Ed O'Keefe's Blog (362)

Gene L. Dodaro, head of the Government Accountability Office, writes on the pages of today's New York Times (boo!) about his agency's biennial assessment of poor-performing government agencies and programs.

"Since we started this list of programs at high risk…

President Obama said Tuesday night that he wants to dramatically overhaul the federal government by merging some agencies and departments together.

"We live and do business in the Information Age, but the last major reorganization of the government happened in the age of black-and-white TV," Obama said during his…

Amid growing dissatisfaction with federal employees, a group of younger, web-savvy feds plan are planning to march on Saturday in defense of their coworkers on the sidelines of Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity."

Organizers of the "Government Doesn't Suck March" (their choice of words, not ours) were inspired in part by last week's…

Bosses in the private sector may send memos to middle managers on a regular basis, but President Obama on Tuesday will take the rare step of reaching out directly to almost 8,000 career government managers.

The president will tell members of the Senior Executive Service that his administration will use a new Web site to track how quickly federal agencies are implementing a series of budgetary and management

reforms, according to a draft…

A new governmentwide survey finds general satisfaction among rank and file federal workers and for the first time gives the government hard

numbers on the number of feds who telework.

The 2010 Federal Viewpoint Survey, administered by the Office of Personnel Management (the government's HR office),…

Robert F. Bernstock…

It seems the federal government didn't realize until recently that you can save more money by buying in bulk.

Federal agencies will band together as one big customer for future purchases of goods and services, including office supplies and furniture, administration officials announced Wednesday.

"The United States federal government is the world’s largest purchaser, but currently, we aren’t acting like it," Office of Management and Budget Director Peter R.…

Gen. Stanley McChrystal will retain his four-star rank when he retires from the military, the White House said Tuesday. The decision means the general will earn about $149,700 per year before taxes in military retirement pay.

Democrats and Republican kick and scream during presidential transitions about the dangers of political appointees from the outgoing administration "burrowing" in to career agency positions, potentially

derailing the well-laid plans of the new party in power. A Government Accountability Office set for release today found 139 political appointees did just that between May 2005 and May 2009.

But just seven of them did so improperly and none…

Many disgruntled workers file grievances with their union or write a letter to the editor, but a half dozen federal employees have turned to the big screen to raise concerns with the nation's airport security.

"Please Remove Your Shoes" uses the experiences of current and former employees of the Federal Air Marshals, Federal…

Despite the Supreme Court's rulings on Monday about gun rights to the Vatican sex abuse case, patents

and…

The ongoing Republican attacks on federal workers and their pay and benefits are demoralizing, baseless and based on flawed data, according to a Democratic lawmaker.

Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) -- who devotes a few minutes on the Senate floor each week to a different rank and file government worker -- last week targeted a proposal by

Sen. John…

The Obama administration is in hot pursuit of cost-cutting ideas, or at least a chance to make it seem like it's trying.

In that vein, the White House will announce today that it's recommending changes to about 10,000 cellphone plans for Air Force employees that better reflect their actual usage.

The changes should help save the Pentagon about $2 million in fiscal year 2011 and another $2.1 million in each of the next three years after, according to the…

Let there be no doubt: Peter Orszag has declared war on the government's computers.

"At one time, a federal worker went to the office and had access to the most cutting-edge

computer power and programs," Orszag

said Tuesday. "Now, he often has more of both in a device clipped

to his belt."

The White House budget director and…

By Ed O'Keefe and Jon Cohen

Looks like the potential negative impact of the BP oil spill might be felt well beyond the White House, Interior Department and Minerals Management

Service.

Though Americans generally give negative reviews to the federal government and BP for the…

President Obama extended on Wednesday a wider range of benefits to the same-sex partners of eligible federal workers, including access to medical treatment, relocation assistance, credit unions and fitness

centers.

The move goes beyond a memo Obama signed last June, which permitted same-sex partners to use the government's long-term-care insurance and other fringe…

The same-sex partners of gay and lesbian federal workers may start applying for long term health care insurance starting July 1, the Office of Personnel Management said Tuesday.

President Obama signed a memo last June extending some benefits to the same sex partners of federal workers, including access to the government’s…

The House on Friday essentially killed Republican efforts to freeze the salaries of federal workers next fiscal year, voting 227 to 183 to table a proposal introduced by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.).

The Minnesota Republican introduced the measure after it won this week's Republican YouCut contest that is…

More than 113 census takers have been the victims of assaults or attacks since April 1, the U.S. Census Bureau said late Wednesday.

In response to inquiries by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Census Director Robert Groves said the bureau's temporary workers knocking on doors to collect information have

faced 29 threats involving a gun, four robberies and three instances of

being held against their will or carjacked.…