House Democrats introduce ‘Right to IVF’ Act

• House Democrats are pushing harder to try to help federal employees more easily access IVF treatments. A new bill, called the Right to IVF Act, rolls together four previous bills all aiming to broaden fertility coverage nationwide. Part of the legislation would require carriers in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program to increase their coverage of IVF for FEHB enrollees. The Democrats who introduced the bill are calling for a House floor vote, but so far, the legislation has no Republican co-sponsors.
  (Right to IVF Act - Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Susan Wild (D-Pa.), Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.))
• An agency watchdog is telling the Department of Veterans Affairs to watch out for medical billing fraud from massage therapists. Unlike most insurers, the VA provides some coverage of massage therapy for veterans. But its inspector general’s office said fraudsters are billing the VA for treatments they didn’t provide, or up charging veterans for the type of massage received. The IG’s office is asking veterans to report suspicious activity. That includes receiving statements from providers that list massage services the veteran didn’t receive.
  (Help stop medical billing fraud for massage therapy - VA Office of Inspector General)
• A surge in mail theft is driving up suspicious activity linked to check fraud. The Treasury Department received more than 15,000 reports of suspected check fraud tied to mail theft between February and August 2023. Its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said those cases amounted to more than $688 million dollars in check fraud and attempted check fraud. The average amount of check fraud reported in a single case was nearly $45,000 dollars. Despite a declining use of checks in the U.S., the Postal Service is seeing a surge of mail theft and related crimes that started with the COVID-19 pandemic.
  (USPS mail theft led to $688M in ‘suspicious activity’ tied to check fraud - Federal News Network)
• New legislation in the House would expand the powers of the Federal Acquisition Security Council. The FASC Improvement Act would authorize the council to carry out Congress’ orders to ban and remove technologies from federal supply chains. The bill would also move the FASC to the White House. And it would create a FASC program office under the Office of the National Cyber Director. The bill has bipartisan support in the House. Sponsors of the legislation said it will strengthen the council’s ability to protect agency supply chains from products and services owned by foreign adversaries.
  (Comer, Raskin, Moolenaar, Krishnamoorthi introduce bipartisan bill to empower Federal Acquisition Security Council - House Oversight and Accountability Committee)

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• The Department of the Air Force is exploring the possibility of allowing legal permanent residents to enlist in positions that are typically reserved for U.S. citizens. In January, the service adjusted the legal permanent resident requirement from 10 years to two years to align with DoD allowances. Given the accelerated naturalization program's 93% success rate, the Air Force Recruiting Service wants to establish a program that would allow permanent residents to serve in critical roles and fill jobs that require U.S. citizenship as a basic qualification. Accelerating the naturalization process is just one of several changes introduced in recent years to bring in more recruits into the service’s ranks.
  (Air Force considers program for permanent residents in critical roles - Federal News Network)
• Former officials warn that a Schedule F revival would result in damage beyond the career civil service. The possible return of the controversial Schedule F policy would also mean agencies would have a much harder time facing national security threats. That’s according to former Defense and Homeland Security officials who testified during a Senate committee hearing Tuesday morning. The officials said the institutional knowledge of career civil servants creates stability between administrations and helps effectively carry out agency missions. In contrast, they said making career feds at-will and easier to fire, like Schedule F sought to do, would create “chaos.” Former President Trump has promised to renew Schedule F or a similar type of policy if he wins the election in November.
  (Schedule F would make agencies ‘hard-pressed’ to meet national security threats - Federal News Network)
• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is launching a new effort to standardize cybersecurity across the federal government. CISA this week released a new “operational cybersecurity alignment” plan for federal civilian agencies. The plan says agencies should prioritize key best practices like vulnerability management, supply chain security and incident response. CISA’s goal is to fill gaps and weaknesses in the federal cyber approach across more than 100 disparate departments and agencies.
  (CISA releases plan to align operational cybersecurity priorities for federal agencies - CISA)
• The Air Force’s study into electronic warfare (EW) capabilities will shape future budget decisions. EW has traditionally struggled to compete for funding against larger weapons platforms and other priorities. But the recent study, which is mostly classified, has produced “very promising” results. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the service is looking at the role of EW in countering emerging space threats, as well as the integration of cyber and EW. “I think writ large, you can expect more emphasis on electronic warfare going forward, but I can’t give you any specifics at this time.”
  (Air Force puts emphasis on EW - AFA conference)

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