Voters cast their ballots for the 2022 midterm elections on Election Day at the Old Stone School in Hillsboro, Virginia on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. Along with dozens of key races across the country, Americans will decide which party controls the chambers of Congress for the next two years. Image: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Shutterstock
By: FEDweek StaffCongress returns next week from an extended recess with just four scheduled working weeks in which to decide on a range of federal workplace issues, many pending since last year, before the new Congress convenes in January and the process would have to restart.
The prospect of Republicans taking over at least the House for that new Congress, and potentially the Senate as well (with Tuesday’s election results continuing to be tabulated into Wednesday) have added urgency for Democrats to enact their highest priority bills while still control both chambers.
Foremost among them is a proposal to change the law so that a future administration could not issue a similar order to the one the Trump administration did in late 2020 to essentially turn tens of thousands of competitive service jobs involved with making or carrying out policy into political appointive positions – without civil service protections – and ending requirements for competition in filling those positions.
While President Biden last year revoked that order, the prospect of a future Republican administration in turn revoking Biden’s order and reinstating a Schedule F has made changing the law to prevent such a sequence a high priority for federal employee organizations and their Democratic supporters in Congress.
The most likely course remains as an amendment to the “must-pass” DoD authorization bill that will come to a Senate vote in a post-election session, with a conference to follow with the House and final enactment by the end of this year.
That bill also likely will become the vehicle for a number of relatively minor improvements in benefits—including for example payments on the death of a federal employee in the line of duty and creating a presumption that certain conditions suffered by federal firefighters is work-related for purposes of injury compensation benefits.
Federal unions also are pushing for end-of-session action on measures that have progressed in the House such as putting TSA employees under standard civil service rules for pay, bargaining and other purposes; broadening whistleblower protections; and expanding bargaining rights of certain VA medical personnel.
While Republicans have so far either stalled or blocked action on those bills and many others, measures sometimes are taken up and acted on quickly as a Congress seeks to wrap up. However, bills also can fall by the wayside just as easily under Senate rules that can allow objections from even one member to hold up action.
In addition to the DoD bill, another top priority for Congress before year’s end will be the need to extend agency funding beyond the December 16 expiration of the current stopgap measure. It is uncertain whether a new extension will go through the remainder of the fiscal year ending next September 30 or only until sometime early in 2023.
That bill, too, could become the host for various policy provisions although they would be of a prohibitive nature, preventing agencies from spending money for one purpose or another.
Several nominations meanwhile remain pending for positions of importance to the federal workforce, including for a nominee to fill out the five-member TSP board; the OPM deputy director position; and to designate the acting chairwoman of the MSPB as the chairwoman. Those nominations would expire with the current Congress.
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See also,
FEHB: Federal Benefits Fast Facts
FEHB Open Season Ahead – Time to Shop
Watch for ‘Significant’ FEHB Plan Changes, OPM Says
Enrollee Share of FEHB Premiums to Rise 8.7 Percent on Average for 2023
January Retirement COLA Set: 8.7 Percent for CSRS, 7.7 Percent for FERS
FERS Retirement Planning Bundle: 2022 FERS Guide & TSP Handbook
