We begin this morning remembering the life of Congressman Gerry Connolly, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee who died yesterday morning. He was diagnosed with esophageal cancer last fall and said he would not seek re election next year. His colleagues are remembering him as a longtime advocate for the federal workforce and for modernizing government. Federal News Network's Jory Heckman is here with me now to speak more about Congressman Connolly's impact.

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The Transportation Security Administration has largely been spared from the deep workforce cuts happening in other parts of the government. But TSA's, new leader says the Trump administration is open to big reforms, including potential privatization. For more, Federal News Network's Justin Doubleday joins me now.

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The most successful federal shared services initiative came more than 20 years ago. The Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management led the effort to consolidate the number of government wide payroll providers from 22 to four. As part of Federal News Networks's 25th anniversary celebration, the E-payroll consolidation initiative has been named a top moment in the last 25 years, and executive editor Jason Miller joins me to tell us why.

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Americans want to know who makes the decisions about how much money the federal government spends and what it spends that money on, and right now it doesn't seem like they trust whoever that is with the checkbook. To answer these questions, Brookings' vice president and director of economic studies, Ben Harris, joins me now.

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Congressman Gerry Connolly made a big impact for his constituents in Congress, but he also made a big impact on the people who got to work with him every day. Here to share a glimpse into that daily environment is one of his former staffers, Wendy Ginsberg.

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Today on the Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

• The oversight system that is supposed to watch over federal spending
• An inside look at Congressman Gerry Connolly's career
• The perfect storm drove payroll consolidation to success

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The Department of Veterans Affairs is bringing back mandatory overtime for employees who process disability and Pension Claims. The VA is reducing a backlog of unprocessed claims, but Department officials say the extra hours are needed to complete this work more quickly. Some impacted VA employees say the mandatory overtime could lead to burnout federal news networks. Jory Heckman joins me with more.

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The Office of Special Counsel says it thinks agencies should be able to fire their probationary employees for pretty much any reason and at any time. OSC s new opinion is a total reversal of its stance on this issue from just a few months ago, but attorneys representing fired probationary employees say that the OSC even issuing an opinion oversteps its authority, joining me with more Federal News Network's Drew Friedman.

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