The Obama Administration has adopted a number of initiatives to promote smart, cost-justified regulation, according to a White House blog post today.
The president ordered an unprecedented government-review of existing rules in January, the post states, resulting in ambitious reform plans from more than two dozen agencies. The plans outline hundreds of cost-saving reforms, some of which will save more than $10 billion over the next five years, the post states. Keep reading →
Officials have announced the creation of FEMA Corps, which sets the foundation for a new generation of emergency managers and leverages a newly-created unit of 1,600 service corps members from AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps who are solely devoted to FEMA disaster response and recovery.
The full-time residential service program is for individuals ages 18-24, and members will serve a one-year term including a minimum of 1,700 hours, providing support working directly with disaster survivors. The first members will begin serving in this August and the program will reach its full capacity within 18 months. Keep reading →
Interaction with local government isn’t a priority for many citizens, often with good reason.
Most events, town hall meetings, and other local programs are usually not well-attended, even when well-publicized. That lack of citizen participation is likely not due to lack of interest. Rather, people are just too busy to attend what seems like a myriad of meetings that often don’t affect them, at least not directly. Keep reading →
President Obama’s new budget shows savings of $50 million annually by curtailing the production of unwanted $1 coins. As a former budget director for President Reagan, I know first-hand how difficult it is to cut spending and how important it is to guard against faddish programs that claim savings but actually add to federal spending and to the deficit – which is what you’d get if you let Congress replace the dollar bill with the dollar coin.
The latest proposals to do just that are all the more vexing, given that consumers overwhelmingly reject the dollar coin. Keep reading →
The American Red Cross, borrowing an approach used successfully by Dell, launched what’s being billed as the first social media-based operations center devoted to humanitarian relief.
The Digital Operations Center, located in the Red Cross National Disaster Operations Center in Washington, D.C., expands the Red Cross’ ability to engage with the public during emergencies. The new operations center, which Dell help fund and design, is modeled after Dell’s Social Media Listening Command Center, where Dell personnel monitor what customers are saying online about Dell and try to remedy customer issues proactively. Keep reading →
The Government Accountability Office unveiled an iPhone and iPad application on Tuesday that links to mobile versions of all its reports, podcasts, videos and congressional testimony, Nextgov has reported.
The watchdog agency created the app because more people were visiting online versions of its reports and testimonies on smartphones and tablets, according to an emailed press release. Keep reading →
Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel declared BusinessUSA, the administration’s new website designed to help American businesses, officially open for business.
The new website, announced last month, and still in beta, is an online platform that “will make it easier for businesses to access the services and information they need to help them grow, hire and export,” VanRoekel said in a White House blog post Feb. 17. Keep reading →
The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has launched a web-based system that identifies and keeps tainted meat, poultry and eggs out of the food chain.
Gone are paper reports and word-of-mouth alerts about unsafe and dangerous food detected by USDA’s food inspectors, whether its salmonella or sour milk that sends consumers to the hospital. Keep reading →
QuitStart, the 100th mobile app to appear in USA.gov’s Apps Gallery, was created by the National Cancer Institute to help people stop smoking.
The mobile app provides help with tracking smoking cravings and moods and monitoring progress toward achieving smokefree milestones. Keep reading →
U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service officials expect a significant upsurge in use of Self Check a free, online service that lets workers check their own employment eligibility status.
The tool was launched last March in a limited number of states and expanded to all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on Feb. 9. Keep reading →