• The Social Security Administration is working quickly to try to dispel a false rumor about a payment increase on Social Security checks. As a result of a fake news article, SSA employees were inundated with phone calls earlier this month from beneficiaries who mistakenly thought they would be getting a $600 payment increase. SSA's phone lines received more than 463,000 calls in one day as a result of the rumor. SSA Commissioner Martin O'Malley has confirmed that the benefit increase is false. There will not be another cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security beneficiaries until January 2025.
  (Dispelling false rumor of $600 Social Security payment increase - SSA Commissioner Martin O'Malley)
• Agencies have a new tool to make acquisition research a little easier: The Procurement Co-Pilot tool. Contracting officers and program managers now have access to a host of data sources where they can review the prices paid on common products or find vendors across all categories and sizes that currently work with the government. GSA and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy launched the portal only for federal employees through the Acquisition Gateway. The Procurement Co-Pilot is one of several new data-driven tools that are a part of the administration's Better Contracting Initiative.
  (Procurement Co-Pilot tool officially open for business - GSA)
• Lawmakers are pressing the Coast Guard for more details about how it handled sexual assault cases. Last year, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee requested all documents related to Operation Fouled Anchor, the Coast Guard’s internal investigation of sexual assault cases at the Coast Guard Academy. Lawmakers said the records provided to Congress are highly redacted and include a large number of duplicates. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan said she is working in good faith with the committee. The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is conducting its own investigation into the Guard’s handling of sexual assault cases.
  (Coast Guard ‘stonewalls’ Senate’s investigation of service’s sexual assault cases - Federal News Network)
• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is dealing with low employee morale, following reports of a toxic workplace environment. An independent report substantiates cases of stalking, harassment and homophobia at the FDIC, based on more than 500 complaints from employees. Jonathan McKernan, co-chair of a special committee FDIC created to oversee the report, said FDIC employees face significant headwinds to do their jobs. “Longer term, the state of affairs at the FDIC, if not fixed are going to be a real problem for retention and recruitment of new staff and that will be fatal to our ability to achieve our mission if we can't fix that," McKernan said.
  (‘Morale is bad’ across FDIC workforce after reports of toxic workplace culture - Federal News Network)
• A new bill looks to address a discrepancy in how Transportation Security Administration employees are compensated. The TSA Commuting Fairness Act would require the agency to study the feasibility of using cell phone data to allow employees to clock in when they reach the airport parking lot. Many TSA employees report not being compensated for the up-to-45 minute commute between the parking lot and airport checkpoints. The bill, introduced by Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-N.Y.), was passed by the House Homeland Security Committee yesterday.
  (Lawmakers advance DHS bills to ban Chinese batteries, help TSAers with commute - Federal News Network)
• Beyond looking to make spending cuts, House Republicans are eyeing several policy riders in next year’s spending bills. One policy rider tacked onto fiscal 2025 spending legislation aims to block environmental investments in the Thrift Savings Plan. The TSP board has already said that type of change would mean they would have to end the mutual fund window altogether. Another policy rider would add more reporting requirements on federal telework and office space. The GOP-led appropriations committee released its report language for several appropriations bills Wednesday afternoon. House appropriators plan to mark up those government spending bills later today.
  (Policy riders to watch as House appropriators mark up 2025 spending bills - Federal News Network)
• A record 53,000 women veterans enrolled in health care at the Department of Veterans Affairs over the past year. That is a 20% increase compared to the previous year. VA said those enrollments are driven by the PACT Act, which expands health care eligibility for service members exposed to toxic substances during their military service. Texas, Florida and California saw the most new enrollments. Women veterans are the VA’s fastest growing patient population.
  (More than 50,000 women veterans enrolled in VA health care over past 365 days, marking the largest enrollment year ever for women veterans - Department of Veterans Affairs )
• The Small Business Administration is keeping in place a COVID-19 moratorium on requiring companies in the 8(a) program to have an established office in a particular location before being awarded a construction contract. SBA said the suspension of the Bona Fide Place of Business requirement will remain in place through September 30, 2025. The reason for the extension, SBA said, is due to workforce shortages, cultural shifts in the workplace and trends favoring remote-work opportunities. SBA said these factors are making it increasingly difficult for small businesses to recruit and retain office-based employees.
  (SBA adds 15 months to 8(a) bona fide place of business moratorium - SBA)
• U.S. Space Command and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, along with allies and partners, are in the middle of a 10-day multinational exercise in the northwestern Pacific Ocean area called, "Valiant Shield." The exercise allows the military services and partner nations to prepare to rapidly respond to crises, from humanitarian and disaster-related to armed conflict. With the involvement of U.S. SPACECOM and U.S. Transportation Command, the exercise has expanded the multi-domain collaboration needed for large-scale operations. Running through June 18, this is the 10th Valiant Shield exercise.
  (SPACECOM, US Transportation Command participate in multinational exercise - U.S. Indo-Pacific Command USINDOPACOM)
• Phone scams are on the rise and now the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency says organizations should watch out for phone calls from scammers purporting to be CISA employees. CISA said its staff will never call and request cash, cryptocurrency or gift cards. If you believe you may have been the target of a CISA scammer, the agency said to take note of the number, hang up immediately and notify either CISA or law enforcement.
  ( Phone scammers impersonating CISA employees - CISA)

The post Rumors targeting Social Security recipients cause inundation of SSA phone lines first appeared on Federal News Network.

OPM received 6,751 new retirement claims in May, a decrease of  150 from April. OPM processed 8,793 claims, 1,146 more claims than the previous month.

Initial retirement claims in May completed in less than 60 days took on average 37 days to process, a two day decrease from April, while initial cases that were processed in more than 60 days on average took 119 days, an increase of 15 days, from the previous month.

The monthly average processing time decreased from 61 days in April to 60 days in May, a continued decrease from January’s average of 66 days.

May now holds the record for the fewest number of retirement claims filed in a month for 2024.

The post OPM retirement claims backlog at lowest level since May 2016 first appeared on Federal News Network.

For many people, thinking about retirement, is axiomatic. Pay off that mortgage on the house. It might be wise to think through this strategy a little more carefully. For why, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with private wealth advisor Thiago Glieger of RMG Advisors.

Interview Transcript: 

Thiago Glieger Yeah. I think it’s one of those things that with most retirement planning, with most financial planning, what seems to be good for one family isn’t always the best thing for another family. And it’s kind of against the grain, because in medicine we think about, there’s a certain symptom that’s met with a specific treatment or medication or whatever. But in financial planning, we start to recognize it doesn’t quite work that way. So you have to be careful and look at your own circumstance very objectively. But what doesn’t help is the fact that all these pundits are often talking about, you can’t have any debt to your name. Liability is bad, bad, bad, bad. You need to pay off your mortgage before you head into retirement. And so people start to have this ingrained idea that they can’t retire until they do so, or going into retirement with a mortgage is a really bad thing.

Tom Temin But a mortgage has characteristics, and homeownership have characteristics that are different from other kinds of debt. And that’s the crux.

Thiago Glieger Yeah. I very loosely categorize debt into two different categories, one being good debt and then bad debt. Bad debt is that little plastic card everyone has and overuses. If you’re carrying debt on that, that’s not good. Good debt, you can use leverage to have your money grow it for your retirement, continue to allow it to support you, but you also get to have something like a house and live in it. And that house gets to appreciate in value. There are some tax properties that may be beneficial for you about having a mortgage. So it can be done correctly.

Tom Temin Because yes, the mortgage interest is deductible still under federal tax law. And so if you lose that you could have a greater tax liability from whatever income you have when you do retire.

Thiago Glieger That’s right. And I think a lot of people kind of forgot about the deductibility of the mortgage interest because standard deduction amounts have been so high. So unless they’re itemizing, they may not be getting that benefit. But I have to remind people that in two years, the law is set to go back to the original rule, where again, deductions will go down. And unless they change the law, that could be a very beneficial benefit for people again.

Tom Temin And people sometimes think, well, I’ll pay off the house, realize the appreciation. And there’s a pretty hefty capital gains avoidance that you have. Most normal people with normal houses will be under that limit and then buy a condo and then still have space I want and live rent free. Well, not so fast there either.

Thiago Glieger Right. And you always have to think about what are you trading? Or that liquidity. That paying off the full mortgage or just paying cash for another property and just having no mortgage at all, like something for a condo, for instance, you’re trading that liquid capital for illiquidity in real estate, as well as some reduced expenses, because then you don’t have that mortgage. But if you think about also what is the composition of a mortgage, it’s not entirely just the loan and the interest payment that you have. There’s really four parts to it. We call that Principal Interest Taxes and Insurance (PITI). So in even in your case when you’re describing a condo, somebody may not have a mortgage payment but you’re going to have HOA fees, you’re going to have condominium fees, you’re going to have the taxes in the insurance that you still owe each month.

Tom Temin Right. And sometimes a condo will come to you and say, guess what, we need a new roof. It’s $2 million, but we only have $500,000 in escrow for the roof. So everybody gets assessed up to up $10,000 out of nowhere to make sure the place doesn’t fall apart.

Thiago Glieger And that number is not out of the ordinary. I had a client just a few months ago come to us for $15,000 out of nowhere because, again, it was that situation where they needed to replace everything throughout the whole building. And it was a huge assessment.

Tom Temin Right. And especially in the age after the collapse of that condo in Florida, nobody wants to take a chance with a condo building if it’s more than two-storey high.

Thiago Glieger That’s right.

Tom Temin We’re speaking with Thiago Glieger, wealth advisor with RMG Advisors of Rockville, Maryland. So let’s presume then, that someone nevertheless wants to pay off their mortgage. What’s a good strategy for doing it? Where do you get the money to do it?

Thiago Glieger There’s a couple of questions I would want people to see themselves asking. And really the first is, if I do this, what are going to be the tax implications? If I’m going to take a large lump sum payment from my retirement accounts, that’s taxable like salary, just like ordinary income. And so the additional question here is beyond just the tax cost, how much potential future growth did you also cost yourself by not having this money anymore? Does this create any kind of risk in later retirement, because it’s a huge chunk of money that you’re not paying. So then other people may look at non retirement accounts like individual accounts, brokerage, joint, trusts. That comes with capital gains. So you have more control, and it is less taxes in ordinary income. And then sometimes people will say, well, you know what, this is what we have the Roth for. The Roth is totally tax free. It’s for surprise bills like this or something we can use, and we don’t have to worry about the tax. I don’t like people using the Roth for something like this, because the Roth is where you get all of your tax free growth. I’d like to see people using the Roth as kind of their growth vehicle for the future, so taking it and dumping it into a house may not be the best thing, but that’s usually the three options that people have.

Tom Temin Or you could win the lottery, I suppose. And then it doesn’t matter what happens. But if you do, then retain your house and the mortgage payments. If you can afford them, the question is if you can afford them before you retire, can you afford them after you retire that PITI payment? And that’s really the analysis you have to do, because it might be that you can totally handle it.

Thiago Glieger That’s right, exactly. And that’s the point here is I think a lot of people think they just can’t have a mortgage payment because their FERS and Social Security is not making up all of the income that they have from their salary. So they think, oh, well, our income is going down, so we must reduce our expenses. And that may not necessarily be true. If you’ve been a good saver throughout your career, then you might be sitting on a substantial chunk of change that you can use to continue to grow and invest for yourself. It continues to generate cash flow so you can keep making those mortgage payments, because you’re still generating a retirement paycheck at this point, it’s just not coming from the government.

Tom Temin I guess people might have the idea, well, we can partially pay it off with a chunk of the Roth or a chunk of the rainy day savings we have. But on the other hand, if you do that, you don’t really change your PITI payment, because the bank, the way they’ve rigged the mortgage system, pay all this interest until you pay off the principal.

Thiago Glieger And that’s why people really look to do a full payment, because you’re only free and clear of those interest payments. Once you clear that liability completely. And again, the challenge in doing these lump sum payments is that it affects something called your adjusted gross income. And not only do you pay higher taxes, potentially in that first year, you may have pushed yourself into a higher tax bracket for your first pension. So now there’s a bigger bite coming out of your annuity as well. This can also impact capital gains taxes. It could impact your Medicare Part B premiums. There’s a whole lot of other elements of a retirement plan that this one single move can have an impact negatively on. So you really have to be careful.

Tom Temin Most of the calculators online, where you plug in numbers to calculate whether you can retire or not or what your costs will be. There’s a lot they leave out, and one of the things they don’t have is tax. Because tax varies so widely by location, state you’re in municipality you’re in. This property taxes vary and then state taxes etc., etc.. Are there any sources of information to model what your taxes might look like? If I stay in my house, I pay this, that and the other for mortgage. Now here’s my income. That type of tax analysis.

Thiago Glieger Yeah. And the challenge Tom is needing to know a little bit about how the tax structure works. And I always encourage people, if you want to do some of this work, you can actually just go to the IRS website and look up the tax brackets and say, okay, if I generate this much in ordinary income, what is considered my marginal tax bracket, that’s the rate at which my next dollar is going to be taxed at. And this helps me to figure out if I take a lump sum from my TSP. That’s what my tax picture is going to look like. And then thinking about, all right, well, if I do this for next year, is that a year that’s going to be better for me because maybe I’m not working. Or do I want to do it this year because I have extra cash flow to be able to still contribute to the TSP, even on taking money out. So there’s some modeling that can be done. But you’re right, depending on how you file your taxes, depending on how you’re generating your income and retirement, which accounts you’re pulling the money from if you’re no longer earning a salary at this point, that’s all going to impact what that bottom line is for each individual family.

Tom Temin Yes, because you have to figure in your Social Security payments in there because that’s taxable since 1980. They’ve been taxing Social Security income, which kind of sounds absurd since you paid 6% tax on your income for your whole working life. And so did your employer or employers. And yet, it’s taxable.

Thiago Glieger Yeah, it’s tax on tax. And a lot of people don’t recognize that. They think Social Security is not taxed. But a good chunk of it is likely going to be taxed because you’ve got a first pension that essentially puts you in that you’ve already started with taxable income, which means your Social Security will be too.

Tom Temin All right. So bottom line then do some real analysis before you worry about paying off the mortgage on your house.

Thiago Glieger I really think it’s good to do some sort of financial modeling on this, because if you take out a huge swath of your money and now it belongs in a real estate property instead of your portfolio, what does that do to the longevity of your retirement plan. Do you still have sufficient liquid assets to be able to support your lifestyle for the rest of your life? And also understanding that there is some emotional component to this as well, if you are financially benefiting from keeping the mortgage, but it’s keeping you up, because you’re just stressed constantly, that’s not a successful retirement plan. And so I think taking an approach of understanding, I’ve shared with you the Venn diagram of what makes financial sense, of what really makes you happy. And retirement planning lives in the middle, because sometimes you have to do something that isn’t the squeezing the last drop of money out of the system, but it makes you incredibly happy and you’re fulfilled, and you’re happy to pass on a mortgage free property to your kids. That’s meaningful in a lot of different ways, too.

Tom Temin And if you do hang on to the house and you’ve got a mortgage and you’re in a reasonably sellable area, that’s always a God forbid option. You can always sell the house at some point and then realize that capital gains because it solves some other unanticipated problem. It may produce these new tax problems, but it solves whatever that came away that you never anticipated.

Thiago Glieger Right, exactly. You can create lines of credit against the house. You can sell the house, move to something smaller. And a lot of people will do that, especially as they phase their retirement because the house is too big. Maybe it doesn’t have everything they need to age in place, and so they find themselves moving somewhere else.

The post Why it pays to think twice about paying off that mortgage before retirement first appeared on Federal News Network.

Where should you retire? What state or city can have big consequences for finances and satisfaction. People retiring from military service have extra considerations, such as access to Veterans Affairs services or post-retirement job prospects. For some of the best and worst places to retire, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin talked with Wallet Hub analyst Cassandra Happe.

Interview Transcript:  

Tom Temin And you’ve done a study of the 50 states. Just maybe a quick rundown on what your criteria were in looking at the 50 states.

Cassandra Happe For this particular study. We looked at the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and we compared them across a total of 28 different metrics. Those metrics can be grouped into three key categories, which are economic environment, quality of life, and health care. So, we used a wide variety of metrics to try to get a very holistic picture of what it’s like to be a military retiree in each of these states.  

Tom Temin And military retiree, of course, you know, ranges from four-star flag officer to someone that might be toiling away for 20 years and reaches lieutenant colonel or below. So, the prospects are very different for when you’re coming out, depending on rank.  

Cassandra Happe Absolutely. And it can be difficult to really get into those little nuance things in a study such as this, since we looked at it from such a broad perspective. But we did try to take into consideration that individuals are going to have different experience levels when they come out of the military. So, we tried to look at it from a broad perspective, as far as what opportunities are there and how those opportunities might align with a military retirees’ prospects.  

Tom Temin Sure. And well, let’s get to it then. What is the number one state in wallet hub’s estimation?  

Cassandra Happe So the best state for military retirees is South Carolina. And they did really well when it came to the quality-of-life metrics we looked at. They ranked third overall in that particular dimension. But they did struggle just a little bit when it came to the health care dimension. They came in ninth overall in that particular dimension. So it is still in the top ten as far as the 50 states in the district go. But that’s where they could really improve when it comes to health care specifically. We looked more at the VA health system and how many hospitals are in the area, and also the quality of those hospitals and the treatments that they provide.  

Tom Temin And number two is Florida. Tell us more about the nuances there.  

Cassandra Happe So Florida again stood out with that quality of life. They ranked fourth overall in that particular dimension and plaudits, traditionally known for being a retiree friendly state in general. But they do struggle again with that health care dimension. They came in 18th overall in that dimension, and they did struggle a little bit with the economic environment as well, coming in 11th overall in that particular dimension.  

Tom Temin Yeah. So, you really have to balance your own personal needs versus these general metrics. Sounds like.  

Cassandra Happe Absolutely. And that’s why we group them into these key dimensions. Because depending upon your situation, you might want to focus more on moving somewhere with a great health care system. Or you might be more concerned about your economic future. So, it’s really important to look at the nuances that go into this study.  

Tom Temin And Oregon great facilities. Popular state was ranked 51.  

Cassandra Happe Yes. They really struggled with that quality-of-life dimension. They came in 51st overall in that dimension. And they also struggled with that economic environment dimension coming in 45th overall for that. But as you mentioned health care, they came in 35th overall. So, towards the middle of the pack, which is pretty good.  

Tom Temin We’re speaking with WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe, and I wanted to ask you also about the District of Columbia, which came in pretty poorly at number 48. And I think their highest-ranking criterion at 32 was the one for economic environment rank, the district. You know, that’s where VA headquarters are.  

Cassandra Happe Yeah, it really came down to that quality-of-life dimension that we looked at. They came in 50th overall in that particular dimension. And that comes down to metrics such as the percentage of homeless veterans in the district and housing affordability in that particular district is really where they could improve to make it more welcoming for military retirees.  

Tom Temin And where do taxes and tax rates rank? Would that be part of the economic environment consideration?  

Cassandra Happe We didn’t look at taxes as far as whether the state taxes them. Military pensions either if they tax both retired pay and survivor plan benefits, or if they only receive a partial exemption in the state, or if they don’t have any exemption for that state taxation that fell into that economic environment category. So, for instance, the District of Columbia got a half point instead of a full point for that particular metric, because they have a partial exemption for some state taxation when it comes to military pensions.  

Tom Temin And one interesting characteristic of the rankings, 1 to 50, is that they don’t exactly fall along red or blue lines.  

Cassandra Happe And I think that’s a good point to make, is that it doesn’t seem to be necessarily that red states or blue states are really making an impact. It is very localized and has a lot to do with just the nuance. Things that go into each of these states.  

Tom Temin And contiguous states, you know, have vastly different rankings. I mean, Maryland and Virginia, I think are four and three, because that’s kind of like one big blob. But then you look at New Mexico, which was next to last at 50th, right next to Texas, which is a middling 28.  

Cassandra Happe Yeah, that is pretty fascinating to see. A lot of times when we do these studies where we’re ranking the different states, you’ll see more regional trends going on. But it does seem to have a lot to do with just the state itself and what investments they are making in that environment for military retirees.  

Tom Temin And with respect to the ranking. How would they map, say, to just retirees in general, are the better states for military retirees, the better states for just every other retiree?  

Cassandra Happe That really does depend on what you’re really looking at in this study, because we did try to focus on metrics that were more specific to military retirees, like veteran owned businesses and Defense Department contracts, which may not play a role for nonmilitary retirees as much. So I would say, if you’re looking at this study from a general perspective, as a nonmilitary retiree, focusing on the quality of life rankings would be my recommendation, because those metrics are a little more universal compared to a lot of the metrics we looked at for the economic environment and health care, which were very much focused on the military side of things.  

Tom Temin And your study doesn’t go to this depth, but within a given state, there’s a lot of variation depending on the metropolitan area or rural area, if that’s your choice that you’re into.  

Cassandra Happe Absolutely. That is a really good thing to keep in mind with this particular study, since we looked at it from a state level, is there are some more localized factors to keep in mind. As you mentioned, the rural versus urban environments may allow for more or less access to different health care options or different opportunities for retirees.  

Eric White WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe, speaking there with Federal Drive host Tom Temin.

The post Difficult location choices for military retirees first appeared on Federal News Network.

• Federal employees convicted of sex crimes would lose their government pensions if a bipartisan bill makes it through Congress. Under current law, feds can only lose their pensions if found guilty on national security charges such as treason, espionage or giving false testimony to a U.S. court. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) are leading the bill, called the No Taxpayer-Funded Pensions for Sex Criminals Act.
  (Ernst, Gillibrand cut off sex offenders’ pensions - Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa))
• Legislation designed to paint a clearer picture of telework in government is on the agenda this morning for senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. On a list of bills slated for mark-up today, the Telework Reform Act is one that would set new standards for data on telework, and require feds to work in person at least once a week. Another bill, the Telework Transparency Act, would require agencies to more specifically report on how telework affects productivity, office space and recruitment. If the committee advances the bills, they will go to the full Senate for consideration.
  (May 15 business meeting - Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)
• The federal chief information security officer is leaving after two years. Chris DeRusha, the federal CISO since January 2021, is moving on from federal service. DeRusha has led many of the administration's key cybersecurity initiatives over the past few years including the creation and implementation of a zero trust strategy. Federal News Network has also learned that Mike Duffy, the associate director for capacity building in the cyber division at CISA, will take over on an acting basis starting next week. Duffy has been with the Homeland Security Department for 15 years. DeRusha joined the Office of Management and Budget after coming over from the Biden presidential campaign. He also worked as CISO for the state of Michigan and spent five years at the Homeland Security Department and two years as a senior cyber adviser for the White House.
  (Federal CISO DeRusha leaving - Federal News Network)
• A bipartisan bill is seeking more pay flexibilities for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act would allow the VA to waive pay limitations for up to 300 personnel, in order to recruit or retain critical health care employees. The legislative package also requires each VA physician, podiatrist, optometrist and dentist to receive an annual pay evaluation. VA would have to give Congress an annual report on the outcome of these pay evaluations and all resulting market pay adjustments. The sweeping bill includes pay and workforce legislation that lawmakers introduced during this session of Congress.
  (Sweeping VA bill seeks more pay flexibility for health care workers, stricter EHR requirements - Federal News Network)
• The National Institute of Standards and Technology is looking to keep the needle moving to boost the cyber workforce. NIST has already made recent updates to how it defines the skills needed for cyber positions. But those changes are only the start. The agency is now planning to expand the total number of cyber occupations in its workforce framework. They are also planning to continue updating the definitions of current ones. The idea is to help agencies stay ahead of the curve, said Karen Wetzel, a manager at NIST. “This is not a field that stays the same, and in a lot of these work roles, even though the content underneath them has been updated, we have not reviewed them in that context since 2017,” Wetzel said. As NIST makes those updates, the agency is also planning to incorporate more specific AI skills.
  (NIST aims to cut ‘tech speak’ from cyber workforce framework - Federal News Network)
• House lawmakers want the Defense Innovation Unit to set up a test-and-evaluation cell. A draft version of the House defense policy bill would require the DIU to establish a cell to implement alternative testing and evaluation pathways. The new cell would be responsible for testing commercial dual use technologies, software-based technologies and technologies that are not integrated into an established program of record. The DIU would have to work with the Joint Staff, the combatant commands, research labs within the DoD, and the under secretary of Defense for acquisition and sustainment.
  (Draft NDAA requires DIU to establish test and evaluation cell - House Documents)
• The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is demanding more details about how the White House is addressing ongoing problems at the FDIC. Top committee Republicans wrote to President Joe Biden, asking him to make good on his vow to hold senior leaders accountable for their behavior. The letter comes after a May 7 independent review of the FDIC, revealing what was identified as "a toxic work environment" under the leadership of Chairman Martin Gruenberg. The committee is requesting documents and details by May 22.
  (House committee seeks WH answers to FDIC problems - House Oversight Committee)
• The Army kicks off the first phase of what is called Global Commercial Solutions for Classified, which is the National Security Agency’s program that provides commercial security technologies to the Defense Department to protect classified information. It is expected to reach initial operational capability by next summer. The effort will allow soldiers to access classified networks securely from anywhere in the world. For the last four years, the Army has been working toward a unified network plan, in order to collapse its networks into one greater Army network by 2027.
  (Army moving closer to unified network - AFCEA Belvoir)
• The Defense Department is struggling to recruit and retain child care workers for the four military branches, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office. The DoD, which operates the largest employer-sponsored child care system in the U.S., reported turnover rates ranging from 34% to 50% in 2022. The GAO report has seven recommendations for how the services can assess and track recruitment and retention efforts. The DoD concurred with the recommendations that included establishing workforce plans, developing competency and staffing requirements, conducting continuous recruiting, and providing financial incentives.
  (GAO asks military to assess child care worker retention - GAO)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs may face new requirements to get the rollout of its next Electronic Health Record system back on track. The Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act would keep the VA from rolling the Oracle-Cerner EHR out to new facilities, until sites already using it return to normal productivity levels. If those sites do not recover within two years, the legislation would require the VA to pull the plug on the EHR Modernization Program. The new EHR is running at six VA sites.
  (Sweeping VA bill seeks more pay flexibility for health care workers, stricter EHR requirements - Federal News Network)

The post Feds convicted of sex crimes might lose their pensions first appeared on Federal News Network.

In April, 6,901 new claims were filed, a decrease of 1,042 from March. OPM processed 7,647 claims, a decrease from the 10,711 claims processed the month before, and the lowest number of claims processed since the start of the year.

Initial retirement cases in April completed in less than 60 days took on average 39 days to process, keeping pace with last month, while initial cases that were processed in more than 60 days on average took 104 days, a 30-day decrease from the previous month.

April’s monthly average processing time increased from 55 to 61 days in the last month, but still remained lower than January’s average of 66 days.

January still holds the 2024 record for largest number of retirement claims filed with 12,997.

The post OPM sees slight drop in retirement claims backlog first appeared on Federal News Network.

The long running meme about how you’ll be utterly unremembered in 100 years seems to have picked up steam lately. Maybe the Tik Tok generation has discovered it. I won’t repeat it here; it seems profound but only in the way of greeting card copy.

Yeah, we’re all dead and forgotten in the long run. All the more reason to make the best of the time we do have. That includes the retirement phase, the phase that in some quarters is called a crisis. Results of one recent survey has it that one in five adults over the age of 50 has exactly zero in retirement savings. That study, by the AARP, also found that 61% of such folks “are worried they will not have enough money to support them in retirement.”

The AARP study, though, doesn’t quite square with the 2024 Retirement Confidence Survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). It found 74% of retirees “are confident they will have enough money to live comfortably throughout retirement.” The survey also found 72% of retirees, and 78% of people still working, worry about inflation.

The intangible, the level of worry exists in people’s heads. Retirement cash you can measure and count. The EBRI survey also examined how many people have actually calculated what they’ll need in retirement. Only half of working people and retirees have actually run their own numbers.

That’s understandable. From personal experience, I can tell you calculating your retirement income needs entails a lot of searching — of both your receipts and your soul. You’ve got to fill out worksheets, keep from kidding yourself, and nudging your financial advisor, if you have one. It requires honesty about what you blow money on now, and what expenses you could jettison if need be.

Some people might fear what the calculations will show. What if, for instance, it says you need $500,000  or $1 million in savings to go along with Social Security, but you’re 62 and only have $250,000 saved up? You might get a cold water shock, but at least you can proceed with your life in knowledge.

Luckily federal employees have one of the lowest-load, easy-to-use retirement accumulation mechanisms in the form of the Thrift Savings Plan. One of my regular show guests, Abe Grungold, lists five simple things to do or not do, to ensure you put away the maximum in your TSP account. Contribute the maximum matching about of 5% of your salary. Don’t listen to social media dopes talking about investment strategies; the fund managers have already abstracted that task for you. Avoid constantly changing your fund mix in an attempt to time the market. Don’t use your TSP funds to buy annuity instruments. Make sure you repay loans you make to yourself against your TSP balance.

Social Security, an important part of FERS annuitants’ incomes, made news with the latest report placing insolvency of the trust funds in 2033 or 2035. That supposedly means beneficiaries would start seeing their benefits cut. Politicians who let that happen would see Claude Pepper rise out of the grave and come at them with a scythe. Social Security has IOUs it can call on the Treasury to continue regular payouts. If they had guts, Congress could do a reengineering of the payroll tax and benefits- vs. -age schedules like it did in 1980, but don’t hold your breath.

It all ends up on the debt anyhow. Not to debate Social Security policy, just to say options exist to keep it going.

You and I won’t be remembered 100 years after we’re gone. Johnny Carson is largely unknown already to Generation X. Shakespeare died in 1616, yet every year you can attend dozens of Shakespeare festivals. They might even still mention him occasionally at Harvard.

Nearly Useless Factoid 

By: Michele Sandiford 

According to the USDA, California produced 92% of the citrus grown in the U.S. for fresh consumption in 2023.

Source: Citrus Industry Magazine

The post Worried about retirement prospects? Run the numbers! first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Thrift Savings Plan might be the easiest way to accumulate wealth ever devised. Still, people find ways to mess it up, or not get the most out of it. Joining the Federal Drive with Tom Temin with five of the most common TSP mistakes, retired federal manager Abe Grungold of AG Financial Services.

Interview Transcript: 

Abe Grungold Tom, I always analyze my TSP from day one, and I always tried to make sure how to avoid any type of a financial error that would cost me money down the road. But what I have learned from my business and from listening to, other coworkers and clients, is that there are five common mistakes that TSP participants should avoid. And let me run down through the five.

Tom Temin Yeah, the first one I really like and that is, you know, not being in with both feet.

Abe Grungold Certainly the participants who are not contributing the 5% to the TSP are simply giving away free money that they could be receiving with the 5% match from the government. If you’re only contributing 4%, you’re going to get a 4% match. If you’re contributing 5%, you get the full 5% match. And that is free money that the government is giving you.

Tom Temin Plus, there’s the compounding effect.

Abe Grungold You lose the compounding effect of all those contributions that you could be receiving year after year, and that could be going through a 20-to-25-year retirement. And that really is a bonus that the government gives you every year to invest in your retirement.

Tom Temin Yeah. So, it’s really important to develop that 5% savings habit early on, even early in your career when you think you can’t afford stuff. Maybe one less brunch a month?

Abe Grungold Absolutely. I always made sure that I contributed 5% in, especially in the early part of my federal career. I was contributing 10% so I could be ahead of the gig. But unfortunately, there are some federal employees that cannot afford the contribution because they live in expensive cities such as New York City and San Francisco. But if you could contribute that 5%, you must do it to get the 5% match.

Tom Temin Okay. And then, where you get information can be a mistake or an advantage.

Abe Grungold Yes. Unfortunately, a lot of people go to these media, locations such as TikTok, YouTube and Facebook groups to get their financial information. And basically, what you’re doing is you’re getting information from unreliable sources, basically strangers. It’s okay if you’re looking for a restaurant or a movie to watch on Netflix, but you don’t want to receive financial advice from a stranger in a Facebook forum. You don’t know who this person is. You don’t even know if they’re a federal employee. So why are you taking the risk of getting financial information from this person? Just a big mistake by doing it right?

Tom Temin If anything, you should get advice from an actual fiduciary that you can see in person and shake hands with and check the credentials of.

Abe Grungold Certainly a financial, advisor is a good source, but just look to your own office. There has to be a well-seasoned employee in your office, or a federal retiree that you know who was successful with their TSP. Speak to that person. Ask for the mentor in your office and see if they had contributed 25 years to their TSP and ask the for advice. And that is really the person you should be speaking to.

Tom Temin Many years ago, I worked for a man who had a child with severe and lifetime care needs. And so, his investment strategy as a family, you know, he had two other kids and was driven by the need to leave sufficient legacy such that that young man would be taken care of for the rest of the child’s life after the dad was gone. And so, he was one of the savviest investors I ever knew. And, you know, it’s a different economy then. Different stocks were good. But his advice was, you know, solid.

Abe Grungold Unfortunately, Tom, when I started with the government. There was no TSP, there was no one to ask and you had to really figure it out on your own. But today, with so many employees who are active TSP millionaires who are still working, try to find that person in your organization, pick their brain, and certainly don’t rely on strangers in a Facebook forum to get that information.

Tom Temin We’re speaking with Abe Grun gold, a retired federal manager and owner of AG Financial Services. And then timing or bad timing?

Abe Grungold Yes. You know, I hear this from a lot of clients who subscribe to these monthly investment magazines, and they’re trying to time the market. No one can time the market if you’re able to figure that out. It’s somewhat pure luck. You have the financial wizards like Warren Buffett and many of his friends that do not try to time that market. They buy and they hold for the long term. And if you try to time the market, you’re going to lose gains by making a mistake. No one can predict the ups and downs of the market by for a 20-to-25-year career and consistently invest over time. And you will be successful just by, you know, listening to television and the economics is just not going to give you that guidance.

Tom Temin No. And the TSP funds themselves abstract the need for timing and shifting among stocks for you. That’s the reason you buy those kinds of funds.

Abe Grungold The TSP has a 35-year history Tom, just simply look at the last 10 or 20 years and see which funds perform well. That really should be your guide. You should not be trying to predict what I call the roller coaster of the market, the ups and downs. Just buy and hold and keep buying and time is on your side. It will prove to be your friend.

Tom Temin And you are advising people not to buy a shiny object with your TSP balance.

Abe Grungold Yes, you certainly do not want to buy an annuity, which is offered as a withdrawal option on the TSP. People that, are buying annuities with their TSP balance, they lose the flexibility of their TSP worth, and they lose potential income because if there is no beneficiary, that money is going to simply go to the insurance company. If you want to receive an annuity with your TSP, simply do a monthly withdrawal on your own and divide that by 30, year payments, and you will receive your own annuity that you can set up yourself. But buying an annuity is simply a mistake. And the only person that really should be buying an annuity is someone that has no heirs that they’re going to leave any money to, and they don’t want to leave it to a charity or a legacy. So really, that is the only person that would qualify for an annuity purchase.

Tom Temin Okay. And then the last idea that you’re promulgating is on the borrowing side of things.

Abe Grungold During my federal career, I had four TSP loans. During my federal career, I read many articles that taking out a TSP loan is a mistake. It’s not a mistake as long as you do not treat your TSP like an ATM machine, you need to make a loan from your TSP when you really need to make a loan, and you need to pay that low back in full. If you do not, you’re losing potential retirement income. And what’s worse is when you do not pay that loan back, it becomes a distribution to you. It becomes a tax liability. So, you must pay that low back. And again, I had four TSP loans during my federal career. Never hurt me in the growth of my TSP balance in retirement.

Tom Temin And you probably didn’t buy an expensive pickup truck on a 72-month payback period either.

Abe Grungold I actually did buy two vehicles and I bought two homes using four separate TSP loans. But I made those decisions very carefully, very wisely. And I accelerated my payments back to the TSP so that money could get back in there as soon as possible to grow even further. And remember, when you’re making your TSP load, you’re pay yourself back the interest. That is the most important key feature of the TSP loan.

The post Five ways to really louse up your Thrift Savings Plan account first appeared on Federal News Network.

The government might employ some two million people, but no two federal employees are alike. That’s why career and retirement planning can be complicated. For instance, what if you’re old enough to retire but have less than 30 years in? For insight into what’s known as MRA plus 10, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to long-time federal retirement expert Tammy Flanagan.

Interview Transcript: 

Tom Temin All right, well, it’s good to see. Well, audience can’t see you, but I can on the zoom recording here. But people that have been in for a long time but not long enough. And they’re the age that they can retire. What is the issue here. And it sounds like something that’s coming up a lot.

Tammy Flanagan Yeah. We have this thing. It’s unique to the Federal Employees Retirement System. We never had this under the old civil service system, but it’s the ability to reach the age of retirement, which for argument’s sake, let’s say, is 57. It’s a little bit younger if you’re older, like I am. But for most current employees, their minimum retirement age is 57. But if they don’t have 30 years of service to retire with a full and reduced immediate retirement, they could retire with as little as ten years at 57. But they’d take a pretty significant age penalty. It would be 5% for every year that they’re under 62. So instead of taking that age penalty, they can resign and then postpone the application so they can postpone it for a year or two years, they could postpone it all the way to age 62. But therein lies the problem. Because whenever they’re claiming that postponed benefit, they’re on their own filling out the application, trying to figure out how to fill in the blanks on the application and make those elections. And some of those folks are choosing the wrong date by one month, and it’s losing their health insurance. It’s giving them a whole different calculation of their benefit.

Tom Temin Wow. Well, let’s go back to the issue of postponement in the first place. Because if you resign but apply later, does the pension still go up?

Tammy Flanagan Well, it doesn’t go up. You just lose that age penalty. So, if you were going to retire at 57, let’s say with 15 years of service, that would normally be 15% of your high three. And just to make it simple, let’s say the high three is 100,000. So, you’d be entitled to 15,000 a year, but because you’re only 57, that 15,000 would be reduced by 25%. So, you’d only be getting 75% of the benefit, or 11,250. So, to avoid that big reduction of 25%, you can resign. You’re eligible for the benefit, but you’re postponing the application. And the longer you put it off, the longer you delay that application, the less of that age reduction you’ll take. So, if you don’t need the money, you don’t need the health insurance. Maybe you’re going to go back to work someplace else, or maybe your spouse has all those benefits. Then you can claim it later. But you got to know what you’re doing when you file the application.

Tom Temin And before we get to that month error, just to be clear, it doesn’t rise beyond 62. That’s where it maxes out.

Tammy Flanagan That’s right okay. There’s no reason to delay beyond 62, although some people will because they’re still working. They don’t need the money. They don’t want the taxable retirement income. So, they can wait until they’re 70 and then they expect retroactive payments. But again, that can be an issue.

Tom Temin And we’re talking about the FERS annuity. Correct.

Tammy Flanagan That’s right. The first basic this has nothing to do with Social Security or the Thrift Savings Plan. This is that part that some people call the government pension, the part that’s administered by OPM, the Office of Personnel Management.

Tom Temin All right, then clarify what is the month error that you can make. How does that work? That sounds really scary.

Tammy Flanagan Right? Well, to explain that, let me say that there’s two types of retirement that are very similar. The one I just talked about is a postponed MRA plus ten. The other one is called a deferred retirement. And they sound the same, don’t they? If you looked at deferred and postponed in the dictionary, it sounds about the same meaning. But a deferred retirement is whenever you’re not eligible for an immediate benefit. So, it might be an employee 42 years old is has 15 years of service, and they can either defer their retirement to their MRA and take the age reduction or defer it until they’re 62 and get no age reduction. But on a deferred retirement, there’s no health insurance, there’s no sick leave credit. It’s just that basic annuity benefit. Well, the people who are postponing it, in other words, the people who were eligible when they left, they were old enough. They had ten years or more service, but they’re postponing only to avoid the age reduction. They’re fully expecting to reinstate their health insurance, their government life insurance, dental and vision coverage. All the benefits that most people get with the immediate retirement. Plus know if you have 1000 hours of sick leave saved up, you want credit for that too? Well, if they choose a date at least two days before they turn 62, they’ll get all of. That, you know, it’s wonderful. But, you know, a lot of us think, well, we got to be at least 62 before we retire to get this full benefit. So many of these folks inadvertently are choosing the end of the month after they turn 62. They lose all of those extra benefits. That is then called a deferred retirement with no sick leave credit, no insurance coverage, no nothing. And they’re caught way off guard. They’ll get a letter from OPM saying, well, you got two choices. You can either accept what we’re going to give you, which is basically no insurance, no sick leave, or we’ll backdate everything back to when you were 57 and apply the age reduction and let you reinstate the insurance.

Tom Temin We’re speaking with Tami Flanagan. She’s a principal with federal retire.com. So that means you have a two-day window to do this.

Tammy Flanagan Well, yeah, you have to choose a date at least two days before you turn 62. And it kind of says that on the application instructions. But honestly, Tom, I had to read it four times before I understood what it really meant. So, I can’t imagine that a federal employee who never worked in HR can figure that out. And to understand the connection between that specific date and the reinstatement of their insurance. And that’s what’s been the issue, because I’ve had people, very well-educated people contacting me, saying they applied for their what they thought was their postpone retirement. And we’re sadly mistaken that OPM called that a deferred retirement because they chose the date one day, sometimes after age 62 or the end of the month of their 62nd birthday, and they’ve lost those very, very valuable benefits.

Tom Temin Wow. So, you could do it three days in advance of your birthday or a week ahead, just not the day after.

Tammy Flanagan That’s exactly right.

Tom Temin Yeah. Happy birthday. Yikes. Wow.

Tammy Flanagan Yeah. I’m trying to help some of those folks to see if we can get their retirements backdated. And so far, we haven’t been too successful because the law does say exactly what OPM telling them. But I just think the instructions on the application are not crystal clear, especially since they are filling these applications out without the assistance of anybody in HR telling them what that specific date should be.

Tom Temin Wow. So, make an appointment in your iPhone and make sure you get that application. And before the birthday party of 62 or 57.

Tammy Flanagan Read the form very carefully.

Tom Temin And I wanted to switch gears here for a minute. You have been getting a lot of questions about Postal Service health benefits program. That’s fairly new. And of course, sometimes it takes ten years till people figure these things out.

Tammy Flanagan Yes, we got this new Postal Service health benefit plan, which is a subset of the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan. So, because of some legislation that passed a few years back, they have to create this new separate risk pool for the Postal Service employees and retirees to go under their health insurance. So, starting on January 1st of 2025, all the postal employees, all the postal retirees have to choose a Postal Service health benefit plan, which very much could be the exact same plan they’re in under PHP, but it has to be the postal service variety of it. So, I think what I anticipate happening is we’ve got a lot of older retirees who don’t like change, right? Been in the same health plan for 35 years, and now we’re telling them, you’ve got to change. Even if it looks the same, even though it sounds the same, they’re still not, you know, very sure of themselves about this change. So, I think we’re going to run into some confused retirees and some very stressed-out people at the time this change takes place. Although OPM is trying to make good preparations for it to go smoothly.

Tom Temin We’ll see. But a given supplier say, a GEHA for example, if they have a federal employee health benefit plan and a postal service, likely they’re going to be very close. Fair to say.

Tammy Flanagan I would say initially they’ll be almost identical. I think what may happen over time, because you have to have at least 1500 postal employees in order to make one of those plans, a postal service plan. So, if that plan becomes under the PSHB or Postal Service health benefit program, you may find over time that risk pool may change. All those postal retirees now have to go under Medicare. So that may actually lower their premiums over time, because Medicare is taking over most of the bill for the older retirees. So, we’ll see what happens. Time will tell. But there has to be a reason, a monetary reason, I would think, for pulling these folks out into their own separate pool.

Tom Temin And earlier we were talking about penalties for people that file for their deferred retirement too late, you know, after their birth date, in the case of postal Service health benefits. There is also an exception in Medicare, where most people, if they apply too late, there’s a lifetime penalty. But that doesn’t happen in this case.

Tammy Flanagan Well, there’s a special enrollment period. Medicare has several special enrollment periods, and the most common one is if you’re working past age 65 and then you retire. If you’re over 65, you can enroll in Medicare right after you retire with. Then eight months of retirement with no penalty. So, somebody who might work, you know, till they’re 72 years old, could delay part B with no penalty and pick it up right after they retire. Well, the postal retirees are going to be required to have Medicare. Federal employees typically could choose not to have it or to have it, whatever they choose to do, and many people do. About 25% of postal retirees didn’t take Medicare when they were eligible. So, under this new law, they’re really encouraging part B in fact, younger employees will have to take it, or they’ll lose the Postal Service health benefits. So, they’re offering a special enrollment period from now, April 1st until the end of September. For anybody who’s over 65 in the Postal retirement system or, you know, civil service or first retirement system, which is where postal employees are, they can enroll in part B right now without a penalty, even if they’re 95 years old. What a golden opportunity to pick up part B at the same price you would pay at age 65. But again, I’m not sure that these folks are going to necessarily take advantage of this golden opportunity because again, it’s a change.

The post New wrinkle on the notion of postponing your federal retirement first appeared on Federal News Network.

We pilot our lives through many stages. I say this as prelude to telling you that I’ve started the glide path to my own retirement after what will have been 17 years at FNN, 32 years covering federal matters in one medium or another, and 47 years of professional work. Readers, listeners and FNN colleagues will be stuck with me for one more year, though, because I don’t like to leave things to the last minute.

Between now and then, columns on retirement and financial matters will continue to focus on federal employees. No weekly diary about me, but maybe an occasional anecdote and the understanding that in certain respects, I’m sort of psychologically aligned with those who are also headed towards retirement.

I’ll say this: The retirement decision brings decidedly mixed emotions.

You feel positive anticipation about a change of pace even, as in my case, you don’t plan to check completely out of your field but just want to dial back the day-to-day grind. Few, even in our building, quite know the energy and persistence it takes me and my producers to get the Federal Drive show finished and ready five days a week, year after year. I’m lucky in that I love the work and operate in a highly supportive organization. I love that moment when, arriving in the FNN garage, I pull off my motorcycle helmet and march upstairs to my studio and dig in to the day’s tasks — multiple and varied.

But your body and psyche somehow get together to tell you when it’s time; that perhaps your capacity for replenishing your daily energy expenditure isn’t quite as resilient as it was a year or five years ago. You want to leave the parade while you’re still hitting your stride.

You feel worry about money. Will Social Security, my union pension, and what my wife and I have accumulated after decades together carry us through? If I had a Thrift Saving Plan account, I’d be one of those TSP Millionaires we write about from time to time. Our financial planner keeps admonishing us not to worry. But I worry.

You feel satisfaction in what you’ve accomplished, tinctured with regret at opportunities not taken or pursued.

You feel uncertainty about your identity. This may be the most potent producer of trepidation about retiring. For so many of us, work is nearly indistinguishable from identity, sense of self and self-worth. I plan to do things in the federal market and stay involved in a limited way. The key to happiness in this mode is maintaining realism and a healthy perspective.

The happy retirees I know find fulfillment in things they now have the time to pursue. My friend and regular Federal Drive guest Bob Tobias gave me a great example just the other day. Bob had a significant career — first president of the National Treasury Employees Union, founder of the Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund, long-time professor in the Key Executive Leadership Program at American University, among other things.

Every morning, in his home in a rural area of Maryland, Bob spends three hours reading and working at a fairly recent passion: writing poetry and trying to get it published. He also spends time with a group working to enact a legislative ban on Schedule F — the civil service reform tried by the Trump administration, not the IRS tax form.

I know retired feds who chair boards of local charities, who pursue art, and who teach underprivileged kids. They’re not melting into anonymity, but rather acquiring a new identity.

This isn’t good bye. Like I said, I’ll be around for another year. I hope you’ll feel free to send me a note with your thoughts on retirement planning and dealing with the money, healthcare and life issues you’re dealing with.

Nearly Useless Factoid

By: Derace Lauderdale

Among the top 1% of individuals, those between 65 and 69 years saved, on average, nearly $2.7 million for retirement.

Source: RetireGuide

The post Another column on retirement. This time, I’m joining you first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset have both been around for decades. They reduce or rule out Social Security benefits for some federal retirees. A bill to repeal them has been gaining unprecedented traction. For one view of this issue, Federal News Network’s Drew Friedman spoke with the staff vice president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, John Hatton on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Interview Transcript:  

John Hatton Windfall elimination provision and the government pension offset were put into law in the late 70s early 80s as part of a set of social security reforms to help at that time, improve the solvency of the Social Security trust funds. We’ve been opposed to them ever since. Both of those really reduce an individual Social Security benefit based on income they’ve earned outside the Social Security system. You know, they’ve paid taxes into Social Security, earned that Social Security. You know, in the case of WEP and simply because they’ve gone outside of that system and earned a pension separately, they are penalized. So there’s been efforts to repeal these provisions for some time. The biggest obstacle to progress is the cost, repealing both weapon GPO, is close to $150 billion. And when you have solvency issues again with Social Security trust Fund, that’s been the real pediment. But, we’ve also NARFE and our allies have been successful convincing members of Congress that this is a still real problem, that it’s an unfair provision. In the case of both of them. Government pension offset reduces spousal survivor benefits that some in some cases, people have, totally losing that survivor benefit. So, you know, for for the people affected, it feels like their Social Security benefits are being taken away, the ones that have rightfully earned. We have more than 300 co-sponsors in the House and more than 50 in the Senate. They’ve been around for a long time, and we keep on trying to get that repealed.

Drew Friedman I really do think it says something to have that much consensus, especially in the House, to have, you know, more than 300 co-sponsors is a really huge deal. And I know there was a hearing just this week on WEP and GPO in the House Ways and Means Committee. Can you talk a little bit about what led up to that point, and what might still be ahead for how this bill might move through Congress?

John Hatton There was a field hearing in Louisiana, the week of Thanksgiving as well, that really focused on those impacted. In that case, they really focused on the police officers and the firefighters and the teachers affected because it affects state and local government employees and in particular states that have similar systems to the older federal system, the civil service retirement system. Those are the people who are affected by WEP and GPO on the federal side. So they’ve kind of heard from the individuals, the fact that they’re going to take a look at kind of think tank witnesses in this next hearing and kind of take a look at a little bit deeper into the policy justifications for these and what the options may be to reform or repeal them. So it’s a good sign that we’ve had two hearings on this issue. That’s not been the case before last Congress. A motion to put this repeal bill on the consensus calendar was filed that forced basically forced the House Ways and Means Committee to have a markup on the bill. But they advanced it with that recommendation. So they basically said, we don’t want this getting a vote, but we’re going to take this off the consensus calendar to avoid a floor. So we’ve kind of started this Congress off at a faster pace, than where we were at the last Congress. And last Congress, we ended up with 305 co-sponsors. And now, we’re over 310. So the progress has been building over the last two Congresses, I think, particularly comparative to where it was, you know, over the previous decade. The two hearings are good news. The next step beyond that would be to try to push for a markup of this bill or some type of bill to address these issues. So the hope is that these two hearings are signaling that the committee’s taking this issue more seriously than it has in the past. And, you know, the hope is that this would be a precursor to some additional action on the bill that’s not guaranteed, that’s not set, certainly up for debate. And, a lot of uncertainty around that. But that’s what we’re pushing for is that markup of a bill on this issue.

Drew Friedman And do you have any sense of if that was going to happen, if there was going to be further traction, so to speak, on the bill? What would be the timeline for that?

John Hatton That’s hard to say, but you would hope it would be probably by the end of July. Just because we’re running in an election year. And the closer we get to the election, the less likely it is that something will happen. So the idea would be get that markup not just to make progress for next Congress, but to also try to make progress to get this bill to the floor after the markup passed the House and then start working on the Senate as well. So I think by July would be the hope. But we don’t know. And we’ll take we’ll take by the end of the year to if that could happen.

Drew Friedman Right. Yeah. I guess we’ll just have to see how that all plays out and, and just see, over the next couple of months, what sort of developments there are. But John, I also wanted to switch gears here a little bit because there’s another topic that’s been really front and center of the news for federal employees in the federal workforce. There was a new final rule from the Office of Personnel Management that’s trying to, in their words, uphold civil service protections and merit system principles. You know, we know that this is a response to schedule F, the executive order from the Trump administration to try to prevent its resurrection, potentially in a future administration. So, John, can you explain how that final rule attempts to accomplish that?

John Hatton Sure. So the final rule really shores up the regulatory regime supporting the merit based civil service. There is statutory law that puts in place certain protections. But the problem was schedule has kind of found a loophole in that statutory law by creating this new excepted service schedule. So this tries to shore up the regulatory regime supporting that as well, and fill in the gaps that schedule us to try to exploit. It does so by saying that civil servants are going to retain the rights they’ve had in whatever position they were in. So if the people are hired in and are in a competitive service position, you can’t just be moved out of that position and lose those rights. So if somebody wanted to come along with schedule F again and these regulations were in place, and move somebody from that competitive service position into schedule F, there would be rights to appeal that position and, appeal that, the change in position and, and say that these individuals still have those rights, those can’t be involuntarily taken away. So it really says so you can try to move the schedule F, but, you’re not going to take away those rights that protect that merit based civil service, provide some other regulatory requirements in terms of creating, you know, different schedules that would impact the merit based system principles, clarifies that confidential, you know, policymaking positions are non career political positions. So there is a role in the federal government for people that are making policy determining policy. Those are political jobs. Not they’re not career jobs. And trying to shore up what has consistently been the case. So. Does this prevent any prospect of a schedule up in the future? No. These regulations can be changed by a future administration, but they would have to go through a notice and comment rulemaking. And so right now, if these are in place, if they are these are not challenged. And if another administration, you know, before another administration can go ahead and and try to change them, they do provide protections to individuals, protections of that merit based system. So I think it’s a really strong and important step in the right direction.

Drew Friedman Yeah. No, I and John, I think you make an important point as well that this is one step and it is a very solid step from the Biden administration in terms of trying to protect some of those work force principles or merit system principles. But are there other efforts? I know there was a bill on Capitol Hill kind of related to the same thing. Do you think there’s other ways, if for advocates or those, you know, oppose this guide, you will have to try to make something even more permanent happen in the future?

John Hatton Yes. I think a change in statutory law would certainly shore up this regime even further to prevent, you know, a future administration from coming in and, you know, overt, you know, proposing a new rule to change these regulations in under, you know, basically reversing them. So the saving our Civil Service Act. Secondly, Bill, in the House, Kaine bill in the Senate is something that supported other groups, government groups, employee groups, you name it, that support this effort. You know, support that bill as well. That has you know, there’s been efforts to include that in the National Defense Authorization Act, the amendments that has not received bipartisan support as of yet. Even if there are people on the Republican side of the aisle that kind of understand the arguments behind and kind of thinks that schedule likely goes too far. They haven’t been willing to kind of sign on to these bills yet. So, you know, you’re not going to get something passed through Congress without bipartisan support, especially with the current make up the Congress.

Tom Temin John Hatton, a staff vice president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, NARFE, speaking with Federal News Network’s Drew Friedman. There’s lots more to the interview. Find it in its entirety at Federal News Network.com. Search your federal life.

The post Congress again ponders updating Social Security policy for non-eligible federal retirees first appeared on Federal News Network.

The House is once again nearing a finish line to address two provisions limiting Social Security benefits for some federal annuitants.

But it’s still up in the air what direction Congress will take. Many lawmakers are pushing for a full repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). Others are instead looking to keep the provisions, but reform their calculations.

The Social Security Fairness Act, a bill that would eliminate WEP and GPO, has broad bipartisan support, gaining 316 House co-sponsors and 53 in the Senate. But during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, some Republicans and other stakeholders called for different answers.

“Fully repealing the WEP and GPO would violate the principles of fairness and equity that these provisions were intended to protect,” Bipartisan Policy Center Chief Economist Jason Fichtner told lawmakers on the committee’s Social Security subcommittee Tuesday. “[But] given data limitations at the time the WEP and GPO provisions were first established in law, these provisions create an overly complex structure.”

In response to Tuesday’s hearing, Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Garret Graves (R-La.) are doubling down in their push for the passage of the Social Security Fairness Act, reintroduced in January 2023.

“Throughout our time in Congress, we have heard from tens of thousands of Americans who have been adversely impacted and impoverished by these harmful policies,” the representatives wrote to committee members in a letter shared exclusively with Federal News Network. “With the Ways and Means Committee so focused on ensuring retirement security for all Americans, there is no time like the present for Congress to act … We believe that full repeal is the best solution.”

The WEP and GPO reduce — and in some cases eliminate — Social Security benefits for some federal retirees and other public sector workers, as well as their spouses, widows and widowers. For years, some members of Congress have been urging a full repeal of the two provisions to give affected annuitants a full Social Security benefit amount. Advocates have said WEP and GPO are unfair to those who work in the public sector.

The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) originated in 1983, and it reduces Social Security benefits for anyone who receives an annuity from their time in government, but who also worked in a Social Security-covered job, typically a private sector position. WEP impacts roughly two million individuals, including employees in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) who were hired to the federal government prior to 1984.

The Government Pension Offset (GPO) dates back to 1977, and impacts the Social Security benefits of the spouses, widows or widowers of any individual with a government pension. If two-thirds of a government pension is more than the value of the Social Security benefit, then the GPO can entirely eliminate a Social Security benefit.

Despite agreeing that the WEP and GPO formulas are outdated, a few witnesses at the subcommittee hearing said they still wanted to maintain what they said was equity between public and private sector workers.

“The WEP and GPO are necessary features in a system with Social Security’s basic design, but their current forms failed to achieve their intended purposes in large part because there are simplified approximations reflecting previous data limitations,” said Charles Blahous, a senior research strategist at George Mason University. “Appropriate reforms could result in greater parity.”

Bills such as the Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act and the Public Servants Protection and Fairness Act may provide the framework for reforming rather than repealing WEP and GPO. The two bills operate slightly differently, but either one would provide at least some relief to CSRS annuitants.

One option on the table to address WEP and GPO would adjust the current Social Security benefit formula. Specifically, it would change the formula to make proportional calculations based on workers’ earnings in Social Security-covered jobs, versus their total earnings in both covered and non-covered jobs. Current annuitants would also have their penalties reduced and receive rebates.

“Much good can come from a relatively straightforward change that would make the Social Security benefit proportional or prorated for workers with non-covered earnings,” Fichtner said.

For now, it’s unclear what exact language lawmakers will choose, should they decide to move forward with a reform rather than a full repeal of WEP and GPO.

And while expressing appreciation for the subcommittee hearing, Spanberger and Graves still said a full repeal of WEP and GPO will bring the most relief to those negatively affected.

“We have heard from tens of thousands of Americans who have been adversely impacted and impoverished by these harmful policies,” the lawmakers said in their letter to the committee. “These WEP [and] GPO victims have had their Social Security benefits unfairly reduced — and in some cases altogether eliminated — because they chose a life of public service. It is time to offer them a remedy.”

One main concern from opponents of a full repeal of WEP and GPO is the cost of the change. Some raised concerns that giving full Social Security benefits to CSRS annuitants and other public sector retirees would negatively impact the solvency of Social Security overall — or in other words, the ability to continue paying out benefits on time and in full to beneficiaries.

“There’s some back and forth on what the solution for Social Security going forward is, and what we need to do about that. That general debate is going to continue to be in the background and you can’t really separate a repeal of WEP and GPO from that,” NARFE Staff Vice President John Hatton said in an interview. “A lot of Congress members agree these are unfair provisions. But they probably don’t want to do this without some type of cost offset, because they don’t want to hurt the solvency of Social Security more. That’s going to be the challenge for us.”

NARFE, or the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, has been a long-time advocate of a full repeal of both WEP and GPO. Despite maintaining that stance, Hatton said in the short-term, any type of reform to the system would still be a step in the right direction.

“If we can get some progress, actually made and passed into law, we’ll take that as a win and keep on working on this issue going forward,” Hatton said. “We’ll continue to work towards repeal, but we will certainly take what we can get if there is a consensus that finds a compromise.”

The post Repeal or reform? House lawmakers weigh responses to WEP, GPO first appeared on Federal News Network.

OPM also made improvements in the inventory backlog, shrinking it by 2,786, bringing the current number of claims to 16,823. This is the lowest backlog the agency has seen since December 2023. OPM is still 3,823 claims above the steady state goal of 13,000.

After seeing improvements in February, OPM’s average processing time increased from 47 days to 55 days in March.

OPM said March retirement cases completed in less than 60 days on average took 39 days to process, while cases that took more than 60 days on average took 134 days to fully process.

The post OPM retirement backlog continues improvement in processed claims for March first appeared on Federal News Network.

With the era of near-zero inflation over, retirement planning has taken on some new urgency, simply because a fixed income and rising prices do not make a good combination. For some of the latest think on all that, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Thiago Glieger, with RMG Advisors of Rockville, Maryland.

Interview Transcript: 

Tom Temin And you’ve got a lot of good advice for retirement planning at the season when people start to think about the end of the year, and this is when you start putting in papers and so forth. And inflation, though, can really be something. I think people have forgotten about how corrosive it can be.

Thiago Glieger They certainly have. Tom, I loosely call inflation the silent retirement killer. Because for a very long time we’ve not really had inflation like we have, here very recently. And when people think about risk, they often just think about volatility. So, investments in the TSP like the CSI funds but if you think about not growing your money fast enough, that’s also a pretty big risk. So having too much money inside the G fund, especially as you enter retirement, makes sense because you want to protect your wealth. But if you stay in the G fund, that could mean over time you may not be able to keep up with your spending. Imagine having to pay for things today, but with a salary from ten years ago, it would be very difficult to keep up and the concept is pretty much the same.

Tom Temin You would either have to trim your spending or figure out a new investment strategy, and I guess then you might be saying that don’t be overly conservative even though you are retired, you don’t want to bet in Bitcoin and futures and commodities, but maybe you should be a little more aggressive in the funds you pick.

Thiago Glieger Yeah, especially retiring feds who tend to be a little bit more conservative. You have to be prepared for an environment where you’re going to need to be growing your money fast enough to both outpace inflation, as well as replacing some of the spending that you’re doing. Because if you look at 10 or 15 years down the line, you may not be able to have the same kind of spending power if you’re just not keeping up because you’re in things like the G fund for the next decade.

Tom Temin Yeah. And if you look at things like automobiles or replacement roofing and other capital, so to speak, expenditures on your home if you are in your home, these things have gone well, no pun intended, through the roof.

Thiago Glieger They really have. The cost of material has gone up, the cost of labor has gone up, and people generally just spending money on things that they do most, which is food, travel in their home expenditures. Those are the things in which people are really seeing those price increases and struggling to be able to keep up.

Tom Temin And that gets to the topic of being realistic, simply about how much it’s going to cost you to live in retirement.

Thiago Glieger That’s right. I think that a lot of people just think about replacing their income. But really, that might not be all that you need. You know, the first thing is you always have to be thinking about, well, when are you going to file for Social Security? You’re potentially going to have a FERS pension that’s going to kick in at some point. And with those two, the third leg of the three-legged stool, as it’s commonly known, is your portfolio. So, then you start to determine how much do you need to take from your portfolio. But often I suggest to people be thinking about a higher degree of spending, especially in an early retirement. You know, Tom, you were telling me, last time we talked about that amazing trip that you went on recently, and that’s the kind of thing that people want maybe 2 or 3 times a year, while they still have their health and their energy. There’s more travel, there’s more experiences, more spending. You know, maybe you have grandkids at that point. And you start to see a whole lot of one-off expenses that creep up that you need to start beginning to plan for.

Tom Temin Right. So therefore, then the required minimum distributions from that third leg, if that’s all you can do and you’re worried about that, that gets back to the idea of being a little bit more aggressive. So maybe you could take more than the RMD. Confident that the principal will keep growing more than you’ve taken out as your withdrawal.

Thiago Glieger Right. Especially with RMDs where there’s a minimum amount that you have to take out. And so, you’re accelerating these distributions. And at some point you may want to be considering being a little more aggressive.

Tom Temin And how do you plan on what your withdrawals should be. Just simply whatever’s not covered by your FERS pension and Social Security.

Thiago Glieger I think that’s one way to start, you know, is really getting a base for what are your needs? But also, retirement is a time. We call them the golden years. Right? It’s a time where you really want to enjoy your time doing things, and you want to have these experiences that maybe you’ve been putting off for a while. In fact, with our clients, we call the first several years of retirement, maybe 5 or 10 years. We call that the Gogo phase. And that’s when you have the most time that you’ve had the most money you’ve ever had, and you still have a whole lot of energy. And so, thinking about how do I want to design these years? What kind of memories do I want to create? Is it more travel? Is it more this? Is it helping the grandkids? And that will begin to help you understand what kind of cash flow you’re going to need. Then you think you factor in Social Security and FERS and figure out how much more you need to draw from your portfolio.

Tom Temin Right. So that presupposes, at least for that first 5 or 10 years, when you have the intersection of some wealth you’ve accumulated and you’re still able because you won’t be able to forever. Nobody is. Even though the guy peddling pills on cable TV that’s 90, you know, and bench lifts 500 pounds. That’s not really what most people are going into. Then you need to plan for higher spending, perhaps, than you have been just commuting to the drudgery of your cubicle or your dining room.

Thiago Glieger Exactly. And that’s where it becomes really important to begin to finalize and implement that, initial short-term bucket of your portfolio. So, this is the part of your portfolio that’s going to have to be the most conservative, because it’s going to be the one that’s supporting you when you first retire. You know, the problem in investing in stocks is that they tend to be very volatile. And if you are close to retirement or you’re starting to use your money, then you really have to be cautious about how much you’re investing in stocks. The closer you are to using that capital, the more diversification you’re going to need in your portfolio. And one of those buckets is your short-term bucket. I often use the example of when you visit a doctor and the doctor says, Tom, we’re going to need to prescribe this medication for you to take. How much of it do you want to take? Your answer is, obviously, I don’t know as little as possible. Right. The medicine often comes with side effects, and investing for growth is very similar. Having too much in the form of growth investments can actually begin to hurt you in the long run because of that side effect of volatility and other risks that it introduces.

Tom Temin And there’s also tax planning, which can get complicated.

Thiago Glieger That’s right. Taxes are a huge part of every decision in retirement because when you’ve been working you don’t really have very much control over your taxes. You get a W-2 salary and maybe you’ve got some investment income and perhaps some rental properties, things like that. But in retirement, you’re the one that’s designing your income. And so, you get to pick which accounts the money comes from. You get to pick when you take those distributions. And if you think about what your cumulative lifetime tax liability is going to be, where you can estimate what that will be. It’s to the tune of several hundred thousand. Sometimes for some clients, it’s millions of dollars in estimated taxes throughout their whole retirement. And anything you can do to begin to keep some more of that capital for yourself is more living and more spending that you get to do yourself.

Tom Temin And you mentioned the go phase of retirement. What are the phases past that or should I ask?

Thiago Glieger Yeah. After you go through your go phase, we call the next phase the slow go phase. This is where life tends to slow down a little bit. You’re still active, but life has settled into retirement. And maybe your kids and grandkids are a little bit older now, so your priorities will begin to change. Maybe you’re spending more time with the kids rather than traveling. And then beyond that, once you hit the later stages of life, we call that the no go years. So, you have the go, the slow go and the no go and the no go years. You’re really focusing more on your health and taking care of yourself, maybe spending more time with family. And so, the expenses that tend to go for lifestyle are now maybe going towards medical.

Tom Temin And you may have disposed of your house by that point and living in a lower cost situation. Although some of the assisted living and independent living places, they are not low rent.

Thiago Glieger That’s right, many of those are very expensive and despite the cost, I think people are just generally looking for less maintenance. At that point, they may not be able to upkeep with the size of their house or all of the things that are required. So, either they downsize to something more manageable, or they actually move into a place that has some assistance for them to be able to live.

Tom Temin All right. So, you mentioned the go, the slow go and the no go. I guess beyond that is the undergo. No, I mean, it doesn’t matter at all anymore in some sense. Right. What are some good practical ways that if you’re still working to actually do this, start with a budget. Is that what everybody says? Or I mean, what should you be doing to plan for it because you don’t really know when the go will morph into the slow go.

Thiago Glieger Right? I think if you are still working and you are, at least 5 to 7 years from retirement, your priority at that time is still continuing to grow your wealth. And so, utilizing the TSP choices like the C, S and I funds, make sure you’re doing at least the agency maxing, matching contributions amount. If you can match your TSP. Absolutely put more into that every time you’re getting a raise. If you’re not yet maxed, split that raise in half and put half of it as a TSP contribution. And beyond there, as you begin to phase to retirement, that’s when you can start to be thinking about the more. Conservative portions of your portfolio, maybe start diversifying a little bit less. Maybe start taking some risk off the table. Because if you think about how long it takes for a bear market from what we call peak to trough, so that’s from the top to the bottom and back up again, it’s somewhere on average about two and a half years. And so, we tell people to really be thinking about twice that long. So about five years’ worth of a short-term bucket. If you know you’re coming up to that phase of life, that gives you enough time to be able to ride out some of that market volatility, if you’re going to use that money in the very short term, and the bottom falls out.

Tom Temin And right now at this as we speak, we seem to be in a peak. I think the Dow headed toward 40,000, although that’s a really terrible indicator because the Dow has almost no relation to anyone’s actual portfolio, does it?

Thiago Glieger That’s right. The Dow represents a market index, and most people are not invested 100% in the Dow. Same thing with the S&P 500 right. The TSP fund the fund. Those are representative of some of those market indices. But you’re really not 100% invested in that actual index.

Tom Temin And you can probably make yourself prematurely crazy if you watch your portfolio minute by minute.

Thiago Glieger Yeah. And we find that the stress level tends to increase the closer people get to retirement, they start to pay a little bit more attention to what’s happening in the markets than the economy. And the minute it reverses on you because that’s just a natural part of investing. It causes a lot of stress and anxiety for folks. So, we tell people, make sure you’re keeping track of things, but don’t look at it every single day because it’s really not necessary for you to do so.

The post Retirement planning enters era of renewed inflation first appeared on Federal News Network.

• Open Season is not until this fall, but some feds may want to start looking at their health care early. A special enrollment period starts today for Postal Service annuitants. USPS retirees who are eligible for Medicare Part B, but do not have it, can sign up between now and September 1 without having to pay a penalty. The USPS is covering the cost of the penalty for any annuitants who do choose to sign up. The special enrollment period comes ahead of the launch of the brand-new Postal Service Health Benefits program for plan year 2025. And for everyone else, Open Season will run Nov. 11 to Dec. 9.
  (Postal Service Health Benefits program - Office of Personnel Management)
• Nearly a two-year effort has concluded with agencies receiving their first update to the standards for collecting federal data on race and ethnicity in more than 25 years. The Office of Management and Budget's Chief Statistician Karin Orvis said the interagency working group made several significant changes to the standards, including adding Middle Eastern or North African as a new minimum category. Agencies are to begin updating their surveys and administrative forms as quickly as possible and must submit an agency action plan for complete compliance within 18 months. Orvis said the working group reviewed 20,000 comments and held almost 100 listening sessions as part of its effort to finalize the new standards.
  (OMB updates standards to collect federal data on race, ethnicity - White House)
• The Defense Department has established the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy. The new office, officially launched on March 20, will oversee all cyber-related policy issues at the Pentagon. That includes certifying the department's cyber operations budget and overlooking cyber workforce development programs. Ashley Manning will serve as the official performing the duties of the assistant secretary until the Senate confirms an official for the position. President Joe Biden nominated Michael Sulmeyer, who is currently serving as the principal cyber adviser to the Army Secretary, to serve in the new role.
  (Establishment of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy - DoD)
• There is a new section to the FAR and it may be the most important change in decades. Get used to hearing about FAR Part 40. It's the new consolidated section of the Federal Acquisition Regulations for all things cybersecurity and supply chain security. The FAR Council issued the final rule today establishing this new section, bringing together clauses and regulations covering broad security requirements for most acquisitions. The new FAR part will provide contracting officers with a single, consolidated location to find these requirements. While the new FAR section does not create any new requirements or contract clauses, the council currently is reviewing three rules that would be added to Part 40 when finalized.
  (FAR Council formally established new cybersecurity section - Federal Register)
• Senate lawmakers are pushing to bring federal record-keeping practices into the 21st century. Agencies would need to make sure employees back up their texts and other digital chats used for official business under the Strengthening Federal Records Act of 2024. Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) are co-sponsoring the bill. They say the Federal Records Act needs to keep with rapidly changing technology. The bill would also strengthen the role of the National Archives and Records Administration in holding agencies accountable to record-keeping rules.
  (Senate bill aims to bring federal records law into the age of ‘WhatsApp’ - Federal News Network)
• The Navy has created a sort of one-stop-shop of efficiency when it comes to Navy Culture. A new initiative dubbed Culture of Excellence 2.0 aligns several Navy programs and concepts, allowing the leadership to better understand the needs of its sailors. New materials released as part of the initiative include a playbook on mental health and a suicide-related behavior response guide. The women’s initiatives team and the new policy for the assignment of pregnant sailors also fall under the umbrella of Culture of Excellence 2.0. And there will be a new tool for commanders to better understand the risk of destructive behaviors within their commands.
  (Navy updates its culture campaign - U.S. Navy)
• A new leader has taken the reins at the National Security Agency’s Cybersecurity Directorate (CSD). Dave Luber formally took over as CSD Director on Friday, replacing Rob Joyce, who had led the directorate since 2021. Luber previously served as CSD’s deputy director. He is a longtime veteran of the intelligence community, having also served as executive director at U.S. Cyber Command and in various positions throughout the NSA. The Cybersecurity Directorate is responsible for helping to secure defense industrial base networks and issuing public advisories on cyber threats.
  (New NSA CSD director - X)
• When candidates go online to apply for a federal job, they will see a brand new look. USA jobs.gov has updated its homepage design and some key features of the website. There is now a "search tips" option for anyone who might need help narrowing down a search. A link at the top of the homepage will take users to a list of upcoming hiring events and information sessions. And there is info about what career fields are hiring right now, and how the federal hiring process works.
  (Website homepage update - USAJobs.gov)

The post Medicare Part B special enrollment period for USPS annuitants begins today first appeared on Federal News Network.