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 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-government email addresses to avoid any Hatch Act violations. If you are not receiving it, contact the national office to provide your non-government 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 14, FMA joined many Federal-Postal Coalition partners on a letter to Congress to highlight challenges facing the federal and postal community related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and urge congressional support on those issues. The letter, which you can read here, addressed topics including the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline and essential workers, hazard premium pay, and expanding emergency sick leave and family leave provisions to all federal employees, among several others. 

The U.S. Senate returned to Washington, D.C. on May 4, and the U.S. House plans to return in the near future. The Internal Revenue Service recalled 10,000 employees, and many states are in various stages of reopening amidst the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund (FEEA) is the only independent, nonpro?t 501c3 organization devoted solely to providing emergency ?nancial assistance and scholarships to our dedicated civilian federal and postal public servants and their families. They are FMA’s official charity and our office mates! 

During the coronavirus pandemic, FEEA is providing financial assistance to federal employees and their families with a variety of programs, including no-fee, no-interest hardship loans up to $1,000 for eligible federal employees; grant/loan combinations to other qualified applicants; and, bridge grants to spouses or children of federal employees who have passed away due to Covid-19, or feds who have lost a spouse or child due to the pandemic. Affected feds or family members should email FEEA at emergency@feea.org for more information.

As we noted in last month’s Washington Report, the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service, created by the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, submitted its final report in March 2020. FMA worked with the commission, and we are pleased with the final product, and are working with other organizations to create a strategy to support many of the proposals the commission recommends.

You can read the final report here: https://inspire2serve.gov/reports.

FMA Region 4 Director Vince Stamper was featured in a Federal News Network interview and article published on Tuesday, April 14. He is the exclusive interview in the piece titled, “How one telework newcomer is managing his employees remotely during the pandemic.” Vince did an outstanding job representing FMA.

You can read the article and listen to the interview by clicking on this link. 

The May 5, 2020, issue of FEDManager.com featured FMA’s monthly column, “Hear it from FMA.” For this column, we featured positive, feel-good stories we have heard from FMA members about how they are adapting in the workplace to the challenges presented in response to Covid-19. The article also includes memorable and inspiring words about public servants spoken by President John F. Kennedy in his 1961 State of the Union address.

Kennedy spoke about serving the United States government with pride and honor “in that hour of our nation’s need.” The brief sketches of stories in this article show how FMA members are doing just that in this pandemic.

Last week, May 3-9, was Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW); a week set aside to honor and promote the work you, and all civil servants, do every day. While the Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund (FEEA) was unable to stage the annual Public Service 5K Walk/Run, and other events were regrettably cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the federal community came together to celebrate virtually across the country.

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on PSRW that read, “this Public Service Recognition Week, we are especially grateful to our devoted public servants.  Their experience, expertise, and commitment to service will lift our Nation up during these difficult times and help ensure a swift recovery.  We will forever be indebted to them for their hard work, dedication, and courage, always remembering their irreplaceable contributions to our people and our country.” You can read the full proclamation by clicking here.