Updated: Sound off on going green
October 27th, 2009 | Agencies Agency Management White House | Posted by Tim Kauffman
Update: Nearly 2,800 ideas for greening the federal government have been submitted so far through the White House’s GreenGov Challenge. Those ideas have been voted on more than 93,000 times since voting began Oct. 19.
Federal employees and military service members have until Saturday to make their suggestions and cast their votes.
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Original post: Think you have a great idea for how the government can reduce its environmental footprint? The Obama administration wants to know it.
The White House is challenging federal civilian employees and military service members to come up with ways in which the government can get to green in six key areas: reducing carbon emissions, conserving energy, conserving water, eliminating waste, building sustainable facilities and purchasing sustainable products.
From now until Oct. 31, employees can log onto the new GreenGov website and post their ideas. They can also vote on ideas submitted by other employees.
The most popular ideas in each area will be presented next month to a committee of senior officials from each agency who are charged with meeting the goals laid out earlier this month in President Barack Obama’s executive order on greening the government’s operations.
Tags: GreenGov, sustainability
Former White House official sentenced in lobbying case
October 16th, 2009 | General Services Administration White House | Posted by Tim Kauffman
Former White House official David Safavian was sentenced to a year in prison today for obstructing justice and lying to investigators about his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
This was the second conviction for David Safavian, who served as chief of staff at the General Services Administration under President George W. Bush. His 2006 conviction was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 2008. He was tried again and convicted in December.
The case stemmed from allegations that Safavian lied to GSA ethics officials when he had asked for advice on whether he could accept a 2002 golf trip to Scotland from Abramoff. Safavian did not disclose that Abramoff had business dealings with the agency.
Safavian later oversaw federal contracting policy at the Office of Management and Budget but abruptly quit before his 2005 arrest.
According to the Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said Safavian won’t have to report to jail until after his pregnant wife delivers their child.
Tags: David Safavian, jack abramoff
Obama orders agencies to cut carbon footprints
October 5th, 2009 | Agencies Agency Management White House | Posted by Tim Kauffman
President Barack Obama issued an executive order this afternoon that requires agencies for the first time to measure and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Obama nixed an earlier idea, included in a draft executive order I reported on back in August, to set a governmentwide percentage target. Instead, each agency must recommend its own target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. It will be up to the heads of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of Management and Budget to approve those targets.
Obama’s order also sets new requirements for cutting gas and water consumption, reducing landfill waste and purchasing products and services that meet environmental sustainability mandates.
We’ll have more on the order at www.federaltimes.com and in next week’s issue of Federal Times.
OMG! Prez bans txting while drving
October 1st, 2009 | Executive Office of the President Federal Travel White House | Posted by Tim Kauffman
Feds, put down those BlackBerries. At least while you’re behind the wheel.
President Barack Obama issued an executive order today that bans federal employees from using their cell phones, BlackBerries or other electronic devices to send or receive text messages, read e-mails or perform other electronic tasks while driving .
The order applies to employees behind the wheel of government owned or leased vehicles or those driving their own vehicles while on government business. Agencies also were instructed to encourage federal contractors to enforce similar polices on their own workforces.
Obama issued the order to coincide with a Washington summit organized by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on the dangers of text messaging and other distractions while driving.
The number of crashes attributed to distracted drivers nationally has risen during the past five years, even though the number of crashes overall has dropped, and accounted for 16 percent of crashes and fatalities in 2008, Transportation statistics show.
Tags: driving, executive order
10,000 + ways to SAVE
October 1st, 2009 | Executive Office of the President OMB White House | Posted by Elise Castelli
Federal employees have submitted more than 10,000 money-saving tips to the Office of Management and Budget’s SAVE Award contest in the last week, OMB director Peter Orszag announced today.
OMB launched the SAVE Award contest on Sept. 23 to gather cost-cutting and performance-improving ideas from the people who know government best: the employees.
So far, you have responded with 10,266 entries. And that number is growing as we speak.
If you haven’t submitted an idea yet, don’t delay. The contest ends on Oct. 14. You can enter at www.SaveAward.gov.
Once submissions close, an OMB panel will review the ideas and select a handful of finalists for President Barack Obama to choose from. The winning idea, which will be announced in November, will be included in the 2011 budget. The idea’s author will also get to meet Obama, the man with whom the buck stops.
Photo: Wikipedia.
Tags: Peter Orszag, SAVE Award
Can you tell me how to prevent the spread of swine flu?
September 1st, 2009 | Education HHS Homeland Security White House | Posted by Elise Castelli
For 40 years Sesame Street has been teaching children their letters and numbers, but this year the residents of the famed street are teaching kids a new lesson: how to prevent the spread of the H1N1 flu virus, better known as swine flu.
The White House, the Homeland Security Department, the Health and Human Services Department and the Education Department have teamed with the makers of Sesame Street to produce four public service announcements to teach children and families healthy habits that will prevent the spread of the potentially deadly virus. The PSAs can be viewed at www.flu.gov.
The 20-second spots feature Gordon and Elmo talking about topics as how to wash your hands and how to sneeze into your elbow.
Of the spots, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said:
Younger children and their parents are some of the people most at risk from the new H1N1 flu virus and with schools starting back up again and the weather starting to get colder, we need to do everything we can to get these important messages about how to prevent the spread of the flu out there.â€
This FedLine blogger’s Sesame Street experience predates Elmo, but I understand he’s pretty popular with the preschool set, so perhaps this will be an effective campaign. But to add authority, I think the spots should have included a visit from the one and only Dr. Grover.
Tags: Elmo, Gordon, Grover, H1N1, Kathleen Sebelius, National Preparedness Month, Sesame Street, swine flu
Does it pay to work in the White House? See for yourself!
July 2nd, 2009 | Pay & Benefits White House | Posted by Elise Castelli
Have you ever wondered how your salary stacks up to the folks with the high-powered White House jobs? Well, wonder no more. Just click here.
The White House posted a searchable form of its annual salary report to Congress yesterday.
Predictably, the big-name power players like Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Senior Adviser David Axelrod, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, and speechwriter Jonathan Favreau all make six figures:Â $172,200 to be precise, or last year’s maximum salary for senior executives. The 2009 maximum for senior executives is $177,000.
Tags: senior executive pay
Public discussion on official secrets starts today
June 29th, 2009 | Agency Management Government reform White House | Posted by Elise Castelli
To follow up on Gregg’s earlier post…
The White House is also hosting an online discussion about how it should revise the policy governing classified national security information.
Until Wednesday, the Public Interest Declassification Board will host a “Declassification Policy Forum” through the White House Open Government Blog to take comments on President Barack Obama’s May 27 memo ordering a review of the executive order outlining classification policy.
Through the discussion, the White House hopes to answer the following:
- “Are you satisfied with the current executive order? What has worked? What hasn’t worked? What should a new executive order include that is not in the current order?”
- “How can the government make the declassification process more transparent?”
- “Should the government prioritize what it declassifies? If so, based on historical significance or other criteria?”
To view or participate in the discussion click here.
If online discussions aren’t your thing, but you want to let your voice be heard, the declassification board is hosting a traditional public hearing at the National Archives and Records Administration’s Washington, D.C. headquarters on July 8. The Federal Register has details on how to participate. You can also email comments to the board directly at pidb@nara.gov.
Deadline for open government drafts
June 29th, 2009 | White House | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
The White House is extending the deadline to submit draft proposals of open government recommendations. The recommendations came in last month, during an online dialogue hosted by the White House and NAPA; now the administration is asking citizens to turn the recommendations into full-fledged proposals.
The new deadline is July 6 (Monday).
Another 100 Day Milestone
May 27th, 2009 | Economic Stimulus White House | Posted by Elise Castelli
The Recovery Act has been in place for 100 days today. To celebrate, the White House published this report today highlighting the effects of 100 projects funded through the act.
Already $112 billion in funds have been spent and over 150,000 jobs created, according to the White House.
The White House is currently working on a roadmap for the next 100 days and in October plans to post detailed spending information on Recovery.gov, according to the White House blog.
Tags: stimulus