Articles

The Hill |  A small, bipartisan group of House members on Tuesday introduced a bill that would allow federal workers affected by the partial government shutdown to withdraw funds from their retirement accounts without penalty. If passed, the bill would allow workers to draw down funds from retirement accounts without having to pay the usual 10 percent fee. “Families of… Read more »

Federal News Network |  As furloughed and excepted federal employees working without pay are set to miss their first scheduled paycheck of 2019 this Friday, hundreds showed up on a cold and windy Thursday to demand an end to the partial government shutdown. The impact of the government shutdown, now closing in on 20-days long, is setting in for furloughed and excepted employees,… Read more »

New York Daily News |  The government can’t reopen itself — but it can apparently accommodate deep-pocketed lobbyists. The Treasury Department reinstated an Internal Revenue Service program essential to the mortgage industry this week after the powerful lending block launched a lobbying effort amid an ongoing government shutdown set to become the longest in… Read more »

The Hill |  Democratic Rep. Don Beyer (Va.) is throwing his support behind the progressive climate change vision known as the Green New Deal, and he thinks a carbon tax should be its driving policy. “A Green New Deal would use major infrastructure investments and policy changes to rapidly shift the U.S. economy towards clean energy solutions and away from greenhouse gas emissions… Read more »

The Hill |  Some House Democrats are endorsing the idea of President Trumpdeclaring a national emergency at the southern border to dissolve a partisan standoff about funding his border wall and end a weeks-long government shutdown. The supportive Democrats are quick to emphasize they don’t believe the president has the legal authority to declare such an emergency,… Read more »

Washington Post |  Eight House Democrats who represent the capital region, home to the biggest concentration of federal workers, denounced the shutdown on Wednesday and slammed President Trump. During a news conference outside the Capitol, several members said their offices are being flooded with calls, emails and letters from constituents panicking about how they will… Read more »

ARL Now |  As President Trump weighs the extraordinary step of declaring a national emergency to unilaterally build a wall along the southern border, Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th District) is urging Trump to return to the negotiating table and put federal employees back to work. Like any member of Congress representing the D.C. suburbs, Beyer is no great fan of… Read more »

Washington Post |  While many federal workers go without pay and the government is partially shut down, hundreds of senior Trump political appointees are poised to receive annual raises of about $10,000 a year. The pay raises for cabinet secretaries, deputy secretaries, top administrators and even Vice President Mike Pence are scheduled to go into effect beginning Jan. 5 without… Read more »

Rolling Stone |  The resolution passed by Democrats on Thursday would not only have re-opened the government, it would have renewed the pay freeze that would prevent the raises from taking effect. Randy Erwin, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, told the Post that McConnell’s refusal to bring the resolution to a vote “certainly smells… Read more »

The Hill |  Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) on Wednesday vowed to renew his push in the new Congress for legislation to track and prevent hate crimes.  "A major challenge of our time is the rise of white nationalism, racism and hate. I reject hate groups, and recognize racism as a threat to our communities, and our democracy. I will back those words with action: a renewed… Read more »