The Department of Homeland Security has issued new interim guidelines to employees who may come in contact with travelers who have contracted swine flu. The instructions follow requests that DHS allow workers to wear protective masks made by the union that represents Customs and Border Protection and Transportation Security Administration employees . A memo obtainedRead… Read more »
A vocal cross-section of technology experts, academics, good government groups and federal employees weighed in this week on the future of Recovery.gov, the Obama administration’s Web site that officials promise will eventually track every single dollar of the federal stimulus. Since the site’s late February launch, observers have raised concerns about its design, the technologiesRead… Read more »
NASA’s Congressional supporters appear to have bought some time in their efforts to ease the Space Shuttle program’s hard retirement date, as the House and Senate conference agreement on the budget resolution reached this week would fund Shuttle missions beyond September 2010. The storied Space Shuttle program is set to end at that time toRead… Read more »
The pay gap between male and female federal government employees has closed significantly in the last 20 years as workers have become more alike in education, experience, and the occupations they hold, according to a report to be released today by the Government Accountability Office. Women earned 89 cents for every dollar earned by theirRead… Read more »
The Obama administration launched a seven-day “high tech roundtable” today to solicit ideas from IT professionals, government contractors, federal employees and other concerned citizens with ideas on how to build and operate Recovery.gov, the economic stimulus-tracking Web site. TheNationalDialogue.org will collect the Recovery.gov ideas between today and May 3. Users can submit their ideas withRead… Read more »
At Sunday afternoon’s White House press briefing on the administration’s efforts to combat and control a potential swine flu outbreak, press secretary Robert Gibbs was joined by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, deputy national security adviser John Brennan, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acting director Dr. Richard Besser. Noticeably absent on stage wasRead… Read more »
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano apologized directly today to Commander Dave Rehbein, head of the American Legion, after a recently leaked DHS intelligence report suggested that right-wing extremist groups might recruit military veterans returning from overseas deployments. The 45-minute meeting occurred at DHS headquarters in Washington this afternoon. A detailed account of the meeting fromRead… Read more »
If you hear some big band sounds coming from a conference room at EPA headquarters today, do not be alarmed. It’s just the EPA Band, holding their regularly scheduled Friday lunchtime rehearsal. The group of of 15 to 20 employees has played together for at least 10 years, according to EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan, mostRead… Read more »
Most state governments have barely touched their federal economic stimulus money and some state officials have expressed concern that they may not be able to manage the extra money and oversight, according to a report issued today by the Government Accountability Office. GAO Acting Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro, who appeared today along with federal,Read… Read more »
President Obama’s call to trim $100 million from the federal budget earned criticism from Republicans and good government groups for not going far enough, especially since the administration’s proposed budget would balloon the national debt. So how would other folks trim at least $100 million of government spending, if not more? Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.),Read… Read more »