Federal Newscast

In today's Federal Newscast, federal unions have been quick to push back against President Trump’s move canceling many collective bargaining agreements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, the Trump administration's contracting freeze has caused several contractors to go out of business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, House Democrats are looking into whether Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem uses the Signal app for official business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's Federal Newscast, GOP lawmakers are looking to expand the president’s authority for fast-tracking agency reorganizations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On today's episode of the Federal Newscast, the Government Accountability Office will open an investigation into the impact of the Trump administration’s firing of probationary employees on the health and safety of the American people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In a letter to President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a group of lawmakers is urging the Defense Department to 'immediately reverse policies' that they say attempt to erase records of troops' historic accomplishments. The four lawmakers signedonto the letter are veterans who serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The lawmakers said content about record-breaking combat flight hours by female aviators, medal recipients within segregated combat units during the World Wars and historical contributions of Native American servicemembers is being removed indiscriminately. Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said Thursday that “history is not DEI,” and that when content is “mistakenly or maliciously” removed, the department continues to work quickly to restore it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Defense Department says “in rare cases” it has “deliberately or mistakenly” removed certain content as part of its efforts to erase diversity, equity and inclusion pages from itswebsite after a webpage dedicated to Jackie Robinson's service was suddenly gone. Robinson’s webpage, along with content about the Navajo Code Talkers, the Tuskegee airmen, and the Marines at Iwo Jima, was initially removed as part of the department-wide purge of DEI content ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Robinson’s page, titled ‘Sports Heroes Who Served: Baseball Great Jackie Robinson Was a World War Two Soldier,’ has been restored after public outcry without any content changes. Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot saidthe department is “pleased by the rapid compliance” with the defense secretary’s directive to remove DEI content from all platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/pr

Labor rallies are popping up across the country this week to call attention to the Trump administration’s recent upheavals of the federal workforce. In Atlanta, Georgia, employees fromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are pushing back against the Trump administration’s recent actions. Transportation Security Administration workers in San Diego, California, are calling for the revival of the agency’s recently terminated union contract. And in Akron, Ohio, employees from the Department of Veterans Affairs are protesting recent terminations, which they say will harm the VA’s ability to deliver services. The American Federation of Government Employees, which is leading many of the rallies, says it will continue to push back against the Trump administration’s massive cuts to the federal workforce. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal contractors no longer have to pay a minimum wage of almost $18 per hour for employees under certain types of contracts. President Donald Trump rescinded the executive order from April 2021 establishing higher hourly pay for hundreds of thousands of blue collar workers. The Biden administration raised the minimum wage for specific covered government contracts like those for concessions or those for services on federal lands to $17.75 an hour starting on January 1st. Trump's rescission means contractors can pay blue collar employees a minimum of just under$13 an hour. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Social Security Administration continues to try to set the record straight about the accuracy of its Death Master File. After repeated false claims by the White House and DOGE that SSA is paying tens of thousands of people who are more than 100 years old, the agency says less than one-third of one percent of all deaths are erroneously reported and need to be corrected. SSA says it's confidence its Master Death file is highly accurate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a departmentwide review of military standards, including physical fitness, body composition and grooming. A memo released on Wednesdaydirects the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness to review how the standards have changed since January 2015. Hegseth pledged to conduct this review during his confirmation hearing. The defense secretary said the review will “illuminate how the department has maintained the level of standards required over the recent past.” The Defense Department opened up combat roles to women in December 2015, a decision that Hegseth has previouslyopposed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Trump administration tells agencies to ignore collective bargaining agreements that interfere with the ability to conduct reductions in force, or RIFs. A new memo from the Office of Personnel Management argues that contracts with federal unions cannot supersede an agency’s ability to lay off its employees. The OPM memo says agency management has the right to determine its number of employees, and make headcount adjustments as needed. The guidance comes just ahead of agencies’ expected RIF plans, which are due to the White House by this Friday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

President Donald Trump nominated Eric Ueland to be the top federal management official. Ueland, who is currently the acting chief of staff for OMB, would be the deputy director for management at OMB if confirmed by the Senate.  He would replace Jason Miller, who was DDM for all four years of the Biden administration. Ueland is a former Senate staff member, having worked for majority leader Senator William Frist (R-Tenn.) and then as staff director for the upper chamber’s budget committee. Along with Ueland, Trump nominated Ethan Klein to be an associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, which is another namefor the federal chief technology officer. He was an emerging technology policy adviser during the first Trump administration where he focused on autonomous and unmanned systems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Department of Homeland Security is bringing back at least one of its federal advisory committees. In a public notice this week, DHS announced it is renewing the Homeland Security Advisory Committee. The reconstituted panel will have 35 members. They will serve three-year terms and provide strategic advice to the secretary of homeland security. DHS terminated several advisory panels in the early days of the Trump administration, including the CyberSafety Review Board that was investigating a major U.S. telecom hack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With a government shutdown less than a week away, a leading Republican Senator is calling for Congress to pass a spending bill. Maine Senator Susan Collins, the chairwoman of theAppropriations Committee, says government shutdowns are inherently a failure to govern effectively and have negative consequences all across government. House Republican lawmakers unveiled their year-long continuing resolution on Friday. The bill freezes overall funding at fiscal 2024 levels but does include cuts to certain agency programs and increases to others, such as the FAA and fully funds the largest junior enlisted pay raise. It also doesn't include any language related to DOGE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal employee unions and other organizations filing lawsuits against the Trump administration may have to put money in escrow to cover the potential costs and damages of the lawsuit. President Trump's new memo tells agencies to use the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(c) to ask the federal courts to hold litigants accountable for their lawsuits. The scope of the directive covers all lawsuits filed against the federal government seeking an injunction where agencies can show expected monetary damages or costs from the requestedpreliminary relief, unless extraordinary circumstances justify an exception. Failure of the organization that filed the lawsuit to provide the money could result in the denial or dissolution of the requested injunctive relief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning major cuts to its workforce later this year. VA Secretary Doug Collins says the department is looking at a 15% cut to return the agency to 2019 staffing levels. That would meaning eliminating about 72,000 positions. Collins says VA will shrink the workforce without any cuts to veterans’ health care or benefits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Defense Department says Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has so far identified about 80 million dollars in what it considers wasteful spending.  Press Secretary Sean Parnell said DOGE has found one point nine million dollars for diversity, equity and inclusion training in the Air Force; six million dollars to the University of Montana to “strengthenAmerican democracy by bridging divides;” and three point five million dollars at the Defense Human Resources Activity for support to DEI groups. DOGE saving the Defense Department 80 million dollars represent less than one percent of the Pentagon’s total budget. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The National Science Foundation has just rehired about half of the employees it fired two weeks ago. The reversal comes after a federal judge ruled last week that the Trump administration's directives telling agencies to fire their probationary employees were illegal. The reinstated workers will receive backpay and will not see a break in service. While 84 employees will be going back to work, the other 86 fired workers will still be out of their jobs. NSF says that's because they were intermittent employees and not full-time staff members. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents NSF workers, says it's looking forward to welcoming back the reinstated employees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A new memo from the Defense Department's office of personnel and readiness directs service members diagnosed with gender dysphoria to be separated from the military. The department says transgender service members may be granted a waiver if there is a “compelling government interest in retaining the service member who directly supports warfighting.” The Defense Department said all service members impacted by this policy will be separated with an honorable characterization of service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.