Quick Hits

*** The White House is backing a provision in the Senate funding package for fiscal year 2021 to freeze civilian federal employee pay. The White House does support a 3% hike in military pay. This move walks back a 1% pay raise floated in the president's February 2020 budget request. The House funding package is in line with that request. A new appropriations package or continuing resolution needs to be signed into law by Dec. 11 to avoid a government shutdown.

*** Andrew Wheeler, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, announced on Twitter that he'd set up an EPA account on Parler, the right-wing social media network.

*** Washington Technology reports that after two rounds of protests, IBM has another chance to land a $786.7 million Army contract to consolidate several enterprise resource planning contracts. IBM is the incumbent on one of the contracts slated for consolidation.