Explore every episode of the podcast Federal Newscast

President Donald Trump nominated Eric Ueland to be the top federal management official. Ueland, who is currently the acting chief of staff for OMB, would be the deputy director for management at OMB if confirmed by the Senate.  He would replace Jason Miller, who was DDM for all four years of the Biden administration. Ueland is a former Senate staff member, having worked for majority leader Senator William Frist (R-Tenn.) and then as staff director for the upper chamber’s budget committee. Along with Ueland, Trump nominated Ethan Klein to be an associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, which is another name for the federal chief technology officer. He was an emerging technology policy adviser during the first Trump administration where he focused on autonomous and unmanned systems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Department of Homeland Security is bringing back at least one of its federal advisory committees. In a public notice this week, DHS announced it is renewing the Homeland Security Advisory Committee. The reconstituted panel will have 35 members. They will serve three-year terms and provide strategic advice to the secretary of homeland security. DHS terminated several advisory panels in the early days of the Trump administration, including the Cyber Safety Review Board that was investigating a major U.S. telecom hack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With a government shutdown less than a week away, a leading Republican Senator is calling for Congress to pass a spending bill. Maine Senator Susan Collins, the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, says government shutdowns are inherently a failure to govern effectively and have negative consequences all across government. House Republican lawmakers unveiled their year-long continuing resolution on Friday. The bill freezes overall funding at fiscal 2024 levels but does include cuts to certain agency programs and increases to others, such as the FAA and fully funds the largest junior enlisted pay raise. It also doesn't include any language related to DOGE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Federal employee unions and other organizations filing lawsuits against the Trump administration may have to put money in escrow to cover the potential costs and damages of the lawsuit. President Trump's new memo tells agencies to use the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(c) to ask the federal courts to hold litigants accountable for their lawsuits. The scope of the directive covers all lawsuits filed against the federal government seeking an injunction where agencies can show expected monetary damages or costs from the requested preliminary relief, unless extraordinary circumstances justify an exception. Failure of the organization that filed the lawsuit to provide the money could result in the denial or dissolution of the requested injunctive relief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning major cuts to its workforce later this year. VA Secretary Doug Collins says the department is looking at a 15% cut to return the agency to 2019 staffing levels. That would meaning eliminating about 72,000 positions. Collins says VA will shrink the workforce without any cuts to veterans’ health care or benefits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Defense Department says Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has so far identified about 80 million dollars in what it considers wasteful spending.  Press Secretary Sean Parnell said DOGE has found one point nine million dollars for diversity, equity and inclusion training in the Air Force; six million dollars to the University of Montana to “strengthen American democracy by bridging divides;” and three point five million dollars at the Defense Human Resources Activity for support to DEI groups. DOGE saving the Defense Department 80 million dollars represent less than one percent of the Pentagon’s total budget. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The National Science Foundation has just rehired about half of the employees it fired two weeks ago. The reversal comes after a federal judge ruled last week that the Trump administration's directives telling agencies to fire their probationary employees were illegal. The reinstated workers will receive backpay and will not see a break in service. While 84 employees will be going back to work, the other 86 fired workers will still be out of their jobs. NSF says that's because they were intermittent employees and not full-time staff members. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents NSF workers, says it's looking forward to welcoming back the reinstated employees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new memo from the Defense Department's office of personnel and readiness directs service members diagnosed with gender dysphoria to be separated from the military. The department says transgender service members may be granted a waiver if there is a “compelling government interest in retaining the service member who directly supports warfighting.” The Defense Department said all service members impacted by this policy will be separated with an honorable characterization of service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson, has instructed the military services to remove all DoD news and feature articles, photos, and videos that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion by March 5th. If the services are not able to remove all DEI content from DoD social media accounts by March 5th, they will be required to temporarily scrub all DEI news articles, photos and videos published during the four years of the Biden administration. Components using DVIDS are also required to review their DEI content, which is scheduled for removal. The digital content refresh memo from Sean Parnell follows President Donald Trump’s various executive orders eliminating DEI across the federal government and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “Restoring America’s Fighting Force” memo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Defense Department Office of Inspector General found that recruits who went through the Army’s future soldier prep course did not receive medical services, such as metabolic and cardiovascular screenings, assessments by a dietitian or medical clearance before proceeding to basic training. The inspector general found that many trainees far exceeded the Army body fat standards before starting the prep course. The future soldier prep course was designed to help recruits meet academic and physical standards before starting basic training. The news comes after the service managed to meet its recruitment goals in 2024, mainly due to the success of the prep course . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The acting head of the IRS is stepping down and retiring from the federal government. IRS Chief Operating Officer Melanie Krause will take over as the new acting IRS commissioner.  Krause joined the IRS in 2021 and started as its chief data and analytics officer.  She’ll take over for Doug O’Donnell, a career employee with 38 years of service who will retire this Friday. The IRS recently fired about 6,500 probationary employees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It came a little late – but the Office of Personnel Management issued guidance last night telling agencies how they should handle this weekend’s mysterious email telling employees to summarize their accomplishments over the past week. The memo, published just a few hours before the midnight deadline, says responses should be sent to both OPM and agency leadership. OPM says agencies should make their own decisions about what actions to take toward employees who don’t respond to the email. The guidance also makes clear that employees who didn’t have access to email yesterday shouldn’t be held to the deadline. It also completely exempts White House staff from the need to respond. Several large agencies have already told employees they don’t need to respond to the email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new advisory board that will consider reforms to the Federal Emergency Management Agency is starting to take shape. DHS put out the official charter for FEMA Review Council late last week. The council is slated to hold its first meeting by April 24th and deliver an initial report to the White House by late July. President Donald Trump has called for potentially eliminating FEMA and sending emergency management funds directly to states. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who has a seat on the new council, has said the administration should “get rid of FEMA the way it exists today.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A top House Democrat is pressing for information on Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration. In a letter sent to President Donald Trump Thursday, Congressman Gerry Connolly called for transparency in Musk’s involvement in federal operations. Connolly says Musk has been widely portrayed as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE.” But a White House official recently claimed that Musk is *not* an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service. Connolly’s letter pushes for answers on who *is* DOGE’s current administrator, and the nature of Musk’s relationship to the federal entity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Postal Service and its letter carrier union are at an impasse over a new labor contract. The dispute now heads to a panel of third-party arbitrators. Members of the National Association of Letter Carriers overwhelmingly voted down a tentative agreement for a new contact earlier this month. USPS and the union failed to reach a new deal within a 15-day window. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Air Force is evaluating its Family Days policy to ensure it “aligns with the force’s ability to support warfighter readiness.” Family Days are extra days off that military commands typically grant to service members around federal holidays to create an extended weekend. A new memo from the acting assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs says while commanders may authorize a day off for military members on these dates, civilian employees are not granted additional leave. Airmen and Guardians expressed concerns that the service might eliminate Family Days to ensure mission readiness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Close to 400,000 military members with health insurance through TRICARE may have been impacted by pharmacy changes over the last couple years. The Defense Health Agency has gradually reduced the number of pharmacies available through TRICARE to cut costs and save taxpayer dollars. But the Government Accountability Office said the pharmacy changes could make it take longer for beneficiaries to access prescription drugs. DHA officials, though, said the pharmacy changes were only a reduction in participants’ choices for their preferred pharmacy, and not a loss of overall access. Still, GAO is recommending that the agency more closely monitor prescription timeliness and data, and make adjustments as needed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two Republican lawmakers want to make any governmentwide reorganization plan an up or down vote by Congress. Congressman James Comer and Senator Mike Lee's Reorganizing Government Act of 2025 would fast-track any plan President Donald Trump submitted to Congress. Lawmakers say the bill would help give the president the authority to streamline government operations to better serve the American people. Comer and Lee say this legislation restores a reorganization authority that was last in effect in 1984, aiming to modernize and improve government efficiency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

House Democrats are pressing the Defense Department about the military services pausing sexual assault prevention and response training programs. In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the lawmakers said the decision is “not only irresponsible but also dangerous.” The lawmakers also said the law requires providing this training to incoming service members, civilian employees, first responders and staff directly supporting victims. At least some military branches have paused the program as the Defense Department works to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order banning all diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cathy Harris is out as the chairwoman of the Merit Systems Protection Board. An MSPB spokesman confirmed the White House terminated Harris's position and named Henry Kerner as acting chairman. The White House also demoted Ray Limon from the vice chairman position. Limon, however, remains on the board, which maintains the quorum to hold hearings. Harris became MSPB chairwoman in March 2024 and joined the board in June 2022. Kerner has been on the board since June. Previously, he was the special counsel of the Office of Special Counsel for almost six years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The deadline for the Office of Personnel Management’s “deferred resignation” offer remains on hold. But that’s not stopping lawmakers from seeking a closer look at who’s taking the deal. Congressman Steny Hoyer is leading 49 House lawmakers to ask OPM for a breakdown of feds opting in by agency location GS level and length of service. The House lawmakers say they’re concerned the offer could disproportionately hollow out agency staffing in certain states or regions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amid the continued debate over FEMA’s future a senior G-O-P Senator is calling for reforms that could bolster the agency’s work. Oklahoma Senator Jim Lankford says too many agencies have responsibilities under the federal disaster framework. In a letter to the White House, Lankford said he should consider whether more disaster assistance responsibilities should be consolidated under FEMA. Trump has called for potentially eliminating FEMA and recently announced a FEMA Review Council to overhaul the agency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

House Democrats are making a push to secure data at the Treasury Department. A group of lawmakers have introduced the Taxpayer Data Protection Act. The bill seeks to add a layer of protection against anyone seeking to access the agency's systems. The legislation would bar anyone with conflicts of interest -- or without a security clearance from getting into the Treasury Department's data. The bill comes after billionaire Elon Musk and some of his employees gained access to Treasury Department data. House Democrats say they're expecting a Senate companion bill for the Taxpayer Data Protection Act shortly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Agencies have 45 days to identify Senior Executive Service roles that were made career-only positions during the Biden administration. A new memo from the Office of Personnel Management directs agencies to reverse the career-only status for those roles, and instead open them to potentially political appointments. For any career positions agencies think should be exempted from conversion, agencies have to explain their reasoning for why it should remain a career-only role. The White House says it’s taking the action after seeing reports of agencies redesignating positions to career-only during the previous administration. OPM’s memo is an effort toward implementing President Trump’s executive order to make feds in policy-related positions at-will workers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Top House Democrats are pressing President Donald Trump about Elon Musk’s access to classified data. In a letter to Trump on Tuesday, the ranking members of seven House committees ask whether Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team have the security clearances needed to access sensitive data. They point to reports about the DOGE group breaking security procedures to gain access to sensitive systems at the Treasury Department, the Office of Personnel Management and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Dems want answers from the White House by February 14th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lawmakers are raising concerns about Elon Musk’s access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems. Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden are both pressing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for more details. In separate letters, both Warren and Wyden say the DOGE team’s access to Treasury systems poses major legal and security concerns. They also ask whether any safeguards are in place to protect sensitive data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Any new contract with federal unions signed toward the end of the Biden administration are null and void under a new memo from the White House. In President Donald Trump's order issued Friday night, he says any last-minute, lame-duck collective bargaining agreements try to bind a new president to his predecessor's policies and that is illegal. Specifically, Trump is referring to the contract the Social Security Administration signed with the American Federal of Government Employees, which guaranteed employees telework and remote work for five years. AFGE says approved union contracts are enforceable by law, and the president does not have the authority to make unilateral changes to those agreements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lawmakers are making a bipartisan effort to secure better retirement benefits for federal firefighters. Virginia Democrat Gerry Connolly and Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick have introduced the Federal Firefighters Families First Act. If enacted, many federal firefighters would receive larger retirement benefits. The House bill aims to change the retirement calculation for federal firefighters to account for overtime hours worked. The lawmakers say the bill would align federal firefighters’ benefits with what state and local firefighters already receive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new task force will oversee the Defense Department's efforts to abolish all diversity, equity and inclusion offices within the department. The task force's mission is described as getting rid of “any vestiges of such offices that subvert meritocracy, perpetuate unconstitutional discrimination, and promote radical ideologies related to systemic racism and gender fluidity.” The move is part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan to create “merit-based, color-blind policies.” Housed under the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, the task force will oversee the removal of DEI programs and the reform of promotion and selection policies. Hegseth said the Defense Department “will not consider sex, race, or ethnicity when considering individuals for promotion, command, or special duty.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee are pushing back on President Donald Trump’s mass firing of agency watchdogs. Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dick Durbin say Trump didn’t follow the law when he removed 18 inspectors general last Friday. A 2022 law requires the president to give 30 days’ notice to Congress and case-specific reasons when removing an IG. The lawmakers are asking Trump to provided those detailed explanations for each IG removed and to provide a list of acting IGs.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Justice Department says it's fired more than a dozen employees who had worked on criminal investigations into President Trump before his election. A DOJ official says the career prosecutors were fired because the acting attorney general doesn't trust them to carry out Trump's agenda, and that it's part of ending, quote, "the weaponization of government." DOJ didn't identify the fired employees, and it's not yet clear whether they'll challenge their terminations under civil service protection rules. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some federal employees may have seen a test email land in their government inboxes last week. The Office of Personnel Management is looking to open a direct line of communication to the federal workforce. OPM is currently testing a web capability that should let the agency email all civilian feds at once from a single email address. OPM says it will continue testing the email function over the next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs will no longer hold vendors accountable for promoting diversity, taking affirmative action and engaging in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion or national origin. President Donald Trump revoked these requirements earlier this week in one of several orders. Additionally, contractors must agree that they are complying with all applicable federal anti-discrimination laws and it will factor in the government’s payment decisions. The President's order also says contractors and grant recipients must certify that they do not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable federal anti-discrimination laws. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More details are emerging about President Trump’s federal hiring freeze executive order. A memo from the Trump administration confirms that military personnel, as well as hires for many national and public security positions, are exempt from the freeze. But there are some additional exemptions as well. Agencies can still make new hires for the Postal Service, and for federal employees who are up for an internal promotion. OPM says agencies should also review any recent appointments in the Pathways Program for early-career workers on a case-by-case basis. Agencies can make further requests for exemptions to the hiring freeze by submitting paperwork to the Office of Personnel Management. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s nomination for homeland security secretary is moving forward in the Senate. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 13 to 2 on Monday night to advance Noem’s nomination to the Senate floor. Noem will play a key role in overseeing the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and border security policies. She has also pledged to rein in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s work on mis- and dis-information. The director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, Benjamine Huffman is currently leading DHS as acting secretary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All agencies are under a 90-day hiring freeze with the exception of military personnel of the armed forces or of positions related to immigration enforcement, national security or public safety. The freeze will last until OMB, OPM and the new advisory board Department of Government Efficiency submit a plan to the White House to reduce the size of the government’s workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition. The freeze would lift for all agencies except for the IRS, which would remain unable to hire new employees until the Treasury Secretary, OMB and DOGE determine it's of national interest to lift the freeze. The new hiring freeze is nearly identical to an executive action Trump took on his first day in office in 2017. The 2017 hiring freeze lasted for nearly three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Civilian federal employees just got a 2 percent average raise added to their pay checks. But Democrats are already looking ahead to next year’s federal pay raise. The FAIR Act would give federal employees a 4-point-3 percent pay increase beginning next January. Congressman Gerry Connolly and Senator Brian Schatz have reintroduced the bill each year for about the last decade. But beyond its introduction, the legislation has never seen action in Congress. Still, Democrats say the larger raise in the FAIR Act would help federal pay keep pace with rising costs of living. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Federal employees are facing a familiar bill in a long line of legislation aiming to cut telework options. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer reintroduced the SHOW UP Act this week. The bill would return federal employees to the work arrangements they had prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. In practice, it would largely scale back federal telework. The House passed the bill in the last Congress. But the Senate did not take any action on the companion legislation. During a hearing this week, Comer said there’s “no reason” feds shouldn’t go back to pre-pandemic telework levels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A record number of Americans hold a U-S passport. The State Department says there are more than 170 million in circulation and that it issued or renewed 90 million passports during the Biden administration. Applicants saw long wait times to apply or renew their passports at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the department says it’s gotten processing times down to four-to-six weeks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Office of Personnel Management is finalizing rules meant to bring the wages of blue collar feds more geographically in line with their General Schedule counterparts. Under the changes set to take effect in October, OPM says nearly 15-thousand workers will see higher wages. Around 500, meanwhile will get lower pay under the new wage area boundaries. Most of the affected employees work for the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As Inauguration Day approaches, federal employees in the D.C. area should plan to telework all this week, and into next week, if they’re able to. The Office of Personnel Management says preparations for Inauguration Day next Monday will create traffic disruptions and road closures in the nation’s capital. OPM is asking agencies to work in a maximum telework posture to try to ease at least some of that traffic. Federal employees who do have to go into the office should build in extra time for the expected delays. Employees will also get a federal holiday on Monday, January 20th, to observe both Inauguration Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Federal employees who telework at least once a week would lose locality pay under a new House bill. Under the Federal Employee Return to Work Act, teleworking employees would receive "Rest of U.S." locality pay even if they live and work in a region with a higher cost of living. Rep. Dan Newhouse introduced the bill. He and Sen. Bill Cassidy led the bill during the last session of Congress. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is putting a hold on hundreds of millions of dollars for the State Department and the U-S Agency for International Development. Chairman Brian Mast says the agencies are rushing to spend the money on projects before the start of the Trump administration. Mast says those projects include studying climate change in the Middle East and LGBTQ awareness programs in Zimbabwe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Political appointees who are resigning on Inauguration Day later this month have some special rules to pay attention to. A new memo from the Office of Personnel Management details how pay, benefits and leave typically work for non-career federal employees resigning at the end of an administration. Impacted appointees will mostly be ending their workdays at noon on January 20th. Because of that, OPM is telling agencies they should only receive a half day of pay. OPM added that resigning appointees should also not accrue annual and sick leave for the pay period that starts next week. That’s because they will leave their positions before completing the full pay period. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The American Federation of Government Employees filed an unfair labor practice against the Bureau of Prisons for its decision to close seven facilities. AFGE says this decision impacts more than 400 union members in seven states. AFGE says the bureau made the decision to close the facilities without warning or consultation with the union , which violated the terms of its labor-management agreement. In the unfair labor practice, AFGE is asking the Federal Labor Relations Authority to halt the implementation of this reorganization and require BOP to bargain with the union. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The federal government is only paying out a small fraction of the settlement funds it set aside for victims of the 2015 Office of Personnel Management data breach. A federal court in October 2022 finalized a $63 million settlement for those impacted by the breach. But a recent court filing shows about the federal government paid about $4.7 million to more than 5,000 individuals who could demonstrate harm from the data breach. The OPM breach impacted about 22 million current and former federal employees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 119th Congress begins today and several key Senate committee federal workforce committees have new leaders. At the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, former chairman, Gary Peters, is the new ranking member. Over at the Armed Services Committee, Democrats tapped Jack Reed from Rhode Island to be the ranking member. Senator Richard Blumenthal takes the ranking member reins at the Veterans Affairs Committee while Senator Edward Markey is the new Democratic leader of the Small Business Committee. Senator John Thune from South Dakota is the new Majority Leader. The new chairmen of the committees are expected to be finalized in the coming days. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President-elect Donald Trump and D-C Mayor Muriel Bowser agree the federal government has more office space than its employees currently need. Bowser says her recent meeting with Trump centered on the federal workforce and underutilized federal buildings. The leaders of a new Department of Government Efficiency say they plan to bring federal employees back to the office five days a week. Trump says he also plans to challenge a new agreement the Social Security Administration made with one of its unions locking in current levels of telework for years to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two new bills from Senator James Lankford are aimed to recovering improper payments from two large programs. The first bill, the Fraudulent COVID Funds Recovery Act, would extend the statute of limitations for all pandemic-era programs for five extra years. The new statute of limitations would let law enforcement officials go after fraudsters through 2030. The second bill, the Eliminate Fraudulent Unemployment Insurance Benefits Act, would require states to withhold payments from any claimant it deems ineligible and fraudulent. It also creates new definitions to help states appropriately classify fraudulent activity. COVID era programs and the Unemployment Insurance benefits faced higher than normal levels of fraud, federal auditors found. Lankford is expected to be the chairman of the Government Operations and Border Management Subcommittee of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is working under a new enterprise strategy to fill workforce gaps. ICE’s 2024 annual report details how the agency used direct-hire authorities to make several hundred job offers in the past year. And ICE also made 185 tentative job offers at the Department of Homeland Security’s June hiring expo. ICE says that recruiting and hiring is a major piece of a multiyear “Enterprise Transformation Initiative” kicked off in 2024. The immigration agency is expected to ramp up recruitment under the incoming Trump administration.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices