Kiran Ahuja Confirmed as OPM Director

Following years of continuous turnover and unstable leadership at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal human resources agency officially has a new director. In June, President Biden’s pick to lead OPM, Kiran Ahuja, was confirmed by the Senate along party lines in a narrow 51-50 vote, in which Vice President Harris broke the tie. Ahuja is the seventh person to hold the director position since 2017. In her confirmation hearing, Ahuja said she recognized that many of the agency’s challenges have come from a lack of stable leadership, and she vowed to reverse the trend.

NARFE National President Ken Thomas congratulated Ahuja on her confirmation, expressing the association’s willingness to partner with her and the agency to “work on behalf of America’s civil servants and federal retirees.” Thomas also outlined concerns at OPM that must be addressed, including improved service to employees and retirees, and expanded efforts to boost federal workforce recruitment and retention.

During Ahuja’s confirmation hearings in the Senate, she committed to information technology modernization efforts across OPM, including changes in the agency’s retirement services branch that would enable faster retirement application processing times, better customer service and improved call center technology. Additionally, Ahuja plans on

NARFE is calling on members of the House of Representatives to cosponsor the Fair COLA for Seniors Act, H.R. 4315. This bill would provide more accurate cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for federal retirees by changing how COLAs are calculated. The new formula would better account for the inflation of goods and services—such as medicine, health care and housing—most often purchased by seniors. Visit NARFE’s Legislative Action Center at www.NARFE.org to contact your Representative and urge cosponsorship of this bill.