The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) has approved a spending bill that would exclude senior executives at the Veterans Affairs Department (VA) from receiving bonuses in fiscal 2017.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has initiated a broad investigation into the federal workforce, ss reported by The Washington Post.

In an effort to decrease the intense staff turnover and declining policy expertise on the Hill, five long-time Congressional observers sent a letter to House and Senate Republican and Democratic leaders, urging them to create a Joint Committee on the Capacity of Congress “to examine and improve congressional operation, which is suffering from understaffing and underfunding.”

Following last month’s introduction in the Senate, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has passed its own measure to curb the use of administrative leave.

As federal workers prepare for the upcoming Presidential transition, the House has passed a bipartisan bill intended remove the politics from this process.

Earlier this month, Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill to move more than 45,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport officers into Title 5 of the U.S. Code.

Last week during a budget hearing before the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert McDonald proposed moving VA Senior Executive Service (SES) members from Title 5 to Title 38 status.

At their legislative and grassroots mobilization conference, the American Federation for Government Employees (AFGE) announced they would push for a 5.3% pay raise for civilian and military personnel – much higher than the 1.6% in the President’s current budget proposal.

Lawmakers are working on legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

While the additional $290 million the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) received in this year’s budget will provide for the hiring of 1,000 seasonal workers, Congress continues to focus on accountability within the agency and ways to restrict spending.

Reform legislation (H.R. 4358) promising to bring “accountability” to the Senior Executive Service (SES) has been reintroduced in the House by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI).

Since being included in President George W. Bush’s fiscal year 2003 budget, both Presidents Bush and Obama have included provisions in their budget submissions to reduce the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act’s (FECA) basic compensation benefit for injured employees.

Congressional negotiators looking to finish off the last two major legislative tasks facing the chamber – funding the government and extending a slate of popular individual and business tax breaks – are close to the finish line.

Four committee chairmen, two from the House and two from the Senate, have written to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to request a review of political appointee conversions to career federal civil service positions.

Last month, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham (R), chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the State Department and refugee issues introduced legislation (S. 2145) to provide an additional $1 billion in FY2016 funding to bolster refugee resettlement efforts.

Congress recently introduced two new pieces of legislation specifically targeting the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) workforce.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has passed both chambers of Congress, setting up a confrontation with the White House, which appears ready to follow through on its veto threat after acquiescing in prior years.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has passed both chambers of Congress, setting up a confrontation with the White House, which appears ready to follow through on its veto threat after acquiescing in prior years.