jheckman.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

NEW: Layoff notices were scheduled to hit several IRS offices last Friday -- but never came. Rumors spread among employees as to why. But the acting deputy COO says "glitches" and "issues" are to blame. federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

It's hard to overstate how much everyone who worked on IRS Direct File saw it as a new model for government to deliver benefits & services to the public. Almost a 180-degree flip from the 2013 Healthcare. gov crash. federalnewsnetwork.com/management/2...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Scoop: As part of its return-to-office plans, OPM is planning to spend more than $42M to relocate approximately 250 employees — or about $166,000 per employee. That's significantly higher than what the average federal employee makes in a year. federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

@wired.com Big fan of all the reporting you're doing on the federal news beat. I always try to give credit when you're first to a story. Probably a simple oversight, but I'm hoping you're able to return the favor on the SSA/X news I broke this morning federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-overs...

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

good thing so many retirees are tech savvy, have X accounts, and are good at spotting misinformation!

submitted 16 days ago • 14 comments

Breaking news: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow the president to remove a pair of independent regulators whose cases have broad implications for at least two dozen other agencies, including the Federal Reserve Board, and for how the federal government operates.

submitted 18 days ago • 20 comments

GSA's acting administration recently told employees, "There's nobody working for DOGE here." But DOGE officials dominate a list of vetted personnel granted access to restricted parts of the GSA's headquarters federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-overs...

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

🚨SSA back at it with plans to require some beneficiaries to verify their IDs online or in person (no more 📞). This time, they want to: 1⃣ Partner with USPS to let people verify ID in person at post offices 2⃣ Roll out facial recognition option federalnewsnetwork.com/benefits/202...

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

The Department of Veterans Affairs says it will end a mortgage rescue plan that has saved many veterans from needlessly losing their homes, the move could strand thousands of others who need help.

submitted 23 days ago • 155 comments

🚨 IRS is giving about 7K recently fired probationary employees the option to return to their jobs "on full-time duty" by April 14 -- the day before Tax Day. Up until now, they've been "reinstated," but on paid admin leave federalnewsnetwork.com/hiring-reten...

submitted 25 days ago • 3 comments

Can confirm WaPo's reporting that Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services employees who got layoff notices today were told to contact EEO Director Anita Pinder to file employment discrimination complaints -- but she died last November. Spoke to a current employee who went to her funeral

submitted 26 days ago • 2 comments

NEW: DOGE demanded full access to a US Department of the Interior system that handles even the Supreme Court's paychecks. When top staff asked questions, they were put on leave.

submitted 27 days ago • 240 comments

🚨 Institute of Museum and Library Services is putting all its employees on paid administrative leave, after a brief meeting between DOGE & IMLS leadership. Employees must turn in all govt property before leaving. Email accounts are also being disabled. federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

The Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service is terminating nearly all 220 of its employees by COB today. It'll keep a "skeleton crew" of ~12 employees to manage work required by law. It's 1 of 7 small agencies targeted for elimination in a recent EO federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

submitted 32 days ago • 1 comment

GSA terminated nearly 1K leases last week — the first of six waves of federal office space downsizing planned for FY 25. But according to multiple sources, the agency is now walking back ~300 of those lease terminations for 'public-facing' govt buildings. t.co/vHgKmqZnXB

submitted 51 days ago • 0 comments

VA withdrew at least dozens of Veterans Crisis Line job offers - after canceling remote positions, but not having enough office space to put them in. After our reporting, a VA spokesperson says they're "in the process of reissuing" these jobs offers federalnewsnetwork.com/veterans-aff...

submitted 57 days ago • 0 comments

"There is sheer panic about GSA cutting cards," a VA employee tells me. GSA plan would give all of VA <500 authorized cardholders to manage $6B+ in spending. That's less than what many VISNs have right now. VA's the largest integrated health system in the U.S.

submitted 59 days ago • 2 comments

NEWS: VA is being asked to severely limit the number of employees who can make purchases through a governmentwide charge card program — a decision that could impact billions of dollars in annual spending. federalnewsnetwork.com/veterans-aff...

submitted 59 days ago • 1 comment

📬🚨 HUGE NEWS 📬🚨 Trump plans to fire the USPS governing board, merge the Postal Service into the Commerce Department. It would disrupt 55 years of non-political mail service, and threatens to upend trillions of dollars of ecommerce and the 250 year-old US mail system.

submitted 66 days ago • 192 comments

BREAKING: OPM is advising all federal agencies to fire their probationary employees with less than a year on the job, after it stopped accepting new offers for its “deferred resignation” program last night. federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

submitted 73 days ago • 1 comment

Current and former GSA employees -- anonymous news tips are always welcome via Signal (jheckman.29) and email ([email protected])

submitted 74 days ago • 0 comments

GSA is pushing major cuts to personnel, real estate and contracts in pursuit of its -50% spending goal. According to folks inside the building, agency leaders say they may need to slow workforce reduction efforts, “because they’re losing too many key people." federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

submitted 74 days ago • 0 comments

"Some IRS employees taking OPM’s ‘deferred resignation’ offer told to keep working until May 15" federalnewsnetwork.com/hiring-reten... @jheckman.bsky.social

submitted 81 days ago • 2 comments

The Postal Service’s regulator warns the next phase of a 10-year reform plan would slow mail delivery for a “significant portion of the nation,” but wouldn’t save USPS enough money to justify the changes. federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-overs...

submitted 82 days ago • 0 comments

Sources tell me this has begun.

submitted 83 days ago • 28 comments

New from me: Michael Peters, commissioner of GSA's Public Buildings Service, says he's looking at cutting up to 50% of GSA's total real estate portfolio over the coming years. Also, GSA plans to move out of its 1800 F St headquarters. federalnewsnetwork.com/facilities-c...

submitted 89 days ago • 0 comments

New from me: VA exempted its health care workforce from the first Trump hiring freeze in 2017. But VA Secretary nominee Doug Collins didn’t make an explicit assurance to lawmakers the department would grant those same carveouts this time around. federalnewsnetwork.com/hiring-reten...

submitted 96 days ago • 0 comments

A lawsuit has been filed to invalidate Trump's executive order reinstituting Schedule F (which has been relabeled "Schedule Policy/Career"). The suit was filed by the National Treasury Employees Union. The complaint is here: federalworkerrights.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

submitted 96 days ago • 1 comment

Trump’s EO makes DOGE an official part of the White House's US Digital Service. That’s a different model than what Trump envisioned last November, when he said the government efficiency commission would advise, but not be part of the federal government. federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-overs...

submitted 96 days ago • 0 comments

USPS isn’t meeting its break-even goals under a 10-year reform plan. But DOGE-aligned House Republicans are drafting their own efficiency proposals for the agency. federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-overs...

submitted 137 days ago • 0 comments

📬 USPS, on average, took only a day to get ballots from voters to election officials. That’s faster than the average 1.6 days USPS spent on that leg of ballot delivery in the 2020 general election, or the nearly two-day average in the 2022 midterm election federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-overs...

submitted 146 days ago • 0 comments

Mini-thread of agency budget news (1/2) -- If the IRS saw another $20B funding cut, the agency would run out of enforcement funding in FY 2025 and exhaust funding for taxpayer services in FY 2026. "Dramatic decisions" are on the table, if that happens federalnewsnetwork.com/hiring-reten...

submitted 151 days ago • 1 comment

NEWS: A Labor Department spokesperson tells Federal News Network that its Wage & Hour Division has an open investigation into USPS, and that the investigation remains ongoing. 50K+ rural carriers were impacted by a USPS payroll error last month. federalnewsnetwork.com/pay/2023/10/...

submitted 552 days ago • 1 comment