If you were off last week, vacationing, getting kids ready for school or off to college, welcome back.

Your absence from the a.m. and p.m. traffic flow was noted and appreciated.  You missed some great (as in low humidity) weather in the Washington area, and over much of the country.  But hopefully it was nice where you were.

Most executive branch feds who have been away are probably back today.  Except may for some kid-free couples who wait until schools start to begin their own special vacations.

Members of the House and Senate, of course, remain on leave.  The term, on the House side, is “District Work Period” when members are tending the political home fires.  Or running for President, or just on vacation.

Deciphering when Congress is in, and when it is elsewhere is slightly more complex than the Mayan calendar which (incorrectly) predicted the end of the world a couple of years back.  We dodged that bullet, but Congress is still with us.  It appears they will be off most of September (as they were off most of August).  You can take a shot at their calendar and try to figure it for yourself.   As many Washington-based feds know, many of the Mondays and Fridays shown as work days won’t be. Congress frequently works a TWT (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) schedule.  Here’s the official House calendar.  Good luck deciphering it.

The bottom line is that because Congress has (and continues) to take so much time off it will have very little time to actually work when it gets back.  The new fiscal year begins Oct. 1 and with it — because most appropriations have (again) not been passed — is the deadline for a government shutdown. The last one was in 2013. And there are veiled threats that it could happen again.

Phased Retirement:  If you  were away, you should know that the long-awaited Phased Retirement Program is up and running. Finally.

The Library of Congress, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others,  have announced programs.  Many are hailing HUD’s program as a model other agencies will use.  To get up to speed on the Phased Retirement program, click here:  Phased Retirement.

Retiree/Social Security COLA:  If you are counting on an inflation-catch up adjustment to your CSRS or FERS annuity in January, stop counting.  Inflation is flat so the odds of a cost of living adjustment for 2016 are slim and none:  COLA.

Nearly Useless Factoid

By Michael O’Connell

The oldest piece of written material in the Library of Congress’ collection is a cuneiform tablet that dates back to 2040 B.C.

Source: Library of Congress

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