Federal Daily - December 9, 2009
OMB Names Finalists for SAVE Award
Feds submitted more than 38,000 cost-savings suggestions for the president’s brainstorming competition—and we’ll soon know the winner.
The Office of Management and Budget named the four finalists for President Obama’s SAVE Award—a contest for federal employees to come up with ideas to save taxpayer money and make the government perform more effectively.
The four were selected from 38,484 entries presented by federal employees from across the country, OMB said Dec. 7. The public still has a chance to vote on the four (at www.SAVEAward.gov) and the winner will get a chance to present the idea to Obama in person, and have it included in the administration's Fiscal Year 2011 budget proposal.
The top ideas are:
- Make Social Security appointments online, from Christie Dickson of Alabama.
- Cut red tape in the way visitor fees and other funds from National Forests are deposited in the government’s bank account, from Julie Fosbender of West Virginia.
- Let veterans leaving VA hospitals keep the medications they’ve been using instead of throwing them away upon discharge, from Nancy Fichtner of Colorado.
- Streamline redundant inspections of subsidized housing—saving inspectors’ time and taxpayers’ money, from Huston Prescott of Alaska.
The other suggestions were evaluated by the OMB staff and the best ones were passed back to the agencies. Suggestions that need government-wide action are under consideration for implementation by OMB staff, the agency said.
So far, the suggestion on vets’ medications seems to be leading the way. Voters have until 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 10 to cast their ballots at: www.whitehouse.gov/omb/save/SaveAwardHomePage.
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Military Kids May Suffer Effects of Longer Deployments, RAND Says
Children in military families may suffer from more emotional and behavioral difficulties compared to other American youths—and those whose parent is deployed longer may struggle the most, said a new RAND Corp. study.
The RAND survey results, published online by the journal Pediatrics, examined the wartime well-being of 1,500 children from military families from across the nation, surveying both the children and a non-deployed parent or other caregiver.
Researchers found that having a parent deployed for a longer period of time and having a non-deployed parent who has struggled with emotional problems were important factors associated with whether military children would struggle emotionally, the study said. Older children and girls seemed to have the most difficulty when a parent is deployed overseas, RAND said.
The longer the period of time a parent had been deployed over the previous three years, the greater the chance that a child reported difficulties related to deployment, such as taking on more responsibilities at home, the report said.
“Our findings suggest that the more time parents are away, the more likely it is that children will experience problems” Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo, a study co-author and RAND researcher, said in a Dec. 7 statement.
And, the types of problems that children reported varied by age and gender. Older youths had more difficulties with school and more problem behaviors such as fighting, while younger children reported more symptoms of anxiety, according to the study. Girls had fewer problems in school and with friends, but reported more anxiety than boys.
To see more, go to: www.rand.org/news/press/2009/12/07/index.html.
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Bill Would Expand Military Access to Affordable Housing
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., on Dec. 7 introduced a bill that would—if signed into law—change housing income eligibility calculations and allow more military families to qualify for designated affordable housing communities.
The Military Families Affordable Homes Act of 2009 would change the way the income from military families is considered when they apply for housing under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. Under current law, when military personnel apply for LIHTC housing, their basic allowance for housing is added to their total annual pay for the purposes of calculating income—and as a result, nearly all military families are excluded, Schumer said.
The bill would allow servicemembers stationed anywhere to apply for LIHTC housing without including their BAH. The legislation would expand a limited exemption Congress passed in 2008, Schumer said.
Under the new proposal, thousands of military families across the country would qualify for the program to gain access to more affordable homes.
To see more, go to: http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/record.cfm?id=320507.
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