The enactment of a two-year budget deal means that Congress will return to stalled appropriations bills in working on a funding measure for the rest of the current fiscal year, including several provisions affecting personnel policies.
During the summer both the House and Senate had partly advanced regular appropriations bills including the financial services-general government bill that continues several long-standing policies. Also, because that bill funds the IRS, it contains several provisions specific to that agency.
Both versions would bar the IRS from paying awards to current employees, or from rehiring former employees, unless the individual’s past conduct and personal tax compliance are considered. The Senate version further would provide credit monitoring for at least 10 years and $5 million in liability insurance for damages related to the personnel records or security clearance breaches, while the House version once again urges OPM to speed up the processing of retirement applications, a long-standing problem.
Both versions of a separate bill covering the VA would bar any performance awards in fiscal 2016 to SES members there, who traditionally receive about 1 percent of the total awards paid at the department. The Senate version of that bill also would require that department to better educate its employees on the protections available to them if they blow the whistle and further would clarify that disclosing patient care-related information to an IG as part of such a disclosure is not a violation of privacy laws.
The current temporary funding measure for agencies expires December 11.
