Once a month the Federal Managers Association writes a Hear It from FMA article for the FEDmanager.com newsletter. This article originally ran in the September 7, 2021 issue. -

America’s aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines are arguably the best investment in human history. They allow the United States to project power to every corner of the globe, protecting sea lanes, deterring our adversaries from aggressive conflict, providing an unassailable nuclear deterrent, keeping open critical straits and canals, and enabling rapid humanitarian responses to crises. The strength of the United States Navy has been critical to ensuring relative peace around the world over more than seventy years. There is no doubt that building and maintaining nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers, and their escorts and support ships is expensive. However, considering ongoing threats by the Chinese over Taiwan and the broader Pacific, there are two choices available to us. Either the United States can invest in proper maintenance, modernization, and expansion for the Navy, or we can choose to save money right now. The second choice would mean we are unable to defend critical interests within the next decade.

FEDmanager.com publishes a regular collection of pieces by partner organizations, which they call FEDforum. For the latest FEDforum, the guiding question was: "How are you supporting your members’ return to in-person work? Or, how are you supporting skills around the future of work (for groups whose employees may be remaining remote or were never remote at all)?" The following is FMA's response.

Some FMA members are returning to their physical workplaces after more than a year of a maximum telework posture. Others have been given permission to transition to an indefinite future in which their jobs are conducted either fully or primarily remotely. Both options present real challenges to be overcome and FMA is working hard to assist our members in addressing them.

Hear It from FMA, FEDMANAGER.com

Locality pay exists because some areas have significantly different costs of living from others. San Francisco, for example, has a locality pay 41.4% higher than federal General Schedule base pay. This is because of the vastly higher cost of living in San Francisco compared to much of the country; while the median rent in San Francisco costs $3,035 per month, the median rent in the state of West Virginia is $727 per month.