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Congress released the text of a massive government spending package for fiscal 2023, which includes an increase of $42.5 billion in non-defense spending and an increase of $76 billion in defense spending over enacted 2022 levels. But just a few days remain to pass the legislation and avoid either a government shutdown or another continuing resolution.
Though the compromise version of the 2023 NDAA removes language preventing a revival of Schedule F, the bill includes provisions to expand workers’ compensation for federal firefighters and create an online directory of political appointees.
In a workforce of about two million, the federal government has only about 8,000 members in the senior executive service. A small number, but crucial, they are the main buffers and translators between the political appointees and the rank-and-file who actually do the work of government. Now the Senior Executives Association has a new board chairman.
Part of the lengthy to-do list for legislators by the end of the year, several bills and amendments may have significant impacts for the federal workforce.
Although never fully implemented, a new GAO report reveals two agencies that started initial steps of reclassifying positions to Schedule F.
In today's Federal Newscast: GAO lifts the veil to show hundreds of federal employees were being prepped for easier firing under Schedule F. The nominee to be the National Archivist encounters a political speed bump. And the Labor Department is finding a way out of its technical debt.
The case of a dismissed VA chaplain shows how long it can take to resolve an appealed firing.
The Preventing a Patronage System Act cleared the House in a vote of 225-204, but timing for the Senate’s companion legislation remains uncertain.
The House Rules Committee passed the Preventing a Patronage System Act favorably in a vote of 8-4 along party lines. Now, it moves to the full House floor.
Congress has a lot on its plate to try to avoid a continuing resolution, including a host of appropriations bills.
Jeff Neal writes that the more civil servants see attacks by political appointees and politicians on their skills, work, integrity and even their patriotism, the more likely it is that they will not stay and that it will be even harder to find qualified replacements.
A new bill introduced in the House of Representatives, titled the Public Service Reform Act, is not about public service and is certainly not reform. Rather than addressing accountability or hiring and pay challenges, the bill would make all federal workers at-will employees. The result would be a civil service that is little more than two million political appointees.
The Chief Information Officer at GSA is seemingly in unrestrained hiring mode. Meanwhile, federal employees under 30 are resigning at higher rates than the overall average.
The Preventing a Patronage System Act would stop any federal job from reclassification outside of merit system principles.