The same challenges in federal retirement processing have been around for years. Reliance on a paper-based system, insufficient staffing and incomplete applications. Those remain the top three barriers to getting federal employees’ retirement applications processed on time. A new report from the Office of Personnel Management's Office of Inspector General said the agency must… Read more »

Emmalee Gruesen considers herself a “a unicorn” among military spouses working for the federal government. She’s been able to keep steady employment as a program analyst with the Navy over the last eight years despite four moves with her husband, a naval officer. Instead, many military spouses have been forced to resign their federal jobs because of their spouses’ transfers, losing out… Read more »

Years later, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) again knows the sentinel’s loneliness, his repeated calls to restore the Air Force’s Cold War Era “Looking Glass” program unheeded. But that may be changing. During a Nov. 15 House Armed Services Committee review of a congressional commission’s report assessing the nation’s nuclear forces, fears surfaced that potential adversaries—namely… Read more »

U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) schools around the world would be able to maintain current student-to-teacher ratios through the 2029-2030 DODEA academic year under bipartisan legislation sponsored on Nov. 8 by U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE). The Success for Military Connected Students Act, H.R. 6287, which is cosponsored by U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-NC), would extend… Read more »

Washington – Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE-02) and Jeff Jackson (D-NC-14) today introduced the bipartisan H.R. 6287, the Success for Military Connected Students Act, which extends the maximum number of students to teacher ratio directive for Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools around the world, which was set in the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by Congress at… Read more »

The nation needs all 25 of the Air National Guard's fighter squadrons, two of the service's senior officers told congressional staffers at an event NGAUS sponsored last week. The Guard's 25 fighter squadrons must also have modern aircraft to defend the homeland and fight alongside the Air Force overseas, the pair added. "The Air Force’s fighter structure is geriatric and rapidly… Read more »

Military members and their families could see improved housing, better child care services and easier access to school meal support under a series of bills making their way through the legislative process. For example, Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) introduced a bill to help military families with housing. The bill is included in the House National Defense… Read more »

Some members of Congress on Wednesday left open the possibility of deeper U.S. military involvement in the unfolding war between Israel and Hamas as Americans were killed and taken hostage, and others were struggling to leave a country at war. "Whatever Israel wants, they should ask us, and we should be there to help," Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a retired Air Force brigadier… Read more »

WASHINGTON ― A bipartisan duo of House lawmakers has banded together to improve the vetting of financial advisers for service members. The move comes after an Army counselor with undisclosed conflicts of interest with outside brokerage firms allegedly swindled two dozen Gold Star families. The House in July passed legislation from Reps. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., and Don Bacon, R-Neb., that… Read more »

Pfc. Salem Ezz had just started working with a new Army innovation lab on Fort Stewart when his fellow soldiers returning from deployments began discovering black mold in their barracks. Soldiers were posting pictures and videos of the mold that had infiltrated their barracks on social media pages like  “Army W.T.F!” and TikTok. “That made it explode,” Ezz said.  Pictures… Read more »