Obama Lauds Berry -- and Feds

• By Tom Shoop
• April 12, 2013
• comments

Many people in the federal community have stepped up this week to offer words of praise for John Berry as he leaves his post as head of the Office of Personnel Management. Now you can add one more name to the list: President Obama.

In a statement issued Friday, Obama not only lauded Berry for such achievements as overhauling the federal hiring process, he snuck in some praise for federal employees generally, calling them "men and women who devote their lives to vital tasks like securing our borders, curing disease, and keeping the American people safe."

Here's the full text of Obama's statement: 

John Berry has served the American people well as Director of the Office of Personnel Management.  He’s streamlined the way federal employees are hired, modernized the workplace, made the federal workforce more diverse, and increased the number of returning servicemembers hired by the government.  John has been a champion for federal workers – men and women who devote their lives to vital tasks like securing our borders, curing disease, and keeping the American people safe.  This country is better off because of John’s talent and dedication, and I’m grateful to him for his ...

Nudging Shinseki Out at VA?

• By Charles S. Clark
• April 11, 2013
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The Veterans Affairs Department has been hit on multiple fronts for its burgeoning backlog of unprocessed veterans’ health care claims, taking shots from everyone from House Veterans ‘ Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., to Time magazine’s Joe Klein.

But perhaps the most blunt assessment appeared Thursday on the op-ed page of The Washington Post.

An essay titled “Time to Shake up the Dysfunctional VA” by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and Pete Hugest, chief executive of Concerned Veterans for America -- both of whom served in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- calls for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to step down.

The piece notes that despite a $25 billion influx of cash from Congress since 2009 and a shield from sequestration, Shinseki has been unable to deliver on his pledge to tackle the claims backlog. The VA is “projected soon to hit a grim landmark of 1 million unprocessed benefits claims, with roughly 600,000 of those more than 125 days old,” the authors write.

“Eric Shinseki is a patriot and an honorable man who has served this country faithfully in and out of uniform,” they say. “We have the utmost respect for him and his service, but his tenure at ...

The Boldest Leaders in Government

• By Tom Shoop
• April 11, 2013
• comments

Those who have dedicated their careers to public service often get little in the way of recognition. That's especially true in the case of risk-takers who go out of their way to bring innovation to the federal sector. 

Our sister publication, Nextgov, which focuses on how technology is transforming the federal government, is out to change all that. Nextgov has launched the Bold Awards, aimed at recognizing those who have implemented innovative, and at times provocative, programs, policies or management practices relying on information technology. 

The awards seek to highlights stories of accomplishments that resonate not only with federal employees, but the public. The winners will be people who defied the odds, overcame obstacles, pushed new ideas and made a genuine difference.

Do you know someone who fits the bill? Nominations are now open, until May 17. 

Video: David Stockman Talks Budget on The Daily Show

• By Ross Gianfortune
• April 9, 2013
• comments

In his book The Great Deformation, former budget director David Stockman hypothesizes that the United States’ budget problems do not stem from Barack Obama, the current congress, George W. Bush or even his former boss, Ronald Reagan. Rather, America’s budget problems go all the way back to the Great Depression and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency. Stockman compared the government stimulating the economy to the relationship between a drug dealer and an addict.

“It’s like a narcotic. For a while, the big deficits we’ve had, all the money printing from the Fed worked.” Stockman said on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Monday night.  “It did stimulate the economy, we had some growth. Over time, it becomes habit-forming.”

During the course of the interview, Stockman discussed the gold standard’s evolution in the American economy. After Stockman said called Richard Nixon’s abandonment of it as not “disciplined.” Stockman said he was most concerned about large-scale economic policy, calling it a “casino economy.” He mentioned that he’d like to go back to a pre-Roosevelt era, referencing a 1932 wide banking act.

“If you have narrow banks that are regulated under a Glass–Steagall regime. And ...

Government Employees Get No Respect?

• By Dana Grinshpan
• March 28, 2013
• comments

In the midst of the largest study Government Executive has ever conducted, on the subject of federal employee engagement, some interesting findings have been emerging. More than 21,000 federal employees have responded so far. Here's what they've told us:

• About half say they receive the recognition they deserve for a job well done.
• Almost three-fourths say that their colleagues respect their opinions.
• Less than one-third say they hang out with their colleagues outside of work.

These results are not final yet. We still need to meet certain goals to generalize the results to all federal employees. If you’re one of the people who have already participated in the survey, thank you. If you’re not, we’d greatly appreciate your help. It only takes five minutes.

Click here to complete the employee engagement survey