The bill would reduce funding for the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Michele Sandiford
- The House Appropriations Committee wants to reduce EPA’s budget for fiscal 2027 by $1.8 billion or 20%. At the same time as part of the Interior, Environment and related agencies spending bill, lawmakers are increasing funding for the Interior Department by almost $700 million. The funding bill also supports President Trump’s effort to unify Interior firefighting entities and cuts funding for climate programs. Additionally, the bill would reduce funding for the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
- A bill to restore full benefits to certain wounded veterans is heading for a House vote. Congressman Mark Takano (Calif.) the top Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, filed a discharge petition forcing a floor vote on the Major Richard Star Act. The bill would eliminate an offset that keeps medically retired veterans from receiving their full retirement pay from the Department of Defense and their full disability pay from the VA. It has the support of a majority of House lawmakers.
- The White House has tapped Jay Hurst to serve as the permanent Pentagon budget chief. Hurst has been in the role in an acting capacity since August, and the Defense Department has been without a permanent comptroller since January when President Donald Trump took office. Since taking over as the Pentagon’s acting comptroller, Hurst has overseen the rollout of the administration’s staggering $1.5 trillion defense budget request. Prior to his current role, Hurst served as the assistant secretary of defense for manpower and reserve affairs.
- GSA signed up another vendor to its OneGov program. Snowflake became the 20th vendor to sign an enterprisewide contract with the General Services Administration under its OneGov strategy. The AI and data company will offer its software and services at a discounted rate through the schedules program. GSA says Snowflake will cut its computer services prices by 20% and reduce its storage price by 26.67%. These prices are good through September 2027. GSA says it has saved or helped agencies avoid spending more than $1 billion through the OneGov program over the past year.
- Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence has handed in her resignation. Gabbard made the announcement Friday in a letter posted on social media, citing a need to step away as her husband, Abraham Williams battles a rare form of bone cancer. Gabbard, a former Democratic congress member from Hawaii, is the fourth Cabinet official to leave during President Trump’s second term. Her resignation takes effect on June 30.
- The Office of Personnel Management’s top official for healthcare and insurance is resigning. Shane Stevens, associate director of healthcare and insurance at OPM, announced Thursday that he would be stepping down from his role. The OPM office oversees major insurance programs for more than eight million federal employees and their families. Stevens has been serving in the politically appointed position leading that office since last summer. OPM has not yet announced his replacement.
- The House Appropriations Committee is reducing budgets for agencies under the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development and other related agencies funding bill for fiscal 2027. The bill seeks just over $92 billion for the agencies, a reduction of about $10.7 billion or 10.4% from 2026. Key items in the bill include $22.7 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration, along with resources to hire 2,300 air traffic controllers and to update telecommunications infrastructure at the FAA. The bill also allocates $6.3 billion for transportation infrastructure funding and $92 million for DOT cybersecurity infrastructure initiatives.
- Lawmakers are pressing the Defense Department to commit to annual audits of the TRICARE pharmacy contract. As the Defense Department begins planning for the next-generation TRICARE pharmacy contract, which would succeed the current agreement currently administered by Express Scripts, lawmakers say the Pentagon cannot continue to ignore what they describe as a major conflict of interest where Express Scripts both acts as a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) and operates its own pharmacies. In the meantime, existing contracts should be “regularly audited and subjected to much greater transparency,” Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said recently. Congress has long criticized the arrangement as Express Scripts both provides pharmacy services to Tricare members while setting the reimbursement rates for itself and all of its competitors.
- Bipartisan lawmakers are seeking to build biotechnology expertise in the federal workforce. A new House bill would require agencies to assess current and future workforce needs in that job sector. Lawmakers who introduced the legislation say there is a federal talent shortage in biotech research and manufacturing and currently no coordinated strategy to close the gap.
- The Department of Health and Human Services is shrinking cash awards for its top performers. HHS is shifting a majority of its funds to cover “special act” bonuses with eligibility criteria that are less well-defined. The Office of Personnel Management says these special act bonuses are meant for employees who advance the Trump administration’s goals of government efficiency and rooting out fraud waste and abuse in government spending. According to the internal emails, top-rated employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will go from a 4% bonus to one that’s about 2.5% on average.
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