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In today's Federal Newscast: President Biden plans to nominate a new second-in-command at the State Department. Military families could see improvements to housing, child care and school-meal access. And the Senate takes a big step to avoid a government shutdown.
Whether its the war in Ukraine, the war in Israel, the House speaker race or any of a zillion controversial topics, everyone has an opinion. As federal employees, can you express your opinions out loud and not get fired for it?
There is now more cyber guidance than ever for the companies that do business with the government. You can also expect even more when it comes to other new technologies, like artificial intelligence. Congress seems to be back up and running, and there is business to attend to. To start with, reauthorizing a major component of the Homeland Security Department, and also funding the rest of the government. For analysis, Federal Drive Executive Eric White spoke with Stephanie Kostro, Executive Vice President at the Professional Services Council.
The Biden administration is calling for a “governmentwide AI talent surge” across the federal workforce to build up its capacity to lead on this emerging technology.
The House of Representatives has a speaker, for now. That was a heavy lift. What comes next now that Capitol Hill is operational again. For this week's outlook, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Bloomberg Government deputy news director Loren Duggan.
Somebody had to actually write the trillion dollar infrastructure bill back in 2021. Its proponents expect it to help modernize old bridges and highways, among other things. Federal Drive Host Tom Temin's guests helped Congress craft the bill. Now they're leading the Transportation Department team helping to implement it. For their work, they won this year's Service to America medal for management excellence. Gloria Shepherd is Executive Director of the Federal Highway Administration and Maria Lefevre is the Executive Director of the Office of the Undersecretary of Transportation.
The longer the House of Representatives remains in stasis, the closer the next budget deadline comes without any action to resolve it. There is lots at stake, including how the federal acquisition function will operate.
She spent 20 years as a revenue officer at the IRS. Then she went into union work, serving for 14 years as president of a local in Wisconsin. Now she's the new national president of the National Treasury Employees Union.
For federal employees and federal retirees, Congress is eyeing changes to catch-up contributions, death gratuities, Social Security benefits and more.
It seems Congress has something new and critical to deal with every week. However it deals with the budget, with the need to authorize a few agencies like the Defense Department, or with the White House request for military foreign aid, it needs both chambers to be functioning. For the latest, Federal Drive with Tom Temin talked with WTOP Capitol Hill Correspondent Mitchell Miller.
In today's Federal Newscast: Sen. Sinema (I-Ariz.) has introduced a bill that would improve death benefits for civilian feds. The SBA has come under fire for planning to ignore pandemic loans under $100,000. And the Coast Guard is looking into AI to catch illegal fishermen.
The Telework Reform Act would codify the working definitions of federal telework and remote work. The senators said the bill aims to promote management, accountability and transparency.
Conference work on the National Defense Authorization Act for 2024 proceeds, even as nothing else in Congress seems to be working. As always, the NDAA has provisions affecting Defense contractors.
As the world turns, most of it is probably scratching its collective head at the United States Congress. As the latest crisis, Israel's war against terrorists, enters its second week, President Biden pledged support. So what can we expect this week on the Hill? For more on the matter, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talks with Zach Cohen, Bloomberg Government congressional reporter.