Tightening Our Belts

As I wrote last week upon my return to the Office of Management and Budget, the fiscal and economic situation we face today is very different than the projected surpluses we left behind the last time I served as OMB Director in the 1990's. After years of fiscal irresponsibility, President Obama inherited a $1.3 trillion projected deficit and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Happy to be Back

On Thursday night, the Senate confirmed my nomination to be the Director of OMB, and yesterday was the start of my first week in the job. I wanted to take a minute to say how great it is to back at OMB and to join the talented team here that is already hard at work producing a Budget for 2012.

Driving IT Reform: An Update

Tackling the information technology gap between the public and private sectors is one of most effective ways we can make government work more effectively and efficiently for the American people. IT has been at the center of the private sector’s productivity gains, but for too long Federal IT projects have run over budget, behind schedule, or failed to deliver what on their promise. That’s why fixing IT is a cornerstone of the President’s Accountable Government initiative.

Improper Payment Progress

Readers of OMBlog are now quite familiar with the Administration’s determined effort to cut the billions of dollars wasted each year in improper payments -- payments made by the government to the wrong person, at the wrong time, or in the wrong amount. These include payments made in error by a government agency sending a benefit check, inadequate documentation by a local provider, or outright fraud by a contractor or other recipient.

And the Top SAVER is...

Over 57,000 of you have spoken, and the winner of the 2010 SAVE Award is Trudy Givens of Portage, Wisconsin.

Every Vote Counts to SAVE

More than 45,000 people have made their voices heard in selecting this year’s winner of the President’s SAVE Award – and there is still time for you to vote too. Just go to www.SAVEAward.gov, take a few seconds, and help select the best idea from our Final Four on how government can cut waste and improve performance.

Legislative Information

Memoranda 2011

News Releases