GAO to conduct study on effect mass firings had on American people

Federal Newscast

GAO said it anticipates it will have the staff necessary to conduct this investigation shortly.

Eric White@FEDERALNEWSCAST

March 25, 2025 9:25 am

< a min read

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. This comes after a dozen lawmakers requested an investigation into how these mass firings have affected areas such as nuclear safety, flood and wildfire response, veterans’ healthcare and benefits, and air travel. The GAO said it anticipates it will have the staff necessary to conduct this investigation shortly. A district judge recently ordered several government agencies to bring back probationary employees, calling the mass firings a “sham.” But many workers are still in limbo about their possible reinstatement.
(GAO will investigate impacts of probationary employees mass firings - Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.))

The Office of Management and Budget has taken down a website that provides insights into federal spending. The public facing apportionment website provided a public accounting of when and where the White House made appropriations passed by Congress available for expenditure, a process known as "apportionment." Congress has mandated this publication since 2022 after the Trump administration withheld funds from Ukraine in 2019. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), ranking member of the Budget Committee, called on OMB to restore the website, calling the decision to take down the website illegal.
(Sen. Merkley calls on OMB to restore federal budget apportionment portal - Office of Management and Budget)

Lawmakers are pushing a bipartisan bill to move the Federal Emergency Management Agency out of the Department of Homeland Security. The FEMA Independence Act would have the agency report directly to the president. Its sponsors — Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) — say FEMA is hamstrung by DHS bureaucracy and red tape. They say an independent FEMA would be faster and more nimble in responding to disasters. Their bill comes after President Donald Trump has said he’s considering eliminating FEMA and having states take the lead on disaster response.
(Lawmakers debut bill to break FEMA out of DHS - Federal News Network)

Senate Democrats are calling on the Department of Homeland Security to halt firings at its civil right office. In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ohio) criticized cuts at the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. They say eliminating the office would jeopardize the civil rights and civil liberties of Americans interacting with DHS. Last week, DHS confirmed plans to downsize the civil rights office, as well as the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman.
(Peters and Durbin demand halt to DHS civil rights staff cuts - Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is moving on from the Postal Service’s top job. DeJoy stepped down as postmaster general, after serving nearly five years on the job. DeJoy took office in June 2020, when USPS was months away from running out of cash. He spent much of his tenure championing a 10-year reform plan, meant to overcome the agency’s long-term financial challenges. DeJoy recently signed an agreement allowing a team from the Department of Government Efficiency to take a closer look at those reform plans.
(DeJoy leaves USPS amid search for new postmaster general - Federal News Network )

The Senate confirms businessman John Phelan to be the next secretary of the Navy. Phelan, the co-founder of the private investment firm Rugger Management, has no prior military experience — he is now the first person to lead the Navy without having served since 2009. During his confirmation hearing, he said his experience as a businessman is what makes him the right candidate to fix the issues that have plagued the service, such as cost overruns and failed audits. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) asked Phelan prior to the vote to divest his assets in any company that contracts with the Defense Department. She also asked him to commit not to lobby DoD or work for companies that do business with DoD for four years after leaving office.
(Congress.com - Senate confirms John Phelan as the next Navy secretary)

Senate Democrats are planning their own set of hearings to examine recent cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The majority party typically sets the course for committee hearings. But Democrats on the Senate VA Committee will hold their first “shadow” hearing next month, taking a closer look at cuts to the VA workforce. Senators have invited VA Secretary Doug Collins to testify, along with labor groups and veterans.
(Blumenthal announces series of shadow hearings to highlight harm of Trump VA directives - Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.))

The General Services Administration is cutting the "deadwood" off the schedule contracts. Several hundred contractors a year are at risk of losing their spot on GSA's schedules program. If contractors don't meet the minimum sales requirement of at least $20,000 or $25,000 a year, GSA plans to not renew their schedule contracts. This is part of the GSA's new strategy to right-size the schedules program. Additionally, the agency said it also will eliminate items with insufficient market demand or where administrative costs outweigh procurement benefits. Agencies spent more than $51 billion through the schedules program last fiscal year.
(Schedule contractors at risk of losing their spot on GSA's vehicle - General Services Administration)