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American Military News
17 hours ago
- Business
- American Military News
$832 billion defense bill passed by the House
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act early Friday morning. The bill would allocate approximately $832 billion in defense funds for Fiscal year 2026 and would include a 3.8% pay increase for military members. According to The New York Post, the House approved the Department of Defense Appropriations Act in a 221-209 vote on Friday. The outlet noted that only five Democrats voted in support of the bill, while every Republican representative supported the bill except Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.). 'Providing our men and women in uniform with the resources they need to keep America safe is one of the most important constitutional responsibilities of Congress. The passage of the FY26 Defense Appropriations Act advances our national security goals by investing in the platforms and programs that enhance America's military dominance,' Defense Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) said in a Friday press release. Calvert added, 'The bill makes innovation a priority by expanding programs I have championed that rapidly deploy cutting-edge, difference making systems into the hands of our warfighters. Our troops are the backbone of our national security and receive a well-deserved pay raise in this bill.' READ MORE: New defense tech company reveals major power development The New York Post reported that the House's Department of Defense Appropriations Act includes a 3.8% pay increase for National Guard troops, active-duty military members, and reserve military members. According to Federal News Network, the bill also includes a 60% increase in the military's family separation allowance. Federal News Network reported that the House's Department of Defense Appropriations Act would increase the military's separation allowance to $400 each month for U.S. service members. The outlet noted that while Fiscal Year 2024's defense bill previously authorized the Department of Defense to increase pay for military members who are involuntarily separated from dependents from $250 per month to $400 per month, the Pentagon has not yet increased the pay. In a statement following the House Armed Services Committee's approval of the bill ahead of the full House vote on the legislation, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) explained that it has 'never been more important to have a ready, lethal, and capable fighting force' then at a time when the United States facing 'rapidly evolving' and 'complex' threats across the globe. 'Equipping an innovative and agile military requires an efficient and streamlined acquisition process,' Rogers added. 'The FY26 NDAA supports modernization and fundamentally reforms defense acquisition by cutting red tape, eliminating bureaucratic hurdles, and encouraging innovation.'
USA Today
13-03-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Big problem emerges in IRS return-to-office mandate: Not enough desks
Big problem emerges in IRS return-to-office mandate: Not enough desks Fearing a customer service meltdown in tax season, the IRS steps back its plan to bring employees back to the office. Show Caption Hide Caption Thousands of IRS employees laid off as tax refund season gets underway Thousands of IRS employees were laid off, primarily affecting President Biden's expansion hires aimed at tax enforcement on wealthy taxpayers. The Internal Revenue Service ordered most of its approximately 20,000 customer service employees back to the office this week, ending a long era of hybrid and remote work. There was just one problem: The IRS didn't have enough desks to seat them all. And so, many customer service workers learned Sunday that they would not have to return to the office on Monday, after all. The Return to Office (RTO) mandate has been postponed until further notice, union leaders said Wednesday. In the end, the IRS and its employee union evidently agreed that the back-to-office order might lead to long telephone wait times for taxpayers at the height of tax season. The IRS offered no official comment on the episode. 'This is to minimize impact to taxpayers during the filing season,' said Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, in a statement. 'These employees can continue telework temporarily while the IRS finds enough appropriate workspaces for all of them to report to the worksite each day.' The IRS ordered workers back to the office on Monday The IRS had ordered most workers to return to their agency workplaces Monday, fulfilling a promise from President Donald Trump to summon federal workers back to the office five days a week. As recently as last May, more than half of federal workers were partly or fully remote, according to a January congressional report. 'As a result, federal office buildings are largely empty,' the report said. But the IRS has been growing, its workforce swelling from about 80,000 in 2021 to more than 100,000 in 2024, according to the Federal News Network. The agency grew under the terms of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which pumped billions of dollars into the IRS to improve customer service and ramp up audits of wealthy taxpayers. According to an IRS data book, the agency employed about 15,500 customer service workers in 2021. The workforce has since grown to about 20,000, as of late 2023, the most recent figures available. Not enough desks for every IRS worker When the IRS announced the RTO order to its staff in a memo, officials acknowledged they might have trouble finding seats for everyone. 'There are some [facilities] that currently do not have enough space to accommodate all employees in the commuting area,' the memo said, according to the Federal News Network. 'Some employees could be assigned to a nonstandard workspace in the interim, until a permanent solution is implemented.' The memo said conference rooms and interview rooms might be pressed into service as office space. The IRS owns or leases more than 500 offices across the country, according to a 2024 report. Some have sufficient chairs, desks and offices for every employee. Others do not. Some IRS employees have been working remotely since the 1990s. 'As predicted, the termination of telework at the IRS has been chaotic and disruptive in offices around the country,' Greenwald said. 'Many IRS workplaces do not have enough space to fit everyone, and despite promises that new space would be made available, there were still some employees without an appropriate, designated spot to work.' News of the back-to-office reprieve reached IRS workers on Sunday, the day before the mandate was to take effect, according to the union. On a Reddit page devoted to federal news, one commenter observed, 'Never seen such poor leadership, decision-making, backtracking, and chaos in my life in any organization.' Overcrowded offices could have hampered customer service The union predicted that sending thousands of customer service workers back to overcrowded offices would wreak havoc on their dealings with taxpayers. Last year, the agency boasted that it had reduced average telephone wait times from 28 minutes to 3 minutes, among other improvements. This year, tax experts have warned that wait times could be longer, and not just for lack of desks. The IRS is under a hiring freeze, and the agency has initiated mass layoffs: more than 7,000 to date, according to the New York Times. The ultimate goal is to reduce the workforce by as much as half. How many customer service workers might leave the agency, or have left already, is unclear.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Postmaster General's Resignation Opens Door for Trump's Privatization Plan
U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's resignation, which he announced this week, could open the door for President Donald Trump to carry out his long-sought after plan to privatize the massive federal agency. DeJoy announced Monday in a letter to Postal Service Board of Governors that he intends to step down after five years in the role. He ascended to the role during Trump's first administration and led the agency through the COVID-19 pandemic, attacks on mail-in ballot stations, and repeated attempts to plug the agency's steep losses. However, DeJoy's efforts to modernize the agency with a planned $40 billion transformation over the next decade seemed to fall flat amid reports that the agency lost $10 billion last year and would not break even this year, reported Federal News Network. 'As you know, I have worked tirelessly to lead the 640,000 men and women of the Postal Service in accomplishing an extraordinary transformation,' DeJoy wrote in his letter, reported the Associated Press. 'We have served the American people through an unprecedented pandemic and through a period of high inflation and sensationalized politics.' DeJoy added that he was committed to being 'as helpful as possible in facilitating a transition.' DeJoy, a major Republican donor, was appointed by a Postal Service board of Trump appointees in 2020. However, DeJoy appeared to lose favor with MAGA's elite after Trump baselessly alleged mail-in voting was behind a 'rigged' election in 2020. Trump, however, shared mixed messages around mail-in voting leading up to his 2024 election win. 'ABSENTEE VOTING, EARLY VOTING, AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS. REPUBLICANS MUST MAKE A PLAN, REGISTER, AND VOTE!' Trump wrote on Truth Social in April. The Washington Post reported in January that some of the Postal Service's largest vendors have been gearing up for the agency to go private, with services such as package handling to be outsourced to private companies. The Trump administration has also reportedly already been vetting candidates to replace DeJoy. Although Trump could not directly fire DeJoy, there are four vacancies on the Postal Service's nine-member governing board that must be confirmed by the Senate. Three of its existing members are Republican and two appointed by Trump, giving the president all the leverage he needs to remake the agency as he sees fit.
