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Monday Afternoon Federal Newscast

Federal employees have submitted more than 38,000 ideas to help the government save money. An Office of Management and Budget official says as of Oct. 14th empl...

Federal News Network Staff

October 19, 2009 2:13 pm

3 min read

Federal employees have submitted more than 38,000 ideas to help the government save money. An Office of Management and Budget official says as of Oct. 14th employees suggested about 38,400 ways to make the government more effective and efficient. OMB stopped accepting official entries as of last Tuesday, though they say on their Web site that they’re still taking ideas. The official says the plan still is to announce a winning recommendation in November. OMB deputy director for management Jeffrey Zients said when the administration announced the Securing Americans Value and Efficiency (SAVE) Award contest Sept. 23rd that a group of senior OMB officials would evaluate the ideas and come up with one that would be applied across the government. The winning idea will be included in the fiscal 2011 budget and the employee will present their idea to the President.

Federal employees are encouraged to bring their walking shoes to work next Tuesday. The Office of Personnel Management kicks off the FedsGetFit campaign with a one mile walk and expo on the Mall. Feds Get Fit is a three month health awareness campaign with a different theme each month. It precedes OPM’s Campus Worklife Program which is set to be launched early in the New Year. Any agency that wants to participate in next Tuesday’s walk would contact fedsgetfit@opm.gov by close of business tomorrow.

The Obama administration is unveiling a new program to provide support to state and local housing agencies to provide help to thousands of home buyers and renters. The administration said the new program would help to support low mortgage rates and expand resources for low and middle income borrowers who want to buy or rent a home. The program will feature two parts – a new bond purchase program to support new lending by housing finance agencies and a temporary credit and liquidity program to improve access by housing agencies to credit sources for their existing bonds.

The Marine Corps says a sergeant charged with faking war injuries to obtain freebies intended for wounded warriors will plead guilty. First Lt. Joy Crabaugh of the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va., says Sgt. David Budwah (BOOD’-wah) will enter the plea at a court-martial hearing Wednesday in Quantico. Crabaugh wouldn’t say which offense or offenses Budwah will acknowledge. The 34-year-old Marine from Springhill, Louisiana, faces eight counts carrying prison terms of up to 31½ years. He is accused of bluffing his way into 33 events last year, including six rock concerts, two Washington Nationals games and a Washington Redskins game.

United States is in a difficult fiscal situation and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Benanke says Congress and the White House need to develop an exit strategy. Bernanke wants the federal governement to reduce budget defecits and is calling on China to get their citizens to spend more money. Bernanke says both of these actions would help bolster global trade. Bernanke made these remarks at a Fed conference in California days after the federal government reported a one point four trillion dollar deficit for 2009.