NPR: Employees may NOT bet on the Tiny Desk!!

‘Less people and better results:’ IRS CEO says filing season goals met after 27% staffing cut | Federal News Network IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank Bisignano said his goal is “creating a digital IRS” that can help more taxpayers online, shifting the burden off its phones.

Last year’s mass exodus came from IRS employees taking the "Fork in the Road" or retiring. But it threatened layoffs on several occasions.
“Nobody’s going to really like hearing this, but it was good, because they wanted to retire, that’s fine.”
federalnewsnetwork.com/management/2...

IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank Bisignano told @senatefinance.bsky.social this was the "most successful filing season in IRS history," and demonstrated that the agency can have both “less people and better results.” The agency lost 27% of its workforce last year ⬇️

Federal News Network: CDC eases telework restrictions for disabled employees, as HHS faces 9,000-request backlog

by Jory Heckman @jheckman.bsky.social

bit.ly/4cxZQLF

Agencies plan to decommission hundreds of .gov websites following GSA review | Federal News Network Thomas Shedd, commissioner of GSA's Technology Transformation Services, directed agencies to eliminate the “low-hanging fruit” of unnecessary federal websites.

That's considerably more than what a GSA-led audit rounded up last summer. At that time, agencies planned to delete ~332 dot-gov sites (about 5% of the 7,200 that were under review at the time)

federalnewsnetwork.com/it-moderniza...

Interesting tidbit from the FY 2027 budget proposal: White House says it's eliminated 1,200 "redundant" federal websites so far in the Trump administration.

Interior Dept gives employees third shot at voluntary incentives to leave their jobs | Federal News Network Interior is looking to shrink its headcount ahead of a “strategic initiative to improve resource management and the delivery of critical resources."

NEWS: The Interior Department is giving employees a third opportunity to accept voluntary incentives to leave their jobs or retire early, ahead of a long-awaited department reorganization.

federalnewsnetwork.com/reorganizati...

IRS tells some employees to file amended tax returns after miscalculation on overtime wages | Federal News Network With tax filing ending on April 15, the IRS acknowledged that "many employees may have already filed their returns," raising fears around federal compliance.

Some impacted IRS employees told me they're worried because remaining in good standing with their tax obligations is a requirement for their jobs

federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

Scoop: The IRS is telling some of its employees, in the final weeks of the filing season, that their overtime wages were miscalculated on tax forms, and that they may need to submit corrected returns ⬇️

Meanwhile, the IRS tech shop is back in hiring mode, after losing more than 40% of its workforce

Treasury prepares RIF for office created to avoid financial crisis, IRS IT resumes hiring after mass reassignments | Federal News Network The Treasury Department is preparing to send layoff notices to employees at its Office of Financial Research, created in the aftermath of the 2008 recession.

Treasury is about to send reduction-in-force notices to employees at its Office of Financial Research, created by Congress in the aftermath of the 2008 recession to avoid a similar economic crisis.

federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

VA restores AFGE labor contract, but isn’t implementing it, court documents show | Federal News Network The VA is seeking clarification on what it must do to comply with the preliminary injunction. But a federal court judge says her ruling was unambiguous.

VA had asked the court to clarify what it had to do under this preliminary injunction. But U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose said her ruling was unambiguous, and that the department’s compliance with her injunction “will not be delayed.”

federalnewsnetwork.com/unions/2026/...

The Department of Veterans Affairs told a federal judge in Rhode Island yesterday that it complied with a court order to restore its contract covering 300K employees rep'd by @afgenvac.bsky.social, but is under no obligation to carry out its provisions ⬇️

VA ordered to restore AFGE contract under federal judge’s temporary order | Federal News Network The VA is likely to appeal the decision, and an appeals court recently found similar retaliation claims unconvincing in a separate case.

A federal judge found VA Secretary Doug Collins “favored some unions over others,” by selectively enforcing an executive order that barred collective bargaining at many agencies (including the VA) over national security concerns

federalnewsnetwork.com/veterans-aff...

IRS phase-out of paper checks leaves some taxpayers waiting months for refunds | Federal News Network The National Taxpayer Advocate estimates that over 10 million taxpayers previously received their IRS refund as a paper check.

House Democrats say 830K taxpayers are waiting up to 2 months to get their tax refunds. The reason? They normally get their refund as a paper check, but the Trump administration phased those out in favor of electronic payments.

federalnewsnetwork.com/management/2...

Interior Dept directs IT shop to ‘scrub’ non-English content from its websites | Federal News Network A new disclaimer on Interior Department websites states “English is the official language and authoritative version of all federal information.”…

Scoop: The Interior Department directed all its bureaus and offices to delete non-English content from their websites by the end of the day Tuesday, according to an internal notice from its IT shop.
federalnewsnetwork.com/technology-m...

Thanks for sharing, Natalie! ☺️

Marco Rubio out as acting head of National Archives | Federal News Network Before the end of his tenure, Rubio tapped James Byron, senior advisor to the archivist, to serve and perform the functions of archivist.

Scoop: One less job for Marco Rubio. He's no longer serving as the acting head of the National Archives and Records Administration. Still dual-hatted as Secretary of State & acting national security advisor

federalnewsnetwork.com/people/2026/...

Thanks Lauren!

HHS faces months-long backlog of reasonable accommodation requests from employees The Department of Health and Human Services expects it will take six to eight months to clear a backlog of reasonable accommodation requests from employees.

2/5
HHS is facing a 3,300+ backlog of RA requests, with reviews expected to take 6–8 months.

CDC employees with disabilities have been given mixed or incorrect guidance about telework accommodations. ❗

Must read from @jheckman.bsky.social at @federalnewsnetwork.com

A VA nurse working in an oncology unit said cuts to support staff mean her coworkers are spending more time on ancillary duties -- at less time with patients.

Over 11,000 VA health care employees apply to leave, but ‘very few’ eligible for separation incentives According to an internal dashboard, the Veterans Health Administration has about 63,000 more employees than it did in FY 2019.

11K+ VA employees in health care-related positions -- including 1,300 nurses, 800 medical support assistants & 200 physicians - applied for "deferred resignation," signed up for early retirement, or voluntarily retired. VA says 'very few' are eligible for separation incentives

Went for a run and made a new friend last week. But I’m back on the clock and ready to do some reporting. News tips on what’s happening in the federal government/workforce are always welcome

Signal: Jheckman.29
Email: Jheckman@federalnewsnetwork.com

IRS layoff notices to employees delayed by ‘glitches’ IRS employees told Federal News Network that RIF notices slated for several offices didn’t go out last Friday as planned.

NEW: Layoff notices were scheduled to hit several IRS offices last Friday -- but never came. Rumors spread among employees as to why. But the acting deputy COO says "glitches" and "issues" are to blame.
federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

a young man wearing a hat and a jacket looks at something ALT: a young man wearing a hat and a jacket looks at something

It's hard to overstate how much everyone who worked on IRS Direct File saw it as a new model for government to deliver benefits & services to the public. Almost a 180-degree flip from the 2013 Healthcare. gov crash.

federalnewsnetwork.com/management/2...

OPM plans to spend nearly $42 million to relocate a few hundred employees In February, OPM gave remote employees an ultimatum: relocate within commuting distance of its office space or accept termination.

Scoop: As part of its return-to-office plans, OPM is planning to spend more than $42M to relocate approximately 250 employees — or about $166,000 per employee. That's significantly higher than what the average federal employee makes in a year.

federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

SSA shifts to X posts for official messaging after cuts to communications staff SSA is once again walking back plans that would have limited the agency's level of phone support to beneficiaries.

@wired.com Big fan of all the reporting you're doing on the federal news beat. I always try to give credit when you're first to a story. Probably a simple oversight, but I'm hoping you're able to return the favor on the SSA/X news I broke this morning

federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-overs...

I've heard of cuts to FOIA offices at other agencies, but nothing specific about the team at SSA. I'll let you know if I hear anything about their status.

SSA shifts to X posts for official messaging after cuts to communications staff SSA is once again walking back plans that would have limited the agency's level of phone support to beneficiaries.

good thing so many retirees are tech savvy, have X accounts, and are good at spotting misinformation!

Trump asks Supreme Court to let him fire independent regulators The Supreme Court’s decision on whether Trump can remove the pair will test the boundaries of presidential power and have broad implications for at least two dozen other agencies.

Breaking news: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow the president to remove a pair of independent regulators whose cases have broad implications for at least two dozen other agencies, including the Federal Reserve Board, and for how the federal government operates.