FedLine noted last week that Treasury secretary Henry Paulson had spent almost half of the $700 billion allocated as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (or “the bailout,” as we like to call it). The Obama administration apparently gets to spend the other half. At a contentious House Financial Services committee hearing today, Paulson said he didn’t think spending the other $350 billion in the next two months was the best plan: We have decided the best course of action is to preserve half of the TARP fund for flexibility, and for the next administration. This sets up an…
Browsing: Barack Obama
Turns out the historic inauguration celebration planned for President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 20 has brought out the capitalist in many DC-area residents. With most hotel rooms already booked, many homeowners and renters in the nation’s capital are advertising their homes for rent for the festivities. As this story from the real estate website Urban Turf points out, going rates are steep. A 2,600-square-foot, three-bedroom condo about two miles from the White House is asking $10,000 for the week — double the monthly rent for a comparable property in the neighborhood. FedLine wonders if any federal employees are looking to get into…
It’s official: President-elect Barack Obama’s resigning his Senate seat effective this Sunday. Here’s Obama’s statement just e-mailed to the press from his transition team: It has been one of the highest honors and privileges of my life to have served the people of Illinois in the United States Senate.  In a state that represents the crossroads of a nation, I have met so many men and women who’ve taken different journeys, but hold common hopes for their children’s future.  It is these Illinois families and their stories that will stay with me as I leave the United States Senate and…
President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team yesterday announced a roster of 19 heavyweights who will conduct top-to-bottom reviews of federal agencies beginning next week. The agency review teams will complete a thorough review of departments, agencies and commissions to provide Obama and his advisers information need to make strategic policy, budgetary and personnel decisions prior to the Jan. 20 inauguration. As this press release  from the Obama transition Web site illustrates, most of the names should ring a bell to employees who were around during the previous Democratic administration under President Clinton. There’s Sally Katzen, who headed the Office of Information…
So last week we wrote that the General Services Administration was keeping quiet on where President-elect Obama’s transition headquarters was located. Apparently the D.C. traffic department didn’t get the memo that it was being left to the transition team to reveal the hideout. The District Department of Transportation released a detailed description of the location in a press release about traffic restrictions to protect the transition office. Here is what the DDOT had to say: D Street, NW between 5th and 6th is closed to vehicular traffic and parking is restricted. Northbound 6th Street St, NW, between Indiana Avenue and…
Looking for a job in the Obama administration? Then you should check out the Plum Book, the federal directory of leadership jobs released after every presidential election. The book was released today and contains more than 7,000 federal civil service leadership and support job descriptions in the legislative and executive branches. Of course, there’s no guarantee that all of the jobs will be filled when Obama takes office. It does, however, give you a look at the scope of opportunities available for you in certain sectors of the federal government (and could even help you get that ol’ resume ready!)…
Rawhide. Eagle. Tumbler. And now Renegade. That last one is President-elect Barack Obama’s Secret Service code name, the Chicago Tribune said yesterday. The Secret Service has used code names to describe the officials, family members and other notable figures they are assigned to protect since President Truman was dubbed General. Sometimes they make sense — President Reagan was Rawhide, probably because he was sometimes described as a cowboy, and Pope John Paul II was Halo. Eagle, President Clinton’s code name, is OK, if somewhat generic for a president.
As if the fact the General Services Administration is supplying 120,000 square feet of office space to house the Obama transition team isn’t evidence enough of the scale of the event, FedLine has more numbers for you to chew on. The office space is outfitted with enough desks, computers, telephones, chairs and assorted other office supplies to support 500 people, said Gail Lovelace, GSA’s chief human capital officer, who is overseeing the transition. And Congress has appropriated $5.3 million to pay for it all. Lovelace said the exact location of the office is still being kept under wraps because the…
With his approval ratings at historic lows and the nation’s focus shifting to the incoming Obama administration, President Bush has a tough time garnering much attention these days. But hundreds of career and political employees who work at the Executive Office of the President gave Bush a rousing reception yesterday on the South Lawn of the White House. Flanked by his Cabinet and joined by First Lady Laura Bush, Vice President Cheney and Cheney’s wife Lynne, Bush congratulated Barack Obama for winning the election and urged federal employees to make the transition to a new administration as smooth as possible. Joking about his graying hair and First…
President-elect Barack Obama just held his first news conference, and I was struck by how much attention is focused on him — and how little on President Bush. Obama had to remind reporters a half-dozen times that “I am not the president until Jan. 20.” Any sitting president is a lame duck between the election and the inauguration, but it seems Bush has become especially marginalized. How does this impact your agency? Do you feel like the focus on the next administration means a lack of direction at the end of this administration?