Push under way in Congress to stave off mass layoff of federal agency in Kansas City

About 1,000 employees in the Kansas City area working for the National Benefits Center may get a one-month reprieve from a massive layoff scheduled for Friday as Congress tries to find money to fund the federal agency.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat, said on Wednesday that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service agreed to extend its contract with a private company that provides staffing for the National Benefits Center in Lee’s Summit and Overland Park through June.

The National Benefits Center processes applications and other paperwork for USCIS, including those for international adoptions.

Employees of NBC in the Kansas City area were notified last week of a looming mass layoff scheduled to take effect on Friday because USCIS had decided to significantly downsize its contract with PAE, a private contractor that provides staffing for NBC, at the end of May. The USCIS cited major revenue shortfalls for the fee-funded agency amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Read more: https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article243025411.html