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Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective : Browse Popular Ideas
1. Where are the biggest opportunities to streamline and modernize government processes?
2. How can we use government resources more efficiently and effectively?
3. Is there overlap or duplication within the federal government that could be consolidated or eliminated?
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169 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Eliminate Separate Congressional Health Care
3 comments for Idea: Eliminate Separate Congressional Health CareWhat is good for the people should be good for Congress. If they were to have to use public health care, they would be more motivated to ensuring it is adequate.
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168 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Elimiminate Congressional Pensions
3 comments for Idea: Elimiminate Congressional PensionsNot having career politicians and making congress use the Social Security System would make them a little more motivated to ensuring the system is properly cared for.
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168 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Eliminate Distribution of GOVT Calendars
8 comments for Idea: Eliminate Distribution of GOVT CalendarsEliminate the issuance and distribution of the 3-month wall display gov calendars and any other govt printed and distributed calendars. Simply print from agency websites or distributed as attachment by e-mail. Ridiculous to waste printing, postage, handling, mailings through channels. Also, most agency forms should be printed from links and not ordered and mailed to offices!
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167 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Stop Military Flyovers at Sporting Events
Why are we wasting money, time, resources and Fuel costs for using Military aircraft to fly over sporting events? This is a HUGE waste of tax payer funds. This practice should be stopped. These aircraft should only be used for the purpose that they were designed, built and paid for. Not for jaunts over an athletic event to excite the crowd. This is a big waste of money and I'm sure the funds could be spent better ...more »
24 comments for Idea: Stop Military Flyovers at Sporting EventsWhy are we wasting money, time, resources and Fuel costs for using Military aircraft to fly over sporting events? This is a HUGE waste of tax payer funds. This practice should be stopped. These aircraft should only be used for the purpose that they were designed, built and paid for. Not for jaunts over an athletic event to excite the crowd. This is a big waste of money and I'm sure the funds could be spent better elsewhere or even returned to the treasury as they are nothing but wasted money.
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167 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Drug Test Welfare Recipients
Law abiding citizens, must take a drug test for most jobs these days. I propose that welfare recipients must be drug tested in order to get welfare and randomly bebdrug tested there-after. Must pass initial test. 1st failed random drug test, recipient must be given a warning. Must be required to test again within 30 days. A 2nd failed test should result in the loss of welfare benefits for one year. Repeat the process ...more »
20 comments for Idea: Drug Test Welfare RecipientsLaw abiding citizens, must take a drug test for most jobs these days. I propose that welfare recipients must be drug tested in order to get welfare and randomly bebdrug tested there-after.
Must pass initial test. 1st failed random drug test, recipient must be given a warning. Must be required to test again within 30 days. A 2nd failed test should result in the loss of welfare benefits for one year.
Repeat the process after the one year, a failed test the second time around is the loss of benefits for one year. A third time is the loss of benefits indefinitely.
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165 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »4-Day Work Week For Federal Government Employees
30 comments for Idea: 4-Day Work Week For Federal Government EmployeesThe Federal Government should implement a 4-day work week for employees. This would save billions of dollars on energy and gas and increase productivity.
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162 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Solar Power for Federal Buildings
15 comments for Idea: Solar Power for Federal BuildingsCreate and enforce a policy that all federal buildings use solar panels. The Federal Detention Center in Honolulu has the highest electricity bill on the island of Oahu and doesn't use any solar power!
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159 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Contractors cost too much
14 comments for Idea: Contractors cost too muchIn my experience, government contractors cost way too much. About 225% the cost of a federal employee. Furthermore, many federal managers are afraid to fire these over priced contractors because they are too entangled with daily operations.
We need to move away from some of these hight cost contractors. By the way, do you know that contractors are not counted when discussing "bloated government"?
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158 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Eliminate Age Penalty for Federal Employees Under Age 55
Many federal employees have more than 30-years of federal service; however, they cannot retire without a 2% penalty for every year they are under the age of 55. By eliminating the age penalty employees with 30 years of service plus could retire. Benefit: (1) the employee, if they choose, could start a second career (outside of the federal government); (2) provide promotion opportunities for the younger federal employee; ...more »
12 comments for Idea: Eliminate Age Penalty for Federal Employees Under Age 55Many federal employees have more than 30-years of federal service; however, they cannot retire without a 2% penalty for every year they are under the age of 55. By eliminating the age penalty employees with 30 years of service plus could retire. Benefit: (1) the employee, if they choose, could start a second career (outside of the federal government); (2) provide promotion opportunities for the younger federal employee; and (3) reduce unemployment by opening federal position.
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157 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Employee Feedback on Supervisor's Performance Appraisals
4 comments for Idea: Employee Feedback on Supervisor's Performance AppraisalsA system should be in place to provide comments on a supervisors performance. Many employees are hesitant to provide feedback (positive or negative) for fear of retribution. However, the employee has the most interaction with the supervisor and should have a weighted impact on evaluation of job performance. Helping to eliminate unproductive supervisors or re-educate.
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157 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Congress & cost of living increase & retirement
13 comments for Idea: Congress & cost of living increase & retirementWhy did Congress get a cost of living increase when the rest of us did not?
Also, why should a senator or congressman who only works a term or two be entitled to full retirement benefits? Most federal employees need to work at least 30 years or so to get retirement benefits....
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155 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Don't penalize programs that didnt use 100% of thier FY budget.
Don't penalize government organizations who did not spend 100% of their allocated annual budget by reducing their budget the following year. People tend to waste cash at the end of the fiscal year so they will be able to receive a similar budget the following year. Instead of ignoring this obvious problem, just simply don't penalize those organizations who didn't spend all of their money. This unused money can then ...more »
8 comments for Idea: Don't penalize programs that didnt use 100% of thier FY budget.Don't penalize government organizations who did not spend 100% of their allocated annual budget by reducing their budget the following year. People tend to waste cash at the end of the fiscal year so they will be able to receive a similar budget the following year.
Instead of ignoring this obvious problem, just simply don't penalize those organizations who didn't spend all of their money. This unused money can then be recollected so the federal government can start paying off our tremendous dept.
There is no reason for new office chairs, desks, lamps, books, and especially unused expensive software at the end of every year!
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151 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Invoke Term Limits for Congress
2 comments for Idea: Invoke Term Limits for CongressEliminate career politicians. Getting new, fresh ideas in on a regular basis has to be more efficient.
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150 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Stop Giving Social Security to people that do not pay into it.
Stop giving social security to people that have never paid into the system. The only people that should be gettin social security are the people that pay into the program. Put our money into some kind of savings accout or government bond purchase program. Do not let non citizens or illegals have our social security money. The people that pay into this will need it when they retire and it is not right to give it to ...more »
6 comments for Idea: Stop Giving Social Security to people that do not pay into it.Stop giving social security to people that have never paid into the system. The only people that should be gettin social security are the people that pay into the program. Put our money into some kind of savings accout or government bond purchase program. Do not let non citizens or illegals have our social security money. The people that pay into this will need it when they retire and it is not right to give it to people that do not deserve it. Stop all of the loop holes that allow people to get more than others or allow non contributors to get money from social security. I have been paying into the system for 35 years and by time I retire it will be 45 years I deserve to get a good return on my money. It is not an entitlement.
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149 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Congressional Pay and Benefits Need to be cut, share the pain
"Just remember everyone, the Congress (both the Senate and the House) have been granted an 8% increase in their salaries over the past three years, while their staff s' have had increases of between 7% and 12 % over the past three years. Also, the utilities in the states (i.e. sewer, gas, electric and water) have been granted fee increases that have averaged 10-20% over the last three years! It is time the Congress ...more »
6 comments for Idea: Congressional Pay and Benefits Need to be cut, share the pain"Just remember everyone, the Congress (both the Senate and the House) have been granted an 8% increase in their salaries over the past three years, while their staff s' have had increases of between 7% and 12 % over the past three years.
Also, the utilities in the states (i.e. sewer, gas, electric and water) have been granted fee increases that have averaged 10-20% over the last three years!
It is time the Congress looks at the COLA Formula, and adds these fuel and utility increases as being a part of the COLA Formula. It does not take a genius as to which side of the Congress people have their priorities set on, when they do not touch the size of their budgets, but they expect the retired and disabled to starve"
Lead from the top, a token 5 or 10% reduction in Congressional pay, benefits, personal budget, retirement plans is nothing.
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148 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »SELF + ONE
6 comments for Idea: SELF + ONEThis option needs to be made available to federal employee health insurance. It's available now for vision and dental so why not for health?
It would lower the cost to employees and ultimately the government.
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Voting is Disabled
146 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Eliminate foreign aid to nations with corrupt leadership
How many times do we have to give millions of dollars to nations that repeatedly funnel money into their own pockets? The American people opened their wallets to the devastation following Haiti's earthquake yet were less than forthcoming to help following the Pakistan floods. Why? Because we as a nation have repeatedly given money to the Pakistani government only to have it not reach the people in need. We see the ...more »
7 comments for Idea: Eliminate foreign aid to nations with corrupt leadershipHow many times do we have to give millions of dollars to nations that repeatedly funnel money into their own pockets? The American people opened their wallets to the devastation following Haiti's earthquake yet were less than forthcoming to help following the Pakistan floods. Why? Because we as a nation have repeatedly given money to the Pakistani government only to have it not reach the people in need. We see the same thing happening in Afghanistan. We need to hold leaders accountable for every dollar of tax payer money we send overseas and cut off those governments that refuse transparency of their records. We would save BILLIONS as a nation and would not be contributing to corrupt regimes around the world.
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140 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Initiate 360 Degree Reviews of Supervisors
Too many supervisors in the Federal government lack the skills and training to lead an organization of any size. This said, they still have the ability to evaluate/rate individual staff performance. A 360 review process (which is common in the private sector) would allow staff to provide input into the overall performance appriasal of their supervisor(s). While supervisors are evaluated by their superior, staffers do ...more »
13 comments for Idea: Initiate 360 Degree Reviews of SupervisorsToo many supervisors in the Federal government lack the skills and training to lead an organization of any size. This said, they still have the ability to evaluate/rate individual staff performance. A 360 review process (which is common in the private sector) would allow staff to provide input into the overall performance appriasal of their supervisor(s). While supervisors are evaluated by their superior, staffers do not get the opportunity to rate their supervisor or any other manager above them. This should be changed so that supervisors at all levels are accountable to the staff that they supervise.
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140 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »End of the Year Spend Down
It is general knowledge that Agencies/Institutes spend down their annual budgets at the end of the fiscal year in order to receive the same or higher budget for the following fiscal year. This method of spending is in many cases very wasteful. Agencies/institutes should request budgets for a new fiscal year based on their needs not based on their previous years budget. End of the year overflow should be used to: ...more »
4 comments for Idea: End of the Year Spend DownIt is general knowledge that Agencies/Institutes spend down their annual budgets at the end of the fiscal year in order to receive the same or higher budget for the following fiscal year. This method of spending is in many cases very wasteful. Agencies/institutes should request budgets for a new fiscal year based on their needs not based on their previous years budget.
End of the year overflow should be used to:
(1) pay back what the government has borrowed from countries
(2) put into social security/medicare funds
(3) saved in an escrow account for emergency uses
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137 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Telework for all Eligible Employees
I think having Telework for all elgibile employees would be a very valuable thing. our office just split into 2 parts. We have leased a building for the next 5 years and had to contract to have that spaced revamped into a useable office space. So we had to have a new building, new computers, new offices, new printers, new monitors, New Phones, plus the cost of upkeep and repair. I really have no idea how much this ...more »
14 comments for Idea: Telework for all Eligible EmployeesI think having Telework for all elgibile employees would be a very valuable thing. our office just split into 2 parts. We have leased a building for the next 5 years and had to contract to have that spaced revamped into a useable office space. So we had to have a new building, new computers, new offices, new printers, new monitors, New Phones, plus the cost of upkeep and repair. I really have no idea how much this cost but certainly rotating shifts and telework would have been a more costs effecitve way to save money and encourage working from home? After all the VA is supposedly about work-life balance. But all we hear is how bad telework is and how the boss can't track you work or what you're doing. Well that is a big fat lie because with eCMS they can see that we're logged in and with reports they run they know what kind of work we're doing. It would have been much more cost effective to give us all laptops to work from home than spending millions on a new builiding and renovations.
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136 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Going Paperless in Federal Government
Hard copies of the revised versions of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFRs), often with very little or no changes at all, are sent to the respective Federal Agency staff and other interested parties every year. Anybody can access the updated version of the CFRs online (htpp://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov) and they are also posted on the Agency website. Although Federal statute requires that hard copies be made available, giving ...more »
2 comments for Idea: Going Paperless in Federal GovernmentHard copies of the revised versions of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFRs), often with very little or no changes at all, are sent to the respective Federal Agency staff and other interested parties every year. Anybody can access the updated version of the CFRs online (htpp://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov) and they are also posted on the Agency website. Although Federal statute requires that hard copies be made available, giving recipients an opportunity to opt out of hard copy delivery would result in lot of savings associated with printing, shipping and handling of millions of pages every year. To discourage the public from ordering hard copies, they should be charged a fee to meet the costs associated with printing, shipping and handling. In addition, we will be doing some justice to the environment by reducing the demand for felling trees thereby mitigating the impact of global warming.
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135 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Change the Law Regarding Citizenship for Babies Born Here
Whenever Americans travel abroad, should babies be born, they are still American citizens. Similarly, we need to change our laws so that visitors and illegal immigrants and others from foreign countries with student visas who have babies here will not have these babies declared American citizens because of that birth. No other country does this. We need to stop because of the inferred rights granted to children and parents. ...more »
17 comments for Idea: Change the Law Regarding Citizenship for Babies Born HereWhenever Americans travel abroad, should babies be born, they are still American citizens. Similarly, we need to change our laws so that visitors and illegal immigrants and others from foreign countries with student visas who have babies here will not have these babies declared American citizens because of that birth. No other country does this. We need to stop because of the inferred rights granted to children and parents. As a result of these births, we area less likely to deport the parents, even for serious offenses. These children compete with American citizens for college scholarships and placements, medical treatment, social security, housing and other options paid by taxpayer dollars.
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133 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Promote Alternate Work Schedules To Save Energy
4 comments for Idea: Promote Alternate Work Schedules To Save EnergyFor example, a four day work week immediately saves 20% fuel usage for an employee that drives to work.
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132 votes
This idea is active.Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »Eliminate the Time Keeper Position
Many agencies still use a dedicated person in the GS-5-7 range to be a time keeper when it is fully possible to do this via WEB based TA. In the private sector I didn't have a time keeper, the supervisor verified time of his/her employees and I certified. This is an old position that can be done away with and the position removed from federal service. It is time to get managers back to doing their job which is managing ...more »
21 comments for Idea: Eliminate the Time Keeper PositionMany agencies still use a dedicated person in the GS-5-7 range to be a time keeper when it is fully possible to do this via WEB based TA. In the private sector I didn't have a time keeper, the supervisor verified time of his/her employees and I certified. This is an old position that can be done away with and the position removed from federal service. It is time to get managers back to doing their job which is managing the work and time of their employees and WEB TA is the tool for them to use in doing this.
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