Federal Newscast

Trump administration looks to tweak paid administrative leave rules

During 2025, agencies used administrative leave to implement the deferred resignation program.

Michele Sandiford

July 6, 2026 11:07 am

< a min read

The Trump administration is looking to tweak the rules for federal employees’ paid administrative leave. Recently proposed regulations from the Office of Personnel Management would give agencies more leeway to use paid leave, including during workforce reduction efforts. During 2025, agencies used administrative leave to implement the deferred resignation program, choosing to paying thousands of employees for several months not to work, in exchange for them agreeing to quit their jobs.
(Administrative leave for workforce realignment and other purposes - Office of Personnel Management)

The National Nuclear Security Administration is now working in a classified cloud environment. As part of its digital transformation efforts, the NNSA is now putting data and applications in a secret cloud service provided by Amazon Web Services. NNSA said the move into a secret cloud instance will better connect its geographically dispersed sites into a unified, secure digital ecosystem. This is NNSA's first cloud environment to receive enterprise authorization to process secret and restricted data, which supports multiple initiatives including product development and digital engineering, advanced computing and simulation and secure data analytics. Additionally, the new secret cloud also will support NNSA's efforts under the Genesis Mission.
(NNSA moves data, applications into a secret cloud - National Nuclear Security Administration)

A new federal watchdog report found staffing shortages are straining many of the Pentagon's biggest weapons programs. The Government Accountability Office reported the Defense Department is struggling to replace civilian acquisition workers who left under the Trump administration's deferred resignation program and broader workforce cuts. The report said 37 major procurement programs have lost military, civilian and contracting staff, while a federal hiring freeze has made it harder to bring on new employees. At least one office is asking its remaining staff to work weekends to keep the program on track.
(Staff shortages strain weapons acquisition, GAO says - Government Accountability Office)

The Bureau of Prisons plans to close six federal institutions across the country. The upcoming closures are due to issues with staffing and infrastructure, the agency said. About 500 bureau employees will be either relocated or laid off. But the American Federation of Government Employees is urging the bureau to use extra funding it received last year to avoid closing the facilities. But the agency said the money is not sufficient to fully resolve the issues or keep open the six targeted institutions.
(Bureau of Prisons to close six institutions, citing ‘extreme staffing challenges’ - Federal News Network)

Democratic lawmakers in both houses of Congress are pushing on the Office of Management and Budget to rescind the proposed rewrite of the rules for federal grants. Every Democratic senator wrote to OMB Director Russ Vought detailing why they believe the proposal exceeds OMB’s statutory authority, undermines Congress’s constitutional power of the purse and would allow the president to weaponize federal grants for political purposes. Meanwhile, Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee grilled Vought last week, seeking his assurance agencies haven't already started implementing the grant regulation changes before the rule is finalized. OMB has received more than 3,400 comments so far, and the comment period closes on July 11.
(House, Senate Dems push back over OMB proposed changes to grant regs - Federal News Network)

The Army has launched a new website that could become a central hub for soldiers looking for information on training and quality of life. That page, called "Tell Your Formation," will try to better connect with troops to explain how Army policies affect soldiers' daily lives. Troops can click through the site for more information on topics from pay and child care to appearance standards and more. Tell Your Formation is the Army's latest shot at a new way of communicating with the force, after a short-lived podcast and a senior leader town hall.
(Army tries new site for forcewide policy announcements - U.S. Army)

Two unions are suing the Defense Department over its recent cancellation of collective bargaining for most of its civilian workforce. The unions argued that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s April memo canceling virtually all collective bargaining agreements “reversed DoD’s policy to leave agreements in place without any reasoned explanation” and misinterpreted the executive order it relied on to justify the move. Last year, President Donald Trump authorized agencies with national security-related missions to suspend collective bargaining in an effort “to enhance the national security of the United States.” The legality of those executive orders is still being disputed in multiple court cases.
(Unions sue DoD over termination of collective bargaining agreements - Federal News Network)

The first phase of the Pentagon’s effort to eliminate Chinese military-linked companies from the defense industrial base supply chain took effect last week, barring defense contractors from working directly with companies on the department’s blacklist. In 2027, the rules will get much stricter; the legislation requires the Defense Department to stop buying goods, services and technology from companies that are indirectly involved with firms blacklisted by the Pentagon by June 30, 2027. To help defense contractors comply with new and upcoming restrictions, the Defense Department launched a website outlining the implementation timeline, compliance requirements and waiver process.
(DoD issues guidance as ban on Chinese companies takes effect - Federal News Network)

Michele Sandiford

Michele Sandiford is a Federal Drive producer at Federal News Network.