Federal Government

When someone in the Washington area begins to type the president's last name into the search box of Google's home page, the top three terms it suggests as the most popular selections are Obama, Obamacare and . . . Obama phone. Obama phone? A hotline, maybe, to the Oval Office? Hardly. "Obama phone" is the widely used — and misleading — nickname of a 28-year-old federal program known as Lifeline . It provides discounts, averaging $9.25 a month, on phone service for 13.3 million...

WASHINGTON — A big brother you can trust to keep you safe, give you a hand and do right by you? Or a big brother who snoops, lies and bullies you in all corners of your life? There's a common thread running through a series of controversies dogging President Barack Obama: the federal government, and conflicting interpretations of what it is. The debate often is boiled down to this: Obama's notion of an activist, capable government that helps people vs. Republicans' impression of an...

If you have ever thought about being a journalist or are in the field, then you have thought about working — or are working — for a newspaper, TV news station, radio station, magazine or other media outlet. Journalism is an exciting and fulfilling career because you get to inform people about all kinds of things. But did you know that you can also do this work in the federal government? Federal workers serve as reporters, editors, photographers, graphic designers, producers and technical staff.

Whatever else happens as a result of the multiple controversies that have engulfed the administration, one thing is clear: President Obama has failed to meet one of the most important goals he set out when he was first elected, which was to demonstrate that activist government could also be smart government. Six weeks after winning the presidency in 2008, Obama reflected on the meaning of the election. He was reluctant to claim, as some others were, that his victory marked the beginning of an era in which Americans would embrace bigger...

CORRECTION: The article misstated the address of a federal government Web site that can help people figure out whether they or their relatives hold a mature U.S. savings bond. The site is TreasuryDirect.gov. Nearly 70 years ago, the federal government began issuing hundreds of billions of dollars in savings bonds to finance the greatest war effort in the nation's history, with no less than President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who summoned patriotic Americans to "one great partnership," buying the very first.

The pregnancy rate among teenage girls in the United States has jumped for the first time in more than a decade, raising alarm that the long campaign to reduce motherhood among adolescents is faltering, according to a report released Tuesday. The pregnancy rate among 15-to-19-year-olds increased 3 percent between 2005 and 2006 -- the first jump since 1990, according to an analysis of the most recent data collected by the federal government and the nation's leading reproductive-health think tank.

It's no secret that federal workers are feeling worn down. They've had their salaries frozen and are at the center of a partisan debate over the value of their work. A report due out Thursday, based on the largest sample ever of the workforce of 2 million, confirms a steady decline in morale and ebbing commitment. Despite positive feedback at some agencies, job satisfaction across the government has hit its lowest point in almost a decade. Just 52.9 percent of employees at the sprawling Department of...

In the closing days of their legislative sessions, lawmakers in more than a dozen states are struggling with whether to expand Medicaid under the federal health-care law , with many of them leaning against participating in a program that is key to President Obama's aim of extending coverage to 30 million uninsured Americans. Twenty states and the District of Columbia have signed on to the expansion, and 14 are planning to decline. But 16 remain in limbo as lawmakers clash in the final days...

President Ronald Reagan tried to get rid of it. So did President Bill Clinton . This October, their wish is finally set to come true. The Federal Helium Program — left over from the age of zeppelins and an infamous symbol of Washington's inability to cut what it no longer needs — will be terminated. Unless it isn't. On Friday, in fact, the House voted 394 to 1 to keep it alive. "Many people don't believe that the federal government should be in the helium...

In a television interview last October, President Obama accidentally let slip a key element of his political philosophy : "We're gonna punish our enemies, and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us. " Obama later apologized — not for the underlying sentiment, mind you, but for his word choice. "I probably should have used the word ‘opponents' instead of enemies," the president declared. This incident is worth remembering as the president prepares to issue a far-reaching ...

At a time when Congress can't pass a budget and the president can't win approval of any important legislation, the public is indignant about the threat of an overreaching, all-powerful federal government that uses the IRS and the Justice Department to harass its enemies. President Obama hasn't begun to fix the big problem of Washington dysfunction, but he moved Wednesday to respond to public anger and reposition his sinking administration. He fired the acting IRS commissioner , released a blizzard of e-mails on...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A bipartisan group of western lawmakers is pushing legislation in Washington to restore cuts of $110 million in federal mineral royalty payments to 35 states. Senators from New Mexico, North Dakota, Utah and Idaho signed onto legislation introduced Tuesday by Sen. Mike Enzi, a Wyoming Republican. Similar legislation was introduced in the House by Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. The bills would allow states to collect royalty payments directly from...

SAN FRANCISCO — When Liz DeRouen needs any kind of health care services, from diabetes counseling to a dental cleaning, she checks into a government-funded clinic in Northern California's wine country that covers all her medical needs. Her care and the medical services for her children and grandchildren are paid for as part of the government's treaty obligations to American Indian tribes dating back nearly a century. But under President Barack Obama's health care...

BOISE, Idaho — The U.S. is heading into a tough wildfire season made even more challenging because budget cuts mean fewer firefighters to battle blazes, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Monday. Another dry year is creating the potential for another extreme summer of forest and range fires, Jewell said after spending the past two days touring the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise. She was joined by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who said a 7.5...

No khakis allowed. That's the rule in the Adams Morgan office of Huge, the Brooklyn-based digital strategy and branding agency that is growing faster in Washington than any of its other seven offices in the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil. "We want to maintain our culture of creative expression and the agency mind-set of jeans ... not buttoned-up suits and khakis," Managing Director Kate Watts said. "We want to make sure we're maintaining who we are in a city that might be a little less...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced Thursday that community health centers around the country will get $150 million to help uninsured Americans sign up for health insurance coverage under the new health care law. The money addresses concerns from Congress and advocacy groups that many consumers will have a hard time navigating the health coverage options available to them next year as a mix of government programs and tax credits for...

Almost as soon as he took office in 1862, Francis E. Spinner's job as U.S. treasurer began to spin out of control. Many of his employees had resigned to join the Army — just as a revolution in the country's money system was underway. He clamored for more clerks. "The work has been performed by devoting not only almost every hour of each day, (Sundays not excepted,) but many hours of night, to continuous labor beyond the endurance of most men," Spinner wrote in a report. To help pay for the Civil War ,...

Executive coaching isn't just for corporations. These days, federal agencies are seeking help developing their leaders and they are turning to contractors for expertise. Bethesda-based Catapult Technology won its latest executive coaching gig earlier this month when the Department of Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration Services unit awarded it a contract worth about $250,000 over three years. The company, which provides a range of information technology consulting services, will start by working with 30 of the...

MARDAN, Pakistan — The imposing, black-bearded politician in a striking white turban takes the stage at a campaign rally in northwest Pakistan as a song about Islamic holy war blares over loudspeakers. Before a chanting crowd, he praises the Afghan Taliban and blasts Pakistan's government for not protecting Osama bin Laden from U.S. commandos. Maulana Shujaul Mulk is one of hundreds of candidates from hard-line Islamist parties running for office in this Saturday's national elections.

Even with a freeze on basic pay rates and unpaid leave days and repeated attacks on the federal workforce, being a federal employee means you have a good, though as of late, a less-lucrative job. That can't be said by everyone in the federal workplace. Listen to Fred Turner's story. He's a 54-year-old Hyattsville man with a ninth-grade education. That doesn't leave him with many options in a metropolitan area filled with highly educated overachievers. But Turner works hard at...