House lawmakers take on recruiting doctors for Veterans Affairs

Federal Newscast

The Supporting Medical Students and VA Workforce Act creates a scholarship program for students to study medicine.

Michele Sandiford

December 13, 2024 4:34 pm

< a min read

A bipartisan bill in the House envisions a new way for the Department of Veterans Affairs to recruit doctors. The Supporting Medical Students and VA Workforce Act would create a new scholarship program in which the VA pays students to study medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Students who accept the scholarships would agree to serve as VA physicians after completing their residencies. House VA Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano and Congressman Neal Dunn are leading the bill. They said it would help the VA address a shortage of physicians in rural and underserved areas.
( Ranking Member Takano and Rep. Dunn Introduce bill to address VA physician staffing shortage - House VA Committee )

Today is the last day of Open Season for Postal employees and annuitants. Enrollees in the new Postal Service Health Benefits program have until midnight tonight to make any changes to their plan options for 2025. All Postal members were automatically enrolled in a 2025 plan that’s similar to their current plan. But they still have the option to change their enrollments until Open Season ends. Postal participants got an extension of the open enrollment period after some members had difficulties with the new online platform and the customer service line.
(Last day of Open Season for Postal Service - Office of Personnel Management)

Army officials are slashing its popular credentialing assistance benefit in half. Launched in 2020, the Army offered soldiers up to $4,000 a year to pursue industry-recognized credentials, such as qualifications in IT or cyber or private pilot, skydiving, and commercial driver’s licenses. The service is scaling back the stipend to $2,000 a year and limiting soldiers to one credential a year and no more than three credentials in ten years. The cuts to the program were necessary to put the service on a “fiscally sustainable path.” The program has been extremely popular over the years — it went from $31.2 million in fiscal 2021 to $70.5 million in fiscal 2024.
(Army cuts its popular credentialing assistance benefit - Federal News Network)

If passed, the 2025 compromise defense policy bill would require the Defense Department to formally designate the Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network as a subordinate unified command under Cyber Command. JFHQ-DODIN, which DoD created in 2015, is currently a subordinate headquarters under CYBERCOM responsible for overseeing the operations and security of the DoD’s global network. Last year, CYBERCOM elevated the Cyber National Mission Force — House and Senate lawmakers argued that JFHQ-DODIN could benefit from a similar restructure. The compromise bill already cleared the House and is headed to the Senate for approval.
(NDAA to designate JFHQ-DODIN as subordinate unified command under CYBERCOM - Federal News Network )

The IRS is recovering billions of dollars in taxes owed but warns more budget cuts would limit enforcement. The IRS recovered $4.7 billion dollars through new initiatives launched since Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act more than two years ago. That includes $1.3 billion the IRS recovered from about 16-00 millionaires who had not paid an overdue tax debt or filed tax returns in recent years. But Congress is on the verge of allowing another $20 billion cut to its multi-year modernization fund. IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said those cuts would limit the agency’s ability to keep growing its workforce.
( IRS recovers $4.7B in taxes owed, warns more budget cuts will limit its capacity - Federal News Network )

Kristy Daphnis, the federal workforce branch chief at OMB, is leaving federal service after more than 22 years. Daphnis said she is joining the Maryland Hospital Association as its chief operating officer, starting Jan. 6. She has been the federal workforce branch chief since 2016 and has worked at OMB since 2003. Daphnis tells Federal News Network that "Serving the American people, as a 'mostly-behind-the-scenes' career civil servant and career Senior Executive has been the utmost honor and privilege, and more fulfilling than I could have ever dreamed it to be."
(Kristy Daphnis, OMB Federal Workforce Branch Chief is leaving federal service - Federal News Network )

Federal CIO Clare Martorana highlights her office's impact over the last four years. More than half of all CFO Act agencies have met at least 90% of the requirements under President Joe Biden's May 2021 cybersecurity executive order. More than 35 hundred federal websites have improved across seven metrics such as accessibility, mobile friendliness and search optimization. These are just some of the accomplishments highlighted by Federal CIO Clare Martorana in her office's new impact report. The Office of the Federal CIO is highlighting the changes it helped usher in over the last four years across everything from cybersecurity to technology modernization to artificial intelligence. Martorana, who's tenure as Federal CIO will end in January, said the work over the last four years is empowering agencies to deliver a simple, seamless and secure digital experience for the American people.
(Federal CIO's impact report - Office of Management and Budget)

Employee engagement is at an all-time high of 73 percent, on average, for federal workers. But it also depends on where they work. Agencies like the departments of Energy, Commerce and Labor all saw even higher employee engagement scores than the governmentwide trend. Smaller agencies including the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Federal Labor Relations Authority saw their scores rise as well. But that’s not the case for everyone. For example, the National Science Foundation, Federal Maritime Commission and the U.S. Access Board all saw their engagement scores decline this year. The Office of Personnel Management released the agency-specific data from the 2024 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey this week.
(2024 FEVS results - Office of Personnel Management)