Federal Drive with Tom Temin

It's not too late to get on a 35-day challenge. The Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund is looking for feds and supporters of public service to walk, run, swim, even roll your wheelchair for 35 miles, and you've got 35 days to do it. Joining the Federal Drive with details, FEEA executive director Joyce Warner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People trying to cross the southern border illegally make most of the news these days. But the Customs and Border Protection also apprehends illegal entrants, those with four legs, or maybe no legs at all. People constantly attempt to smuggle animals of all sorts into the United States. With how they do it and what happens when they get caught, the Federal Drive spoke with two supervisory CBP Agriculture Specialists, Ginger Perrone and Robert Ford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We conclude our series, Federal Unions, For Better or Worse, exploring the role of unions in the federal workforce. This week we've heard from a highly pro-union academic, an anti-union right-to-work advocate, and a long-time federal executive who's of mixed views. The Federal Drive heard from the president of one of the major unions itself, the National Treasury Employees Union's Tony Reardon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The starting salary for an officer at the Transportation Security Administration can be as low as $29,000 a year. Congress agrees TSO's are underpaid. But members can't agree on what they should do to resolve pay and morale issues at TSA. House Democrats are trying a third time to pass legislation they believe would help. The bill would give TSOs a chance to earn a salary under the General Schedule. But others say Congress should find a way to ditch the General Schedule, not add more people to it. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko explains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Space Force is settling into its position as the newest branch of the military. But the possibilities for a reserve and Guard unit are still in flux. There may be some movement on the issue coming soon though. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The State Department’s first chief diversity and inclusion officer is busy drafting a multi-year diversity and inclusion strategy. The department's previous diversity officer juggled multiple responsibilities but Secretary of State Antony Blinken distilled the position to focus exclusively on longstanding workforce challenges. For more on what the new job entails, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the person Blinken tapped for the job: Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley. Hear more on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The General Services Administration and the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday said they'd made big changes to how they'll administer a billion-dollar fund for modernizing federal information systems. Among other things, the new guidance emphasizes changes to the repayment model for the Technology Modernization Fund. But a new, faster time frame poses challenges. Federal News Network's Jason Miller has been following this development closely, and joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for what he's learned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When federal agencies make financial grants to science and technology researchers, scouring their proposals for possible conflicts of interest is a big part of the process. But some agencies are focused on financial conflicts, and less on guarding against the risks of new scientific discoveries being sent to potential foreign adversaries. That appears to be the case with the National Institutes of Health, according to the Government Accountability Office. Candice Wright is acting director for Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics at GAO. She talked about the problem with Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One good thing about the last year's seemingly endless crisis is the opportunity to render outstanding public service. And that's what this year's class of Service to America Medalist finalists have done. Announced this week, many have risen to the challenge of the pandemic. For a review, the President and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service Max Stier joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies have restored to federal employee unions so-called official time, or the right to do union business during regular working hours. Official time was sharply curtailed during the Trump administration. Now a Republican-backed bill in the House would eliminate official time. It's called the Do Your Job Act of 2021. Good or bad idea? For one view, and the third in our series, Federal Unions: For Better or Worse, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the Vice President of the National Right To Work Committee Greg Mourad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration wants federal contractors to pay their employees a minimum of fifteen dollars an hour. For some contractors it's a moot issue. For others, it would have a lot of implications for profits and competitiveness. Joining the Federal Drive with analysis on a couple of topics, the president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, David Berteau. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For decades observers of federal spending patterns have focused on the rush to use up contracting dollars in the fourth quarter. But this year an equal but opposite phenomenon has emerged. Agencies releasing fewer and fewer dollars with of contracts in the first quarter, when there's a whole year ahead to get things done. According to my next guest, that could lead to misspending and lots of other problems. Joining the Federal Drive with more, Fearless chief growth officer and former EPA chief technology officer, Greg Godbout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pretty much taken for granted, federal employees unions have been around for more than a century. The National Federation of Federal Employees dates to the World War One era. The next big push came from President John F. Kennedy, whose executive order 10988 launched the modern era of federal unions. So what is their proper role today … and do they help or hinder what Kennedy called the effective conduct of public business? We're exploring the question in a series of interviews this week. Yesterday we heard from academic Jim Perry of Indiana University. Next, the Federal Drive spoke with with a long-experienced federal human capital practitioner in the intelligence community and at Homeland Security. He's now a professor at the University of South Florida, Ron Sanders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The case of the murdered Army soldier Vanessa Guillen is causing ongoing repercussions for the entire military. As pressure grows to take the prosecution of sex crimes out of the military chain-of-command altogether. One proposal would create an independent prosecutor for such crimes. It's all in this week's DOD Reporter's notebook by Jared Serbu and Scott Maucione. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senator Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) has a plan to fix an oversight gap in the last major federal technology law Congress passed. And it can't come soon enough for agencies like USAID and Commerce. In his weekly Reporter's Notebook, executive editor Jason Miller writes about why the New Hampshire Democrat's goal to fix the Modernizing Government Technology, or MGT Act, is critical to the broader IT modernization effort. Jason joined the Federal Drive to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices