GovBenefits site adds more federal programs

A two-month old citizen-centered government Web site has added 30 new links to various government programs, including the Justice Department's Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund. The site GovBenefits.gov, the first of the Office of Management and Budget's 24 electronic government projects, is designed to help Americans determine their eligibility for government benefits programs. The site debuted in April with links to 55 government benefits programs. The new links to 30 more federal programs were added to the site July 8. Administrators plan to add access to 30 to 40 new programs each month. Eventually, the site will have links to 300 programs altogether. "The 30 new programs that have been added to the site this month demonstrate our continued commitment to reducing the confusion of government bureaucracy," said Labor Department Deputy Secretary D. Cameron Findlay, in a release announcing the new additions to the site. The Labor Department is GovBenefits' managing partner. The additional programs now mean GovBenefits users can access information about the Agriculture Department's rural housing loan program, the Housing and Urban Development Department's rehabilitation mortgage insurance program and the Veterans Affairs Department's disability compensation program. "As we continue to expand GovBenefits each month, we are ensuring that citizens are given unprecedented access to the help they need," said Assistant Labor Secretary Patrick Pizzella. GovBenefits sorts users into 15 categories of government beneficiaries, including parents, veterans, disaster victims and the unemployed. Once a user selects a category, the site asks a series of straightforward "yes/no" questions, such as, "Are you unemployed?" After tabulating the responses to the questions, the site creates a list of programs for which the citizen may be eligible and provides contact information and Web links to the benefit programs. OMB contributed $800,000 to fund the project, and Labor coordinates the site's activities with help from several other agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture, Education and Health and Human Services.