Federal Manager's Daily Report

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President Biden has signed into law S-2687, to give the inspector general at the VA authority to issue subpoenas to compel testimony by persons who since have left the government but who may have information relevant to an investigation.

Such subpoenas could not be issued for criminal proceedings, though, and the office would have to notify the Justice Department in advance and refrain from issuing the subpoena if that department determines it would interfere with one of its own investigations.

The IG community has pushed Congress for years to provide similar powers across government, arguing that in some cases federal employees resign in order to avoid having to give evidence that might be detrimental to their careers.

The House last year passed HR-2662, containing that authority among a number of other provisions affecting IGs but the Senate has not acted on it. The bill affecting just the office at the VA was one of a package of VA-related bills that moved through Congress within the last several weeks.

Meanwhile, the House has passed HR-6087, to include nurse practitioners and physician assistants as eligible providers under the FECA program. Under the bill, they could prescribe or recommend treatment for injured workers; certify the nature of an injury and probable extent of disability; provide prescribed treatment for injured federal workers; and participate, with a physician designated by the Department of Labor, in a mandatory workers’ compensation examination of an injured worker.

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See also,

Your Retirement: A Slope or a Cliff?

Common Mistakes in Federal Retirement Applications

Bid to Equalize CSRS, FERS COLAs Gets Boost in Senate

2022 Federal Employees Handbook