Senate Approves Major Governmentwide Pay and Hiring Reforms in Defense Bill

The Senate on Monday passed the annual defense authorization bill, which includes provisions to permanently increase the maximum buyout offers for federal employees across government and ease the hiring process for recent college graduates. The hiring changes included in the Fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act stem from a bill that a Senate panel cleared last year to enable the expedited hiring of applicants with college degrees. The provision would allow agency heads to circumvent normal hiring restrictions to bring on university students or those who have recently completed their studies. The agency leader could appoint a “qualified individual” to any competitive service, the professional or administrative position at the GS-11 level or below.