The House has approved HR-4193, which would change the default investment fund for employees hired in the future who do not choose a fund for their TSP investments from the currently used government securities G fund to the lifecycle fund most appropriate for that person’s age. The change would apply only to those hired after a future date to be specified and would not affect their ability to choose other funds. The House also passed HR-4197, which would extend a pilot program allowing whistleblowers who lose cases alleging retaliation before MSPB to bring an appeal in appeals courts other than the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which over the years has issued a number of rulings that whistleblower advocates consider overly restrictive. The bill would extend the broader appeal rights, set to expire late this year, through 2017. Among bills recently introduced in Congress are: S-2541, designed to speed up the agency hiring process, including hiring of persons seeking to move from one federal agency to another, by allowing agencies to share assessments of applicants with each other; and HR-4621, to give civilian federal employees the same tax breaks available to military and contractor personnel when assigned to combat zones.