This report provides an update on issues affecting federal managers. As always, I encourage you to visit www.fedmanagers.org on a regular basis for more information on these and other matters.

Also, be sure to look for the monthly FMA Grassroots Update where we offer links to action letters and FMA-PAC matters we do not address in the Washington Report. The grassroots newsletter is sent exclusively to non-governmental email addresses to avoid any Hatch Act violations. If you are not receiving it, contact the national office to provide your non-governmental email address.

Please feel free to provide feedback any time by emailing Greg Stanford at gstanford@fedmanagers.org, or by calling the National Office at (703) 683-8700. Thank you for your membership in FMA. It’s an honor to represent your interests before Congress and the administration.

On April 30, 2026, the House of Representatives passed legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through the remainder of Fiscal Year 2026, ending the longest agency shutdown in American history. The bill passed by voice vote and President Trump signed it into law on the 76th day of the shutdown. This particular shutdown came just months after the 43-day shutdown in October-November 2025.

FMA National President Linda S. Lentjes expressed relief at the overdue action in a statement.

"The men and women of DHS — including the Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — never stopped showing up,” Lentjes wrote. “They continued to protect the American people, often without the assurance of a paycheck. Their resilience and professionalism in the face of this crisis is a testament to the character and dedication of our federal workforce.”

Although the last of the 12 Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations bills was only recently completed, work is underway on funding FY27. The new fiscal year begins on October 1, 2026, and there are 47 scheduled legislative days between now and then.

The House Appropriations Committee has approved four of the twelve bills, clearing them for consideration by the full House of Representatives. These are:

· Agriculture (H.R. 8646) – Passed April 29 by a vote of 35-25

· Financial Services and General Government (H.R. 8495) – Passed April 22 by a vote of 34-28

· Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (H.R. 8469) – Passed April 21 by a vote of 58-0

· National Security-State (H.R. 8595) – Passed April 28 by a vote of 35-27

On April 22, the House Appropriations Committee approved the Financial Services/General Government funding bill for Fiscal Year 2027, typically the legislation that includes a pay raise for feds. The bill stays silent on federal employee pay, effectively endorsing no pay raise. This followed the omission of a pay raise in President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request released on April 3. Trump’s request does include a 5-7 percent raise for the uniformed military.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the Ranking Member of the subcommittee, offered an amendment during consideration of the bill, which would have provided for a 3.1 percent pay raise and a 0.5 percent boost to locality pay for feds in 2027. FMA joined our colleagues in the Federal-Postal Coalition on a letter of support for the pay raise.

“For the overwhelming majority of time over the last 30 years, we have had parity between the military and the civilians,” Hoyer said during consideration. “I would hope that we could again get back to a place where we are treating people who are doing equal things equally.”

On March 23, FMA joined colleagues from the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), NARFE, and others, urging both the Senate and House to cosponsor and pass the Shutdown Fairness Act (S. 3168 / H.R. 7137). This legislation, led by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), would ensure feds are paid during any lapse in appropriations.

“The federal government is currently experiencing its third shutdown this fiscal year,” the letter read, referring to the partial government shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security. “During the current lapse, transportation security officers, Coast Guard personnel, and other Department of Homeland Security employees continue reporting to work to protect the public, even as their paychecks are withheld.”

Under this FMA-endorsed, bipartisan Shutdown Fairness Act, federal employees would no longer be furloughed, would perform their duties to the maximum extent possible during a lapse in funding, and would be paid on their normal schedule throughout the duration of the lapse. The measure would appropriate funds to be solely used to pay salaries and wages to feds during any lapse in funding to agencies. It would apply to covered federal employees hired and onboarded prior to a shutdown, and every dollar appropriated would be required to go to employee paychecks. The bill would apply to any future lapse in funding, ensuring feds would no longer be forced to work without pay, or sent home, due to the inability of Congress and the Administration to fund agencies.

FMA National President Linda S. Lentjes expressed support for Office of Personnel Management (OPM) oversight efforts while urging strict limits on the collection of individually identifiable health information, citing cybersecurity risks and fears of a chilling effect on workers seeking care. She wrote OPM Director Scott Kupor to outline the concerns related to the collection of sensitive health data and offered recommendations to ensure privacy.

In the letter, Lentjes commended OPM's push to improve carrier accountability, reduce improper payments, and modernize claims processing. She wrote FMA supports enhanced audit capabilities, fraud detection, and stronger carrier performance standards as consistent with OPM's statutory mission.

"Effective government requires both accountability and the protection of individual rights. These goals are not incompatible."

Roughly 1,500 Human Resources and IT employees at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) who have been detailed to taxpayer services for the last four months will be extended on that detail for at least another 120 days, according to Joseph Ziegler, IRS Chief of Internal Consulting. Most temporary assignment details were set to expire in June.

The purpose of these details – which could be extended again – is to cover frontline tax filing season work, including a backlog in amended tax returns.

“We saw a need in the IRS, and the need was within taxpayer services. It was to make a better tax filing season,” Ziegler said.

The employees who have been tapped for this detail, who had no prior experience with taxpayer services work, have been receiving training for the last several months. These employees can apply for other positions within IRS if they are not content with their current detail, but they cannot return to their earlier roles.

On April 23, six Democratic U.S. Senators filed an amicus brief petitioning the Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed President Trump to fire Cathy Harris as a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) in 2025. The MSPB is an independent agency created by the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) that protects federal employees against partisan political abuses and prohibited personnel practices by adjudicating appeals, conducting studies of the civil service, and reviewing OPM actions.

The MSPB currently has two Republican members and no Democratic members. The board can have up to three members, with no more than two from the same party.

Harris, a Democrat, assumed her role at MSPB in 2022 and her term as a member of MSPB was set to expire on March 1, 2028. She contends her termination violates the law, which states MSPB board members can only be removed for “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office,” which the Trump administration did not allege. A December 2025 appeals court ruling upheld her termination.

The 5th Annual Feds in Motion Challenge kicked off on May 1, 2026, continues during Public Service Recognition Week (#PSRW) May 3-9, and keeps on going through June 6. It’s all about moving in your favorite way — walk, run, bike, swim, or roll your wheelchair on your favorite route — to reach the goal of 37 miles (or more!) in those 37 days.

It would be amazing if every FMA member joined the Feds in Motion Challenge. To make this easy, and to show your FMA pride, we have created Team FMA. To join Team FMA, please visit https://runsignup.com/RaceGroups/106910/Groups/2024945.