Federal Newscast

In today's Federal Newscast, with the government on the brink of a partial shutdown, one senator is pushing the Trump administration to be more transparent about what agency services will remain open should funding lapse.

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In today's Federal Newscast, the White House is officially making AI one of its science and technology priorities. 

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The White House says the public will have to look at each individual agency to find out their plans for what would happen in a government shutdown. The Office of Management and Budget’s webpage which normally publishes shutdown contingency plans remained empty for months. But now, OMB says that agencies’ plans will only be available one by one, on each agency’s own website. Those contingency plans cover how many federal employees would continue working — with or without pay — during a possible shutdown. 

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The National Guard has surpassed its recruiting goals for fiscal 2025. The Army and Air National Guard have enlisted nearly 50,000 new members this year, bringing total Guard end strength to more than 433,000. Senior leaders attributed this year’s success to initiatives such as the Future Soldier Preparatory Course and the new “Uncommon is Calling” marketing campaign for helping attract new members. Army Col. Timothy Smith also praised recruiters across every state, three territories, and the District of Columbia for helping the Guard meet its recruitment goals.

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Agencies are bracing for a potential government shutdown, with less than a week left for Congress to reach a spending agreement. But so far, agencies have not released any public plans for what would happen in a shutdown. Agencies are supposed to release contingency plans, detailing which employees would keep working, and who would be furloughed. Currently, though, the White House’s website for listing those plans is blank. The Trump administration removed previous contingency plans that agencies had compiled during a shutdown threat last year.

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The Army is rolling out a new incentive to keep some of its most experienced technical experts in uniform. A warrant officer retention bonus will offer a “substantial financial incentive” to officers in critical specialties who commit to additional years of service. High-demand fields like cyber operations, aviation maintenance, signal and communications and special operations are identified as priorities for the program. Lt. Col. Angie Chipman, chief of the Army retention division at the Pentagon, said, The Army is addressing its most pressing retention challenges and ensuring its ability to meet future operational demands by focusing on these fields.”

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There is a push in Congress to expand the use of hazard pay for federal wildland firefighters. Utah Congresswoman Celeste Maloy has introduced a bill attempting to correct what she says is a gap in the benefit. Currently, wildland firefighters receive higher pay rates, called hazard pay, when fighting active fires. But hazard pay doesn’t apply to situations where firefighters are conducting prescribed burns or doing training jumps. Maloy says firefighters face similar hazards in those additional situations — but their pay rates don’t currently match the risk.

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Yesterday’s Senate vote confirming nearly 50 of the president’s nominees included some big gains for the Army — filling most of that service’s senior political leadership posts all at once. Among those confirmed was Michael Obadal as the new under secretary of the Army, the service’s number-two civilian leadership position. The en-bloc vote also included confirmations for three Army assistant secretaries: William Gillis as the assistant secretary for energy, installations and environment, Jules Hurst as the assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs, and Brent Ingraham as the assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology.

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The departments of Interior and Agriculture say they are on track to combine their wildland firefighting forces into a single agency by January 2026. The announcement this week comes after President Trump ordered the two departments to consolidate their wildfire response efforts into a single agency: the U.S. Wildland Fire Service. An employee organization called the Grassroots Wildland Firefighters says the effort is a step in the right direction, but is urging congressional action to make lasting changes for federal firefighters.

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Congress is considering exempting some federal employees from losing their union protections. The version of the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act that cleared the House would let DoD civilian workers keep their collective bargaining rights. The provision in the House’s NDAA comes in response to President Trump’s broad cancelation of collective bargaining earlier this year. The proposed exemption for DoD civilian employees, however, is not contained in the Senate’s version of the NDAA. The American Federation of Government Employees is calling on senators this week to include the same exemption in their companion bill. 

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