This week, Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) sent a letter to GSA Administrator Emily Murphy and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin regarding a recent change to the tax code made pursuant to the recently tax reform overhaul passed by Congress.

The U.S. Senate announced this week that it had placed on indefinite hold a previously scheduled confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson.

Congressman Charlie Dent, a Republican from Pennsylvania well-known in D.C. for being a reliably moderate voice within Congressional Republican ranks, announced today that he would be resigning in “coming weeks,” following an earlier announcement that he would retire at the end of his term.

The recent passage by Congress of a sweeping tax reform effort is having “potentially ruinous” unintended consequences for some federal employees who have had to relocate for work.

According to Roll Call, House Republicans may employ “lesser-used provisions of the 1974 budget law to roll back spending by impounding some of the appropriated funds” contained within the 2018 omnibus spending bill.

According to Congressman Mark Amodei (R-NV), there is a “rumor” that Speaker of the House Paul Ryan might soon announce his resignation. Rep. Amodei made the statement in an interview with a local news station.

Last Thursday, the Trump administration announced the imposition of sanctions against Russia in response to what it deemed an organized effort to hack elements critical to American infrastructure, including aviation systems and the U.S. energy grid.

Late last week, the U.S. Senate confirmed by voice vote Jeff Pon, President Trump’s choice to serve as the new director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the agency tasked with overseeing the administrative and human resources needs of the federal workforce.

Conservative groups and several GOP lawmakers are pushing for more oversight of IRS rules as the agency works to carry out President Trump’s new tax law.

This week, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released to Congress its annual cost-benefit analysis of federal agency rules and regulations.

With President Trump’s 2019 budget proposal now released to the public, lawmakers in the House of Representatives have begun hashing out what Roll Call sees as nearly “insurmountable” differences.

President Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Jeff Pon, will receive a confirmation hearing tomorrow in the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC).

The resurrection of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) – an “expert advisory agency that served as a think tank within Congress from 1972 to 1995, and made important contributions to shaping technology policy in the United States and abroad,” but was eliminated in 1995 – could bring about sweeping improvements to Congress’ decision-making on modernization and other emerging technological challenges, according to a new policy paper released by the R Street Institute.

Nearly three days after the government’s funding lapsed, causing the federal government to shutdown over the weekend and through much of Monday, the U.S. Senate signed another short-term continuing resolution – the fourth such resolution since the Fiscal Year began in October 2017 – that funds the government through February 8th.

Even as budget disagreements from 2017 continue to linger into the new year, conversation is already turning to next year’s budget, with President Trump’s 2019 budget proposal expected sometime next month. In light of that expected milestone, some lawmakers are hoping to get a head-start on negotiations, calling for a 3 percent pay raise for federal employees in 2019.

With Congress returning this week after the holiday break, lawmakers again return to a full docket of business, with another looming government shutdown just ten days away.

With tumultuous negotiations over tax reform and budget proposals at least temporarily behind them, the U.S. House of Representatives concluded the legislative year by passing a package of three bills intended to boost the involvement of women, veterans, and other underrepresented groups in STEM-related occupations, including within the federal government.

Last week, on the cusp of the deadline to pass either a budget or a continuing resolution to keep the federal government operational, Congress passed a two-week continuing resolution, buying itself more time to debate and finalize the components of a final, longer-term deal.