Overview

• A new executive order signed Thursday adds NASA, the National Weather Service, NOAA’s NESDIS, the Patent and Trademark Office’s commissioner of patents office, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, and Bureau of Reclamation hydropower units to the suspension list.
• The White House said the action is needed to ensure agencies vital to national security can execute their missions without delay.
• If implemented by affected agencies, unionized federal employees would lose protections such as neutral arbitration for disputes and official time for representatives.
• A Ninth Circuit panel previously allowed the administration to proceed, and the court has set a vote on whether to rehear the case en banc as unions continue multi-front litigation.
• Some agencies have begun canceling contracts where court blocks were lifted, with the VA confirming a sweeping rollback of bargaining rights and terminations also reported at the EPA and the Department of Agriculture.