I first found out about the President’s SAVE Award through an email which was circulated throughout the Social Security Administration (SSA) encouraging employees to submit their ideas for participation in the President's SAVE Award. I felt that there would be so much competition and so many great ideas that would save taxpayers money and allow the Federal Government to function better, that any idea that I could think of would probably be like a needle in a haystack.

I debated as to whether or not I should submit anything.

On the final day (the contest submission deadline), I gathered my courage and jumped into the race.  Once I submitted my idea of allowing online scheduling of Social Security appointments, I said to myself, "It’s done and now I can continue with business-as-usual.” Very little did I know that my idea would be selected as one of the four finalists.

Becoming a finalist among more than 38,000 candidates is one of the greatest accomplishments in both my career and my life.  I received tremendous support from my family, church, friends and co-workers.

I knew that my family, church and friends would support me but when I received countless congratulations and other positive and motivations emails and recognition, my excitement grew overwhelmingly. Just the opportunity to go from being a regular Federal worker with simple ideas to almost making it to the White House with those ideas was amazing. I received so much positive feedback from co-workers and the general public in regards to the idea that I really do hope it’s taken into consideration to be implemented.

I think that this contest was a great opportunity for government officials and executives to see that the frontline workers can contribute in making the workplace a better environment for the citizens and more cost effective for the taxpayers. Getting ideas for improving the agencies from the workers who actually deal with and go through the processes on a daily basis was ingenious. It's an excellent way to improve government agencies by making the best use of time and money.

Although I may not have made it to the White House, I will always remember the experience of trying to get there and the support that everyone gave to me.  I am looking forward to other opportunities like this in the future.

Christie Dickson works for the Social Security Administration in Birmingham, AL

Today, Vice President Biden is in Georgia to kick off over $2 billion in Recovery Act grants and loans to bring broadband to communities that currently have little or no access to the technology, all rolled out over the next 75 days.  The initial $182 million investment  announced today is for eighteen broadband projects benefiting seventeen states, and has already been matched by over $46 million in private capital.

We in the National Economic Council are releasing a new report (pdf) called "Recovery Act Investments in Broadband: Leveraging Federal Dollars to Create Jobs and Connect America."  The report explains the Administration’s strategy for using stimulus dollars wisely to get the biggest return on investment, in terms of jobs and exciting new opportunities for Americans.

An intriguing part of the report shows how the Recovery Act now will do for broadband what federal efforts did for the Internet in the 1980s and 1990s.  Here are three pictures of the Internet over time, from 1988 to 2007.  The thing to notice is that the federal government invested first in the backbone of the Internet.  Next, it helped fund regional networks to extend the Internet’s reach.  With the backbone and the middle piece in place, private investment took off, leading to the Internet connections of the present day.

Source: National Science Foundation, NSF and the Birth of the Internet (http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/nsf-net).

That’s the pattern we are following for the high-speed broadband funded in the Recovery Act.  A big focus of the new awards is on the “middle mile”—the infrastructure that connects the Internet backbone to communities across the nation. Our grants help build middle-mile infrastructure to underserved communities.  We make it easy to connect “anchor institutions” such as schools, libraries, and medical centers.  The middle mile investments, like the regional networks that filled in the Internet, set the stage for private investors to finish the job, with the so-called “last-mile” connections to homes and businesses. 

Source: Merit’s History: The NSFNET Backbone Project 1987-1995 (http://www.livinginternet.com/doc/merit.edu/government.html).

The broadband grants in the Recovery Act will total over $2 billion in the next 75 days, and over $7 billion within the next year.  There are many stories to tell about how these broadband grants will spur private investment and provide opportunities in jobs, education, health care, new businesses, and other realms.  To learn more, read our new report, and read the Vice President’s speech.

Peter Swire is Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy 

Ed. Note: White House intern Andrew Mangino shares the story below. College students, recent graduates and veterans with a passion for public service are encouraged to apply for Summer 2010 internships. Visit the Internship Program website to learn more about the program and to apply.

Something happened last week that I will never forget: I introduced the Vice President of the United States of America.

It’s also something I never imagined could happen, let alone only 11 days after my 23rd birthday. Not so long ago -- just a few months, in fact -- I was lying on my parents’ couch, freshly graduated from college, listening to the Jackson 5, and, well, not exactly sure what was next.

So, as an aspiring writer with a passion for politics, I applied. And soon, I got a call. And an e-mail. And before I knew it, I was sitting in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, working for -- it’s still strange to say it -- the leader of the free world. I was eating lunch in the White House Mess. I was representing the President while mentoring local public-school students. I was drafting speeches for the Vice President. I was petting Bo.

And last Wednesday, it all culminated as I enjoyed the privilege of a lifetime: introducing the Vice President to 115 fellow interns, some of the kindest, most passionate people I’ve ever met.

As the hour approached, I promised myself I wouldn’t get nervous. But as the Secret Service agents behind me could see, I was trembling. Big time. When the applause (for the VP, not me) subsided, I began, describing how the Vice President held court with his interns at a recent holiday party, entrancing us with Senate stories and life lessons. And I described when then-Senator Biden made his first visit to the Senate gym 36 years ago -- and encountered three prominent statesmen “as naked as on the day they were born.”

“But there’s something in that story as it relates to the Vice President,” I said. “And don’t worry, it transcends nudity… You see, you all don’t only know Joe Biden the statesman…you already know Joe Biden the man. Because as rare as this is in politics, those two are -- in every way for this VP -- one and the same.”

Vice President Biden, strolling from one end of the room to the other, did not disappoint. For two hours, he answered our questions with candor. He encouraged us to channel modesty always in Washington, because “my power is merely reflective of the President’s power”—and the President’s power is merely reflective of the people’s.

He told us that in 36 years of public service, he had never -- not once -- been as optimistic as he is today. History, he said, is at an inflection point -- and it’s incumbent on our generation to keep our country and world on course.

I’ll never forget Wednesday afternoon -- the swarm of Secret Service as the motorcade arrived, the Vice President of the United States looking on as I introduced him to my friends, the surreal quality of it all. But speaking of inflection points… what I’ll truly cherish is this fall.

Andrew Mangino is an intern in the Office of the Vice President

Ed. Note: See previous installments from Interior Secretary Salazar, EPA Administrator Jackson and Assistant Secretary of Energy Sandalow, Secretary of Commerce Locke, and Secretary of Energy Chu.

The U.S. Delegation Keynote speaker in Copenhagen today was Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack.  He spoke about how clean energy investments are creating opportunities for rural economies.  While in Copenhagen, Secretary Vilsack also took the opportunity to a hold a day-long meeting at the University here, meeting with academics, scientists and other world leaders to plan ways to incorporate agriculture into the effort to combat climate change.  He also announced today a new memorandum-of-understanding between the USDA and Dairy Management Inc. for the two to work together to reduce dairy-related green house gas emissions by 25%. 

Jake Levine is with the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change

Recently, a somewhat perplexing new line of argument has emerged about health insurance reform, with some folks suggesting the Senate bill is a "dream" for insurance companies. 

If that's the case, though, it must be news to them. The insurance industry has been leveraging its considerable resources in a ferocious effort to defeat this bill, including producing a report the day before the Senate Finance Committee vote that was so misleading the firm behind it had to walk away from it. And that's not surprising, because this bill will finally wrest power away from the insurance industry and put it in the hands of American consumers.

• Among the many provisions to end insurer abuses, lower premiums, and hold insurance companies accountable:
• Insurance market reforms will prohibit abuses such as denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, charging exorbitant premiums based on gender, age, or health status, dropping coverage when people are sick, and imposing lifetime limits on benefits.
• Consumer rights will be enhanced by requiring all insurers to provide effective appeals procedures including outside, independent review of appeals
• New insurance exchanges will reduce premium increases by lowering administrative costs and increasing the leverage of individuals and small businesses in this insurance market.
• Competition will also be enhanced by providing consumers comparative information on available insurance options giving them the tools to make more informed decisions and drive competition based on value and service.
• Insurers will be held accountable for excessive overhead costs fueled by unreasonable executive compensation and profits.
• Insurers will also be required to compete against cost-effective national plans selected by the federal Office of Personnel Management.
• Wasteful taxpayer overpayments to insurance companies through private Medicare Advantage plans will be eliminated.
• A new $6.7 billion annual fee will be levied on insurance companies to ensure that they pay their fair share of coverage costs.

It’s also important to remember that, while none of us are shedding any tears for the insurance industry, the primary goal of health insurance reform isn’t to punish insurers – it’s to give every American the ability to find affordable coverage while controlling the unsustainable cost growth in our current health care system that is crushing families and businesses.  On that front, this bill is hugely successful.  This bill will bring stability and security to people who have insurance and provide affordable options to those who don’t.  It will protect against arbitrary insurance company rules and  will lower premiums for American families and businesses. And it will take a big chunk out of the national deficit.

Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director 

In order to democratize data and advance the President’s agenda of an open, transparent and participatory government, the Data.gov platform was launched on May 21, 2009, with 47 datasets.  Today, we have over 118,000 datasets and have received more than 47 million hits.  Since the launch, many state, local and international governments have followed the path to democratize data through their own platforms.  From San Francisco to the United Kingdom, there is a global movement to share public sector data to unleash the creativity of citizens, drive transparency and ensure accountability. Data transparency can spur economic, scientific, and educational innovation by making it easier to build applications, conduct analysis, and perform research.

The current version of Data.gov platform is just the beginning.  We’ve developed a Data.gov Concept of Operations and would appreciate your input.  Following are the key principles as we continue to evolve Data.gov:
 

1. Focus on Access
   Data.gov is designed to increase access to government data as close to the authoritative source as possible. The goal is to strengthen our democratic institutions through a transparent, collaborative and participatory platform while fostering development of innovative applications (e.g. visualizations, mash-ups) and analysis by third parties. Policy analysts, researchers, application developers, non-profit organizations, entrepreneurs and the general public should have numerous resources for accessing, understanding and using the vast array of government datasets.
    
2. Open Platform
   Data.gov will use a modular architecture with application programming interfaces (API) to facilitate shared services for agencies and enable the development of third party tools.  The architecture, APIs and services will evolve based on public and agency input.
    
3. Disaggregation of Data
   Data should be disaggregated from agency reports, tools or visualizations to enable direct access to the underlying data.
    
4. Grow and Improve Through User Feedback
   Feedback should be used to identify high-value datasets, help set priorities for integration of new and existing datasets and improve the usability of data and applications.
    
5. Program Responsibility
   Agency program executives and data stewards are responsible for ensuring information quality, providing context and meaning for data, protecting privacy and assuring information security.
    
6. Rapid Integration
   Agencies should rapidly integrate current and new data into Data.gov with sufficient documentation to allow the public to determine fitness for use in the targeted context.
    
7. Embrace, Scale and Drive Best Practices
   Data.gov will implement, enhance and propagate best practices for data and information management, sharing and dissemination across agencies, with our state, local and tribal partners as well as internationally.

The Administration is making available high-value data that helps promote national priorities and improve the everyday lives of Americans through Data.gov.  When the Department of Agriculture makes nutrition information available, families can make smarter eating choices.  When the Department of Education makes key information available about colleges and universities, students can make better-informed decisions about the quality and cost of their education.  When the Department of Labor makes safety information available, employers can better protect workers.

We’ve posted the Concept of Operations and invite you to join the dialogue on Data.gov.  Through initiatives like Data.gov, we are laying a new foundation that changes the default setting of government from closed, opaque and secretive to open, transparent and participatory.

Vivek Kundra is the Federal Chief Information Officer

Yesterday the Vice President sent a memo (pdf) to the President demonstrating how the new foundation for a clean energy economy has been laid this year.  The memo is thorough and solid - take a look to get a shapshot of how the future will unfold as a result of the investments in the Recovery Act and the President's budget.

• View the Vice President's memo and the interactive timeline of our clean energy economy future.

Today the President honed in on one element of that emerging clean energy job market, an element he announced a renewed focus upon during last week's speech at Brookings – retrofitting homes.  Speaking at a Home Depot, he described the focus as one of several "strategic surgical steps," explaining why this area of the economy is so well-fitted for an immediate boost that will help the economy as a whole turn around:

In our nation's buildings -- our homes and our office consume almost 40 percent of the energy we use and contribute almost 40 percent of the carbon pollution that we produce and everybody is talking about right now in Copenhagen.  Homes built in the first half of the last century can use about 50 percent more energy than homes that are built today.  And because most of our homes and office aren't energy-efficient, much of that energy just goes to waste, while costing our families and businesses money they can't afford to throw away.

The simple act of retrofitting these buildings to make them more energy-efficient -- installing new windows and doors, insulation, roofing, sealing leaks, modernizing heating and cooling equipment -- is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest things we can do to put Americans back to work while saving families money and reducing harmful emissions.

As a result of a variety of investments made under the Recovery Act, including state and local energy grants, we're on pace to upgrade the homes of half a million Americans by this time next year -- half a million Americans:  boosting the economy, saving money and energy, creating clean energy jobs that can't be outsourced.  But this is an area that has huge potential to grow.  That's why I'm calling on Congress to provide new temporary incentives for Americans to make energy-efficiency retrofit investments in their homes.  And we want them to do it soon.

I know the idea may not be very glamorous -- although I get really excited about it.  We were at the roundtable and somebody said insulation is not sexy.  I disagree.  (Laughter.)  Frank, don't you think installation is sexy stuff?  (Applause.)  Here's what’s sexy about it:  saving money.  Think about it this way:  If you haven't upgraded your home yet, it's not just heat or cool air that's escaping -- it's energy and money that you are wasting.  If you saw $20 bills just sort of floating through the window up into the atmosphere, you'd try to figure out how you were going to keep that.  But that's exactly what's happening because of the lack of efficiency in our buildings.

So what we want to do is create incentives that stimulate consumer spending, because folks buy materials from home improvement stores like this one, which then buys them from manufacturers.  It spurs hiring because local contractors and construction workers do the installation.  It saves consumers money -- perhaps hundreds of dollars off their utility bills each year -- and it reduces our energy consumption in the process.

Get more on who the President spoke with before his remarks -- people representing every link in the chain for this sector -- in the White House background release.

President Barack Obama discusses the economic impact of energy saving home retrofits with labor, manufacturing, and small business leaders at a Home Depot in Alexandria, Va. December 15, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Ed. Note: Thanks to Tech. Sgt. Nathan Gallahan for the post below, send your own video message to the troops via the DOD website.

I started this year's holiday season off right - waking up Thanksgiving morning in a tin building with 200 Army soldiers at a combat outpost in eastern Afghanistan.

I'm a U.S. Air Force Airman, journalist and photographer deployed to the ISAF Joint Command in Kabul. My two-week mission was to document and tell the story of the Afghan National Security Forces. I visited many locations including battalion headquarters and combat outposts; I witnessed everything I expected... and then some.

I went out anticipating combat patrols and handing out supplies, check.
I went out anticipating the Afghan's taking greater control of their country, check.
I went out anticipating the Afghan's tracking down bad guys, check.

Then there were the holiday cards and smiles. I didn't anticipate that.

At each location I visited, there were all these cards and banners reassuring the soldiers America loved them, supported them and prayed for their safe return. I saw soldier upon soldier holding these cards up and showing their friends what amusing little anecdote was scribbled within. The only possessions these soldiers had were what they could carry on their back and holiday cards from school children from across our beautiful nation.

Unfortunately, I’m no stranger to sacrifice. After 12 years, and five deployments, in the Air Force, I’ve only spent four Christmas’ with family. I’ve become hardened. But this letter isn’t about me, this is about the guys in the field I took photos of, and who would never admit what I’m about to tell you, because they’re disciplined, strong and sacrifice all they know for causes so big, the effects will be felt across generations.

These letters, cards, candies, cookies … especially cookies … reach these guys and bring smiles to their faces when happiness in warzones is a rare commodity.

But these days, sending care packages via mail to such remote sites is really hard, especially since you need to know someone here before you can send anything (for security reasons, sending them to units or “any soldier” is no longer allowed).  The Department of Defense has a site though, that allows you to send video messages to service members.  It’s a great way to show support over the holidays and is a lot faster than mail, which can take a month or more, sometimes, to arrive here.

Here's one example:

I went to the site skeptically and opened up the videos and discovered they delivered something a card, some candy or a cookie never could.  They delivered an experience, a portal, a visual of happy, smiling, free people taking the time to say Happy Holidays and thank you. These are the people we’re here for, and in one video I saw snow and a full-sized Christmas tree decorated to the nines! It was a video of the holiday season. When you’re out here, as much as everyone says Happy Holidays, it’s still a cold, sandy, treeless place. Seeing all of those videos, and the happy people saying thanks brought a tear to my eye. To those who submitted the videos, thank you for the moment.  For a little while, I felt the warmth of the holiday season. 

I found out the videos are not limited to the site either.  The best ones are shown on the Pentagon Channel, which is broadcast all around Afghanistan and Iraq (and also to my wife back in England - we’ve been stationed there since 2007).

There is also a small link at the bottom of the page to a form that helps Americans get in touch with veterans organizations in their area that help them show support.

Obviously, the internet in a warzone can be as difficult to receive as a package of grandma’s cookies.  But for those Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen I met out there, every little bit of support does make an impact, regardless of whether it’s during the holidays or not. 

From all of the ground pounders here in Afghanistan (and even us Airmen), have a great holiday season and please hug your families a little tighter, smile at your neighbor a little wider and share the joy and happiness of the holiday season with everyone you see.  Not all of the places in this world share the same peace and happiness that we do back home… yet. 

Soldiers from the U.S. Army's 1-40 Cavalry Squadron sleep after devouring Thanksgiving chow at Camp Clark, Afghanistan Nov. 26. The soldiers have been patrolling daily and helping train the Afghan National Army since their arrival to the camp approximately one month ago. (ISAF Joint Command photo by Tech. Sgt. Nathan Gallahan)

Tech. Sgt. Nathan Gallahan is a member of the ISAF Joint Command, Afghanistan

Ed. Note: See previous installments from Interior Secretary Salazar,  EPA Administrator Jackson and Assistant Secretary of Energy Sandalow, and Secretary of Commerce Locke

Today, Secretary of Energy Chu took the podium at the U.S. Center in Copenhagen.  He delivered his remarks to an overflow crowd and even took questions by satellite from feeds in Shanghai and Dublin.  Secretary Chu’s presentation topic was "Leading in Energy Efficiency and Renewables," and he also announced the launch of a new initiative to promote clean energy technologies in developing countries under the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (Click here for a Fact Sheet).  The hard work on negotiations continued throughout the weekend, and as we enter the second week, the Bella Center is now officially packed.

Jake Levine is with the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change