The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

The Pentagon would get more than $100 billion in additional funding through budget reconciliation aimed at 2026 budget talks. But members don't really agree where the money should go, or even on the amount. For that matter, one member of the House Armed Services Committee says it should not be funneled into major defense programs. Federal News Network's Anastasia Obis joins me with more.

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A little walk down cloud memory lane. The federal government's move to the cloud didn't start with the December 2010 Cloud First policy. You can trace the idea of third party application and data hosting back to the 1990s. Still as part of Federal News Network's 25th anniversary celebration, we chose the White House cloud first to cloud smart policies as one of the top 25 federal moments over the last 25 years. Federal News Network's executive editor Jason Miller joins me now with a look back.

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The Trump administration has aimed its cross hairs at yet another group of federal executives, Chief Human Capital Officers. The Office of Personnel Management recommends that agencies designate their CHCOs as general rather than career reserved, and that would open up many human capital leadership positions to becoming political appointments. Here with the latest, Federal News Network's Drew Friedman.

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It's no secret the Defense Department and other agencies have been using other-transaction-authority acquisitions more than more. One reason is they help agencies get things done faster. And easier without the conditions of regular buys under the Federal Acquisition Regulations. Plus, OTA acquisitions come without the headaches of protests. Or do they? We get the latest from Haynes Boone procurement attorney Zach Prince.

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The IRS is reinstating thousands of fired, probationary employees. Many returnees doubt

they'll stay, though that's because the agency is looking at more workforce cuts at the end of the tax filing season. Federal News Network's Jory Heckman has the latest.

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The Defense Department is planning to spend billions of dollars on satellites that communicate by laser. But officials at the Space Development Agency can't say for sure whether space laser communications works. Or at least all of its contractors haven't shown this capability. More now from the director of the contracting and national security acquisitions team at the Government Accountability Office, Jon Ludwigson.

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When the White House froze the government's credit cards, it really gummed up the works. The long running purchase card program has saved untold millions of paperwork hours and saved the government billions of dollars. Here to inject some rational thinking about card usage, long-time federal procurement executive, and now a consultant, Shauna Weatherly.

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Today on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin

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Tens of thousands of federal employees who were fired during their probationary periods

have their jobs back on paper anyway. In a court filing last night, the Trump administration

detailed the process agencies have gone through to reinstate those fired workers in the aftermath of a judge's ruling that found the terminations were illegal. But the administration also made clear it's not happy about having to process those reinstatements, and it's still fighting in federal appeals court. Federal News Network's Jared Serbu is here with more on the legal process and the details on which agencies are undoing those terminations.

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Among its many struggles, the Bureau of Prisons has trouble retaining correctional officers. Recently, the Justice Department ended a long-running incentive pay plan cutting officers' and other employees' pay by up to 25%. The cuts are supposed to go into effect this month. For a reaction and update, we turn to the president of one Bureau of Prisons union local president, Aaron McGlothin.

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