• The Federal Emergency Management Agency would be required to create a universal disaster assistance application under a bill passed by the Senate last week. The goal of the Disaster Assistance Simplification Act is to make it easier for disaster survivors to access federal aid. Lawmakers say the current process is complex and time consuming, with different agencies using different forms. The bill would also require all information shared between FEMA and partner agencies to meet federal data security standards.
  (Senate passes Peters, Paul, Lankford and Tillis bipartisan legislation to simplify application process for federal disaster assistance - Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)
• The Trump administration is challenging a federal judge’s order to rescind more federal employee layoffs. Last week, a judge directed the Trump administration to undo reductions in force for workers who were officially separated from their jobs during the recent government shutdown. The decision would give about 700 individuals their jobs back. The Justice Department has appealed that decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s asking the higher court to allow the RIFs to remain in place.
  (Notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit - U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California)
• The Defense Logistics Agency is making the holidays a little bit more like home for troops stationed outside the United States and away from family. Calling it one of its important missions, DLA is providing holiday meals to warfighters around the globe. It will deliver 101,000 pounds of turkey, more than 6,400 cakes and pies and almost 1,500 cases of eggnog to service members to help them celebrate Christmas and New Years. DLA said delivering the food to service members is a major morale boost, combats loneliness and aides in homesickness.
  (DLA to deliver 101,000 pounds of turkey, other holiday fare around the globe - Defense Logistics Agency)
• Some service members stationed within the Continental United States will see their take-home pay decrease starting January after the Defense Department updated its cost-of-living allowance rates. All 21 non-metropolitan counties in California and New York will lose COLA allowance. Nine military housing areas will lose the allowance entirely, including Boston, Massachusetts and San Luis Obispo and Riverside in California. Eight military housing areas will see an increase in COLA allowance, including Seattle and San Francisco. The Defense Department said CONUS COLA will cost about $99 million, benefiting roughly 127,000 service members nationwide in 2026.
  (Pentagon cuts COLA in dozens of counties, reduces rates in major cities - Federal News Network)
• OPM is hiring a new person to lead its HR technology modernization effort. Nearly two months after telling OPM its plan to modernize and consolidate 119 HR systems across government was "madness," Don Bauer is going to be in charge of that effort. Bauer will join OPM on Jan. 12 as its deputy associate director for workforce standards and data center in the HR Solutions (HRS) office. He will be leading the HR Line of Business, the quality service management office (QSMO) and human capital management core modernization effort. Bauer said after posting a critical column on Federal News Network, OPM leaders called him to discuss the modernization effort, Seven weeks later, Bauer is returning to the government.
  (Bauer’s criticism of HR modernization effort turns into job offer from OPM - Federal News Network)
• Pentagon officials acknowledged that military services could inflate cyber readiness levels as the Defense Department works to standardize how it manages its cyber workforce, but said the effort is still in its early stages and validation mechanisms are being developed to prevent “rubber-stamping” qualifications. While the Pentagon is moving away from relying solely on individual military services to self-assess cyber readiness, it still largely depends on self-reported data, which raises concerns about the accuracy of readiness reporting. DoD officials said readiness reporting shouldn’t be treated as a “compliance drill,” but rather a tool the services can use to advocate for additional resources.
  (Concerns persist over self-reported cyber readiness as DoD overhauls workforce management - Federal News Network)
• Senate appropriators want to stem some staff cuts at the Department of Homeland Security. The Senate Appropriations Committee’s draft homeland security spending bill for 2026 would add $40 million for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to hire critical staff. That comes after roughly 2,500 FEMA staff departed the agency in 2025 amid sweeping changes under the Trump administration. The draft spending bill would also maintain funding levels at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and stipulate that CISA maintain enough staff to carry out its statutory missions. CISA’s staffing has been reduced by nearly a third in fiscal 2025.
  (Senate lawmakers look to stem staff cuts at CISA, FEMA - Federal News Network)
• The Trump administration gave federal employees extra days off around Christmas. But the IRS and the Social Security Administration will stay open. Both SSA and the IRS are looking for volunteers to keep working on Dec. 24 and Dec. 26 and are offering holiday pay to those who sign up. Both agencies typically see a lower volume of calls and in-person visits at this point, but internal memos say they need to stay open to deliver on their frontline missions. President Donald Trump gave most federal employees these days off, but his executive order said some federal employees may still need to report for duty for “national security, defense or other public need.”
  (Social Security, IRS will stay open on extra holidays Trump granted to most federal employees - Federal News Network)

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