The federal government spends more than $80 billion each year on information technology. In 2010, the federal chief information officer issued guidance to government agencies requiring them to adopt cloud computing tools when replacing systems, and to move at least three existing services to the cloud. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued the 25 Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal Information Technology Management (25-Point Plan), also in 2010, which required agencies to consider cloud computing options for all new IT acquisitions.
Happy Anniversary Healthcare.gov
It is hard to believe that the online marketplaces, or exchanges, under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as ObamaCare, are having their one year anniversary this month. It seems like only yesterday that the federal website, Healthcare.gov, which officially opened on October 1, 2014, crashed almost immediately. Only six people in the entire country were able to utilize the federal exchange on the first day and sign up for a plan.
USPS Delivers Groceries: Jack of All Trades, Master of None
The United States Postal Service (USPS) seems to be on a frenzied crusade to delve into new areas of business, even as it is posting billions in quarterly losses and mismanaging its core line of business, delivering first-class mail. Its latest entry into a new market, grocery delivery, ignores the fact that the USPS is […]
The War on (Minimum) Wage Payers
Our nation’s Founding Fathers never intended to put the government in charge of picking winners and losers, but as citizens look more and more to Uncle Sam for special favors and handouts, that is precisely what is happening. In the process, the storied American character that once valued hard work and venerated self-reliance has itself […]
Satellite TV Bill Moves Forward in the Senate
On September 17, 2014, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation approved S. 2799, the Satellite Television and View Rights Act (STAVRA), which would extend for five years the Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act. The current authorization expires on December 31, 2014. While one would think this would only be of interest to users […]
Past Porker Cordray Crimps Car Dealers
So, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is at it again! According to the September 17th, 2014 edition of the Wall Street Journal, the agency announced its intention to regulate the automobile dealers and the finance companies that service them. In prepared remarks, CFPB Director Richard Cordray (named August 2014 “Porker of the Month” by […]
Clarity on Costs Essential To Postal Reform
USPS is posting one thing very well; losses. The USPS is hemorrhaging money. It ended its last quarter with a $2 billion net loss, as compared to a $740 million net loss for the same period last year. The revenue that was generated came as a result of a very anemic increase of 0.9 […]
ISPs Are Not Common Carriers
Since the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued its decision in Verizon v. Federal Communications Commission on January 14, 2014, there has been a big push to reclassify the Internet as a Title II telecommunications service. Unfortunately, many who have been raising this call don’t understand what that would mean.
The Medical Device Tax: A Vise On Innovation
Since the day of its passage in 2010, millions of Americans and hundreds of members of Congress have called for the repeal of the Patient Protect and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), more commonly referred to as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare. The House of Representatives has had 54 votes on bills that would have fully repealed, restructured broadly, or modified parts of Obamacare. Many of these bills received bi-partisan support; most have died in the Senate. One bill that is likely to pass in the Senate if it could get a vote would fully repeal the ACA’s 2.3 percent excise tax on medical device sales.
Schoolhouse Crock
On September 7, 2014, ABC television asked viewers to rank the best songs from the bygone “Schoolhouse Rock” series of educational vignettes. At first, this might sound like a fun diversion from daily realities. But for adults in the public policy arena, catchy lyrics like “I am only a bill… sitting here on Capitol Hill” remind us instead of gridlock in Congress, where a conservative House passes bills that an obstructionist Senate sits on, for fear of forcing tough votes by endangered Democratic incumbents. Meanwhile, the mention of “Conjunction Junction” is less likely to conjure up nostalgic memories of clever grammar lessons than the battle over diminished highway infrastructure funding. And the slick spiel by “Tax Man Max” is not nearly as likely to convince us of our “patriotic duty” (to pay ever higher taxes) as it might have been when it first aired some 40 years ago.