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?

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.

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. –  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.

Environmental management systems

Defense Supply Center, Richmond, Va.
Why it won: Increased number of alternative fuel vehicles, cut energy use in half by replacing florescent lights, contracted for a greenhouse gas emissions study

Federal Aviation Administration’s Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Why it won: Reduced non-hazardous industrial waste by recycling cardboard, cut gasoline use by purchasing electric vehicles and driving less, cut water consumption

Recycling

Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas
Why it won: Diverted more than 8,000 tons of solid waste in 2008 through recycling and reuse programs, saving base more than $1 million

General Services Administration’s National Capital Region, Washington, D.C.
Why it won: Recycled 8,400 tons of paper and 283 tons of cans and bottles in 2008, saving 27,300 cubic yards of landfill space

Alternative fuel and fuel conservation in transportation

Air Force’s Material Support Division, Washington, D.C.
Why it won: Purchased more than 1,000 low speed electric vehicles in 2008 and opened four new E-85 refueling stations

Treasury Department, Washington, D.C.
Why it won: Last year, cut overall fuel use by 2.6 percent, increased alternative fuel use by 1.8 percent, reduced total miles driven by 3.1 percent and cut number of vehicles by 4 percent

Water/pollution prevention

Army’s Fort Hood, Texas
Why it won: Established a community program for recycling electronics at the base, eliminating more than 320,000 pounds of electronic waste from entering landfills, and saved $150,000 by collecting used fuel and oil for recycling

Energy Department’s Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Why it won: Saved $277,000 in operating expenses by replacing Freon with non-ozone depleting solvent for chip cleaning operations and saved $800,000 in disposal costs by developing new crusher operation for drums contaminated from radioactive waste

Green purchasing

Robins Air Force Base, Ga.
Why it won: Purchased $610,000 in green products last year and saved $160,000 by using a paint gun filtration system for F-15 aircraft that reduces waste solvent usage by 83 percent

U.S. Postal Service, Washington, D.C.
Why it won: Rolled out new agencywide green purchasing plan and purchased about $90 million in recycled or environmentally preferable products in 2008

Electronics stewardship

Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 8 Office, Denver, Colo.
Why it won: Recycles 100 percent of non-reusable electronic equipment, which in 2008 saved 2.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity, cut 190,000 kilograms of greenhouse gases and reduced 13,400 kilograms of solid waste

Sustainable design/green buildings

Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.
Why it won: Air Force Weather Agency headquarters building earned the Air Force’s first gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program

Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 8 Office, Denver, Colo.
Why it won: New regional headquarters building was certified gold by LEED by incorporating features such as a vegetative roof and an under-floor air distribution system

Sowing the Seeds for Change innovation award

Forest Service Deer River Ranger District, Chippewa National Forest, Minn.
Why it won: Made a reality television program to demonstrate how employees can work together to green their operations, generating ideas that have saved $32,000 to date

National Institutes of Health Office of Research Facilities, Bethesda, Md.
Why it won: Developed a protocol for safely handling hazardous materials during laboratory demolition projects that allows hazardous materials to be captured and non-hazardous materials to be recycled

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.

We do not seem to be a priority for the Treasury Department… 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?)

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.

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.

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).

The banks will probably have some trouble raising money through private sources: the economy is in recession, and it’s doubtful that many investors will see Citigroup and Bank of America as a good investment right now.

That leaves the federal government. Treasury has used half of the $700 billion TARP money appropriated by Congress last fall. And in his address to Congress last night, the president said fixing our financial system will probably require more than the remaining $350 billion. But Congress is in no mood to pass another bank bailout.

All of this brings us back to the feds conducting these “stress tests.” They’re in an incredibly high-pressure situation. If banks do poorly, Treasury will be forced to ask Congress for more bailout money — a political impossibility. But if these tests are overly optimistic about the health of our biggest banks, the financial system won’t get fixed.

Anyone out there working on Treasury’s bank programs? I’d be interested to hear from you.

“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.

“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.