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.

FMA is aware and concerned about attempts by the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to access classified and sensitive government files, including personal information, without proper clearance and credentials. FMA National President Craig Carter wrote all FMA members with a shared concern regarding improper or illegal access the DOGE received to the federal payment system at the Treasury Department and other agencies, and the potential for this information to be compromised and abused. It may impact not only federal managers, but risks identity theft for all American citizens and endangers our national security.

FMA supported a February 4 letter to President Trump from senior members of Congress requesting information about DOGE access to this sensitive and other classified information. The letter was signed by the Ranking Members of the House Committees on Oversight and Accountability, Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Financial Services, as well as the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Last week, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent a mass email to all federal employees offering a “deferred resignation” program with full pay through September 30, 2025, if they chose to resign before February 6, 2025. The email, titled “Fork in the Road,” states “at this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency,” if employees do not accept the deferred resignation program offer.

However, on Thursday, February 6, U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. ordered the administration to temporarily cease all activities on the program. The program is enjoined pending arguments scheduled to be heard on Monday, February 10. Lawsuits allege the program violates both the Anti-Deficiency Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.

Prior to Judge O’Toole’s February 6 action, guidance from OPM said “employees who accept deferred resignation should promptly have their duties re-assigned or eliminated and be placed on paid administrative leave until the end of the deferred resignation period (generally, September 30, 2025, unless the employee has elected another earlier resignation date), unless the agency head determines that it is necessary for the employee to be actively engaged in transitioning job duties.”

One of President Trump’s first Executive Orders upon returning to the White House was to require all federal employees to return to the office full-time. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued guidance for agencies on January 27, requiring agencies to submit compliance plans by February 7, 2025. “You have to show up to work,” Trump said. “You have to go to your office and work. Otherwise, you’re not going to have a job.”

The guidance from OPM requires the following of the plans:

• Describe the steps agencies will take to refine telework agreements.

• Provide timelines for the return of all eligible employees to in-person work as “expeditiously as possible” including date of compliance with the order.

• Describe steps agencies will take to bring Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) into compliance with the presidents’ orders, consistent with applicable laws.

• Describe steps agencies will take to determine a permanent workplace for employees who telework or work remotely.

• Identify any barriers to getting workers back to the office.

• Describe the agency’s process for determining exceptions.

As promised on the campaign trail, on his first day back in office President Trump restored Schedule F, now known as “Schedule Policy/Career,” which converts positions deemed “policy advisory” in the federal government to political, at-will employees. This will remove merit system job protections from thousands of employees.

On January 27, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued guidance on implementation of the executive order, including language saying the administration can “directly nullify” regulations the Biden Administration created to protect federal employees if a future administration attempted to restore Schedule F.

The new executive order reinstates a classification of federal employees in the excepted service, “Schedule Policy/Career,” converting positions in the competitive service that are “of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character.” The exact number of positions impacted is unknown at this time, but is expected to be at least 50,000. For reference, the president appoints a little more than 4,000 political positions in the current system. Agencies are collecting lists of policy-related jobs, and the first deadline for agencies to report these positions for reclassification to OPM is April 20, 2025.

President Trump issued an executive order on federal hiring reform titled “Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service.” This EO includes many goals FMA supports, including reducing time-to-hire, better communication with job applicants throughout the hiring process, and better utilization of technology in the hiring and selection process. FMA National President Craig Carter touted broad support for addressing these challenges in a letter to the White House.

This executive action follows the legislative success at the end of the 118th Congress, with Congress adopting, and President Biden, signing the FMA-endorsed Chance to Compete Act (P.L. 118-188) into law. FMA National President Craig Carter applauded final passage of the bill, for which the association has advocated for years. He described it as a “common sense, bipartisan” piece of legislation to improve hiring in the federal workforce.

The federal government is operating under a continuing resolution (CR) through March 14, 2025. The 119th Congress and President Donald Trump have six more weeks to work on Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations. FY 2025 began on October 1, 2024, nearly four-and-a-half months ago.

Appropriators are currently working through their topline differences of Fiscal Year 2025, in order to pass the twelve appropriations bills that fund the government. However, we have heard reports that a full spending deal could be a “long shot” and some legislators are considering a CR that extends through the remainder of Fiscal Year 2025. This would clearly pose a myriad of challenges, including funding disaster relief for the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in the Southeast and the wildfires in California.

Last month we celebrated the historic signing of the Social Security Fairness Act, legislation FMA advocated in support of for many years, repealing the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). Now we turn to implementing it. We know you have questions, including when it will take effect and what you need to do to receive these benefits.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is working on its implementation plan and “cannot yet provide an estimated timeframe” for when it will adjust the benefits for people who were impacted by the GPO and WEP. We at FMA will continue to monitor developments and keep you apprised as we learn updated information. SSA also confirms, per the legislation, December 2023 is the last month WEP and GPO will apply, meaning those rules will not apply to benefits payable for January 2024 and later.

Finally, on its website SSA indicates “What action you need to take depends on your situation and on what type of benefits you qualify for,” based on:

As we’ve discussed in previous Washington Reports, congressional Republicans are crafting budget reconciliation legislation on defense, energy, and the border, in addition to lifting the debt limit and renewing the 2017 tax cuts that are scheduled to expire at the end of 2025.

House Republicans are nearing the final draft package, which Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said could be marked up in the House Budget Committee as soon as Tuesday, February 11. Contemporaneously, the Senate Budget Committee is expected to meet next week to mark up its own FY2025 budget resolution, in preparation for a two-bill reconciliation strategy.

In order to pay for these priorities, Congress is considering a host of spending cuts, including several proposals that would directly impact federal employee retirement and health benefits.

The House Budget Committee released lists of potential cuts, along with the expected savings. Many of these cuts have been proposed before, and FMA has been successful in preventing them in the past. However, it will be an uphill fight if these proposals are included in a reconciliation package, as it cannot be filibustered. We are particularly concerned about increases to pension contributions, elimination of the FERS annuity supplement, and the shift from the High-3 to the High-5. We do not yet know if or which of these proposals will be included in the final budget reconciliation bill, but we want to share what is being considered:

The 119th Congress convened on January 3, 2025, and members got right to work introducing bills addressing several of FMA’s legislative priorities. See below for a brief spotlight on some of them:

Federal Adjustment to Income Rates (FAIR) Act

Federal pay has not kept pace with inflation, and retention of feds is at severe risk. The Federal Salary Council recently reported that federal workers earned nearly 25 percent less than private sector counterparts, a growing disparity that will only force more of the best and brightest out of federal service. FMA urges Congress to provide for a fair and reasonable pay raise that reflects the needs of the workforce for 2026.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced the Federal Adjustment to Income Rates (FAIR) Act (H.R. 493 / S. 126) which would provide a 4.3 percent pay raise in 2026.

Since the new administration took office a couple of weeks ago, federal employees have been overwhelmed with executive orders causing uncertainty and confusion. While it is impossible to keep up with the ever-changing landscape, as FMA President Craig Carter wrote to Federal Managers Association members on Monday, "We will do our best to keep you informed of the work that FMA is doing behind the scenes every day. Rest assured that we are closely monitoring the news, the administration, and Congress, and working with our community partners and friends on Capitol Hill, will do all we can to stop, or mitigate bad policies, while working with the administration and Congress to implement positive changes that will empower federal managers and make government work better."

We would like to hear from our members through an FMA Town Hall Meeting via Zoom. We will review some of the many matters affecting feds, take questions, and most importantly, take notes as we listen to you and your FMA colleagues. While we won't pretend to have all the answers, this discussion will inform our communications with members of Congress and administration leaders, and better help us convey our members' concerns at this time.

Please join us on February 13 at 8 PM Eastern Time to share your concerns and hear what others are experiencing in their federal workplaces.

Join us on Thursday, February 20, at 8:00 PM Eastern, for a Federal Managers Association Issue Briefs discussion. FMA’s Government and Public Affairs Director Greg Stanford will present on the current state of FMA Issue Briefs for the coming year, and highlight areas where we believe we can make progress in the first session of the 119th Congress. Attendees are encouraged to come prepared to ask questions and discuss these issues. Notably absent from this year’s issue briefs will be repeal of the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), as they HAVE BOTH BEEN FULLY REPEALED!

To review the draft 2025 FMA Issue Briefs, click here.

FMA's 87th National Convention & Management Training Seminar will be held March 23 - 26, 2025, at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town. The theme this year is Meeting the Leadership Challenges of Today and registration is open. The hotel is conveniently located across the street from the King Street Metro Station and near the FMA National Office.

You can also make your hotel reservations now. For the most up to date information, including the convention agenda, visit FMA's website regularly.