‘unconstitutional overcorrections’
OPM officials told agency HR leaders Tuesday that President Trump has Article II constitutional authority to remove tens of thousands of career federal workers in jobs over potential “resistance to policy.”
Oversight
Trump administration resumes funding for inspectors general hub after previously blocking it
OMB’s move to restore CIGIE funding until Jan. 30 comes as the president has already fired or replaced more than 20 agency inspectors general.
Tech
Lawmakers signal support for using AI to prevent veteran suicides in FY26 VA funding bill reports
“There is a significant need to improve early suicide indicators and detection using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies that improve operational efficiency and effectiveness throughout veteran service delivery,” according to a House Appropriations panel report.
Management
Agency reassignments expected as Education takes further steps to eliminate itself
The department, which has already shed half its staff, is not expected to issue any immediate layoffs as part of the overhaul.
Workforce
Lawmakers force House vote on bill nullifying anti-union EOs
A pair of Republicans were the final signatures needed to on a bipartisan discharge petition in support of legislation that would strike President Trump’s pair of executive orders aimed at stripping two-thirds of the federal workforce of their collective bargaining rights.
Workforce