Lisa Rein

Washington, D.C.

Federal government, arcane civil service provisions, policy, Veterans Affairs.

Education: Wesleyan University, B.A. history

Lisa Rein covers federal agencies and the management of government in the Biden administration. At The Washington Post, she has written about federal workers, state politics and government in Annapolis and Richmond; local government in Fairfax County, Va.; and the redevelopment of Washington and its neighborhoods. She was previously a reporter for the New York Daily News, where she covered former mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and the city’s colorful taxi industry. Before crossing the Hudson River, she chronicled Asian immigration to northern New Jersey for the Record of Hackensack. Rein started h
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Latest from Lisa Rein

Trump signs transition agreement with Biden, but it lacks key guardrails

The Trump team is still refusing to accept several typical trappings of the presidential transition process, including federal funding, equipment, office space or security.

November 26, 2024
President Joe Biden shakes hands with President-elect Donald Trump during a recent meeting in the Oval Office at the White House. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Musk, Ramaswamy vow ‘mass head-count reductions’ in U.S. government

The leaders of President-elect Donald Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” outlined their efforts in a new Wall Street Journal editorial.

November 20, 2024
Elon Musk with President-elect Donald Trump at a SpaceX launch on Tuesday in Brownsville, Texas

Trump ignores transition rules. It’s a ‘hostile takeover,’ ally says.

Donald Trump’s transition team has begun what a close ally calls a hostile takeover of the federal government, ignoring the rules for the handover of power in the process.

November 19, 2024
Law enforcement officials outside of President-elect Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on Nov. 16 in Palm Beach, Florida. The Trump administration has been announcing a number of nominees to fill out his upcoming administration.

Federal workers prepare for cuts, forced relocations in Trump’s second term

Trump, in his formal campaign platform, called to redistribute workers out of the Washington area and implement large-scale cuts to the federal government.

November 7, 2024
President Donald Trump signs an executive order to transform the federal hiring process. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

Conservative group’s ‘watch list’ targets federal employees for firing

Donald Trump has pledged, if reelected, to purge the government of bureaucrats suspected of being insufficiently loyal to him and his agenda.

November 2, 2024
Tom Jones, a political activist and former aide to Republican senators, said his goal with the list was to expose people whom he deemed had “long-standing and deep bias” on immigration policy.

Congress tried to fix presidential transitions. Trump is testing the changes.

The first test of a little-known change to the presidential transition process is causing anxiety as Trump is potentially poised to return to power.

October 31, 2024
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump departs the stage following a campaign event in Detroit on Oct. 18.

Independent panel finds Homeland Security watchdog committed misconduct

An independent panel has called for the removal of Homeland Security’s independent watchdog, Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari Jr., after a controversial term.

October 3, 2024
Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari Jr. testifies before a House committee on June 6, 2023, in Washington.

Three Mile Island owner seeks taxpayer backing for Microsoft AI deal

The Department of Energy is weighing a $1.6 billion loan guarantee for a plan to reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear plant with Microsoft as its sole customer.

October 3, 2024
The Three Mile Island nuclear plant, as seen from across the Susquehanna River in Goldsboro, Pa. Microsoft and Constellation Energy reached a deal that would restart the plant's Unit 1, which was retired in 2019.

VA staff got into Vance, Walz medical files, sparking investigation

At least a dozen VA employees improperly accessed the medical records of vice presidential nominees JD Vance and Tim Walz this summer, investigators found.

September 30, 2024
Republican vice-presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, left, and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

FBI investigating incident at Trump’s golf course as potential assassination attempt

A suspect is in custody as the FBI investigates Sunday’s incident at former president Donald Trump’s golf course as a potential assassination attempt.

September 16, 2024