Agriculture Department

In the omnibus spending bill President Donald Trump signed into law last week, CIOs at the Agriculture and State departments received specific empowerments provisions.

The Agriculture Department said the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, can last until the end of February if Congress fails to agree on a way to end the government shutdown.

The Agriculture Department plans to reopen all Farm Service Agency offices for the duration of the partial government shutdown, on the same day a temporary plan to reopen select agency offices was set to expire. 

In today’s Federal Newscast, a bill introduced by Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) would authorize congressional payroll administrators to dock pay for members of Congress for as long as a government shutdown continues.

The Environmental Protection Agency had enough carryover funds to continue operations through Friday, Dec. 28. With no appropriations deal in sight, the agency is preparing for shutdown. The Smithsonian is preparing to close museums and the National Zoo after the new year without further appropriations.

Agencies impacted by the shutdown have turned off Twitter and Facebook feeds, while Washington D.C. area restaurants are offering free food.

The Air Force believes it’s proved the value of agile software development via its Kessel Run project. The next task is to spread it across the service.

In today’s Federal Newscast, the Justice Department said Sgt. Ikaika Kang provided sensitive military documents and military equipment to who he thought were members of ISIS.

The Partnership for Public Service and Accenture detail the ways three agencies are leading the pack to overhaul their systems in order to meet customer needs

The U.S. Department of Agriculture continues to train dogs at its National Detector Dog Training Center to safeguard American agriculture.