• The Federal Aviation Administration is giving 776 air traffic controllers and technicians a $10,000 bonus for working during the 44-day partial government shutdown. The bonuses will be sent to those employees who maintained perfect attendance during the shutdown. Recipients will receive an automated notification this week and receive their payment no later than December 9. The FAA's decision to offer bonuses to employees follows a similar effort by the Transportation Security Administration to reward transportation security officers who also worked during the government shutdown.
  (776 FAA employees to receive $10k bonus for working during shutdown - Federal Aviation Administration)
• The Agriculture Department is detailing how employees can express religion in the workplace. USDA leaders said employees are allowed to display religious items or form prayer groups at the office. Employees can also request different work schedules for religious observances, daily prayers or fasting periods. USDA will draw the line if employees start pushing unwelcome advances of discussing religion with coworkers. The new memo comes after President Trump ordered agencies to protect “religious expression” in the workplace.
  (USDA issues guidance to protect religious expression in the federal workplace - Agriculture Department)
• A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants the Defense Department to overhaul how it screens service members transitioning out of the military for mental health conditions. A new bill titled the Medical Integrity in Necessary Diagnostics (MIND) for Our Veterans Act of 2025, would require DoD and the Department of Veterans Affairs to only use validated, evidence-based tools for screening PTSD, alcohol misuse and violence risk during the separation process. Lawmakers said the current health assessments lack standardized and validated mental health screening, which undermines early identification and intervention efforts. The bill also pushes the department to consider adding a substance-use screening, citing its close link to mental health challenges.
  (Lawmakers seek to overhaul DoD mental health screenings for service members leaving - Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.))
• Two lawmakers want to fully exempt military pay from federal income tax. The Service Members Tax Relief Act seeks to eliminate federal income tax on all active-duty and reserve pay, as well as enlistment, retention, education bonuses and all special and incentive pays. The new bill goes well beyond previous tax-exemption proposals, which largely focus on exempting different types of bonuses from federal income tax. The lawmakers also introduced the Tax Cuts for Veterans Act of 2025, which would exclude all military retirement pay and veterans’ benefits from federal income taxes.
  (New bill seeks to exempt military pay from federal income tax - Federal News Network)
• The Federal Communications Commission reversed cybersecurity rules for telecommunications providers that were put forward following the sweeping “Salt Typhoon” hacks. In a 2-to-1 decision, the FCC rescinded a ruling and proposed rules last January that would've required telecom operators to secure their networks under Section 105 of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. The commission said its previous ruling and proposed rule was based on flawed legal analysis and they proposed ineffective cybersecurity requirements. The FCC said its ruling comes after months of discussions with telecommunications providers about steps they have taken to harden their cyber defenses. Additionally, the FCC said it has taken other steps including creating a Council on National Security to improve communication with critical infrastructure sectors.
  (FCC reverses cyber rules that came from Salt Typhoon attack - Federal Communications Commission)
• The Trump administration said it’s finished the process of rescinding the reductions-in-force agencies issued during the government shutdown. That’s thanks to a provision in the continuing resolution that reopened the government last month. Language in the measure required agencies to treat those RIF notices as null and void, and notify the affected employees within five days. Court filings show agencies issued RIF notices to more than 3,600 people during the shutdown.
  (Trump administration says it’s finished rescinding RIFs agencies issued during the government shutdown - Federal News Network)
• The Merit Systems Protection Board is moving to a different location for its office in the national capital region. The former MSPB office in Arlington, Virginia, will be relocated to a building in downtown Washington, D.C. The move took place in mid-November for D.C.-based agency employees. MSPB said any feds with pending cases before the board don’t need to take action in response to the office move.
  (MSPB Washington Regional Office has moved - Merit Systems Protection Board)
• The chief information officer at the IRS appears to be taking the next steps in a reorganization after losing more than 25% of its staff earlier this year. In an email sent last week, the agency directed its IT workforce to complete a “technical skills assessment.” The agency’s CIO said the assessment is “not a performance rating,” and that individual results will not affect employees’ pay or grade.
  (IRS CIO directs IT workforce to complete "technical skills assessment" - Federal News Network)

The post 776 Air Traffic controllers and technicians to get $10,000 shutdown bonuses first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Department of Homeland Security is giving $10,000 bonuses to transportation security officers who demonstrated “exemplary service” through the government shutdown.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the bonuses during a press conference in Houston, Texas, today. She highlighted the “tens of thousands of individuals who stepped up and continued to serve” at the Transportation Security Administration despite receiving no pay through the 43-day shutdown.

Asked whether she was referring to those who did not call out sick or stay home, Noem said, “that’s not necessarily the parameters.”

“We’re going to look at every individual that did exceptional service during this period of time when there were so many hardships,” Noem said.

DHS did not immediately respond to questions about who qualifies for the bonuses. TSA employs approximately 50,000 transportation security officers, meaning a bonus for every officer would cost roughly $500 million.

In a press release, DHS said it’s paying for the bonuses using carryover funds from fiscal 2025.

Disruptions to air travel began to grow in the final weeks of the shutdown. Security lines began to grow longer as some TSA officers called out. Meanwhile, flight delays and cancellations grew as air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration began calling out of work amid multiple missed paychecks.

Noem’s announcement comes after a Truth Social post by President Donald Trump earlier this week, in which he raged at air traffic controllers who took time off during the shutdown. Trump also announced $10,000 bonuses for controllers who “didn’t take any time off for the ‘Democrat Shutdown Hoax.’”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he agreed with Trump’s idea for a $10,000 bonus for air traffic controllers who had no missed days of work. But Duffy also offered a reprieve for some employees who missed days during the shutdown.

“We have some controllers who were put in a very difficult position,” Duffy told a Wisconsin TV station on Tuesday. “They’re young. They don’t make a lot of money when they first start out. They can make some good money later in their careers, but when they start out, they’re not making a lot. They may be the sole source of income, and they were confronted with a real problem.

However, Duffy also vowed to target “continual bad actors” during the shutdown.

“If they started to take time off because the shutdown was an excuse for them, we’ll take a look at those people, and we’ll work with the union and see what an appropriate response from the FAA will be,” he said.

The post DHS announces $10K shutdown bonuses for some TSA officers first appeared on Federal News Network.

The ongoing government shutdown, on track to become the longest funding lapse in U.S. history, is leading to staffing shortages at some agencies, given a rise in absences among federal employees expected to keep working without pay.

The Social Security Administration, in some cases, is keeping track of employee absences and limiting field office hours when staff are spread too thin. Much of SSA’s workforce is considered “excepted” and continues working without pay during a shutdown.

An SSA employee told Federal News Network that a field office in Port Angeles, Washington, closed last Wednesday at noon, due to a staffing shortage, and that last Thursday, a field office in Juneau, Alaska, didn’t open until 2 p.m. because of staffing issues.

These offices are currently open, according to a list of closures on SSA’s website. Other field offices in 12 states, however, were listed as not open for in-person services on Tuesday.

An SSA spokesperson told Federal News Network that two field offices were closed Monday, “due to limited staffing,” and that one of them reopened for normal operations on Tuesday. SSA has more than 1,250 field offices across the country.

“Dedicated Social Security Administration employees continue to serve our nation’s seniors and most vulnerable populations during the Democrat government shutdown,” the spokesperson said.

The employee, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said their office has begun filling out a spreadsheet every morning to record the number of absences. Absences, they said, peaked at more than 20% last Friday, although the office is seeing about a 15% absence rate, on average, for most workdays.

A notice on SSA’s website states that, “during the federal government shutdown, local offices will have REDUCED in-person services.”

Meanwhile, airports across the U.S. are experiencing flight delays and cancellations amid staffing shortages. Employees at the Transportation Security Administration and air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration are working without pay during the shutdown, and have seen an increase in absences during the prolonged shutdown.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters in Philadelphia that air traffic controllers have already missed one full paycheck and received a partial paycheck during the government shutdown, and are on track to miss a second full paycheck next week.

“Many of the controllers said, ‘A lot of us can navigate missing one paycheck — not everybody, but a lot of us can. None of us can manage missing two paychecks,’” Duffy said Tuesday.

Duffy warned that “you will see mass chaos,” if air traffic controllers miss a second full paycheck, which would happen next Tuesday.

“You will see mass flight delays. You’ll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace because we just cannot manage it, because we don’t have the air traffic controllers,” he said.

Short-staffing of air traffic controllers helped bring an end to a 35-day government shutdown in January 2019. Up until now, it was the longest shutdown on record.

But the current funding lapse is on track to break that record, once it crosses the 36-day threshold on Wednesday. The Senate, for the 14th time, failed to pass a continuing resolution to fund the federal government in a vote Tuesday.

Duffy said the performance of air traffic controllers in this shutdown has been “far better than the past shutdown.” But the National Air Traffic Controllers Association told reporters last month that air traffic controllers are taking second jobs, driving for Uber or making deliveries for DoorDash, on top of working 10-hour controller shifts six days a week.

“Make no mistake, the longer this goes on every day, these hard-working Americans have bills they have to pay, and they’re being forced to make decisions and choices,” Duffy said. “Do they go to work as an air traffic controller, or do they have to find a different job to get resources, money, to put food on their table, to put gas in their car? And as every day goes by, I think the problem is going to only get worse, not better.”

The shutdown is having an acute impact on staffing, but Duffy said the FAA will still be dealing with workforce shortages after the shutdown ends.

“We want the best and the brightest air traffic controllers,” Duffy said. “But these young people have a choice to make. Do they want to go into a profession where they can have a shutdown and they cannot be paid? That has affected our pipeline. And so long after you all stop reporting on this shutdown, I’m going to deal with the consequences and the commitments I’ve made to improve our pipeline,” he said.

Duffy said air traffic controller staffing is up 20% compared to last year, but stressed that the shutdown “will have an impact” on recruiting efforts.

Federal employees working without pay and furloughed workers who do not work during the shutdown typically receive back pay once the funding lapse ends. But the Office of Management has floated the possibility that furloughed workers are not automatically entitled to back pay.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that the administration is prepared to hold talks with congressional Democrats over back pay for federal employees.

“This is something we are very much open to discussing with Democrats as part of the discussions about the continuing resolution to keep the government open, and it’s something that Republicans are talking with Democrats about right now,” Leavitt said.

President Donald Trump signed the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act in January 2019, which guarantees back pay to shutdown-impacted federal employees.

But a recent OMB memo suggests that lawmakers would have to include language in a stopgap spending bill or comprehensive spending deal for fiscal 2026, in order for furloughed federal employees to receive back pay.

Leavitt, however, said she didn’t “want to get in the middle of those sensitive conversations,” in response to follow-up questions.

“I won’t get ahead of those negotiations or discussions,” she said.

Last week, several agencies sent second furlough notices to employees that, unlike the first notice they received before the shutdown, made no mention of back pay once the shutdown ends.

Federal News Network received copies of notices sent to furloughed staff at the General Services Administration, the Interior Department and the Census Bureau.

A Sept. 30 furlough notice obtained by Federal News Network states that the “Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 provides that employees shall be paid for the period of the lapse in appropriations after a shutdown ends.”

The Oct. 31 notice, however, makes no mention of the 2019 legislation or back pay, but directs employees to “return to work on your next regular duty day,” once the shutdown ends.

Furloughed employees at the Office of the National Director of Intelligence, however, received more assurance in their latest notice that they would be paid.

Republican lawmakers have pressed Democrats to pass a stopgap spending bill that would fund the federal government through Nov. 21, But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters on Tuesday that the Nov. 21 continuing resolution doesn’t give Congress enough time to reach a deal on a more comprehensive spending package for the rest of fiscal 2026.

Johnson urged the Senate to vote first on a new, longer-term continuing resolution and that he would call the House back in session once the CR passes the Senate. The timeline for a new continuing resolution is unclear, but Johnson said he would oppose a CR that keeps the government funded through mid-December.

“A lot of people around here have PTSD about Christmas omnibus spending bills. It gets too close, and we don’t want to have that risk. We’re not doing that,” he said. “I think putting it into January makes sense, but we’ve got to obviously build consensus around that.”

The post White House ‘open to discussing’ back pay for furloughed workers, following mixed messages on earlier guarantee first appeared on Federal News Network.