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• Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is at his wits’ end with the Office of Personnel Management. Johnson threatened to subpoena documents regarding OPM’s regulation, which exempted Congress from the Affordable Care Act. The chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is frustrated by OPM’s inability to provide him with the rationale behind the 2013 regulation. This is the third letter Johnson has sent to OPM. OPM did respond with documents in September, but Johnson said they were insufficient. (Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)

• The House has passed a budget resolution for fiscal 2018. It includes reconciliation directions for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to cut $32 billion over the next 10 years through federal retirement reductions. The resolution also proposes reducing the G fund’s rate of return in the Thrift Savings Plan. The Senate is marking up its own budget resolution. (Federal News Radio)

• Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee want their chairman to hold hearings on agencies’ plans to reduce the size of their workforces. Committee Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said agencies should hand over their government reform plans, so the committee can question them in public. He said the committee should also look into the president’s hiring freeze and the agencies that still have a freeze in place. (House Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

• The Office of Management and Budget has asked agencies how much more money they will need to help the ongoing hurricane recovery efforts. OMB Director Mick Mulvaney wrote to agency leaders seeking details about costs for assistance programs, repairing federal facilities, and any other mission assigned an agency which is not reimbursable. Agencies have until Oct. 25 to respond. (White House)

• Another agency commits to using a best-in-class contract. The General Services Administration continues to consolidate professional services buying under its OASIS governmentwide acquisition contract. GSA announced the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has signed a memorandum of understanding to use OASIS. CMS gas become the sixth agency to commit to using OASIS and receive in return a discounted fee rate. GSA also has MOUs signed with the DoD, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Homeland Security Department. (General Services Administration)

• The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to start implementing a new system of ID cards starting next month. The plan to issue the cards, first reported by Military.com, has been in the works at VA for two years. Unlike the cards military retirees receive, they won’t serve any official purpose, but they will serve as a commonly understood way for veterans to prove their military service to private businesses, for example, to receive discounts on purchases. Congress first authorized the new ID cards in July 2015. (Department of Veterans Affairs)

• A recent study on parking in the D.C. Metro region has been accepted by the National Capital Planning Commission. The study was conducted by the Transportation Department. It looks at all of the policies affecting parking in the capital region. The commission will evaluate possible actions related to parking ratio policies, variances and facilities’ visitor guidance. (Federal News Radio)

• The Trump administration is asking a U.S. district court to drop a lawsuit challenging the ban on transgender troops in the military. The Justice Department said it is too soon for transgender troops to make the claim that a ban will cause them harm. Transgender rights groups are outraged by the White House’s response. (Federal News Radio)

• A National Park Service employee has relearned an old rule about conflict of interest. It’s not the biggest ethics case. But it’s an illustrative one. The NPS employee is an ethics counselor. Using his official title, he represented a family member at another agency. The family member had received a poor performance review, partly for alleged misuse of sick leave. The Park Service inspector general found use of his title violated regulations. And he didn’t get approval to represent a family member. (Department of the Interior)

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