The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

Transportation Security Administration employees are seeing their first paychecks in more than a month. TSA agents are being paid this week despite lawmakers failing to come to an agreement on a Department of Homeland Security spending bill. That means thousands more DHS staff are continuing to work with out pay. For more, Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday joins me.
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As Army civilians who have been identified as “surplus” begin receiving automated notices giving them a few days to decide whether to accept a reassignment, retire early or opt in for a buyout, many are making these life-altering decisions with limited information. Here with an update to her story from Monday is Federal News Network’s Anastasia Obis.
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Coming up today on the Federal Drive with Terry Gerton
Shutdowns don’t just disrupt agencies, they disrupt household finances, and the data shows it almost immediately
A large TSP balance is a success story until Required Minimum Distributions turn it into a tax problem
A military family’s decades‑long journey with autism is now helping other families navigate a system that often feels impossible to manage
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April is World Autism Month, and for military families, navigating autism care often means navigating multiple systems at once. Jaime and Tracy Parent have spent more than thirty years raising an autistic child while moving through diagnoses, deployments, school changes and the maze of military and civilian support programs. Their new book, "The Mission at Home," turns that lived experience into practical guidance for families facing the same transitions and gaps in care. We’ll hear from Jaime and Tracy about what they’ve learned and what still needs to change.
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Federal employees may eventually be made whole after a shutdown, but the timing matters. After the most recent missed paycheck, data from USAA shows requests for financial relief spiking among federal workers, highlighting short‑term cash‑flow pressures even when back pay is expected. We’ll walk through what those patterns reveal about how workers navigate fixed bills and uncertainty with Daniel Diaz, spokesperson for USAA Bank.
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