GovExec Daily

Nearly 11 months ago, on his first day in office, President Joe Biden issued an executive order implementing a set of ethics rules for his administration. The administration has had fewer ethics problems than its predecessor, but the Executive Branch is not alone in the government; Congress and the Judiciary have ethics issues that need improvement.

Project on Government Oversight Government Affairs Manager Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette and former OGE Director and POGO Senior Ethics Fellow Walter Shaub co-wrote an analysis of how Congress can address corruption headlined "American Voters Say Corruption is a Concern; Congress Should Heed the Message." They joined the show to discuss how to address corruption across all three branches of government.

Everyone decries waste, fraud and abuse in government, but there are measurements of these things. But, improper payments cost the government billions of dollars each year and agencies do not have the resources to track this properly

Linda Miller is the former Deputy Executive Director of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) and a former GAO official. She's currently a Principal with Grant Thornton Public Sector and a nationally recognized expert on fraud risk management. She wrote an analysis on our site recently headlined "Agencies Must Address Billions Lost Through Erroneous Payments." She joined GovExec Daily to discuss how she thinks agencies can more effectively address the problem of improper payments in the federal government.

As a shutdown approached earlier this fall, Congress passed a continuing resolution to keep the government open until December 3. The CR passage was in the service of buying time to get a longer term deal together before the December deadline. With only a few weeks until that deadline, Congressional leaders say that another CR may be necessary to avoid the government shutting down.

GovExec Senior Correspondent Eric Katz has been covering the shutdown threat . He joined the show to discuss the state of budget negotiations in Congress.

Open Season for federal employees runs from November 8 to December 13, so we are right in the middle of it. Finding the right health coverage can be tough and it's exceptionally hard to predict any person's health care needs in advance. The presence of a global pandemic only further complicates things.

Our guest today is here to talk a little about open season and how feds can handle it more easily. Kevin Moss is a senior editor with Consumers' Checkbook. Checkbook's 2022 Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees is available during open season at checkbook.org. He joined the show to discuss health insurance options for federal employees.

Vaccine mandates have been a controversial subject in American discourse since vaccines became widely available early this year. The COVID-19 vaccine mandate deadline for federal employees is next week, presumably with discipline following for feds who do not have an approved exemption.

The Government Business Council, the research arm of Government Executive, conducted a survey of federal employees recently that found that more than of respondents either strongly or somewhat disagreed with the Biden administration's vaccine mandate. GovExec staff correspondent Courtney Bublé joined the podcast to discuss the survey results.

By law, government whistleblowers are supposed to be protected against retaliation by their superiors. Unfortunately, that protection is more theoretical than it is reality. Recent history is littered with stories of retaliation against those exposing waste, fraud and abuse in the government and outside of it.

Dana Gold is Government Accountability Project's Senior Counsel and Director of Education, as well as the Director of its Democracy Protection Initiative. She is also the author of a post headlined "Whistleblowers Risk Everything—Lawmakers Must Protect Them." She joined the show to discuss whistleblower protection.

As agencies continue to determine best practices for hybrid and remote workplace models, questions remain about how these issues are impacting both the work of federal employees and the employees themselves. Agency officials will have to guarantee consistency and transparency in their offices in order to continue to build a strong federal workforce.

As part of Government Executive's State of the Federal Workforce event recently, GovExec reporter and frequent GovExec Daily guest Erich Wagner spoke to Jane Datta, Chief Human Capital Officer at NASA and Traci DiMartini, Chief Human Capital Officer at GSA. In this episode, they discuss agency strategies for the return to work in the new normal in government.

The pandemic caused a major shift, especially to the federal workforce. With return-to-offices on the way, federal employees are ready for a reset. The major change presented by the pandemic and the shift to remote work has caused an increase in stress, a lack of sense of community, and increased Anxiety. What exactly do federal employees want and how should federal executives reset their relationships with their employees?

Britaini Carroll is the Principal Director of Workforce Transformation with Accenture Federal Services. She has a piece on our site right now that breaks down new research that sheds light on how to support and retain top talent in the federal government. She joined the show to discuss her post and what feds are seeking at this stage of the pandemic.

Last week, the Office of Special Counsel announced that it had substantiated a whistleblower's allegations from 2019 that the General Services Administration knew about hazardous materials and explosives at a federal office building in Missouri for more than a decade, but did not notify those working at the facility.

Erich Wagner is covering the story. He joined the show to discuss the OSC report and next steps.

Starting Nov. 9, agencies can begin to take disciplinary action for employees who refuse to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Feds who have received approved religious or medical accommodations for receiving the vaccine will not be disciplined, of course, but the two-week time countdown to the Nov. 22 deadline is ticking.

Stephanie Rapp-Tully is a partner and federal employment attorney with Tully Rinckey PLLC's Washington, D.C. office. She joined the podcast to talk about what federal employees can begin doing regarding discipline.