Federal Newscast

The Postal Service strikes a deal with another one of its unions. Members of the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association approved a tentative contract that lasts through 2027. About 67% of voting members approved the tentative agreement. Next up, the American Postal Workers Union which votes whether to approve its contract or not next month. Members of another union, the National Association of Letter Carriers voted against a tentative agreement with USPS in January. A third-party arbitrator eventually struck a deal with both parties.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Interior Department and the Forest Service are facing a deadline to consolidate their wildland fire programs. President Trump signed an executive order last week giving the agencies 90 days to combine their two offices into one. The White House says it will make wildland fire prevention and response efforts more efficient. But some federal wildland firefighters question the need for consolidating the programs when a larger response is already needed. The Forest Service lost about 1,400 qualified wildland firefighters over the last several months amid the Trump administration’s workforce cuts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Participants in the Thrift Savings Plan will soon see a few changes to the TSP’s Lifecycle, or “L,” Funds. Starting June 30th, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board will add an “L 2075” Fund. That's meant for any current or future federal employees who plan to retire during or after the year 2073. The TSP board will also be rolling over the current “L 2025” Fund into its broader Income Fund. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Civilian agencies have spent nearly 23% less during the first eight months of 2025 as compared to the same time period in 2024. The Department of DOGE Services says that means non-defense spending has been reduced by almost $25 billion. Overall non-defense agencies have obligated over $85 billion in 2025 down from $110 billion at this point last year. Some of the spending reduction comes from the cancellation of contracts, which DOGE says agencies have terminated more than 11,000.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Agriculture Department has cancelled hundreds of contracts under the Trump administration … including one that helped households locate food assistance programs. The nonprofit Hunger Free America says it ran an “information clearinghouse” of food assistance programs for USDA for more than a decade. But it claims in a lawsuit that USDA terminated the contract last month. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Postal Service is falling into pattern raising stamp prices each January and July. But its regulator is considering limits to those price increases. A proposed rule from the Postal Regulatory Commission would cap UPSP to only raising prices once per year. The regulator gave USPS the freedom to set mail prices higher than the rate of inflation in 2020 when the agency was at risk of running out of cash. USPS is planning to set the price of a first-class Forever stamp to 78 cents next month. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A separation health assessment administered to more than 50,000 service members found that about 67 percent of troops screened positive for at least one mental health condition. Post-traumatic stress disorder and depression were among the most common issues identified. A government watchdog found that over 50 percent of service members declined referrals to the DoD’s inTransition program that provides mental health resources during transition periods. DoD officials told the Government Accountability Office that many factors may contribute to the high rate of positive screenings among separating service members, including that many intend to file disability claims.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More federal employees filed retirement papers with OPM in May than in the last three months. OPM says it received more than 15,000 claims last month, driving the backlog up over 21,000. The processing time for these retirement claims remain consistent at 49 days on average in May and 52 days on average for the entire 2025. The increase in applications comes as OPM is requiring agencies to send retirement paperwork only in digital formats by July 15. OPM launched two new tools this week to improve the retirement services process. One is a new platform for agency HR and payroll providers and another to modernize the Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF) platform.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Commerce Department dropped health insurance coverage for some recently fired employees sooner than promised, according to the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Acting Ranking Member Stephen Lynch says Commerce fired about 800 probationary employees under the Trump administration, and that some of them lost health coverage on April 8, days before they were officially fired. Commerce employees were briefly reinstated under a federal judge’s order. But an appeals court allowed the firings to remain in effect. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

President Donald Trump’s permanent pick to run the IRS is one step closer to taking office. The Senate Finance Committee advanced the nomination of former Missouri Congressman Billy Long. Democrats on the committee raised concerns that Long promoted tribal tax credits that don’t exist, according to the Treasury Department and IRS. Long told lawmakers that if confirmed he’d help the IRS modernize its legacy IT systems. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Every fund but one in the Thrift Savings Plan saw positive returns last month. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The White House is not requesting an increase in pay for federal employees in fiscal 2026. President Donald Trump released more details of his budget request for next year late Friday afternoon. The appendix section of the budget proposals also includes provisions to continue the pay freeze for certain career Senior Executive Service members and political appointees. In all, the new budget document details more specific discretionary spending requests for each agency. Unlike the "skinny" budget released in early May, the administration did include funding requests for OPM, Education and independent agencies like CFBP.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The 19 agency inspectors general fired by President Donald Trump had a collective impact of saving the government more than $50 billion in fiscal 2024. New data from Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, shows the IGs played a key role in investigations and audits that uncovered significant fraud and abuse. Peters highlighted two examples: The Energy Department's IG who halted an illegal semiconductor export scheme, which led to the cancellation of $100 million in grants and the DoD IG who uncovered fraudulent financial practices targeting Gold Star families, leading to a 12-year prison sentence and a $1.4 million penalty. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Democratic lawmakers are criticizing the Trump administration’s recent push to pay political appointees more money. In a letter to the Office of Personnel Management, Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee called OPM’s recent encouragement on the issue an “egregious abuse” of taxpayer dollars. OPM recently recommended that agencies pay their political appointees the maximum salary possible, nearly $200,000. Based on current federal salary caps, Schedule C political appointees can be paid nearly $200,000 per year. They don’t always receive the top amount, but OPM recently recommended that agencies pay their political appointees the maximum salary possible. The Democrats are now pressing OPM for more information on the responsibilities and costs of current Schedule C appointees.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Defense Department is taking a closer look at how it supports military families who choose to homeschool their children. In a recent memo, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness to conduct a departmentwide review of the current support available to homeschooling military families, including the feasibility of providing resources for those students. A recent study from Johns Hopkins University found that around 12% of military families chose to homeschool their children in 2024 — that’s double the rate of civilian families.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Probationary employees who were fired from the Department of Homeland Security have been granted class certification on an appeal case with the Merit Systems Protection Board. The DHS employees allege that the agency violated the law when it terminated them earlier this year. They argue that the mass firings at DHS were really an unlawfully conducted reduction in force (RIF). Gilbert Employment Law, which is representing the DHS employees in the MSPB case, called the class certification “heartening news.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Defense Manpower Data Center has expanded its online ID card issuance system to include overseas dependents of service members. Since its launch in 2023, the program has eliminated more than 300,000 in-person visits by allowing service members to request their ID cards online. DMDC now wants to improve the system by allowing users to upload updated photos directly into the system. It is exploring ways to extend services to locations without access to military postal services.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Veterans Affairs is giving organizations more resources to prevent veteran suicide. VA is issuing more than $50 million in grants to community-based organizations that provide suicide prevention or emergency clinical services to veterans at risk of suicide. Groups have until the end of September to apply for these grants. Veterans who are experiencing suicidal thoughts can reach the Veterans Crisis Line by dialing 988 and then pressing 1. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Correctional officers at the Federal Bureau of Prisons are using a different approach to urge congressional action. A new billboard campaign led by the American Federation of Government Employees is calling on Congress members to reject President Trump’s effort to strip collective bargaining rights. Many bipartisan lawmakers have supported federal correctional officers for a long time. But the union said it’s disappointed that lawmakers now appear to be turning their backs on the frontline federal workers. AFGE has rented out a number of billboards across the country urging Congress to reject Trump’s executive order canceling union contracts, efforts that would cut benefits for federal correctional officers.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees remain in limbo after an appeals judge ruled in favor of the Trump administration. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March ending collective bargaining rights for national security employees. The order expanded who is considered a national security employee to more than three dozen agencies. The appeals court ruled 2-to-1 on technical grounds, finding that the unions don’t have the legal right to sue because the Trump administration has said it won’t end any collective bargaining agreements while the case is being litigated.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.