Federal Newscast

• Interior and Agriculture departments set to combine wildland firefighting forces

  The departments of Interior and Agriculture say they are on track to combine their wildland firefighting forces into a single agency by January 2026. The announcement this week comes after President Trump ordered the two departments to consolidate their wildfire response efforts into a single agency: the U.S. Wildland Fire Service. An employee organization called the Grassroots Wildland Firefighters says the effort is a step in the right direction, but is urging congressional action to make lasting changes for federal firefighters.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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• House passed NDAA restore union rights for Defense civilians

  Congress is considering exempting some federal employees from losing their union protections. The version of the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act that cleared the House would let DoD civilian workers keep their collective bargaining rights. The provision in the House’s NDAA comes in response to President Trump’s broad cancelation of collective bargaining earlier this year. The proposed exemption for DoD civilian employees, however, is not contained in the Senate’s version of the NDAA. The American Federation of Government Employees is calling on senators this week to include the same exemption in their companion bill. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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• Watchdog finds DoD did not have sufficient data about Global Household Goods contract

  A government watchdog found that the Department of Defense’s Transportation Command did not have sufficient and comprehensive data about its Global Household Goods contract, which was canceled in June. The Government Accountability Office found that TRANSCOM officials were aware of the contractor’s capability constraints, but had limited information and could not verify whether the company could handle the volume of moves. The watchdog also said the Defense Department did not gather or track comprehensive feedback from service members going through military moves, which limited contractor performance assessment. In addition, TRANSCOM did not have full information regarding costs associated with the contract transition.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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• Lawmakers call on ICE to halt use of facial recognition application

  Nine Senate Democrats are calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to halt its use of a mobile facial recognition application. In a letter to ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, the lawmakers ask for more details on ICE’s Mobile Fortify app. The technology reportedly allows ICE to identify individuals they encounter on the streets using multiple federal databases. The Senate lawmakers say ICE should answer questions about whether it’s using the app to surveil protestors and whether the agency is integrating commercial data into the technology. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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• Federal pay caps continue to challenge recruitment and retention efforts

  Federal pay caps are contributing to ongoing recruitment and retention challenges in the Defense Department’s blue-collar workforce. A new report from the Government Accountability Office has found that multiple DoD installations are struggling to keep employees in the Federal Wage System, due to longstanding pay limitations set by Congress. GAO also pointed to evidence that the pay rates for blue-collar federal employees have deviated from pay rates in the larger labor market, making it even harder for DoD to compete with the private sector. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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