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-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 wrote about the FY21 NDAA in its monthly “Hear It from FMA” column in FEDManager.com. Below is an updated version of the article that originally ran on July 7.

One of the most critical bills the Federal Managers Association advocates on every year is the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). First passed in 1961 – and consistently passed every year since – the NDAA is indispensable legislation that authorizes funding levels for the Department of Defense (DOD) and sets policies. The 116th Congress is in the middle of considering the Fiscal Year 2021 NDAA (S. 4049 / H.R. 6395), and FMA is once again scrutinizing the details of how the legislation would affect federal managers, if enacted. We are pleased that numerous FMA priorities are included in the current versions of the legislation.

The House of Representatives is working at a breakneck pace in an effort to pass all twelve appropriations bills prior to the traditional August recess. As of Wednesday, July 8, all 12 bills have advanced through the House Appropriations Subcommittee process – 11 of them by voice vote – and are ready for consideration by the full committee.

One disappointing development is the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill, which stayed silent on a pay adjustment for federal employees in 2021. President Trump proposed a one percent raise in his budget request submitted in February 2020.

FMA’s Adam Kay attended the House Government Operations Subcommittee hearing “Frontline Feds” Serving the Public During a Pandemic” on Thursday, June 26. To quote Chairman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), “Let me be clear, today’s hearing is not about returning to work. The federal workforce has been working, tirelessly, throughout the pandemic. This hearing is about ensuring that federal agencies have plans, and the necessary resources to enable continuity of operations throughout the pandemic. It is about ensuring that thousands of federal workers who have contracted the coronavirus are respected.” We here at FMA strongly agree with this sentiment, and applaud the tireless work feds have undertaken during the pandemic, often at significant personal risk to themselves and their families.

The key witnesses for the hearing included: National Policy Director of the American Federation of Government Employees Jacqueline Simon, President and CEO of the National Safety Council Lorraine Martin, Managing Director for Strategic Issues of the GAO Jay Christopher Mihm, and former Senator Jim DeMint. Both Jacqueline Simon and Lorraine Martin focused their testimony primarily on the key importance of protecting feds physical health while enabling them to continue operations. We at FMA strongly agree with Lorraine Martin’s statement that “for the workers who serve at a computer for most of the day, decision makers should not rush to require them to report to a traditional office if it isn’t necessary.” Feds have successfully performed their jobs at an admirable level throughout the pandemic, even managing to ramp up critical services. 

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Acting Director Michael Rigas published guidance titled “Annual Leave and Other Paid Time Off” on June 18. The Memorandum “provides guidance for federal agencies on how annual leave and other paid time off balances and limitations continue to be applied during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) period.”

The memo notes that OPM does not have the authority to change statutory requirements regarding use it or lose annual leave, typically capped at 240 hours, that may be impacted as a result of Covid-19. However, OPM states it will issue regulations in the near future to streamline the leave restoration process. It says, “The regulations will deem the Covid-19 national emergency to be an exigency of the public business for the purpose of restoring forfeited annual leave. The regulations will provide that employees who would forfeit annual leave in excess of the maximum annual leave allowable carryover because of their essential work during the national emergency will have their excess annual leave deemed to have been scheduled in advance and subject to leave restoration.”

Embattled FRTIB Chairman Michael Kennedy announced his resignation last month, effective June 30. The FRTIB oversees and administers the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). The board will continue to maintain a quorum and be able to conduct official business despite Kennedy’s departure.

 

The FRTIB came under fire in 2019 from several U.S. Senators over the plan to broaden the International (I) fund investments. In November 2017, the board made a decision to expand the I fund and base its investments on a stock index that includes companies from China. The FRTIB noted that by shifting to the broader international index, “TSP will match what all the top 10 of the largest U.S. companies’ 401(k) plans offer, what all the top 10 federal contractors’ 401(k) plans offer, what all six of the six largest target date fund providers offer, as well as what all 20 of the largest public employee benefit plans for state employees offer.” In other words, the overwhelming majority of private sector employers already include Chinese investments in their 401(k) offerings.

Despite the ongoing difficulties posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, in June FMA welcomed Adam Kay  as its Government Affairs & Communications Assistant. Adam graduated from Boston College in the Class of 2020 with a Political Science major/History minor. 

He interned at FMA the previous two summers, and had been assisting FMA remotely on a part-time basis since February. Adam was born and raised in Durham, North Carolina, and is an avid backpacker and hiker.