Three Democratic Congress members sent a letter this week suggesting the government borrow private-sector practices to improve federal hiring and training in order to bolster the cybersecurity workforce.

Lawmakers agreed on a deal early Monday morning to fund the government and avoid a shutdown by week’s end.

Days away from a potential government shutdown, President Trump and Republican Congressional leaders are at odds on funding the President’s wall.

With two weeks to go until government funding runs out on April 28, and considering Congress has not passed a budget on time for seven of the last eight years, Congress is working on borrowed time for its 2017 budget.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee held a roundtable last week for agencies and good-government groups to weigh in on civil service reform.

While President Trump’s budget proposal includes $239 million in cuts to the IRS, Democrats are pushing back with a request of their own for the tax-collecting agency.

This week, President Donald Trump signed House Joint Resolution 37, which stated Congress’ disapproval of the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule, in addition to stating that “such rule shall have no force or effect.”

The Trump administration announced plans to recommend a 1.9 percent pay raise for federal workers to take effect January 2018, according to a budget document and senior budget official.

Members of the Democratic leadership in the Senate are urging Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to carefully consider what will be included in the essential government funding bill that must pass next month, warning that they would shut down the government if any “poison pills” – such as funding for the proposed border wall – are included.

Following reports that several military bases have had to shut down childcare programs due to the hiring freeze, two Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (OGR) sent a letter requesting an exemption from the freeze.

With the prospective $54 billion increase in the budget for the Department of Defense, the Trump administration is expected to offset those costs through cuts to non-Defense agencies.

Several single line bills have been introduced to terminate federal departments and agencies, including H.R. 861, which would eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and H.R. 899, which would do away with the Department of Education.

Lacking the fireworks that have become a staple of many congressional hearings on federal workforce issues in recent years, last week a bipartisan cadre of Senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hosted a conversation between lawmakers and representatives of federal executive, management, and labor-level employees.

Members on both sides of the aisle are seeking clarity from the new administration on how recent directives may impact federal employees and their perceptions of whistleblower rights.

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) took on a popular phrase from President Trump, outlining that “the greatest threat to America’s people, economy, and Constitution” is the federal bureaucracy.

One day after signing an across the board hiring freeze, with limited exemptions for military personnel and national security purposes, President Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was met with a sharp line of questioning from Democratic Virginia Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.

Last week, Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to agency heads, stating the anticipated hiring freeze did not entitle them to accelerate the hiring process to fill current openings.

This week, Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, spoke out about his intent to reform federal employees’ retirement benefits and job security.