The Washington Post today has an amusing piece on Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ penchant for corny, corny jokes about Washington. Even Gates’ loyal speechwriters try to strike the zingers — such as “Washington … a place where people say ‘I’ll double-cross that bridge when I come to it’ ” — from his prepared remarks, but Gates puts them back in. (Poor Bob gets no respect. But at least it’s better than Don Rumsfeld’s found poetry.) Give a listen to Sirius XM’s compilation of the SecDef’s greatest hits here. (My favorite part is the overdubbed guy bellowing “Yeah yeah!” At least,…
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For weeks government regulatory geeks have been waiting with baited breath to see whether President Obama would formally nominate Elizabeth Warren to be the first head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, sidestep the highly contentious nomination process and give her a limited recess appointment, or duck the conflict altogether and choose someone else. According to ABC’s Jake Tapper, the answer is … none of the above. Tapper says Warren will be the — deep breath — Assistant to the President and Special Adviser to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Basically, she’ll be a…
The Smoking Gun today published a statement from a Transportation Security Administration screener who allegedly beat a co-worker with a baton for mocking the size of his genitalia. According to alleged assaulter Rolando Negrin’s statement to Miami police, several co-workers teased him day after day as a “little angry man” after a full-body scanner digitally exposed him, and he snapped. He said the relentless mockery became a form of “psychological torture.” There’s so much about this case that is messed up. Using physical violence to resolve a workplace dispute is, of course, never justified. But if this is actually what…
Slate’s Timothy Noah last night reported that Elizabeth Warren’s nomination to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a done deal. The real question, Noah says, is whether President Obama will send her through the normal Senate confirmation process — where she is sure to face hostility from conservatives who think she’s an anti-Wall Street radical — or install her with a recess appointment. Warren could get tied up in the normal nomination procedures, with partisanship running extremely hot these days and even Democrats like Chris Dodd doubting her chances of confirmation. But a recess appointment would only give…
The Office of Management and Budget says hundreds of millions of dollars in budget reductions are expected to come from the restructuring or cancelation of selected financial system modernization projects. OMB acting director Jeffrey Zients and controller Danny Werfel will announce today the fate of financial system modernization projects that were halted for review last month. In August, a total of 26 IT projects were identified as “high risk” and subjected to a thorough review before moving forward. Improvement plans are being developed, and they should include details of projects risks, new contractor performance metrics and more rigorous project…
Almost two-thirds of the workforce at the Business Transformation Agency, a Pentagon shop slated for the chopping block, is made up of contract employees, according to figures obtained by Federal Times under the Freedom of Information Act. Of 1,124 workers, 725 are contractors, 375 are civilian and 24 are military personnel, the figures show. In announcing his decision to close BTA within the next year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last month that the agency employed “approximately 360 people.” Gates was apparently referring only to government civilian employees. Federal Times filed the FOIA request after repeated attempts to obtain the…
President Obama is urging the Senior Executive Service to embrace his accountability agenda, according to a memo released today. “As the most senior managers in the federal government, you know how essential the work you and your colleagues do is to the nation,” Obama told more than 7,000 SES members. “You also are aware what happens when your best efforts are thwarted by outdated technologies and outmoded ways of doing business. “You understand the consequences of accepting billions of dollars in waste as the cost of doing business and of allowing obsolete or under-performing programs to continue year after year.”…
The Energy Department announced $3.5 million in proposed penalties against 27 companies and manufacturers of products that have not complied with energy efficiency certification requirements. The latest proposed penalties are part of a new effort to enforce compliance on energy efficiency, according to the Energy Department. Scott Blake Harris, the Energy Department’s general counsel, wrote on the agency blog that that when he arrived in his position, the agency was not enforcing 35-year old energy efficiency standards. He said that these standards are a critical part of future national energy plans. He also said that stepped-up enforcement is a minimum…
Do you dislike where you work? Do you think you can do better? If you are a professional or amateur within the field of green and sustainable design, you are in luck. The General Services Administration is once again soliciting ideas for its Design and Construction Awards Program. In a letter to possible participants, Martha Johnson, GSA administrator, said that “In their design and construction, the products of GSA’s Design Excellence Program have represented our nation’s core values of transparency, democracy, and individualism, and they have realized those principles functionally and efficiently.” The contest is open to: Contract design professionals,…
The Health and Human Services Department has awarded an additional $20 million to aid critical access and rural hospitals in adopting electronic health records. The added boost will provide technical support to about 1,655 critical access and rural hospitals in 41 states and the nationwide Indian Country, according to a Sept. 10 news release. The money will flow through regional extension centers (REC) that were created to help health care providers adopt electronic health records and achieve meaningful use. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology awarded more than $640 million earlier this year to 60 existing…