Article Title: Federal Employee Pay Raise Process Moving Ahead
Snippet of Article: "...As of now, the presumed federal employee raise that would take place in 2018 is 1.9%. The deadline for the White House to propose a different rate increase is August 31. This letter will typically be issued just a few days before August 31st..."
Article Title: How tax reform could sting your retirement income
Snippet of Article: "...among the tax reform proposals currently being discussed is one that would convert part or all of workers' tax-deferred 401(k) contributions to Roth 401(k) contributions, which are made after taxes have been removed. That could significantly increase the federal income taxes that middle-income workers would pay throughout their lives. And it could reduce the amount of money they could spend throughout their lives after paying taxes.
A typical older middle-income worker could lose $500 per year..."
Article Title: Russia flies military observation plane over Capitol, Pentagon, CIA
Snippet of Article: "...Russia flew a military observation plane over Washington D.C. on Wednesday -- over the Capitol, the Pentagon and CIA Headquarters -- in a flight permitted under U.S. compliance with the >Open Skies Treaty, U.S. officials have confirmed to CBS News' David Martin..."
Our Note: How ridiculous is the Treaty on Open Skies? The U.S. does not need an insane treaty like this when we already have the most sophisticated monitoring in the world, such as satellite monitoring, etc. Did we not learn anything from 9-11?
Article Title: FBI Seized Smashed Hard Drives From Wasserman Schultz IT Aide’s Home
Snippet of Article: "...FBI agents seized smashed computer hard drives from the home of Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s information technology administrator, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation.
Pakistani-born Imran Awan, longtime right-hand IT aide to the former Democratic National Committee chairwoman, has since desperately tried to get the hard drives back..."
Article Title: Legislation Would Make Retired Federal Employee Pensions Public Information
Snippet of Article: "...The salaries of current federal employees are considered to be public information and have been since the early 1800s. The latest federal and Postal employee salaries can be searched at FedsDataCenter.com..."
Article Title: White House Wants to Increase Federal Employee Buyout Payments
Snippet of Article: "...VSIP’s $25,000 cap has been in place since it was first enacted in 1993. The Defense pilot program came in part because of the Pentagon’s effort to reduce its headquarters staff by 25 percent by 2020..."
Article Title: Annual COLA Inching Toward 2% for January 2018
Snippet of Article: "...based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) data through April of 2017, the Senior Citizens League (TSCL) estimates that the Social Security COLA for 2018 will be about 2.1% as reported in Investment News. Keep in mind that the actual figure will vary depending on what the inflation data reflect prior to October 2017..."
Article Title: Labor Department Begins Monitoring Federal Employees’ Opioid Use
Snippet of Article: "...The Department of Labor announced today that it has begun procedures aimed at monitoring and managing federal employees’ prescription usage of opioids under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act..."
Article Title: Companies Offering To Buy Your Annuity, Be careful!
Snippet of Article: "...OPM has recently learned of an aggressive marketing push targeting Federal annuitants. Companies are offering a cash payment in exchange for a portion, or all, of your future annuity payments generally much less than their long-term worth, and typically charging high interest rates and fees..."
Article Title: Capitol Police credited with preventing ‘massacre’ by stopping shooter
Snippet of Article: "...Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., who was at bat when the shooting started, also said the scene “would have been a lot worse without Steve Scalise’s detail.” He said they “immediately” began returning fire.
“They were the true heroes, they fired back,” he told “America’s Newsroom..."
Article Title: Feds Arrest NSA Contractor in Leak of Top Secret Russia Document
Snippet of Article: "...She was arrested by the FBI at her home Saturday, according to a senior federal official. She faces a single charge of "gathering, transmitting or losing defense information..."
Article Title: Do you know the answer? FERS Supplement Eligibility
One of our readers questioned us with a very interesting question that we did not have a citable reference to or an answer for. We suggested our reader post the question at the Federal Soup Forum at https://forum.federalsoup.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=77495#post851184. If you think you have the answer, please share it at: https://forum.federalsoup.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=77495#post851184. The question is as follows:
Article Title: President Trump and Republicans Attack Military Veterans by Raping Federal Retirement Programs
In a pitiful and shameful veiled attack on military veterans, Trump and Republicans attempt to rape the federal employee retirement system through budget attacks that would remove the special retirement supplement (SRS) for FERS employees as quick as 2018, leaving employees eligible to retire within two to three years in a quandary as to what to do after already planning their retirements. The federal workforce, Overall, 30.9 percent of all federal employees in fiscal 2015 were veterans, according to the Office of Personnel Management, potentially making veterans one of the largest groups affected by the federal budget change proposals by Trump and Republicans. What is even worse is that Democrat liberals stand silent in this attack on veterans. There is no way any changes to federal retirement should be implemented in any five year period or less. People contemplate retirement calculations for years and make plans for retirement within five years of being eligible. To make radical changes to retirement programs within five years or less is and would be devastating to anyone ...and why are they doing it off-the-backs of military veterans that have faithfully served this great country and continued to do so through public service as federal workers. Federal worker military veterans are a large segment of the population that stood behind and voted for Trump/Republicans because they were supposed to finally help these loyal veterans improve their lot in life after years of faithful service. Instead, Trump and Republicans stab them in the back and then beat them down with a budget plan proposal that would also eliminate cost of living adjustments for current and future FERS employees, and it would cut Civil Service Retirement System COLA adjustments by 0.5 percent...eliminate supplemental payments for FERS employees who retire before Social Security kicks in at age 62, beginning for those who retire in 2018...average of their highest five years of earnings, instead of the highest three years. This effectively would reduce payments for retirees. After months of Republicans being in charge, all we are seeing are attacks on blue collar workers and veterans while politicians protect bankers, banks, investment firms, insurance companies, the petroleum industry, etc. Come on Trump, are you and the republicans we elected really going to slap us all in the face after we stood behind you. Are you really going to destroy the Republican Party just to make yourselves wealthier, while letting Dems laugh in our faces by saying I told you so? that's a great way to get our youth to serve in the military (sarcasm).
Article Title: Trump’s 2018 Budget Reportedly Targets Federal Retirement Programs
Snippet of Article: "...The plan also eliminates cost of living adjustments for current and future FERS employees, and it would cut Civil Service Retirement System COLA adjustments by 0.5 percent...eliminate supplemental payments for FERS employees who retire before Social Security kicks in at age 62, beginning for those who retire in 2018...average of their highest five years of earnings, instead of the highest three years. This effectively would reduce payments for retirees..."
Article Title: Trump Signs Long-Awaited Cyber Executive Order
Snippet of Article: "...The order contains three prioritized sections, with the government’s leading priority being to protect federal networks, Bossert said. It directs government agencies to implement the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cybersecurity framework..."
Article Title: Help the NALC Stamp Out Hunger on May 13
Article Title: Is Trump right that pre-existing conditions are covered in the GOP health care bill?
Snippet of Article: "...According to the proposed amendment, states granted a waiver would be allowed to set up high-risk pools or participate in a new federal invisible risk-sharing program to help states reimburse the cost for insurers for covering these consumers. The American Healthcare Act would give states $100 billion over the next decade to help with high-risk pools, according to MacArthur's press release on the amendment.
But the American Medical Association, which is urging Congress to oppose the measure, says the bill provides no guarantee that insurance will be affordable to people with pre-existing conditions..."
Article Title: US State Department issues travel alert for Europe
Snippet of Article: "...extremists tend to focus on tourist hot spots.
A US official told CNN in February that the terror threat in Europe was as high as it's ever been..."
Article Title: Calculating the Special Retirement Supplement
Snippet of Article: "...A special retirement supplement may be paid in addition to your FERS annuity benefits. It represents what you would receive for your FERS service from the Social Security Administration and is calculated as if you were eligible to receive SSA benefits on the day you retired...."
Article Title: U.S. Missile Defense System in South Korea Will Be Operational 'in the Coming Days'
Snippet of Article: "...The U.S missile defense battery being installed in South Korea will be operational "in the coming days" according to Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command...."
Article Title: Trump blasts ‘ridiculous’ court ruling that blocked his order on sanctuary cities
Snippet of Article: "...U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick — who imposed a temporary nationwide injunction against Trump’s Jan. 25 order — does not serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, though those judges would review his decisions..."
Article Title: Wall Street near record levels ahead of Trump tax plan
Snippet of Article: "...U.S. stocks hovered near record levels on Wednesday ahead of a highly anticipated tax plan, while a flood of quarterly earnings reports kept investors busy.
President Donald Trump is proposing to slash the corporate tax rate and offer multinational businesses a steep tax break..."
Article Title: Sanctuary Cities Face Aid Cuts as Justice Dept. Tightens Screws
Snippet of Article: "...warned that to receive certain fiscal year 2016 grants, they must certify by June 30 that they have complied with a 1996 federal law that bars local authorities from forcing officials to withhold information from federal immigration authorities about people’s immigration status..."
Article Title: CIA tools exposed by Wikileaks linked to hacking across 16 countries
Snippet of Article: "...Cyberespionage tools have been used by North American-based Longhorn group against foreign targets for a sustain amount of time, say researchers..."
Article Title: Neil Gorsuch Sworn in as Newest Supreme Court Justice
Snippet of Article: "...Gorsuch clerked for Kennedy, and he's now the first ever former clerk joining his boss on the bench. He referred to Kennedy as his "mentor" and noted that Kennedy also administered his oath 11 years ago when he became a circuit court judge.
"It is a fitting testament to Justice Kennedy’s impact," President Trump said of the pair's historic relationship..."
Article Title: Justice Department To Review All Civil Rights Agreements On Police Conduct
Snippet of Article: "...The Sessions memo also raised anew the specter that cities and states whose law enforcement agencies accept federal monies from the Justice Department could see a cut off if they do not adhere to federal laws. The attorney general's new review will cover not only police probes but also federal grant awards, offers of technical assistance and participation in law enforcement task forces. The department has already warned it could slash grant funds to jurisdictions that call themselves "sanctuaries" from federal immigration agents..."
Article Title: Potential 'smoking gun' showing Obama administration spied on Trump team, source says
Snippet of Article: "...The intelligence is said to leave no doubt the Obama administration, in its closing days, was using the cover of legitimate surveillance on foreign targets to spy on President-elect Trump, according to sources.
The key to that conclusion is the unmasking of selected U.S. persons whose names appeared in the intelligence, the sources said, adding that the paper trail leaves no other plausible purpose for the unmasking other than to damage the incoming Trump administration..."
Article Title: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
Snippet of Article: "...The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" Pub.L. 95–511, 92 Stat. 1783, 50 U.S.C. ch. 36) is a United States federal law which prescribes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign powers" and "agents of foreign powers" suspected of espionage or terrorism).[1] The Act created the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to oversee requests for surveillance warrants by federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. It has been repeatedly amended since the September 11 attacks..."
Article Title: OPM’s Shocking Letter to Some Annuitants
Snippet of Article: "...Fred is not the only one affected. OPM has identified 595 annuitants that are currently receiving the FERS Annuity Supplement and are subject to OPM’s recent interpretation of Title 5 of the United States Code Section 8421(c).
But why now? Since the inception of FERS, OPM has not apportioned the FERS Supplement, unless the court order stated that a portion of the FERS Supplement was to be awarded to the former spouse. It is mind boggling that OPM made a “policy change” without any advance notice to annuitants being affected, nor was this change published in the Federal Register for comment..."
Article Title: OPM: Feds to get scholarships, tuition breaks at 4 colleges
Snippet of Article: "...The Office of Personnel Management established new agreements with four colleges and universities on March 14 to provide federal employees with scholarships and tuition breaks to fill skill gaps in the workforce.
The schools —..."
