OpenGov - Open Government Brainstorm Making Government Operations More Open

In effort to help eliminate billions of dollars in wasteful spending, I recently announced my support for a 72-hour mandatory minimum public review period on all major spending bills brought before Congress. This 72-hour review proposal, which would help to prevent taxpayer-funded outrages such as the empty “Airport for No One” in the congressional district of Democratic Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) and huge bonuses for AIG... more »

292 Organizations and Corporations Support Swift Action to Restore Strong, Comprehensive Whistleblower Rights

May 14, 2009

An Open Letter to President Obama and Members of Congress

The undersigned organizations and corporations write to support the completion of the landmark, nine-year legislative effort to restore credible whistleblower rights for government employees. We offer our support to expeditiously pass legislation... more »

One thing I find frustrating is that congress can pass a bill with "hidden" mini laws.

For example, congress recently passed a bill to reform credit card companies and it also included a provision allowing people to carry handguns into national parks. What? How do those two ideas relate?

Those items should have been two separate bills. I know politics is about compromise; but, I want congress debating the details... more »

All Bills should stand clean -no earmarks and non-related.

 

All Earmarks should be stand along Bills.

 

All non-related should be stand along Bills.

 

It seems simple and honest.

Board meetings are where some of the most important decisions are made by our government. Allow the American people access to the decision making process by requiring all of these meetings to be webcast on the Internet both live and on-demand.

The Governor of New York State pioneered this initiative in 2007 when he required all State agencies and authorities to webcast their meetings (Executive Order 3). It's been... more »

This seems logical, and yet bills with sweeping consequences, sometimes numbering in the hundreds of pages, are printed when there is no time for anyone to read the bill, let alone intelligently consider it, before voting. Constitution-bending pieces of legislation have been bullied into passage with a lot of noise about how we can't wait to pass it, even though we have to live with the consequences for years after... more »

We need to audit the Federal Reserve Bank.

 

No one can verify that the Federal Reserve Bank has contributed positively or negatively to our markets or economy without transparency of it's actions. Period.

Bloomberg News and the New York Times have documented nearly $13 trillion dollars given or promised by the Federal Reserve and the government since the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in September 2008.

While this $13 trillion includes TARP money and some recovery money, there is much more in a variety of Federal Reserve programs where we don't know which banks and corporations have gotten money and how much.

Because... more »

Congress most of the time doesn't even know what they are voting on, some nameless aids write it and the tell them what it is about.

2. Show Where in the Constitution they have the authority to do what they are trying to do.

3. Make a mandatory balanced budget.

4. Make them publish their voting record in their home districts.

5. They shouldn't be able to spend money they don't have absolute proven fund for.

The president should issue a policy directive prohibiting agencies from creating secret “laws” or regulations or from using secret processes to prevent public input in the development of government rules.

A secret law is a regulation, policy, or directive that, for one reason or another, has been kept secret from the persons to whom it applies. Secret law that is inaccessible to the public is inherently antithetical... more »

The IRS is the opposite of an open government. They operate in a "we are always right" fashion and are nearly impossible to get help from. They have been created for a purpose to collect money for the people to help our nation of the people. However, they forgot along the way that the same people they treat with indifference and as a number are those that they are working for.

First, the IRS should not deploy an assumption... more »

It's just my personal opinion, but if I have to show this information to get a Drivers License, replacement SS card etc, YOU Mr. President, ought to have to to prove that you are in fact eligible to serve. Based on what you have done (ie seal all records and hire leigons of attorneys to make sure that the records stay that way) I would speculate that you have something to hide - like maybe you were not born in the USA... more »

Audit the Federal Reserve and make the records public. Enough said. Listen to RON PAUL, President Obama. That would help you tremendously.

When there is a bill that ends up on your desk as President, we the public will have five days to look online and find out what is in it before you sign it so that we know what our government is doing.

 

by restoring FISA protections that require warrants before surveilling communications between U.S. citizens. The "Cybersecurity Czar" Pres. Obama appointed resigned in protest because he claimed the NSA was refusing to pass on his recommendations for protecting the privacy of citizens using the Internet, and was creating a situation that threatened to treat all Internet communications, including communications with journalists... more »