The Solidarity Docket
Week of Apr 23, 2026
The government shutdown (remember that?) continues. This week's docket covers the deepening DHS payroll crisis, OPM's controversial health data collection, the government's appeal in the Deferred Resignation Program litigation, the USDA's expanded relocation plans, and ongoing retirement processing delays affecting September 30 retirees.
DHS Warns Payroll Funds Will Run Out in May
Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin confirmed this week that DHS has approximately one payroll cycle remaining before the department exhausts the limited funds available to pay employees during the ongoing shutdown. He noted that the President cannot issue another executive order to redirect money because none is available.
Mullin urged passage of a reconciliation package that would fund ICE and Customs and Border Protection. The Senate approvedS.Con.Res.33, a budget resolution introduced by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, which would permit a reconciliation package requiring only a majority vote. The resolution allocates $70 billion to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee but does not specifically designate funding for DHS.
AFGE Presses House to Act on H.R. 7147
The American Federation of Government Employees sent a letter to all House members urging passage of H.R. 7147. The bill would fund all DHS component agencies other than ICE and CBP while negotiations over those agencies continue. AFGE characterized the measure as an overdue compromise.
OPM Health Data Collection Draws Bipartisan Concern
Senators Adam Schiff of California and Mark Warner of Virginia sent a letter to OPM Director Scott Kupor raising concerns about an OPM notice seeking medical claims, pharmacy claims, and other participant data from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and the Postal Service Health Benefits Program.
The senators wrote that they are deeply concerned the information will be used in employment actions, including hiring, suitability determinations, appeals, reductions in force, disability accommodation requests, labor-management relations, and performance reviews. They asked OPM to immediately reverse the action and abstain from further collection efforts.
Organizations that have raised similar concerns include the National Association of Active and Retired Federal Employees, AFGE, Civil Service Strong, and the Association of Federal Health Organizations.
USDA Expands Relocation Plans, Building on First-Term Playbook
The Department of Agriculture announced a new phase of its reorganization this week that will relocate additional employees out of the Washington, D.C. area. Under the plan:
The Food Safety and Inspection Service will move about two-thirds of its D.C. metro area workforce. FSIS stated that frontline inspectors, who make up 85 percent of the agency's workforce, will not be affected.
The Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture will see D.C.-based employees relocated to Kansas City. USDA also announced that employees previously moved to Kansas City in 2019 who have since relocated elsewhere will be returned to Kansas City.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service will reassign some D.C.-area employees to its St. Louis regional office and other regional locations.
The Agricultural Research Service will begin decommissioning the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland, a complex of more than 400 buildings, and relocate research programs to facilities elsewhere in the country.
During the first Trump administration, ERS and NIFA relocations led more than half of affected employees to leave the agency rather than move. USDA reported that more than 15,000 employees left the department in 2025 after accepting deferred resignation and early retirement offers.
Separately, the Forest Service is planning to move its headquarters to Salt Lake City, placing 57 of 77 research facilities under review, and proposing in the FY 2027 budget request to eliminate 800 of its approximately 1,110 research scientist positions. The Forest Service also plans to close all nine of its regional offices.
September 30 Retirees Still Waiting for Benefits
Nearly seven months after their retirement date, federal employees who separated on September 30, 2025 continue to experience significant delays in processing their retirement benefits. Many have received no annuity payments since their final paycheck in October.
Reporting this week describes retirees from USDA, IRS, USCIS, and the State Department who are navigating an opaque process with limited communication from OPM or their former agencies. Common causes of delay include:
Payroll processing backlogs at the National Finance Center, which handles payroll for USDA, IRS, DHS, and other agencies. In some reported cases, retirement packages did not reach NFC until months after the retirement date, with an additional 90-day wait before forwarding to OPM.
Missing or uncertified documentation, including Individual Retirement Records, military service deposit records, and service history gaps that require agency follow-up.
Unassigned cases at OPM, where retirees have received Civil Service Active numbers and interim payments but have waited months for assignment to a Legal Administrative Specialist.
Retirees who accepted the Deferred Resignation Program are among those affected. Some have been forced to take early withdrawals from their Thrift Savings Plan accounts to cover expenses, with those under 59 and a half incurring the additional 10 percent early withdrawal penalty.
A Note of Thanks
This week is Volunteer Appreciation Week, and it comes just after Rise Up marked its one-year anniversary. None of the work reflected in these weekly dispatches, the clinics, the screenings, the referrals, the resources, would be possible without our volunteer attorneys. This group has shown up for federal workers week after week with skill, rigor, and genuine care.
To each of you: thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.
Attorneys who would like to join the Rise Up volunteer attorney corps can sign up at www.workerslegaldefense.org/lawyers.
In solidarity,
Suzanne Summerlin
General Counsel
Rise Up: Federal Workers Legal Defense Network
