General Services Administration officials have confirmed that acting Rocky Mountain Regional Administrator Paul Prouty, is now the new acting chief of the entire agency. Prouty, a Public Building Service career official, replaced Jim Williams in the role of acting GSA administrator on Jan. 20, according to GSA. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the appointment. Williams has returned to his former job as commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service. He was nominated by former President Bush to run the agency last summer, but was never confirmed by the Senate. Williams had been running the agency on an acting basis ever since.
Browsing: Transition
President Obama has just filled four assistant attorney general slots: David Kris is assistant AG for national security. Tony West is assistant AG for the Justice Department’s civil division. Lanny Breuer is assistant AG for Justice’s criminal division. Christine Varney is assistant AG for the antitrust division. Kris was associate deputy attorney general from 2000 to 2003, where he supervised the government’s use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. But Kris had serious reservations about the Bush administration’s legal justifications for warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens and residents, and went public with his concerns three years after leaving Justice.…
If you had a ticket for Tuesday’s inauguration and couldn’t get in, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies would like to apologize. The Washington Post reported today that nearly 4,000 ticketholders, most in the blue or purple sections, were shut out of the inauguration by police officers who said the sections were full, despite visitors lining up at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. At one point, the line for one of the gates stretched into the Interstate 395 tunnel underneath the Reflecting Pool. Ticketholders reported that officers weren’t receiving communications from others regarding the situation and crowds began to…
The Senate just voted to confirm Hillary Clinton as the secretary of state. The final vote was 94-to-2: Only Sens. David Vitter, R-La., and Jim DeMint, R-S.C., voted ‘nay.’ But the Senate Judiciary committee is postponing its vote on Eric Holder’s nomination as attorney general. The Republicans on the committee apparently asked for the delay. Holder has proved controversial because of decisions he made as a deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration.
… but he doesn’t blame the tax preparation software for his tax problems. Just one of many exciting facts from the Treasury secretary-designate’s confirmation hearing this morning. Geithner, by the way, is likely to be confirmed despite the tax issue. Senate Finance committee chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, plans to hold a vote tomorrow, despite objections from several Republican committee members. The nomination would then go before the full Senate.
So we all know President Barack Obama was sworn in Tuesday after what seemed like a decade-long transition process. Apparently it’s hard to get out of that transition mode, as several senators and witnesses at congressional hearings this morning repeatedly referred to President-elect Obama, even as aides looked at each other nervously and were hesitant to correct their bosses. I know the presidential oath was botched yesterday, but Obama is now the president. It may take a few days to break that habit of calling him the president-elect!
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the inauguration: an atmosphere like that of Election Night, perhaps, a night that felt like a moment of national catharsis – thousands of people flooding the streets, cheering, crying, honking horns. But Inauguration Day wasn’t like that. There certainly were emotions: tears after Obama took the oath of office; smiles after the Rev. Joseph Lowery’s benediction. Overall, though, the mood was more celebratory. The Foggy Bottom Metro stop looked like a street fair: Dozens of vendors sold everything from Obama t-shirts to commemorative copies of the Washington Post. They said business was slow…
Those who are claustrophobic or merely uncomfortable with being pressed up against dozens of other people likely hated today’s inauguration. Drawing near-record crowds, depending on whom you ask, the event taxed people’s patience, tolerance for cold and even their needs for personal space bubbles. A lot had been made of the difficulties guests would have getting to the inauguration, what with practically all of northern Virginia being declared a no-driving zone for personal vehicles. So I was surprised to find the District-bound Blue line Metro at Crystal City nearly empty at 6:30 a.m. and thought I was in for an…
The new WhiteHouse.gov is up and running. Its inaugural blog post promises timely communications with the public, transparency and public participation. But the most exciting part of the site for this FedLine reporter is the fun facts page. Because we all know I have no interest in fun facts of any sort, right? 😉
In remarks prepared for delivery, Barack Obama had this to say about federal government: The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account – to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light…