On a vote of 220 to 212, the House of Representatives yesterday passed a historic healthcare bill that will extend coverage to 32 million Americans, reduce deficits and ban insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions. For the first time, most Americans would be required to purchase insurance, and face penalties [...]

Today marks yet another Open Government Initiative deadline. Agencies are required to have their public comments submitted by today. So far there have been 2,000 ideas from the public and NASA has received the most suggestions. Other agencies that received more feedback than others were the Environmental Protection Agency, the Veterans Affair’s Department and the [...]

The contributions of military women throughout history were highlighted yesterday during remarks at the Pentagon’s Women’s History Month observation. The nation depends upon women, both military and civilian, at all levels of the Defense Department, from the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan to the upper echelons of military command, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates [...]

Edna Primrose has been named by Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis as the new National Director of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Job Corps. Primrose is the former director of the Job Corps center in Woodland, Md. and a workforce investment veteran. Secretary Solis said “Edna Primrose will bring to this position not only [...]

Government agencies are getting better at reporting specific statistics about their Freedom of Information Act operations, according to a report by the U.S. General Accountability Office. In line with transparency efforts, Congress enacted the OPEN Government Act of 2007, which amended FOIA in several ways. Among other things, the act requires additional statistics on timeliness [...]

Despite historic recruitment rates since the end of the military draft, the Department of Defense continues to take measures to ensure prolonged recruitment successes, according to a senior Pentagon official. In a written testimony submitted to the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on military personnel, Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Clifford L. Stanley [...]

The key planks in the Obama strategy in Afghanistan can be characterized as the three R’s: regaining the initiative against the insurgency, resolving the political tensions and grievances,and rebuilding and reinforcing, said U.K. Ambassador to Afghanistan Mark Sedwill in a Department of Defense briefing yesterday. Coming to the end of the first year of the [...]

This morning at the Microsoft Office in Chevy Chase, Congresswoman Donna Edwards addressed local high school students at this year’s DigiGirlz Day. This event was created by Microsoft for 8th – 12th grade girls in the Maryland, D.C., Virginia area to dispel gender stereotypes of careers in the technology industry. Congresswoman Donna Edwards, who currently [...]

Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, made some remarks at the open agenda meeting on “A National Broadband Plan for Our Future” held Tuesday. Genachowski was joined by Blair Levin, the FCC broadband chief, and as well by members of Levin’s team, to talk about the National Broadband Plan, which intends to spur [...]

Simultaneously held with Fix a Leak Week, Sunshine Week is less about tools and more about transparency. Held March 14-20 this year, Sunshine Week was launched in 2002 by Florida Society of Newspaper Editors as a response to efforts by some Florida legislators to create various new exemptions to the state’s public-records law. FSNE estimates [...]