Unions

The White House plans on spending 5 percent more to secure federal networks and data in 2020, with more than half of the funding going toward Defense Department cybersecurity. Get this story and others in today’s Federal Newscast.

The Trump administration’s 2020 budget proposal includes recommendations that would shorten the time federal employees have to appeal a disciplinary or performance-based firing, suspension or other punishment.

Bipartisan support is growing for a proposed bill to remove barriers to federal employment for people with a criminal record.

Sen. James Lankford says whatever retirement changes occur should only apply to new hires. Hear this story and more in today’s Federal Newscast.

Many current government officials were baffled by the strange, sometimes rowdy and downright undignified behavior of testy civil servants during the recent government shutdown.

The commander of the nation’s top cyber security agencies — the National Security Agency and the U.S. Cyber Command — will not confirm that he has recommended the two agencies split from one another next year.

Lawmakers and Trump administration officials remain divided over whether rolling back postal unions’ right to collectively bargain over compensation, as recommended by the White House’s Postal Task Force, would put the agency on firmer financial footing.

Despite persistent hiring challenges at Customs and Border Protection, Accenture Federal Services said the recruiting and customer service centers it built as part of its multi-million dollar contract with CBP will set the agency up for future success.

In today’s Federal Newscast, the Army, Navy and Air Force said they’re establishing a “tenant’s bill of rights” to help military members deal with cases of substandard on-base housing.

At least 10,000 federal employees from National Treasury Employees Union bargaining units have opted into one of the union’s government shutdown lawsuits.

Federal district Judge Richard Leon acknowledged the potential for precedent with NTEU’s lawsuit if he denies the motion to dismiss the case, which challenges the Antideficiency Act’s legal interpretation that has set up recent government shutdowns.

Labor groups representing Federal Aviation Administration employees warned House lawmakers another partial government shutdown would further harm the agency’s ability to recruit and retain highly skilled staff. 

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, along with Reps. Gerry Connolly and Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), want to know why there have been so many challenges in issuing full and correct back pay to federal employees after the recent government shutdown.

As agencies plan for the possibility of another government shutdown at the end of this week, the American Federation of Government Employees is telling its members to prepare as well.