Federal Newscast

Former President Trump selects leaders for presidential transition team

In today's Federal Newscast, former President Donald Trump has named two officials to lead his campaign’s presidential transition team

Eric White@FEDERALNEWSCAST

August 19, 2024 11:04 am

< a min read

Former President Donald Trump has named two officials to lead his campaign’s presidential transition team. Over the next few months, Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon will be tasked with establishing relationships with federal agencies, and developing policy and personnel plans that would take place, if Trump wins the election. The Partnership for Public Service says it’s critical for both political parties to install a transition leader and get started on the massive workload of changing to a new presidential administration. The Partnership is encouraging Vice President Kamala Harris to name her transition team lead as soon as possible.
(Trump transition team announcement - Partnership for Public Service)

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has kicked a policy limiting official time to the curb. On Friday, the EEOC withdrew proposed regulations on official time that date back to the Trump administration. The policy, which EEOC previously approved in early 2021, prohibited union representatives from using work hours to help employees file discrimination complaints. Now that the EEOC has officially removed the rule from the Federal Register, any future administration attempting to reinstate the policy would have to start the rulemaking process from scratch.
(Withdrawal of proposed rule on official time - Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)

Federal employees on official travel will soon enjoy another bump in reimbursable travel costs. The General Services Administration has increased per diem rates for lodging and meals for fiscal 2025. Starting October 1st, the reimbursable daily limit will rise to $178, from $166 last year. This increase marks the third consecutive year feds will see lodging rates go up. Rates for meals and incidental expenses are increasing for the first time since 2022. The standard per diem lodging rate within the continental United States went up from $107 to $110, while the rates for meals increased from a range of $59 to $79, to a range of $68 to $92.
(Feds’ per diem rates to tick up once again for 2025 - Federal News Network)

On the two-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, the National Treasury Employees Union says “the view from the frontlines has improved dramatically” at the IRS. But NTEU warns that if Congress continues to claw back IRA funding, the progress made by the IRS to rebuild its depleted workforce and modernize some of the oldest legacy IT systems in government could be at risk. Lawmakers rescinded nearly $22 billion in 2024 from the nearly $58 billion the tax agency received in 2022. NTEU says the additional funding has helped IRS employees reduce backlogs and access more modern technology as well as replenish staffing levels in nearly every IRS division, especially customer service.
(NTEU IRS Employees: ‘We are not going back’ - National Treasury Employees Union)

One Congressman is calling for a reorganization of the Secret Service. One month after the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, the Secret Service is facing another call to change. Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) wants to remove the Secret Service's original jurisdiction from 1865 to stop counterfeiting. The New York lawmaker's bill would move the service's investigative jurisdiction over payment and financial systems to the Department of the Treasury. Torres says the bill helps the Secret Service focus its limited resources on its core mission of protecting the president and presidential candidates. It has protected presidents and presidential candidates since 1901. The Secret Service joined the newly formed Homeland Security Department in 2003 after being part of Treasury for the previous 140 years.
(Focus on Protection Act - Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.))

The Department of the Navy has updated its IT priorities. The DoN CIO released version 2 of its Information Superiority Vision guide. The service’s biggest priority in this new strategy is to become a data-centric organization. Moving forward, the Navy will focus on zero trust adoption, cloud migration, improving customer experience and delivering data analytics and AI products. The CIO in 2020 released version one. It focused on delivering information to the right place at the right time by modernizing, innovating and defending.
(Navy updates its IT priorities - Department of the Navy)

The White House advisory board says GPS doesn’t have a cohesive governance structure. The President’s advisory board says the current framework for overseeing GPS, primarily managed by the Defense Department, is inadequate in addressing both existing and emerging risks for GPS and the broader spectrum of U.S. positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) capabilities. The board wants the federal government to establish the central authority for PNT decision-making, that extends beyond DoD GPS program management. The board also recommends making the GPS L5 signal operational for non-safety-of-life uses.
(GPS governance should expand beyond DoD, President’s advisory board says - Federal News Network)

The Small Business Administration is casting a wide net to hear from small businesses about the impact of mentor-protégé joint ventures on winning task orders under multiple award contracts. After announcing a series of field hearings in July, the SBA's Office of the National Ombudsman next month will hold a National Regulatory Fairness Hearing in Washington, D.C. The September 12 event is to let small businesses share successes and challenges in competing for multiple award task order contracts related to joint ventures. SBA and its Ombudsman are trying to better understand if the perception that mentor-protégé joint ventures are winning an inordinate number of orders issued under small business multiple-award contracts is accurate.
(Notice of hearing of the Regional Small Business Regulatory Fairness Boards - Federal Register)