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Pay & Benefits
How long will OPM keep paying for feds’ health insurance during the shutdown, a senator asks
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., requested details on how the federal HR agency’s plans to fund its health insurance trust funds with federal employees still not being paid during the shutdown.
Workforce
House Dems demand furloughs end for nuclear security agency
Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., joined 26 House members to call on the Energy Secretary to end shutdown-related furloughs for roughly 1,400 personnel in the National Nuclear Security Administration that began this week.
Pay & Benefits
Reintroduced bill would shield federal employees from shutdown-related foreclosures and evictions
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, has reintroduced a bill that would let federal employees and contractors defer financial problems caused by a government shutdown, a proposal he has introduced multiple times since 2019.
Pay & Benefits
Revived bill aims to ease financial strain on federal employees during shutdown
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., has reintroduced legislation by former Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., that would require regulators to issue new guidance to help prevent financial hardship for federal employees and contractors caused by budget impasse.
Pay & Benefits
Maryland Dems float unemployment insurance for federal workers during shutdown
Congressional Democrats aim to provide benefits to federal employees forced to work during the shutdown, and other pay and benefits news you may have missed this week.
Pay & Benefits
Lawmakers propose elevating POW benefit eligibility and offering a citizenship path for immigrant service members
One House bill aims to change the veterans’ health care benefits priority for former prisoners of war, while another tries again to offer an immigration path to noncitizens in the Armed Forces.
Pay & Benefits
Plan to expand PACT Act eligibility for 9/11 Pentagon personnel introduced
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., wants to provide Defense Department personnel present at the Pentagon following the 9/11 attacks access to benefits provided by the landmark veteran health care bill.
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Pay & Benefits
Legislation to end government shutdowns returns to Capitol Hill
Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, and Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., have brought back a bill aimed at ending the costly budget impasses, a proposal that’s historically had little success in Congress.
Management
3 senior leaders quit after CDC director is ousted
After officials said Susan Monarez was no longer director, its chief medical officer and two high-ranking disease experts resigned, citing budget cuts and politicization.
Pay & Benefits
Baldwin brings back zero-cost health care benefits bill for National Guard
The Wisconsin senator is resurrecting legislation aimed at extending military health care coverage to an estimated 130,000 troops in the National Guard and military reserves.
Pay & Benefits
New Education rule could end public service loan forgiveness for some and open a wealth of questions
The proposed rule would exclude employers from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program if they engage in “activities that have a substantial illegal purpose,” but raises even more questions for the program.
Pay & Benefits
OPM urges ‘objective’ ratings in employee awards under new performance rules
The new policies called for restarting the Presidential Rank Awards in fiscal 2026, but emphasized performance metrics “be differentiated in a meaningful and objective manner” to recognize federal employees.
Management
New Postal Service leader lends support to controversial modernization plan
Postmaster General David Steiner said the controversial Delivering for America plan puts the U.S. Postal Service “on the right path.”
Pay & Benefits
To fix air traffic controller shortage, Congress proposes changing retirement limits
The Control Tower Continuity Act would help address the ongoing staff shortfall of 3,000 positions by exempting personnel from mandatory retirement at age 61.
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Pay & Benefits
Retirement board finalizes new rule on how debt is calculated for some TSP loans
The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board will put into effect a final rule recalculating how federal employees repay accrued interest on reamortized loans from the government’s 401(k)-style retirement plan.
Workforce
Following impoundments threat, new bill wants senior execs to get appropriations training, or else
Legislation from Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, seeks to ensure that select members of the executive branch get annual training on the budget process or face a possible suspension of financial decision making for their agency.
Pay & Benefits
New pay claims for active-duty federal employees possible after Supreme Court decision
An April decision by the justices means that federal employees called up to active service could be eligible for differential pay, and that the Merit Systems Protections Board could receive a wave of new claims.
Pay & Benefits
Senators fix their sights on OPM’s pay memo for political appointees
Eight Democrats decried recent guidance encouraging agencies to pay Schedule C political appointees the maximum federal salary of $195,200 as an attempt to hire “underqualified and overpaid political elites.”
Pay & Benefits
Kaptur reintroduces legislation to expand Gold Star survivors benefits, Neguse wants to offer vets firefighter training
The Ohio congresswoman brought back her bill to lower health care costs for fallen service members’ partners for longer, while Rep. Neguse wants to offer veterans more job support.
Oversight
GAO: Transportation Department can’t withhold electric vehicle infrastructure program funds
The Government Accountability Office determined that the DOT and the Federal Highway Administration ran afoul of the Impoundment Control Act when they suspended appropriations for the Biden-era grant program.
