Gerry Connolly

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, along with Reps. Gerry Connolly and Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), want to know why there have been so many challenges in issuing full and correct back pay to federal employees after the recent government shutdown.

In today’s Federal Newscast, NASA announces it will be running a test flight of a crewed commercial space craft some time in July.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) have reintroduced the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act, which give federal employees a 3.6 percent pay raise in 2020.

The House is set to clear a 2.6 percent federal pay raise for civilian employees this year. The Senate already has a companion of the Federal Civilian Workforce Pay Fairness Act.

In today’s Federal Newscast, President Donald Trump hints that another government shutdown is likely after funding runs out again in three weeks.

Both the House and Senate easily passed a three-week continuing resolution that would end the government shutdown and temporarily fund shuttered agencies through Feb. 15. The Office of Management and Budget has already urged agencies to begin preparing for an “orderly reopening” of government.

In today’s Federal Newscast, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates there were about $2.3 billion in government contracts that would have been issued to small firms over the past month, but weren’t because of the government shutdown.

In today’s Federal Newscast, two senators asked the Transportation Security Administration for its plan if staffing shortages and call outs continue.

The IRS’s decision to begin this year’s tax filing season on time, and to start issuing tax refunds despite a partial government shutdown, appears legally sound, according to former government officials, but raises logistical questions from lawmakers and current agency employees.

House Democrats in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia said they’re reminding their colleagues during the government shutdown: most federal employees live outside the Washington metropolitan area.