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OPA News Release: [10/09/2002]
Contact Name: Yvonne Ralsky
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676

GovBenefits.gov Adds 23 New Benefit Programs

Web Site Continues its Rapid Expansion Efforts

WASHINGTON—The Department of Labor and the Office of Management and Budget today announced the addition of 23 new federal benefit programs to GovBenefits.gov, a Web site developed to serve as a one-stop resource for government benefit eligibility information. The 23 new programs bring the total number of programs featured on the GovBenefits.gov site to 133, representing over $1.2 trillion in annual benefits.

“The addition of these new programs demonstrates our continued commitment to establishing GovBenefits.gov as citizens’ primary source for government benefit eligibility information,” said Patrick Pizzella, assistant secretary for administration and management and CIO at the Department of Labor.

The new benefit programs are from the Departments of Agriculture (Emergency Loans), Education (Special Education), Health and Human Services (Tribal Family Assistance Grants), Housing and Urban Development (Mortgage Insurance: Purchase of Cooperative Housing Units), Labor (Registered Apprenticeship), Veterans Affairs (Beneficiary Travel), and State (Claims Against Foreign Governments). For a full list of programs, visit: http://www.govbenefits.gov.

In addition to the new programs, the eligibility questionnaire was redesigned to reduce the number of questions citizens need to answer and to simplify the benefit screening process. The “Featured Links” section was expanded to include information about other government resources, such as the General Services Administration’s Federal Consumer Information Center.

GovBenefits.gov is one of 24 key initiatives that comprise the President’s E-Government Strategy, an integral part of the President’s Management Agenda to make it easier for citizens to interact with the government, save taxpayer dollars, and streamline citizen-to-government transactions. The project is the collaborative effort of 10 federal agencies including: Departments of Labor (managing partner), Agriculture, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, State, Veterans Affairs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Social Security Administration.

Web hosting services for GovBenefits.gov are provided by www.USA.gov, an interagency initiative administered by the U.S. General Services Administration.

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