Federal Newscast

Two Democrat lawmakers are demanding Elon Musk, the former head of the U.S. DOGE Service, explain why 99% of the claimed savings from at the Homeland Security Department never materialized. Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, and James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) called on Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), chairman of the committee, to hold Musk accountable for DOGE’s actions. Thompson and Walkinshaw say a recent report by the Government Accountability Office shows DOGE alleged savings were mostly from IT contracts that it cancelled, but DHS continues to buy these services through other acquisition vehicles.
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Adam Telle, the Army's assistant secretary for civil works, will serve as acting Army secretary. President Donald Trump announced the pick on social media Thursday, calling Telle a "great patriot who is respected by all." Telle took the job overseeing the Army Corps of Engineers in August 2025 after serving as a longtime Senate staffer. He also worked in the White House's legislative office during Trump's first term. Telle has not served in the military. He replaces Dan Driscoll, who resigned this week amid clashes with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
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The Postal Service is finalizing a new portal to provide election officials with a simple, secure and efficient way to share lists of individuals receiving ballots by mail in their respective states. The U.S. Federal Ballot Mail Portal will soon be available to election officials who voluntarily wish to familiarize themselves with the platform. USPS says it also will provide tools, presentations and other resources to help election officials understand the platform and make decisions about whether and how they wish to use it. USPS is facing new questions from lawmakers about the portal after a whistleblower claimed that the portal has been hastily built and could fail.
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August was a month of rebounds for the Thrift Savings Plan. All TSP funds ended in the black, the highest increase being the I Fund at 3.3%, followed by the C and S Funds at 2.7% and 2.3%, respectively. The G and F Funds posted more modest increases, both below 1%. For 2026 so far, all but one of the 16 TSP funds have grown, with more than half seeing double-digit percentage increases.
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Defense Department employees can now use three major AI products at work. The department on Monday launched military versions of OpenAI's ChatGPT and Elon Musk's Grok to help the workforce with everyday tasks. DoD says ChatGPT can read documents for unclassified administrative and policy work. Grok is built for operational needs like market research and supply chain management. Google's Gemini was the first product launched on the Pentagon's AI hub last year. More than 1.7 million have signed up to use those services so far.
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