Bye bye Senate

The Hill reports that “Senators left Washington on Thursday for a five-week August recess, capping off a slog of a summer stretch. Before leaving, lawmakers passed a two-year budget deal, which suspends the debt ceiling through mid-2021, and confirmed 13 judicial nominees and other high-profile picks, including Kelly Craft to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.” The Senate did not consider before the break S. 1895, the bipartisan bill to lower healthcare costs, H.R. 748, the House passed bill to repeal the ACA’s high cost plan tax, or Dale Cabaniss’s nomination to be OPM Director.

The Federal News Network brings us up to date on the Trump Administration’s efforts to shift most OPM functions over to the General Services Administration.

The administration recently informed Congress of its plans to move the administrative support functions for two OPM-led councils, the Chief Human Capital Officers Council and the Performance Accountability Council, to GSA, Margaret Weichert, acting OPM director and deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, told reporters Tuesday afternoon [July 30]. 

It’s a relatively small change, as GSA already supports several governmentwide executive councils and organizations, such as the Chief Information Officers Council and the Chief Financial Officers Council.