Federal agencies are in for a massive funding boost after the House on Friday passed a $2.2 trillion stimulus package aimed at revitalizing the economy struggling amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, though many federal workforce provisions were left out of the final agreement.
The measure included $340 billion in emergency spending for agencies across government, helping to increase hiring, office cleaning and telework capacity. House Democrats had pushed for a suite of new benefits for federal employees to be included in the package, but Senate and White House negotiators declined to include most of them. President Trump signed the measure into law on Friday afternoon.
The departments of Agriculture, Interior, and Health and Human Services are set to receive funding to hire new staff. The Housing and Urban Development Department, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission will have hiring flexibilities to expedite the recruiting process for the duration of the coronavirus emergency. USDA, Interior and HHS, as well as the departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs are in line for appropriations to support overtime for employees working on coronavirus response. The Transportation Security Administration and Bureau of Prisons will each see $100 million for those costs as well as for new personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies for workers.
TSA told employees on Thursday that, for the first time, it will make the N95 masks recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as most effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19 available to frontline airport screeners.
VA, FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Marshals Service, Defense Department, Forest Service, HHS and others will also receive tens of millions of dollars to purchase personal protective equipment.
Dozens of agencies across government will soon see millions of dollars ..
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