Congress Leaves Much to Be Done after Recess

Congress is now on a recess that will last through Labor Day, leaving numerous key bills for federal employees and retirees to be handled in the fall, including the need to extend agency spending authority past the September 30 end of the current fiscal year. None of the regular 12 appropriations bills has been enacted, and at best only several will reach that stage in September, creating the need for a continuing resolution to prevent another partial government shutdown like the one that happened in 2013. Also still on the table are numerous bills affecting VA personnel policies and the Defense Department authorization bill that would boost the role of performance in RIF retention standings, within-grade raise eligibility for employees there. Also to be determined is whether Congress will broaden and lengthen the services the administration is offering to those affected by the personnel files database breach and that it plans to offer to victims of the much more serious security clearance database.