• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is facing calls to ramp up oversight of the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats on the committee are calling on him to investigate the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations. They said Paul should issue subpoenas if necessary and have senior officials like Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testify in front of the panel. Their letter comes in the wake of the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minnesota.
  (Democrats letter to Chairman Paul - HSGAC)
• DOGE representatives at the Social Security Administration discussed sharing agency data with an advocacy group looking to “overturn election results” in some states. The Justice Department said one of the DOGE staffers even signed a “voter data agreement” with the unnamed group. DOJ referred the two DOGE employees for potential violations of the Hatch Act which bars federal employees from using their positions for political purposes.
  (Trump administration admits DOGE accessed personal Social Security data - Washington Post)
• A Republican in Congress is looking to remove federal employees from their jobs if they have been convicted of a violent crime. The so-called “No Violent Criminals in the Federal Workforce Act” seeks to bar individuals with a violent criminal record from working for the federal government. The requirements of the bill would also apply to federal contractors. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) introduced the legislation this week, calling it "common sense."
  (No Violent Criminals in the Federal Workforce Act - Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.))
• As he marked one year in office yesterday, President Trump called his administration’s cuts to the federal workforce “tremendous.” But some good government groups are painting a much darker picture. Agencies saw a loss of about 320,000 federal employees governmentwide over the course of 2025. The White House touted the staffing cuts as a step toward efficiency. But organizations like the Partnership for Public Service tell a much different story of the administration’s impacts on the federal workforce. “It tells a disturbing story about who we’ve lost in our government and what is actually happening to the workforce,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership.
  (Trump lauds ‘tremendous’ federal workforce cuts. Good government group calls them ‘disturbing.’ - Federal News Network)
• Congressional appropriators approved all 13 line-item consolidations requested by the Army in its fiscal 2026 budget, but flatly rejected the service’s “agile funding” request to raise notification threshold for reprogramming or transfers from $15 million to $50 million for procurement programs and to $25 million for research and development efforts. Lawmakers said that increasing reprogramming thresholds alone won’t improve program execution and cautioned that unilaterally moving funding without proper oversight could create uncertainty for programs and the industrial base. Appropriators also said they “discourage the Defense secretary and the service secretaries from submitting future requests of this nature.”
  (Congressional appropriators reject Army’s ‘agile funding’ request - Federal News Network)
• The latest minibus spending measure includes some big cybersecurity updates. The minibus appropriations agreement released this week would extend the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 until the end of September. It would do the same for the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. Both authorities were set to expire at the end of this month. Cyber experts have particularly stressed the need to reauthorize the liability protections in the information sharing law. If the appropriations agreement passes, lawmakers will have more time to hash out their differences over a longer term extension of CISA 2015.
  (DHS spending bill bolsters staffing at CISA, FEMA, Secret Service - Federal News Network)
• Congressional appropriators are backing the Pentagon’s push to speed up weapons buying, but warn that speed “must be factored alongside cost, performance and scalability.” Congressional negotiators said they support the Defense Department’s acquisition reform agenda but remain skeptical about the Pentagon’s push for greater budget flexibility. While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the department to work with Congress to improve budget flexibility, lawmakers said the reforms are “internal in nature” and that the department needs to “demonstrate progress on those internal procedures” first. Lawmakers also raised concerns about joint requirements process reform and deep cuts to the department’s acquisition workforce that could jeopardize its ability to carry out Hegseth’s acquisition reforms.
  (Congress pushes back on parts of DoD’s acquisition reform agenda - Federal News Network)
• Lawmakers are seeking a higher pay raise for air traffic controllers. Congressional appropriations propose giving the Federal Aviation Administration funds to implement a 3.8% pay raise for air traffic controllers, as well as supervisors and managers who oversee air traffic. That’s the same pay raise the Trump administration already approved for federal law enforcement. The spending deal would also give FAA enough funding to hire 2,500 air traffic controllers. Current controllers are working six days a week, including mandatory overtime.
  (3.8% pay raise for air traffic controllers, Education Dept cuts rejected: Highlights from final FY 2026 spending bills - Federal News Network)

The post Senate Democrats call for greater oversight of DHS and ICE first appeared on Federal News Network.

A federal judge has blocked the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security in their latest attempt to dissolve TSA’s union agreement.

In a Jan. 15 ruling, U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead granted an emergency motion to prohibit TSA from eliminating a collective bargaining agreement covering approximately 47,000 airport security screeners. TSA had been planning to dissolve the CBA effective Jan. 18.

The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents transportation security officers under the CBA, celebrated the ruling.

“TSA officers – many of whom are veterans – are patriotic public servants who swore an oath to protect the safety of the traveling public and to ensure that another horrific attack like September 11 never happens again,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement. “The administration’s repeated efforts to strip these workers of a voice in their working conditions should concern every person who steps foot in an airport.”

The ruling is the latest development in the Trump administration’s effort to eliminate TSA union rights.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem first moved to eliminate TSA’s union last March. AFGE sued to block that effort, and in June, the court issued a preliminary injunction that prohibited TSA from moving forward with eliminating TSO union rights while the court case played out.

But in September, Noem signed a separate determination that directed TSA to strip security screeners of union rights and eliminate the CBA. DHS and TSA did not announce the new determination until early December. 

TSA argued that the determination was based on a new analysis of the costs associated with the union agreement.

In Whitehead’s latest ruling, however, he pointedly criticized TSA’s latest attempt to eliminate the union agreement. He wrote that officials “do not cite, quote, or otherwise engage with the operative language” in the preliminary injunction, which prohibits TSA and DHS from denying AFGE and TSO’s “any and all rights and/or working conditions guaranteed in the 2024 CBA.”

“The question before the court is straightforward: does defendants’ planned implementation of the September Noem Determination violate the existing preliminary Injunction? The answer is plainly yes,” Whitehead wrote.

He directed TSA to notify bargaining unit TSO’s that the Noem determination will not take effect on Jan. 18, “the 2024 CBA remains applicable and binding, and the currently pending grievances and arbitrations submitted under the 2024 CBA will continue to be processed.”

The case is still scheduled to go to trial in September 2026, absent any new developments or updates.

The post Judge finds TSA violated court order in new attempt to dissolve union first appeared on Federal News Network.

• The Federal Emergency Management Agency is at the center of new calls to replace Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. In a letter to President Donald Trump on Wednesday, 14 House Democrats said Trump should fire Noem over what they say are damaging cuts to FEMA’s workforce. They also said Noem’s policy of signing off on all spending over $100,000 is slowing down FEMA’s disaster response efforts. The letter comes a day after more than 50 House Dems filed articles of impeachment against Noem, citing her handling of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
  (Democrats' letter on Noem - Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.))
• The Congressional Budget Office estimates that President Donald Trump’s plan to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War would cost taxpayers between $10 million and $125 million. The total cost of rebranding the Defense Department could vary depending on how broadly and quickly the name change is implemented across the department. Immediately replacing signs and stationary would be more expensive than gradually implementing those changes “as existing stocks are exhausted.” The Defense Department did not provide information to the CBO on the scope of its implementation plan.
  (Renaming the Defense Department could cost up to $125 million - Congressional Budget Office)
• The Defense Department is overhauling its big data analytics platform known as Advana. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the evolution of Advana over the last several years has led to a “complex technical and programmatic architecture.” Hegseth directed the chief digital and artificial intelligence officer to restructure Advana into three distinct programs. This restructuring will help accelerate progress toward a clean DoD financial audit in 2028.
  (DoD moves to restructure its Advana program - Defense Department)
• GSA's new administrator set the tone for how he views the agency's role across government. Ed Forst has officially been on the job as GSA's administrator for about 15 days. But he's been learning about the agency for several months. During that time, Forst, speaking at the Coalition for Common Sense in Government Procurement's winter conference yesterday, said he understands the role GSA should be playing across government. "Let's advance mission and let's have the engine room, what's behind the curtain, consolidate and get even better. That's where I see GSA in the federal government. We are the engine room." Forst said.
  (Forst calls GSA the 'engine room' of government - CGP)
• A bipartisan group of lawmakers are looking to give federal correctional officers a major salary boost. A new bill introduced in both the House and Senate aims to increase pay rates for Bureau of Prisons staff by 35% across the board. Authors of the bill say it would help address longtime staffing shortages at the agency. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents thousands of BOP workers, has expressed support for the bill.
  (Federal Correctional Officer Paycheck Protection Act - Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and David McCormick (R-Pa.))
• The Department of Health and Human Services is rescinding all layoffs for employees at a workplace safety agency. HHS last spring sent layoff notices to about 1,000 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. NIOSH focuses on workplace safety and health standards. Those layoffs targeted about 90% of NIOSH’s staff. HHS walked back some layoffs last year, but said it’s now reinstating every NIOSH employee who received layoff notices. Hundreds of these terminated employees have been on paid administrative for the past nine months.
  (HHS reinstates all laid-off employees at workplace safety agency NIOSH - Federal News Network)
• Five years in the making, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy will finally kick off a new effort this winter to review procurement laws and how they apply to commercial buying. Matthew Blum, OFPP's deputy administrator, said the requirement is from the 2019 defense authorization bill and will provide OFPP with a big opportunity to conduct a comprehensive review. Congress told OFPP and the FAR Council to determine if commercial buying has been hampered by the improper application of federal procurement laws. Blum said this review will provide OFPP with a big opportunity to conduct a comprehensive review in the spirit of streamlining and restoring common sense to procurement.
  (OFPP to review procurement laws' impact on commercial buying - CGP)
• Hundreds of federal employees are calling for the restoration of their collective bargaining rights. At a union rally on Wednesday, hundreds gathered outside the Capitol building to urge a Senate vote on the Protect America’s Workforce Act. After the legislation cleared the House in December, federal unions have been pushing senators to take up the companion bill. If enacted, the act would restore collective bargaining for an estimated two-thirds of federal agencies, effectively reversing President Trump’s orders for most agencies to terminate their federal union contracts.
  (Federal union, employees urge Senate to take up bill restoring collective bargaining - Federal News Network)
• The Postal Service’s regulator is setting limits on how often the agency can set higher prices for its mail products. The Postal Regulatory Commission said that starting in March, USPS can only raise mail prices once per year. This limit will remain in place through September 2030. USPS has generally been raising mail prices each January and July. The regulator eased restrictions on USPS prices in December 2020, when the agency was reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and was months away from running out of cash.
  (Order adopting rules limiting frequency of rate increase - U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission)
• The White House said the new U.S. Tech Force is generating a lot of interest. More than 35,000 Americans have expressed interest in serving in the Tech Force. That’s according to Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios. “That's insane. That is incredible. That is something we should all be celebrating, this entire committee. The fact that we have so many great Americans that want to step in, move their families and their lives to D.C. to solve these problems for Americans," he said. Testifying before the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Wednesday, Kratsios said the tech force has unique buy-in from private sector companies. He brushed off criticism that the Trump administration spent the past year cutting many tech-focused staff, including at the former U.S. Digital Service.
  (Hearing with Michael Kratsios - House Committee on Science, Space and Technology)
• Federal agents have searched the home of a Washington Post reporter as the latest step in their investigation into a contractor accused of mishandling classified information. The FBI took the unusual step of serving a search warrant on a journalist as part of its investigation into a federal contractor who’s accused of taking classified information home. The newspaper said federal officials have given assurances that neither the Post nor the reporter, Hannah Natanson, are targets of the investigation. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the search was conducted at the request of the Pentagon, which reportedly told the Justice Department that the contractor had leaked classified information to Natanson.
  (Washington Post reporter's home searched by the FBI - Associated Press)

The post House Democrats call for DHS Secretary to be replaced first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is on the verge of going a full year without a permanent leader, as cyber experts say the void is preventing CISA from moving forward on key issues and leaving an already reeling workforce in the lurch.

The Senate earlier this month returned Sean Plankey’s nomination to the White House after lawmakers failed to vote on it during last year’s session. President Donald Trump formally nominated Plankey in March of last year.

Plankey is a widely respected official whose nomination had broad backing from industry and bipartisan support on Capitol Hill.

But his nomination was placed under multiple holds, some of them unrelated to CISA or cybersecurity. Most recently, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) had reportedly placed a hold on Plankey after the Department of Homeland Security terminated a Coast Guard cutter contract with a shipyard in Florida. Plankey has been serving as a senior advisor in the Coast Guard while he awaits confirmation.

On Tuesday, Trump re-nominated Plankey to lead the cyber agency. CISA is currently being led in an acting capacity by Deputy Director Madhu Gottumukkala, who was chief information officer for the state of South Dakota when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was governor there.

Mark Montgomery, the executive director of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission 2.0, said the uncertainty comes at a time when CISA “desperately needs strong leadership.”

“I think they can’t focus,” Montgomery said. “They can’t come up with a strategic plan that’s going to drive a four-year administration. They’ve already lost a year. Every day, every week, every month, that you don’t have your Senate confirmed person, you take risk. This is the civilian cyber defense agency. It needs strong, focused leadership.”

Senate-confirmed leaders are typically more capable of advocating for their agencies, both within the administration and on Capitol Hill in front of lawmakers. Plankey’s nomination fell by the wayside as cyber threats to U.S. critical infrastructure continued to rise last year, noted Bob Ackerman, a venture capitalist who founded AllegisCyber Capital.

“CISA owns the essential national security mission of protecting the homeland from such society-crippling cyber-attacks,” Ackerman said. “Yet, while we wouldn’t charge the U.S. Marines with executing their missions without a leader, CISA’s mission to block and deter our adversaries has been left leaderless at this urgent moment of need.

Over the past year, Montgomery said CISA has not advanced public-private collaboration “in any meaningful way.”

For instance, he said the cyber agency has yet to take significant actions to address Volt Typhoon. U.S. officials have accused the China-linked group of hacking into critical infrastructure networks, like power and water systems. In January 2024, then-FBI Director Chris Wray said the goal of the hacks was to “destroy or degrade” those systems during a future conflict.

“We’re 24 months since [Director] Wray laid out the Volt Typhoon challenge, and we still don’t have an integrated policy to address it,” Montgomery said. “That should come from CISA. It should have come from the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative, the Joint Cyber Planning Office, and we haven’t gotten it. And the reason is it takes interagency leadership, which you’re not going to get from an acting director.”

Cyber experts also pointed to stalled efforts like the reinstatement of the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC) as an example of where Plankey could make a difference.

The Department of Homeland Security disbanded CIPAC last spring as part of a broader purge of federal advisory councils. CIPAC had provided authorities for government officials and industry to collaborate on cybersecurity issues through various sector coordinating councils.

Industry officials had been encouraged by Noem’s speech at the RSA Conference in late April 2025, during which she said CIPAC would be reinstated and “will bring more people to the table and be much more action oriented.”

But since then, DHS has not acted to revive CIPAC or any related authorities. Since the council was disbanded, there has been “less engagement and less communication,” Ari Schwartz, coordinator of the Cybersecurity Coalition, told Federal News Network.

“I do think we do need to see some action on that,” Schwartz said. “I don’t think that that can really wait around at this point.”

CISA’s workforce, meanwhile, has experienced deep cuts under the Trump administration, driven by deferred resignation and early retirements. Many who left were experienced staff that led CISA programs.

Office of Personnel Management data shows CISA’s headcount has gone from a high of 3395 employees in 2024 to 2376 staff at the start of this year.

One CISA employee, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said the last year at the agency was “extremely difficult.”

“From the onslaught of policy changes targeting us – like return-to-office, standard hours, contract delays and cuts – to the huge amounts of departures and the lack of new leadership in place, we as an agency made little to no progress and in some instances went backwards in my opinion,” the employee said. “For 2026, I was expecting to finally get some concrete leadership direction and priorities, but with the CISA director still not in place and another possible shutdown looming, I’m expecting another year of chaos and little progress.”

Both Montgomery and Schwartz said one positive at CISA over the last year has been Nick Andersen, who joined the agency in August as a political appointee leading CISA’s cybersecurity division. Andersen has spoken at multiple public events, briefed the media on agency cyber directives, and met with industry groups.

But Montgomery noted that doesn’t outweigh not having a Senate-confirmed director.

“You lead CISA from the top and to go fight battles within DHS for the restoration of manpower, to lead interagency work to develop and execute an integrated defense plan against Volt Typhoon’s operational preparation of the battlefield,” he said.

The post CISA director void leaves cyber agency embroiled in uncertainty first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s workforce continues to face uncertainty amid abrupt cuts to disaster response staff and planning emails that show FEMA has been contemplating deeper reductions.

Late last month, FEMA sent non-renewal notices to 50 Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees (CORE) whose terms ended between Jan. 1 and Jan. 4. CORE employees are hired for two-to-four year terms, but they are often renewed to continue ongoing disaster work. CORE staff make up the majority of FEMA’s workforce, constituting 39% as of 2022. 

FEMA did not respond to a request for comment. In other stories on the CORE cuts, a FEMA spokesman has characterized them as “a routine staff adjustment of 50 staff out of 8,000.”

But a current FEMA supervisor and former FEMA supervisor, who were granted anonymity to candidly discuss the situation, both disputed the characterization of the terminations as “routine.”

They said FEMA CORE staff are almost always renewed due to demand for staff to respond to an increasing rate of disasters and other agency tasks in recent years.

CORE staff are often among the first FEMA employees to be deployed in a disaster, according to Rafael LeMaitre, a former FEMA director of public affairs who now serves on the advisory council for the advocacy group Sabotaging Our Safety.

“While they serve two-year contract terms, those are routinely renewed, because the number of disasters that the nation has been dealing with has not gone down,” LeMaitre said. “If anything, it’s increased, both in the number of disasters and the severity of disasters, given changes to the climate, and frankly, additional pressures that FEMA has been put under to respond to non-traditional types of emergencies.”

But the FEMA supervisors also described how, contrary to the recent non-renewals, decisions about extending CORE appointments are typically done on a case-by-case basis. The process typically includes an analysis of the employee’s workload and the need for them to continue working on a given disaster.

“We never fire people just because their renewal dates happened to fall in a given time frame,” the current FEMA supervisor said.

The renewal process typically starts 90 days before the employee’s “not-to-exceed” date, which refers to when their term ends.

But in early December, emails show FEMA divisions and regions received a tasking from the agency’s chief human capital office to submit justification packages for every CORE staff with an NTE date falling in January.

Those packages were submitted, but FEMA CORE staff with renewals falling Jan. 1-4 still received termination letters in late December.

It’s unclear what will happen to other FEMA CORE staff whose terms expire in January. With approximately 9,000 total FEMA CORE staff, hundreds could be up for renewal in any given month.

Earlier this week, FEMA leaders received new direction to submit justification packages for CORE staff whose terms expire in February, according to the current supervisor.

“This is not a targeted workforce reduction – this is using a sledgehammer when you should be using a scalpel,” the current FEMA supervisor said.

CNN first reported on FEMA’s CORE cuts.

Workforce reductions exercise

The cuts and uncertainty around CORE staff renewals come as FEMA has been analyzing much deeper cuts to its workforce, agency emails show.

In a Dec. 23 email viewed by Federal News Network, FEMA’s chief human capital office sought leadership input on a “Workforce Capacity Planning Exercise.” The email references how the exercise is “consistent” with a recent executive order and corresponding White House guidance on federal hiring.

The email included a “draft workforce plan” with a table laying out FEMA’s workforce totals as of Sept. 30 and fiscal 2026 “target” reductions.

The reductions listed in that table include a 50% overall reduction to FEMA’s total workforce of 23,000, including a 15% reduction the permanent full-time workforce and a 41% reduction to the disaster full-time workforce, which includes CORE staff.

The email states that the exercise is “pre-decisional in nature” and that “no staffing actions or personnel decisions are being directed or implemented as part of this request.”

But current and former FEMA staff say it would be highly unusual to conduct such an exercise without planning for some form of workforce reductions.

The Washington Post first reported on the workforce planning email.

FEMA cuts criticized

The latest FEMA cuts come after a year of turmoil at the agency that saw more than 2,000 employees depart through voluntary programs and some terminations. Those departures included two dozen senior leaders, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The Trump-appointed FEMA Review Council’s report has been delayed, leaving to question the administration’s long-term plan for FEMA.

However, both President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have expressed a desire to eliminate or downsize FEMA, and instead shift more disaster recovery responsibilities to state and local governments.

Democrats in Congress were quick to criticize the latest FEMA CORE cuts and reports of deeper potential reductions.

“Even considering cuts of this scale is more evidence of the Trump administration’s reckless and dangerous behavior and sends a clear message that the administration is willing to gamble with Americans’ lives and violate federal law that Congress passed to ensure readiness for disasters,” House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said in a statement.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) is among the lead sponsors of a bipartisan bill to overhaul FEMA. The legislation would notably remove FEMA out from under the Department of Homeland Security and have it report directly to the president.

“After multiple Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearings, we keep concluding FEMA needs more staff to meet the response needs of more frequent and severe disasters — like the recent flooding in my district,” Larsen said in a statement. “Cutting CORE staff will leave remaining FEMA workers scrambling and disaster survivors waiting longer for assistance. This is the exact opposite of what we should be doing. The administration must reverse this decision.”

The post Concerns mount over FEMA staff reductions first appeared on Federal News Network.

House Democrats are urging the Transportation Security Administration to abandon efforts to do away with a collective bargaining agreement covering some 47,000 TSA airport screeners.

In a Dec. 23 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill, 12 Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee say they have “deep concern” about the latest attempt to overturn TSA’s union agreement.

The letter signees include Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and subcommittee on transportation and maritime security Ranking Member LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.).

Their letter points to an ongoing case in federal court over the Department of Homeland Security’s directive to end TSA’s collective bargaining agreement. The judge in that case issued a preliminary injunction in June blocking DHS’s previous efforts to dissolve the agreement.

“DHS’s renewed effort to unilaterally void a valid, seven-year collective bargaining agreement – without a resolution to the pending litigation – displays a clear and flagrant disregard for the rule of law and workers’ rights,” the lawmakers write.

TSA has said it plans to eliminate the collective bargaining agreement and implement a new “labor framework” for the agency starting Jan. 11.

The American Federation of Government Employees represents most TSA staff under the 2024 collective bargaining agreement. AFGE joined with several unions in filing the lawsuit challenging DHS’s prior attempt to dissolve the CBA.

Lawyers representing DHS in federal court recently filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that Noem’s new September determination to end TSA union rights is based on “an entirely different supporting record and data unavailable” at the time of Noem’s previous directive, which led to the court case and the preliminary injunction.

AFGE’s lawyers have since countered with an emergency motion to enforce the preliminary injunction. They argue DHS is attempting to “evade the court’s injunction.”

The judge overseeing the case recently directed the parties to confer on a briefing schedule for the emergency injunction.

The Trump administration has sought to do away with most federal employee unions. At DHS, leaders have argued that collective bargaining for TSA officers “is inconsistent with efficient stewardship of taxpayer dollars and impedes the agility required to secure the traveling public,” according to TSA’s statement on the new labor framework.

“Our Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) need to be focused on their mission of keeping travelers safe not wasting countless hours on non-mission critical work,” Adam Stahl, senior official performing the duties of TSA deputy administrator, said as part of a press release. “Under the leadership of Secretary Noem, we are ridding the agency of wasteful and time-consuming activities that distracted our officers from their crucial work.”

But in their letter, House Democrats argue that the 2024 union agreement was negotiated “in good faith to address long-standing issues at TSA, such as high attrition rates, inconsistent workplace policies, and the lack of a proper system for employees to voice safety and operational concerns.”

“Eliminating collective bargaining protections for TSOs will not improve efficiency or security,” they wrote. “It will silence workers who are best positioned to identify safety risks, exacerbate attrition at a time of ongoing staffing challenges, and ultimately make air travel less safe for the American public.”

The post House Dems urge TSA to preserve collective bargaining agreement first appeared on Federal News Network.