Federal Drive with Tom Temin

About 30,000 National Guard troops are deployed in response to the coronavirus. The National Guard Association of the United States is keeping its finger on the pulse of what these guardsmen are going through, as they continue one of the largest responses in history. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione spoke with association NGAUS President J. Roy Robinson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The stimulus bill was a heavy lift for Congress, now various agencies are working to implement it. For what it looked like at the ground level and some of the federal concerns, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke Virginia Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Food and Drug Administration operates a complex apparatus to deal with everything from food labels to life-saving medical equipment. It's been at the center of the federal pandemic response, trying to speed up medical testing and possible therapies without opening the market to every snake oil purveyor. For an assessment, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to former FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ultimately, fully understanding and solving the coronavirus pandemic will be about the data. There's no shortage of data sources that are growing hourly. Now nine organizations, business and academic, have formed a coalition to bring coronavirus data sources together, and added incentives for researchers can apply modern data analysis and artificial intelligence to it. Leading this effort is the silicon valley company C3.AI, whose founder, Tom Siebel, joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress is already looking ahead to the next coronavirus rescue package. Senate Democrats have at least one proposal that could benefit much of the federal workforce. They're suggesting a pandemic pay increase for frontline federal health, transportation and safety workers. And they're recommending a hefty recruitment incentive to attract more health and safety people to join the coronavirus fight. For the latest, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From modeling airflows aboard medical evacuation aircraft, to simulating vaccine candidates, DoD’s supercomputing resources are being brought to bear on the coronavirus pandemic. Several of the department’s supercomputers are involved in various aspects of the COVID-19 response. To learn more about them, Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu talked with Dr. Will McMahon, the director of the DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Program, and Dr. Kevin Newmeyer, the deputy director. McMahon speaks first. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Okay, federal contractors. Listen up. Presuming you can keep your company live until the other end of the tunnel we're in, can you actually prosper? For some advice on navigating the next few months, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turn to the CEO of innovation advisors BMNT, Peter Newell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Contracting is a big part of the federal response to the pandemic. So don't expect protests to stop. For a bit of perspective, and our usual analysis of a recent case, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to federal procurement attorney Joseph Petrillo of Petrillo and Powell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Census Bureau not only spends a lot of time and effort gathering information, it has a large operation for processing and disseminating it. Recently it retired a long-standing channel, the American FactFinder. For what will replace it and some of the reasoning, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to the assistant chief of the Center for Enterprise Dissemination, Robert Chestnut. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Agriculture Department was one of the first agencies to reduce how many days an employee could telework. Don Bice had the job of implementing what some would call the Secretary’s controversial decision to reduce a popular and successful remote working program. Bice recently left after 32 years in government, including the last two-plus years as USDA’s acting deputy assistant secretary for administration. He tells executive editor Jason Miller about his next chapter of his life and what he learned from implementing the telework change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Defense Department’s order to stop troops from changing assignment locations may be helping stop the spread of coronavirus, but it has other consequences for service members. Some are paying rent in two places. Others are without homes. Now the Defense Department is considering extending the stop move order into the summer. New Mexico Representative Debra Haaland heard service member’s pleas and wrote a letter to DoD last week asking for action. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione spoke with Haaland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Thrift Savings Plan took a nosedive in the past month. And it's not clear when we'll hit the rock bottom. Greg Klingler is the director of wealth management at the Government Employees' Benefit Association. He told Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko why some federal employees are choosing to delay their retirements, and what they can do with those upcoming stimulus checks - whenever they get here. Hear more on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The IRS finds itself on new ground getting stimulus payments out and also keeping the tax filing season running through July 15. Agency officials expect to send 60 million stimulus payments by mid-April, but the timeline for the rest of the country is extending out further than the Treasury Department first projected. Meanwhile, nearly half of the IRS’ workforce is working from home and more could soon join them. Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman had more on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can't avoid them by social distancing. You can't kill them with disinfectant wipes. They don't die on cardboard and you can't even see them under a microscope. They're the cybersecurity threats spawned by scummy hackers taking advantage of the pandemic disruption. Federal Drive with Tom Temin got an update from someone who's been following this professionally: Vice President of Public Sector and Health Care at Crowdstrike, James Yeager. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Private aircraft are a favorite way to move illegal drugs and laundered money. For that reason alone, the Federal Aviation Administration needs to tighten its registration procedures for aircraft, like verifying registrants are who they say they are. That's among the findings of a recent examination by the Government Accountability Office. GAO's Director of Forensic Audits Rebecca Shea had more on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices