Union to Trump administration: Hands off student loan forgiveness program

• The National Treasury Employees Union is urging the Trump administration not to get rid of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. The president’s 2018 budget proposes eliminating the program, which forgives remaining student loan balances for employees who work for a government or non-profit organization. But the administration said the program unfairly favors some career choices over others. NTEU said eliminating the program would prevent agencies from recruiting top talent. (National Treasury Employees Union)

• A union leader representing the Environmental Protection Agency employees said there won’t be jobs in environmental protection if the agency’s budget continues to be cut. John O’Grady, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, said the 31 percent cut to funding would devastate the agency and trigger a recession in the environmental field. The Trump administration is proposing a $5.7 billion budget for EPA. (Federal News Radio)

• More than 1,100 airmen have been kicked out of the Air Force in the past two years as part of its 2014 force reduction. Despite that, the branch has been trying to increase its end strength in the last year and a half. The Air Force hopes to continue growing to 321,000 in 2018. (Federal News Radio)

• A key element of the Army’s network modernization strategy is coming under scrutiny from Congress, and from the Army itself. Gen. Mark Milley, the Army’s chief of staff, said he’s ordered a review — with results expected within the next six weeks — of the WIN-T system. The $6 billion family of tactical communications systems has been in the works for a decade, but Milley told Congress last week that he has several concerns, including that it may be too fragile to work in real-world combat against a sophisticated enemy. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the Senate Armed Services Committee has already received information indicating the system is a failure — or, as he put it last week, a debacle. (Federal News Radio)

• The Trump administration is continuing its push to reduce regulations, this time in the Energy Department. DOE wants the public’s input on which of the agency’s rules could be modified or repealed altogether. This is in accordance with President Donald Trump’s executive order on the matter. Comments are due by July 14. (Federal Register)

• New leadership appears on the way for an important part of the Securities and Exchange Commission. SEC Chairman Jay Clayton is planning to hire a former law firm colleague as co-director of the enforcement division. The Wall Street Journal reports, Steven Peikin would join the acting enforcement director Stephanie Avakian. Peikin runs the criminal defense and investigations group at Sullivan and Cromwell. For eight years he was assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan, heading a task force on securities and commodities. (Wall Street Journal)

• Longtime Republican legislative aid Henry Kerner is President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Office of Special Counsel. Kerner formerly led investigations for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He was also the staff director for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and vice president of Cause of Action. Kerner would replace former Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner if confirmed. (The White House)

• Lawmakers want to expand a popular approach to finding software vulnerabilities. A bug bounty program may be coming to the Homeland Security Department. Four senators introduced the Hack Department of Homeland Security Act. The bill would establish a bug bounty program based on the Department of Defense’s pilot. Send. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) wrote the legislation to offer money to white-hat hackers that identify unique and undiscovered vulnerabilities in DHS’ networks and data systems. The lawmakers said this would help DHS protect the dot-gov domain as well. DoD and several of the military services held bug bounty programs over the last year, and GSA initiated one in May. (Sen. Maggie Hassan)

• Defense contractor Agility Public Warehousing came to an agreement with the Justice Department. The firm was accused of overcharging the government for military food contracts between 2003 and 2010. In exchange for having its seven year suspension lifted, Agility will pay $95 million to resolve civil fraud claims and forgo $249 million it claims the U.S. still owes it. (Department of Justice)

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