*** The two largest federal employee unions, the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union, announced July 20 their endorsements of Joe Biden for president. The unions opted not to endorse in the primaries – a departure from the 2016 election cycle when both national unions endorsed Hillary Clinton before the primaries were officially underway.
AFGE reported that its members preferred Biden to President Donald Trump by a margin of more than 30 percentage points -- 58.4% to 28%. The union also cited a weighted poll that put Biden up 45 percentage points over Trump.
*** Russell Vought was confirmed by the Senate on July 20 to be the Director of the Office of Management and Budget by a vote of 51-45. Vought has led OMB on an acting basis since January 2019, when then-director Mick Mulvaney was tapped to serve as acting White House chief of staff.
*** CORRECTION: An item in the July 20 edition of this newsletter mistakenly identified Ron Pontius as deputy commander for Army Cyber Command. Pontius is a civilian official and serves as deputy to the commanding general, U.S. Army Cyber Command.