Federal Newscast

Democratic lawmakers press VA Secretary Collins on rejecting reasonable accommodations

The lawmakers want answers from Veterans Affairs by Sept. 22.

Michele Sandiford

September 10, 2026 1:25 pm

< a min read

All 11 Democrats on the House Veterans Affairs Committee are pressing VA Secretary Doug Collins, for answers about why the agency is rejecting requests from employees for reasonable accommodations. In a letter sent to VA yesterday, Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano and 10 other lawmakers want Collins to provide answers to nine questions about the department's policies and actions in granting telework and other workplace flexibilities. The committee members say they continue to hear cases of veteran employees who were previously approved for telework accommodations now being required to commute to a duty station. The lawmakers want answers from VA by September 22.
(House Democrats press VA over not approving reasonable accommodation requests - House VA Committee minority)

The White House is using the power of federal procurement to punish Canada over trade disagreements. President Donald Trump is directing the General Services Administration to remove all products that are of "Canadian origin" from its schedule contracts. The President is telling GSA and the U.S. Trade Representative to work together to identify those products as part of the ongoing trade war with Canada. Trump also posted on Truth Social that Canada's broad access to the American government's procurement market is ending unless the country offers reciprocity to American companies. The White House offered no timeline for when GSA had to remove all Canadian-origin products. GSA didn't immediately respond to a request for more details.
(GSA told to remove 'Canadian-origin' products from schedules - White House)

A government watchdog nonprofit is challenging some of the Trump administration’s federal grant decisions. The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, known as CREW, has filed a new complaint with the Office of Special Counsel, alleging a Hatch Act violation. The complaint says the administration’s cancellation of certain federal grants was based on various states' political identities. CREW is urging an immediate investigation into the issue.
(Trump administration’s politicized federal grant decisions violate the Hatch Act - Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington)

The Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed a large-scale reorganization, but then quickly withdrew those plans. Draft reorganization plans from HUD, which are now rescinded, show that the department had been planning to reorganize and consolidate many of its components. That’s in large part due to thousands of employee separations that occurred throughout 2025. The reorganization would not relocate any employees or further reduce staffing, HUD wrote in its notice. But after the document was withdrawn, it’s unclear whether HUD still plans to pursue a reorganization in the future.
(HUD circulated plans for a major reorganization. Then it withdrew those plans. - Federal News Network)

A new executive order aims to improve data sharing between the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs to get vets their benefits sooner. The order asks the departments to track personnel records together, from the time someone joins the military until they stop receiving VA benefits. The White House says AI can help veterans apply for benefits as part of a broader IT overhaul. The order also looks to improve how the government prepares troops to enter civilian life, including career guidance and benefit applications.
(Trump administration plans IT overhaul to help vets - White House)

The FBI’s new cyber strategy puts a premium on talent. In a first ever unclassified cyber strategy released on Wednesday, the FBI says it will “compete for and retain the best cyber talent in the nation.” Plans include prioritizing key roles like data scientists, malware analysts and cryptocurrency specialists. The strategy also says the FBI will accelerate its adoption of AI tools to aid agents and analysts. Bureau officials believe AI tools can help triage large datasets, surface relationships and identify other patterns that no human analyst could process “at the required pace.”
(FBI cyber leader details bureau’s first unclassified cyber strategy - Federal News Network)

The Defense Department says a key enterprise data platform has passed an independent review of its financial controls. Auditors found those controls were properly designed and working as intended over several months. The War Data Platform gives officials a central way to track money instead of keeping it in separate systems across DoD that are harder to check. Ensuring the system is reliable can help the Pentagon meet its goal of achieving its first clean audit across the department by 2028.
(Parts of Pentagon's financial data backbone passes audit - Department of Defense)

Customs and Border Protection is strengthening its cyber practices after an audit flagged critical deficiencies in IT access controls. In a new report, the Homeland Security inspector general identified multiple vulnerabilities that could have allowed an attacker to compromise CBP’s network. In one case, all 76,000 CBP network users incorrectly had access to one highly privileged service account, giving them the ability to change passwords and other security configurations. CBP told the IG it had fixed that issue and others, with plans to introduce new processes and training to strengthen controls.
(CBP’s IT access control deficiencies introduced critical risk to IT systems and sensitive information - Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General)