All posts tagged "Office Of Personnel Management"

Donald Trump's administration has issued a request for the medical details of millions of federal workers.

A notice from the Office of Personnel Management could be changed drastically, with both current and retired federal workers' details requested. The proposal has shaken some insurers and health policy experts, who questioned why the Trump admin would want the details of current and previous employees. The OPM could simply be analyzing costs and improving its internal system, according to health law expert Sharona Hoffman, who spoke to CBS about the change.

The change does have a worrying caveat, though, with Hoffman saying, "They are going to get very, very detailed and granular data about everything that happens. The concern here is the more information they have, they could use it to discipline or target people who are not cooperating politically."...

Wire fraud. Tax evasion. Money laundering. Sexual abuse. Child pornography. Since 1980, more than two dozen members of Congress have been indicted for such crimes, some spending years in prison.

But because of a series of legal loopholes, not a single former federal lawmaker who has applied for retirement benefits has ever lost their taxpayer-funded congressional pension, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management told Raw Story.

Pensions for congressional felons have cost taxpayers about $3.7 million between 2007 and 2022, according to research from the nonpartisan taxpayer research organization, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. ...

At the dawn of former President Donald Trump’s administration, government employees and contractors in need of security clearances could wait years for approval. Federal agencies stared down a backlog of 700,000 clearance investigations starting in 2017.

For one former senior-level State Department employee, who is a person of color, they waited more than two years to get approved for a top secret clearance.

When the Trump administration arrived, many new Trump officials received “interim security clearances” because they didn’t initially meet standard security requirements, the former employee told Raw Story. This contributed to a screening backlog. ...