• House Republicans are seeking annual reauthorization of key programs at the Veterans Affairs Department. Top lawmakers on the House VA Committee are leading a series of bills that would reauthorize the department’s Veteran Readiness and Employment program. This is the third wave of VA reauthorization bills lawmakers have introduced. The legislation would also move the Labor Department’s Veterans Education and Training Service program to the VA.
  (Chairman Bost, House Republicans introduce Veteran Education and Workforce Reforms, acquisition improvements through reauthorization strategy - House Veterans Affairs Committee)
• The protests of GSA's OneGov deals for AI tools don't make the grade. The Government Accountability Office dismissed the complaints filed by AskSage over the low-cost contracts for artificial intelligence tools made by GSA under its OneGov program. In a decision released yesterday, GAO says its dismissal is on jurisdictional grounds as it does not review matters of contract administration. GAO says because GSA modified existing contracts under its schedule program, it doesn't generally review protests of allegedly improper contract modifications because such matters are related to contract administration and therefore not subject to review pursuant to its bid protest function. AskSage filed multiple protests in August, claiming GSA's deals for these AI tools are inconsistent with commercial practices and risked “an impermissible vendor lock-in scenario."
  (GAO dismisses protests of GSA's OneGov deals for AI tools - Government Accountability Office)
• President Trump has tapped Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd to lead both U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency. NSA and Cyber Command have been without a permanent leader since April when Trump fired Gen. Timothy Haugh from the role. The Defense Department also announced the nomination of Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Lorna Mahlock to serve as deputy commander of U.S. Cyber Command. The role does not require congressional approval.
  (Trump nominates Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd to lead Cyber Command - Department of Defense)
• Most civilian federal employees are set for a 1% pay bump beginning in January. President Trump signed an executive order Thursday afternoon, finalizing the 1% pay raise for 2026, for most feds on the General Schedule. It’s the smallest annual increase civilian employees have received since 2021, and does not include any locality pay adjustments. Both law enforcement officers and military members will likely receive a larger pay raise of 3.8% in the new year.
  (Trump finalizes 1% federal pay raise for 2026 - Federal News Network)
• Federal employees are in for a holiday treat, with two additional days off next week. President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday declaring both the day before and the day after Christmas as holidays for the federal workforce this year. Christmas Day is already a federal holiday, but presidents will often give additional days off for feds around the holidays. Certain employees, however, will still need to report for duty those days for national security, defense and other public needs.
  (Trump gives most federal employees two days off around Christmas - Federal News Network)
• The IRS is moving 1,000 IT employees out of its tech shop with few signs of what work they’ll do next. Impacted employees say they have few details about what work they’ll be doing, and have been told by the agency to instead “focus on completing an orderly transition of your current work.” The notice they received states that they will no longer be working on IRS IT projects. Employees must upload their resumes to be considered for other jobs at the IRS and the Treasury Department. Last month, IRS IT directed hundreds of its employees to complete a “technical skills assessment.”
  ( IRS moves 1,000 IT employees out of its tech shop, with few signs of what work they’ll do next - Federal News Network)
• More than 4,300 8(a) small businesses have extra time to collect and submit data to the Small Business Administration as part of the agency's ongoing program audit. SBA set a new deadline of Jan. 19, giving vendors nearly two more weeks to compile 13 different datasets. Along with deadline extension, SBA also posted answers to 14 questions it received from firms to help inform the process. SBA asked every company in the 8(a) program on Dec. 5 to submit information to help inform its ongoing audit seeking to root out fraud.
  (8(a) firms get two more weeks to submit data to SBA - Small Business Adminisrtration)
• President Trump’s “Warrior Dividend” bonus for service members, which he suggested would be funded by tariff revenue, is actually a one-time basic allowance for housing stipend already approved by Congress. The $1,776 bonus payment Trump announced while addressing the nation Wednesday night will be paid using funds Congress appropriated to the Defense Department in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to supplement the basic allowance for housing. The funding was originally intended to address rising housing costs and reduce service members’ out-of-pocket housing expenses. The Pentagon will disburse $2.6 billion of that funding as a one-time payment to roughly 1.28 million active-duty service members.
  (Trump’s ‘Warrior Dividend’ bonuses for troops is housing money approved by Congress - Federal News Network)
• Federal employees have a final chance to weigh in on their experience in the workplace this year. The window for taking the Partnership for Public Service’s “Public Service Viewpoint Survey” closes at midnight tonight. The Partnership launched its own external questionnaire for federal employees, after the Trump administration canceled the 2025 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey earlier this year.
  (Public Service Viewpoint Survey - Partnership for Public Service)

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