Steny Hoyer

The seven-week continuing resolution gives lawmakers through Nov. 21 to complete spending bills for the rest of 2020. Notably, the CR includes additional funding for the Office of Personnel Management, which faces a budget shortfall at the start of the new fiscal year.

In today’s Federal Newscast, it’s now known when the Federal Acquisition Service will release its consolidated schedule, which will include the new special item numbers and terms and conditions.

Beyond the inevitable hurdles of avoiding a government shutdown at the end of next month, the September to-do list for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) includes securing a 3.1% federal pay raise and passing a highly-anticipated paid family leave program into law.

The legal opinion from the Agriculture Department’s Office of General Counsel could serve as an example for other agencies looking to reorganize or relocate employees.

Federal employee unions, democrats refocus their attention on getting the Senate to agree on provisions in FY 2020 bills to block rollbacks on collective bargaining, official time for feds.

A 3.1% federal pay raise is another step closer to reality, as the House passed the financial services and general appropriations bill with a 224-196 vote Wednesday afternoon. The bill would also throw up several roadblocks to the Trump administration’s proposed merger of the Office of Personnel Management with the General Services Administration.

House Democrats joined members of the American Federation of Government Employees on Tuesday to rally against the Trump administration’s proposed merger of the Office of Personnel Management with the General Services Administration. Congress on Tuesday also began debate over an appropriations bill that would block the OPM-GSA merger.

Employees at the Office of Personnel Management may face administrative furloughs if Congress doesn’t advance the Trump administration’s proposal to merge the agency with the General Services Administration, or if lawmakers can’t pass permanent 2020 funding by the end of the fiscal year.

A new House budget proposal is silent on federal retirement cuts. Instead, it focuses on securing a two-year spending deal that breaks free of the Budget Control Act caps.

Until the Trump administration provides more details about its plans to reorganize the Office of Personnel Management, Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee are urging appropriators to prohibit funds for the proposed merger.