Ron Howard developing IRS sitcom
September 18th, 2009 | Agencies Treasury | Posted by Rebecca Neal
Is the IRS funny? Famed director Ron Howard thinks so.
Howard and his producing partner, Brian Grazer, are the team behind the critically-acclaimed and ratings-challenged “Arrested Development.” Howard may need to tap that blend of hysterical awkwardness with his new sitcom, which will be centered around an Internal Revenue Service field office. Trade publication The Hollywood Reporter first announced the project.
The show has a pilot commitment with Fox, which means the network will pay to develop the first episode of the show, known as a pilot, and will pay a penalty to Howard and Grazer should it not pick up the pilot for air. Howard hired Brent Forrester, a writer-director on NBC’s “The Office,” to write the pilot.
Forrester had kind words for IRS’ employees, describing the boss in the show as “trying hard to believe that his job is good and noble and provides a very important, vital service.”
The one thing that unites all Americans is their suspicion and hatred for the IRS. That makes the characters on the show underdogs, because outside the office everyone is suspicious of them.”
Do you think this show sounds like a promising sitcom? Would you watch? Or do you think Americans don’t want to watch feds at work?
Tags: IRS
Funny Business at the Treasury
July 17th, 2009 | Procurement Treasury Workplace | Posted by Elise Castelli
The Treasury Department’s Bureau of Public Debt is looking for a contractor to run a couple of three-hour discussions on “Humor in the Workplace.”
According to this FedBizOpps notice, which topped the Drudge Report today, the programs will “discuss the power of humor in the workplace, the close relationship between humor and stress, and why humor is one of the most important ways that we communicate in business and office life.”
The requirements:
Participants shall experience demonstrations of cartoons being created on the spot. The contractor shall have the ability to create cartoons on the spot about BPD jobs. The presenter shall refrain from using any foul language during the presentation. This is a business environment and we need the presenter to address a business audience.
At the end of the day the bureau wants its workers to learn the following:
• Understand the importance and power of humor in the workplace in a responsible manner
• How to use talents in a creative way that adds humor to everyday experiences
• Alleviate stress in home and the office
• Know how and why humor is important to communication
• Improve work-place relationships
• Prevent burn-out
While every workplace could probably use a little humor, one has to wonder whether the right way of going about it is a cheerless training session paid for by taxpayers.
Update: Treasury has canceled it’s search for workplace humor following a congressional inquiry into the item on Drudge. Guess FedLine wasn’t the only one wondering why taxpayers should pay to make Treasury laugh.
Tags: bureau of public debt, FedBizOpps, Friday Fun, humor in the workplace
Leading the (green) way
June 17th, 2009 | Agriculture Defense Energy Environmental Protection Agency General Services Administration HHS Postal Service Transportation Treasury | Posted by Tim Kauffman
Federal agencies having a tough time meeting the plethora of green government mandates should take a close look at the 15 federal teams who have been recognized this year for spearheading environmentally sustainable practices at their agencies.
Winners of the 2009 White House Closing the Circle Awards — handed out Wednesday during the middle of the three-day 2009 Federal Environmental Symposium East in Bethesda, Md. –Â Â are demonstrating best practices in areas such as recycling, green purchasing and fuel conservation.
The big winner was the Air Force, which received four awards for initiatives under way at local bases and headquarters. The Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office in Denver was the biggest individual winner, taking home two awards.
A complete list of the winners — along with some of their accomplishments — is after the jump.
Tags: environment, green government
Stress tests!
April 24th, 2009 | Treasury | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
Because there’s really nothing more enjoyable on a Friday afternoon than reading a document (pdf) entitled “The Supervisory Capital Assessment Program: Design and Implementation.”
It’s a summary, from the Federal Reserve, of how the government conducted its “stress tests” of the nation’s 19 largest banks. The results of those stress tests are expected to go public on May 4.
One thing that immediately jumps out at me: Treasury had just 150 employees working on these stress tests. If that sounds like a lot, consider that they were spread across 19 banks — and these are huge banks, each with more than $100 billion in assets.
I’m not passing judgment on the quality of their work — too early to do that — but that number really struck me.
Tags: stress tests
Is Treasury avoiding the TARP watchdogs?
March 31st, 2009 | Treasury | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
Elizabeth Warren, the chair of the congressional TARP oversight panel, thinks so. She told the Senate Finance committee this morning that Treasury refuses to articulate even its most basic goals for the TARP program:
We do not seem to be a priority for the Treasury Department…Â What we’re asking for is not rocket science here. We’re not asking for something extraordinary… we’re asking for the much broader articulation of what the plan is, transparency in the goals and the execution and strategy… we need Treasury’s commitment.
I’m doing some reporting on financial regulation this week, and Warren’s complaint is becoming a common refrain. The TARP program is probably helping banks. Some are using TARP money to increase their lending; others are using it to boost their capital reserves; still others are repaying debts. All of those are good outcomes for banks.
But does Treasury consider that a success for the TARP program? Warren says the department hasn’t defined its goals; so do some of my sources, and some members of Congress, like Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine:
My [constituents] don’t see the program working as-is. The credit markets are still tight… and what I hear is that there are no specific standards for oversight… no clearly-articulated goal.
On a related note, if you’re interested in this sort of thing, here’s the GAO’s latest report on the TARP program. (It’s 100 pages — a little light bedtime reading?)
Empty Treasury
March 12th, 2009 | Treasury | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
Tim Geithner is not having much luck finding a deputy.
According to ABC News, his third pick for deputy treasury secretary — H. Rodgin Cohen, a partner in a New York law firm — has withdrawn his name from consideration. No word on why, just that a “problem” came up late in the vetting process.
Geithner (who is arguably the most important Cabinet secretary right now) is supposed to have 17 confirmed deputies.
He currently has zero.
Tags: Timothy Geithner
IRS ends private debt collection
March 6th, 2009 | Agency Management Procurement Treasury | Posted by Elise Castelli
Should the taxman call to “tell you how it will be,” at least you’ll know it’s a fed.
That’s because the Internal Revenue Service terminated its controversial outsourcing of tax collection Thursday. An agency program review found tax debt collection was cheaper and more lucrative when performed by federal employees.
IRS commissioner Doug Shulman said:
IRS employees have more options available to them to resolve difficult collection cases
Contracts with two private debt collection firms expired March 6. The agency will hire 1,000 new tax collectors in fiscal 2009 to target collection on areas of greatest need. IRS will recruit displaced contractor employees to fill openings. Shulman said:
By investing in IRS employees to perform this collection work, we can be assured that we have all the tools available for helping taxpayers confronting complex situations.
The program’s demise ends years of controversy over private debt collection. Congress, the National Taxpayer Advocate and the National Treasury Employees Unions long argued private collectors cost more and brought in less than federal employees.
House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., praised the IRS decision in a statement:
Now that we have the facts, ending this wasteful policy – which has come at great cost to taxpayers – and putting the job of tax collection back with the trained professionals at the IRS is the right thing to do.
Tags: debt collection, IRS, Steny Hoyer
Stress tests could stress feds (wonky)
February 25th, 2009 | Treasury | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
The Treasury Department unveiled guidelines (pdf) today for its bank “stress tests” (I have more details in this week’s paper). Seems to me the guidelines will put some federal employees — namely, the bank regulators — in a tough position. Here’s why.
According to Treasury’s guidelines, regulators have to assess the 19 biggest U.S. banks using two economic scenarios. One of them is the “standard” scenario — what most economists think will happen to our economy over the next two years. The other is a sort of worst-case scenario.
If banks fail the tests — basically if they have too many questionable loans, and not enough capital to cover their expected losses — then they have to raise money and make up the difference. They can do this through private investors, or by asking the government for another investment (more TARP money, essentially).
Obama promises budget reform, no earmarks
February 24th, 2009 | 2010 Budget Agencies Congress Treasury | Posted by Rebecca Neal
Days before he presents his first budget, President Barack Obama Tuesday night pledged to restore accountability to the budgeting process and cut outdated programs.
“This budget looks ahead ten years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules — and for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. For seven years, we have been a nation at war. No longer will we hide its price,” Obama told a joint session of Congress.
He added that his proposed 2010 budget will would end no-bid contracts in Iraq, as well as eliminate education programs that haven’t worked. He also touted his administration’s line-by-line review of the federal budget and agency management in a quest to eliminate useless programs.
“As you can imagine, this is a process that will take some time. But we’re starting with the biggest lines. We have already identified $2 trillion in savings over the next decade,” Obama said to applause from both sides of the aisle.
He also informed Congress he expected the budget to contain no earmarks just like the recently passed economic stimulus package, which brought laughs and hisses from the Republican side of the House chamber. Republicans have contended that the stimulus contained too many pet Democratic projects and not enough tax cuts.
“I’m proud that we passed the recovery plan free of earmarks, and I want to pass a budget next year that ensures that each dollar we spend reflects only our most important national priorities,” Obama said.
Much of his speech addressed the state of the economy as well as the failure of the Troubled Asset Relief Program to hold banks accountable for public money they received. He said banks will be made to account for how taxpayer dollars have resulted in more lending, freeing up stalled credit markets. He also called on Congress to change the regulatory system he said allowed the economy to sink so low.
“And to ensure that a crisis of this magnitude never happens again, I ask Congress to move quickly on legislation that will finally reform our outdated regulatory system. It is time to put in place tough new common-sense rules of the road so that our financial market rewards drive and innovation and punishes short cuts and abuse,” he said.
Obama received an overwhelming welcome for his first address to Congress as president. Two others received a particularly rousing welcome as well: Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, weeks removed from pancreatic cancer surgery, and Chesley Sullenberger, captain of US Airways Flight 1549 that landed in the Hudson River in January.
Tags: Barack Obama, budget, Congress
Forget billions. It's now about trillions.
February 10th, 2009 | Agencies Congress Treasury | Posted by Rebecca Neal
We bring you House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s take on the new $1.5 trillion financial rescue program unveiled today by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
“What an era in which we live where a serious question can be asked whether $1.5 trillion is enough,” he said Tuesday after a reporter asked if $1.5 trillion would solve our economic woes.