By LISA REIN | The Washington Post | Published: May 24, 2021
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See other free reports here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. As the Biden administration contemplates how to return the massive federal workforce to the office, government officials are moving to make a pandemic experiment permanent by allowing more employees than ever to work from home a sweeping cultural change that would have been unthinkable a year ago. The shift across the government, whose details are still being finalized, comes after the risk-averse federal bureaucracy had fallen behind private companies when it came to embracing telework a posture driven by a perception that employees would slack off unless they were tethered to their office cubicles. That position hardened during the Trump administration, which dialed back work-from-home program
By NIKKI WENTLING | STARS AND STRIPES Published: May 24, 2021 WASHINGTON – Lawmakers will unveil sweeping bills this week that aim to create a fast track to Department of Veterans Affairs benefits for nearly all veterans who served overseas since 1990 and developed a respiratory illness or cancer. Many veterans who served overseas throughout the 1990s and the post-9/11 wars have since been diagnosed with cancers, respiratory issues and lung diseases at young ages and have blamed exposure to toxic fumes from open-air burn pits. They have sought VA benefits and health care, but the department has contended that there isn’t sufficient evidence to support their claims.
Gus Bilirakis Named Florida’s Most Bipartisan Congressman
Republican Congressman Gus Bilirakis.
Gus Bilirakis, a Greek-American from Palm Harbor, Florida, was named the state’s most bipartisan Congressman on Monday.
The honor comes at a time when US politics are particularly divided, and bipartisan agreement on many issues seems nearly impossible.
” width=”1080″>The republican congressman ranked 27th out of the 435 total Members of Congress, with Pennsylvania republican Ben Fitzpatrick sitting at the top position, according to the Lugar Center Bipartisan Index.
The Lugar Center has ranked US Senators and Congresspeople in terms of their willingness to work across party lines for nearly 20 years.
The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee is considering 15 pieces of legislation that could expand health-care benefits for veterans suffering the results of toxic exposure.