Federal Newscast

Adam Telle, the Army's assistant secretary for civil works, will serve as acting Army secretary. President Donald Trump announced the pick on social media Thursday, calling Telle a "great patriot who is respected by all." Telle took the job overseeing the Army Corps of Engineers in August 2025 after serving as a longtime Senate staffer. He also worked in the White House's legislative office during Trump's first term. Telle has not served in the military. He replaces Dan Driscoll, who resigned this week amid clashes with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Postal Service is finalizing a new portal to provide election officials with a simple, secure and efficient way to share lists of individuals receiving ballots by mail in their respective states. The U.S. Federal Ballot Mail Portal will soon be available to election officials who voluntarily wish to familiarize themselves with the platform. USPS says it also will provide tools, presentations and other resources to help election officials understand the platform and make decisions about whether and how they wish to use it. USPS is facing new questions from lawmakers about the portal after a whistleblower claimed that the portal has been hastily built and could fail. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

August was a month of rebounds for the Thrift Savings Plan. All TSP funds ended in the black, the highest increase being the I Fund at 3.3%, followed by the C and S Funds at 2.7% and 2.3%, respectively. The G and F Funds posted more modest increases, both below 1%. For 2026 so far, all but one of the 16 TSP funds have grown, with more than half seeing double-digit percentage increases.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Defense Department employees can now use three major AI products at work. The department on Monday launched military versions of OpenAI's ChatGPT and Elon Musk's Grok to help the workforce with everyday tasks. DoD says ChatGPT can read documents for unclassified administrative and policy work. Grok is built for operational needs like market research and supply chain management. Google's Gemini was the first product launched on the Pentagon's AI hub last year. More than 1.7 million have signed up to use those services so far.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The General Services Administration has removed the AbilityOne Commission and National Prison Industries' exception from the Trade Agreements Act for all of its contracts. In a deviation to GSA's acquisition regulations, the agency will now require the commission and all of its non-profits like SourceAmerica and the National Industries for the Blind, to only use products from countries that have existing trade agreements with the U.S. This means there are 78 countries, including China, Vietnam and Thailand, that the AbilityOne Commission and NPI can no longer import products from. This deviation comes on the heels of a letter from GSA to AbilityOne seeking more information about the products they are selling through the schedule contracts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Up to 400 federal positions can now earn salaries of $400,000. A new final rule from the Office of Personnel Management allows the higher pay rates for hundreds of workers under an authority known as “critical position pay.” The authority is meant to help agencies recruit and retain highly qualified and specialized government workers in mission-critical roles. OPM’s final rule this week aligns with President Donald Trump’s orders earlier this year to use the pay authority for up to 400 national security roles.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal wildland firefighters can now earn higher pay rates for more types of work. A recent final rule from the Office of Personnel Management authorizes a 25% “hazard pay” boost for work on prescribed burns. That’s in addition to firefighters already getting hazard pay when working on uncontrolled wildfires. OPM says the final rule creates “pay parity,” since both types of work involve similar health and safety risks from fire and smoke. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thousands of federal employees who left the government via the deferred resignation program have essentially been replaced. That's according to new data analysis from the Partnership for Public Service. The nonprofit finds that the agency and occupational series for more than 20,000 employees who took the DRP can be matched to a position later filled in the same category. The turnover marks a loss of institutional knowledge and capacity, the Partnership says.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The National Security Agency doesn’t appear to be complying with federal laws that require the agency to outline whistleblower protections in its nondisclosure agreement. The NSA’s inspector general said the agency doesn’t have a central repository of its NDAs or an overarching policy. But for four of the five agreements the IG did find, whistleblower protection notifications were left out entirely. The agency said it has a plan in place to fix the issue.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is coming under scrutiny for workforce cuts as cyber and physical threats to critical infrastructure rise. A group of Democratic lawmakers are pushing for a Government Accountability Office report on the impact of recent workforce reductions and program cuts on CISA’s ability to fulfill its mission. The lawmakers, from the House Committee on Homeland Security and Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, pointed to CISA’s loss of nearly 1,000 employees, or about a third of its workforce, in the first half of 2025. Though CISA has announced plans to hire 300 employees to rebuild, the Trump administration’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal proposes removing another 900 positions from the agency. CISA has also experienced leadership turnover during the second Trump administration.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Add the employees at the Agriculture Department's Rural Development Agency to the growing list of successful feds who have won grievances before an arbitrator after losing their remote work and telework rights. Arbitrator Margaret Donaghy ruled Wednesday in favor of RDA employees represented by the American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees. The union filed a grievance when USDA ended teleworking and remote work agreements without bargaining in April 2025. Donaghy ordered USDA to restore the telework and remote work arrangements and make the employees whole by paying any travel expenses, compensation or credit for additional hours worked. Suzanne Summerlin, the attorney representing the employees, says this is the fifth arbitration award won by employees in recent months with similar awards issued at the Forest Service, HUD, the IRS, and SSA.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Space Force has opened its own recruiting squadron nearing seven years after the newest service was created. The 320th Recruiting Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, is the service's first unit dedicated to bringing in new generations of guardians. Air Force united handled Space Force recruiting to save money as the youngest service matured. Now the military space workforce has expanded enough that the Space Force wants to grow its recruiting apparatus to keep up. The service has already reached its goal of enlisting 730 new guardians in 2026.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Space Force’s fiscal 2027 budget request would significantly increase funding for missile warning, missile tracking and command and control programs. That would account for more than 45% of the proposed growth, according to a recent analysis. Classified spending would account for about 30% of the service’s overall budget growth. The Space Force budget could see a major budget increase in fiscal 2027. The White House requested $71 billion for the newest military branch. But that figure is not guaranteed. The White House’s base budget request is around $59 billion. Another $12. 1 billion is contingent upon Congress passing another reconciliation package, which faces a difficult path in the Senate.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Department of the Air Force is updating its rules for determining whether civilian applicants are a good fit for federal jobs. New interim guidance says candidates must be deemed initially favorable before receiving a firm job offer and must earn a final decision that they are suitable for employment in order to retain the job. “It is important to ensure individuals hired are loyal, trustworthy and of good character,” the memo says. The memo follows a broader Trump administration directive on the same topic and will be replaced with a permanent rule.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Federal Aviation Administration has hired over 2,000 new air traffic controllers, all with a shared passion: videogames. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says in a recent online post that the FAA hiring initiative focused on gamers, launched in April, has met 94% of its hiring goal. Duffy says this is the highest-ever number of hires at FAA in a year. The hiring surge comes as FAA has struggled with workforce shortages in recent years. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A top House democrat is demanding a hearing to examine the effects of the Trump administration’s actions at federal statistical agencies. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), ranking member of the Education and Workforce Committee, said committee members should understand how recent challenges of understaffing and underfunding at these agencies are impacting their work. Scott pointed to a recent report from the American Statistical Association that highlights problems like halted projects and reports, low response rates, decreased data production and smaller staff across agencies including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Economic Research Service and the National Center for Education Statistics. Scott requested a September hearing on how lower quality, less frequent data reports will impact the American public.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Merit Systems Protection Board is officially transitioning away some of its authority over adverse action appeal decisions. A new final rule from MSPB removes all references to the board’s prior jurisdiction over appeals due to firings or demotions during a reduction-in-force, probationary period or for a suitability-related reason. The adjustments at MSPB come after the Office of Personnel Management finalized rules to take over decisions in those three categories of workplace disputes. The change takes full effect in early September. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Army has lost 18% of its civilian workforce at two of its major depots. The Government Accountability Office found that the Anniston and Red River Army Depots lost nearly 800 permanent and term-limited employees when comparing fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2025. Specifically, Anniston’s workforce decreased by 616 people. Meanwhile, its contractor workforce more than doubled during this period. Depot officials said the hiring freeze has prevented them from replacing skilled maintainers who retired or took the deferred resignation program. They also said that contractors “often arrive without the required skills,” and that “contractor employee turnover and skill gaps can affect production continuity.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The backlog of federal retirement claims is at the lowest point in 2026 with just over 24,000 in OPM's inventory. New data shows OPM processed more than 17,000 claims last month, of which 14,000 were done digitally. Additionally, OPM says it of the 14,000 claims it received in July, 10,500 were provided to them in an electronic format. Despite this progress, processing times inched up to 98 days on average for digital claims and 109 days for all claims. OPM says, on average, paper based claims took 156 days to process. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A federal union is urging the Forest Service to reverse course on its upcoming reorganization plans. The National Federation of Federal Employees warns that shuttering facilities and relocating Forest Service staff will worsen federal response during wildfire season. After staffing reductions at the Forest Service during 2025, union officials say the agency now is likely to lose additional workers due to the reorganization including those with “red cards,” who are qualified to respond as wildland firefighters.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Department of Government Efficiency touted that it saved $110 billion across federal contracts, grants and leases. But many of DOGE’s claims don’t have supporting evidence and some are simply incorrect. A new report from the Government Accountability Office finds that 96% of DOGE’s claimed savings on federal grants cannot be verified. And some savings that DOGE posted on its “wall of receipts” website were already being phased out before DOGE was established.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

June was not a good month for your money in the Thrift Savings Plan. Fifteen of 16 funds saw month-over-month declines, including the S Fund which dropped more than 4% over the last 30 days. Of the 15 funds that dropped in July, the good news is 12 of them saw declines of less than 1%. The G Fund was the only account to come in positive last month with a growth of just under 0.4%. For the year, 15 of 16 funds are growing at a healthy rate with nine earning double digit returns.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Army is overhauling how it treats discrimination and harassment complaints. Beginning later this year, the service will no longer allow soldiers to anonymously file allegations of discrimination or harassment with military equal opportunity offices. Instead, EO offices can process claims while keeping soldiers' personal information confidential. Troops who opt to file a confidential claim will not be required to notify their command or initiate a complaint that could lead to an investigation. Commanders may still act on anonymous allegations that warrant further review.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Education Department transferred another 64 employees from K-12, special education, higher education and career, technical and adult education programs to other agencies. The American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, which represents Education employees, is denouncing the decision, calling it illegal and part of the administration's effort to dismantle the department. AFGE says Education transferred 10 Native education workers from multiple offices to the Department of the Interior. AFGE says two postsecondary education employees are going to the Department of State and another 52 workers in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and Office of Postsecondary Education are headed to the Labor Department. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Senate's version of the continuing resolution released last week not only keeps the government open through December 11 but would prohibit OMB from implementing the rewrite of the federal grants regulations. A provision in the CR agreed to by both Republicans and Democrats would pause the new regulations until at least December 11. In addition to the grants provision, the CR also would extend the Technology Modernization Fund for another 10 weeks. Senator Susan Collins, the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, says the CR also avoids any "poison pills" that could lead to a government shutdown. The House passed its version of the CR on July 21. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Army is offering certain helicopter pilots six-figure bonuses to stay in uniform, hoping to retain active-duty warrant officers who are mid-career or approaching retirement eligibility. Bonuses range from around $75,000 over three years for aviators with 12 to 14 years of service, to nearly $210,000 over six years for those with at least 18 years of service. The 2026 program aims to convince at least one in four eligible soldiers to stay, with a particular focus on instructor pilots and maintenance test pilots.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Two former Office of Personnel Management directors are urging the reversal of a decision that could broadly impact federal job protections. Their brief to a federal appeals court comes ahead of a full bench hearing slated for this fall. The hearing will reconsider a Merit Systems Protection Board ruling that allowed the president to fire some civil servants, claiming constitutional authority. The two former OPM directors warn that upholding MSPB’s decision will threaten the integrity and expertise of the career federal workforce. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Navy is turning to industry for ideas to help address temporary housing shortages impacting thousands of sailors nationwide. The service has issued a request for information seeking solutions to provide temporary unaccompanied housing while the Navy renovates its aging barracks. The Navy is asking companies to propose a range of options, including trailer or RV housing, leased apartments, extended hotel stays or houseboats. The Navy estimates it will need approximately 4,200 temporary beds to house displaced sailors. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A dozen Senate Democrats are pressing the Pentagon for a full accounting of U.S. troops who have been killed or injured in connection with the Iran War. In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other senior defense leaders, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee criticized the Defense Department for appearing to leave nearly 100 troops who were wounded in action out of the Pentagon's monthly statistics for July. The Pentagon's public casualty count for Operation Epic Fury also fell from 18 to 14 deaths last week. A response is due Thursday.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The National Guard is moving thousands of Guardsmen mobilized to Washington, D.C., from hotels into apartments. The National Guard Bureau has awarded a $292 million contract to Placemakr to provide up to 2,000 apartment-style units for troops supporting Joint Task Force–District of Columbia. The housing contract is the largest interagency lodging acquisition in National Guard history that will “provide a long-term housing solution to improve troop readiness.” The National Guard troops will be deployed in D.C. until January 2029. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The House has cleared a bill to correct pension payments for close 8,000 federal retirees. The “Pensions for Retired Uniformed Servicemembers Act” comes after feds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Public Health Service missed payments during the 43-day shutdown last fall, due to an unintentional loophole. Although the bipartisan legislation to close that loophole has now passed the House, it has not yet been introduced in the Senate. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The House Appropriations Committee convened Wednesday to discuss legislative options to keep the federal government open when Congress fails to put annual funding in place by the end of the fiscal year. Lawmakers aired broad bipartisan frustration at the gridlock that has prevented on-time appropriations for years but differed on the specifics of how to fix the problem. Ideas included keeping congressional lawmakers in Washington until the process is done each year, reforming Senate rules and allowing funds to kick in automatically.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Iran War's operational costs have climbed to an estimated $37.5 billion as the conflict finishes its fifth month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told senators Tuesday. That figure is about $12 billion higher than the Pentagon comptroller gave lawmakers in April. The new estimate includes the cost of the war to date as well as expenses like meal pay that are anticipated through the end of the fiscal year, Hegseth said. Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine testified before Senate appropriators to push for an extra $67 billion they say would help pay for the war.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal contractors will gain broader whistleblower protections under legislation passed by the House on Monday. The bill blocks retaliation against contractors who refuse to violate laws, rules or regulations in the course of their work, and for sharing evidence of mismanagement, waste, abuse or danger to public health and safety. It also protects whistleblower rights in case of a non-disclosure agreements and forbids federal officials from asking a contractor to retaliate against someone else. A companion bill passed the Senate in May. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A federal judge on Friday ruled the Trump administration unlawfully fired the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s chief financial officer last year. District Court Judge Michael Nachmanoff rejected arguments that President Donald Trump can unilaterally fire senior officials without a hearing or right to transfer to another job. The case centers on former FEMA CFO Mary Comans. She was fired without cause last year. Elon Musk and other officials then accused her of circumventing leadership to authorize hotel payments for undocumented immigrants. Comans challenged that narrative and the circumstances of her firing. Now, Nachmanoff has ordered that Comans should receive a name-clearing hearing.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Democrats are seeking to offer support to laid-off Foreign Service officers looking to get their jobs back. A new bill called the Foreign Service Test-Free Reentry Act would let former State Department officers rejoin service without needing to retake Foreign Service entry exams. Lawmakers who introduced the bill say there's no need for them to prove their expertise again. It comes as former employees, federal unions and lawmakers continue to call for the reinstatement of more than 1,300 laid-off department workers.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Cybersecurity agencies are warning critical industries, including government contractors, about Russia-linked hackers targeting insecure routers and other devices. In an alert this week, the National Security Agency and 18 domestic and international partner agencies urged organizations to secure their networking devices. They say the targeted sectors include communications, the defense industrial base, energy, financial services, government services and healthcare. The hackers have spent years quietly extracting configuration data from poorly configured routers across critical infrastructure.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A top Justice Department official that oversees how agencies administer the Freedom of Information Act is stepping down. Sean Glendening has left his job as director of the Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy. He says he’s now pursuing a masters in public administration at Harvard Kennedy School. Glendening took over the OIP role last year after longtime Director Bobak Talebian was fired as part of a wave of DOJ terminations.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Defense Department has spent at least $2.6 billion on southern border operations since the beginning of fiscal 2025. It used multiple funding mechanisms to support the mission, including using money set aside for military construction projects and service members’ permanent change of station moves. In fiscal 2025, the Pentagon provided support to the Department of Homeland Security on a non-reimbursable basis. DoD said that approximately $305 million in support provided to DHS in fiscal 2026 is eligible for reimbursement. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Agencies have new resources to help them run their own versions of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey this year. A playbook from the Office of Personnel Management explains how agencies can best plan and design their internal employee surveys. The extra guidance comes after OPM proposed to decentralize FEVS and revise the required survey questions. Agencies will have to administer their own employee surveys by the end of the year, and then report their results back to OPM.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal retirement processing times are slowing down. During June, it took OPM an average of 108 days to process a retirement claim, according to the agency’s latest data release. Processing times for digital-only applications averaged 96 days. That’s a full 30 days longer than the previous month’s average. But at the same time, OPM’s retirement claim inventory in June was the lowest it’s been all year, coming in at just under 34,000 pending applications. OPM received close to 9,000 new claims last month and processed nearly 13,000.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A move toward skills-based federal hiring is getting another push from Congress. A new bipartisan bill would push agencies to ease college degree requirements for many federal jobs. Agencies would have to consider alternative job qualifications like military service, apprenticeships and community college. If enacted, the bill would also create a separate USAJobs portal for positions not requiring a four-year college degree. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Army is replacing its long-criticized height-and-weight tables and tape test with a waist-to-height ratio to measure body composition. The change follows Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's push for a simpler, more consistent fitness standard across the military. The new policy is drawing mixed reactions from soldiers, with critics questioning whether a single waist measurement is enough. Soldiers with a confirmed waist-to-height ratio of 0.55 or higher will be placed in the Army's body composition improvement program, but no one will be involuntarily separated during a 180-day implementation period. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has a new leader. Arvind Raman was sworn is as the fifth undersecretary of commerce for standards and technology on June 30th. He was confirmed by the Senate in May. Raman was previously the dean of engineering at Purdue University. His background is in atomic force microscopy, human biomechanics and electronics manufacturing. As the head of NIST, he’ll be charged with overseeing an array of high-profile work in areas like artificial intelligence, quantum science, and biotechnology.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Trump administration is looking to tweak the rules for federal employees’ paid administrative leave. Recent proposed regulations from the Office of Personnel Management would give agencies more leeway to use paid leave, including during workforce reduction efforts. During 2025, agencies used administrative leave to implement the deferred resignation program, paying thousands of employees for several months not to work, in exchange for them agreeing to quit their jobs.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The good news about your Thrift Savings Plan for June, only two funds saw month over month drops. As for the other funds, 13 of 14 experienced minimal growth of less than one percent from May to June. The big winner last month was the S fund with a growth rate of 4.34%. The S fund also remains the top performing TSP account for all of 2026, increasing by more than 18%. The "I", C and eight of nine L funds also continue to bring back double digit returns since January.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The IRS still doesn’t recognize a union that represents much of its workforce. But the agency has agreed it will no longer bar employees from keeping materials from the National Treasury Employees Union on their desks or in common areas. NTEU previously complained to a federal court that the IRS removed union materials from employees’ workstations and covered up NTEU information on bulletin board. The IRS tells the court that it will pause further implementation of its directive ordering the removal of NTEU materials from the workplace. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Two Democrats and two Republicans have teamed up on a bill that would give military families more time to make important financial decisions after a service member dies. Endorsed by groups like Gold Star Spouses of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, the bill would give families three years instead of one to roll over death gratuities and life insurance into tax-advantaged savings accounts. Supporters say the language would give families more flexibility as they work through difficult choices. The bill could be added into the annual defense policy bill now progressing through Congress. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dozens of House Democrats are urging the Trump administration to abandon its proposal for a governmentwide non-disclosure agreement. The lawmakers say an NDA for federal employees would only serve to intimidate and silence them. They are demanding details on the scope of the proposed NDA, and how workers would still be able to make protected disclosures. Lawmakers sent their demands in a letter to the Office of Personnel Management, after the proposed NDA plans were released last month.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A lawsuit challenging Schedule Policy/Career is doubling down on its arguments. The recently amended complaint now directly challenges the reclassifications of 8,000 federal employees earlier this month. The lawsuit alleges that Schedule Policy/Career violates the Civil Service Reform Act, inhibits due process for federal employees, and intrudes on congressional powers. The plaintiffs in the case are the Government Accountability Project and the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.