- The House of Representatives and the Senate are in session on Capitol Hill this week for Committee business and floor voting. This likely will be the final week of the 118th Congress.
- Fedsmith reports that the President’s 2025 Pay Agent report creates no new locality pay areas for 2025.
- Govexec lets us know that
- The Office of Personnel Management this week quietly released its report analyzing the results of the 2024 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey alongside agency-by-agency data from the annual census of federal workers’ job sentiment.
- The report affirms preliminary data released in October, which found that employee engagement ticked up one point to tie a record high of 73 out of 100, while the governmentwide global satisfaction index, a tool used to measure federal worker morale, followed suit, increasing from 64 out of 100 last year to 65 in 2024. And the response rate crept up two points over 2023 to 41%.
- HR Dive informs us,
- “In a 50 to 49 vote, two independent senators joined Republicans on Wednesday in blocking Lauren McFerran’s nomination to continue serving on the National Labor Relations Board for the next five years. McFerran’s term expires next week.
- “The vote means NLRB no longer has a guaranteed Democratic majority — and will more than likely flip to a Republican majority, given that Donald Trump is set to take office soon.” * * *
- “NLRB’s remaining members include Gwynne Wilcox, David Prouty and Marvin E. Kaplan. Wilcox’s second term lasts until August 2028, Prouty’s term is up August 2026 and Kaplan’s term ends next August.”
- The Washington Post points out,
- “Want to know the latest about research funded by the National Institutes of Health on topics including menopause, polycystic ovary syndrome and other conditions affecting women’s health? Discover Women’s Health Research (DiscoverWHR), a recently launched website on federally funded women’s health research across the lifespan, offers answers.
- “The portal is a resource from NIH in support of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, which is focused on closing research gaps and improving prevention, detection and treatment of health issues affecting girls and women.”
- STAT News relates,
- “Novo Holdings, the parent company of Novo Nordisk, can proceed with its planned $16.5 billion acquisition of Catalent, a leading contract drug manufacturer, after U.S. regulators declined to challenge the deal following months of scrutiny.
- “The companies expect to close the transaction in the next several days, after a deadline passed for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to raise objections and other regulatory conditions were fulfilled, according to statements issued by Novo Nordisk and Catalent. We asked the FTC for comment and will update you accordingly. Last week, the European Commission approved the transaction.
- “The deal had generated enormous interest over concerns that competition in the pharmaceutical industry could be harmed. Indeed, the move was prompted by sporadic shortages of one of the world’s hottest-selling medications — Novo Nordisk’s weight loss treatment Wegovy — and designed, in part, to solve what has been a critical and seemingly intractable problem for Novo Nordisk.
- “This made Catalent an attractive buyout target for Novo Holdings, which owns 77% of the voting shares in Novo Nordisk, because it is already a subcontractor that helps manufacture Wegovy. But one part of the plan sparked complaints because Novo Holdings said it would sell three Catalent facilities to Novo Nordisk for $11.7 billion after completing the deal.”