The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

Commerce Secretary Howard Luttnick has disbanded three Census Bureau external advisory groups. Gone are the Census Scientific Advisory Committee, the National Advisory Committee on Race, Ethic and other Populations and the 2030 Census Advisory Committee. The community surrounding the Census Bureau is concerned. Joining me with what this all means, the director of government affairs at the Population Association of America, Mary Jo Mitchell.

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Today on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin

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When it comes to trimming the federal workforce, the Trump administration has had a string of court defeats over the last week and a half. So the administration is going all the way to the top government attorneys filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court yesterday asking the justices to stay a lower court ruling that ordered the reinstatement of thousands of probationary employees. The administration argues that's just one sign of a judicial branch power grab that only the high court can stop. Federal News Network's Jared Serbu joins us now with the latest.

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President Trump recently cited from the oval office statistics about the state of the U.S. education system. What he didn't say is that we know about student achievement levels thanks to data gathered by the Education Department itself. One of the government's most vital activities is the gathering of reliable statistics to guide policy. My next guest says the quality of national statistics has become a concern. Consultant Nancy Potok is the former chief statistician of the United States, and she joins me now.

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Among the latest White House executive orders, one is holding up payments to contractors. EO 14-222 tells agencies to build tracking systems. It requires written justifications for each payout. And a 30-day review of all contracts and grants. For the implications, we turn to the executive vice president for policy at the Professional Services Council, Stephanie Kostro.

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The White House is bringing centralized procurement back to government. President Donald Trump signed an executive order late last week that puts the General Services Administration in charge of buying all products and services in 10 categories. Federal News Network's Jason Miller broke the story.

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Today on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin

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Very few military service members achieve the Medal of Honor. Now they have a museum. In fact, today is the first full day of operation for the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas. For details, the museum's executive director, Cory Crowley, joins me now.

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Congress re-convenes this week. It'll get to the brass tacks of the President Donald Trump agenda including a big tax cut and what to do about the 2026 budget. We get the rundown now from WTOP Capitol Hill Correspondent Mitchell Miller.

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The Postal Service is letting a team from the Department of Government Efficiency help out with its reform efforts. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy says DOGE will bring a new perspective to problems he spent years trying to solve. Still, DeJoy tells members of Congress that DOGE will look at a narrow set of issues with limited access to agency data. Federal News Network's Jory Heckman has the latest.

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