Podcasts about usaspending

This week we're taking a break from examining government-imposed feminist initiatives in the military and their expense (and everything else at USAspending.gov) to take a look at a recent article about the Sisterhood of Sisterhoods: The National Organization for Women. Remember how feminists are always telling us that if women ruled the world, it'd be all peace & no war, all shiny happy people and no conflict? Well about that… The discussion streams at 7PM on Thursday, June 6th, 2025, or you can find other viewing and listening options at honeybadgerbrigade.com in the dropdown menu at the top of the page.

This week we're taking a break from examining government-imposed feminist initiatives in the military and their expense (and everything else at USAspending.gov) to take a look at a recent article about the Sisterhood of Sisterhoods: The National Organization for Women. Remember how feminists are always telling us that if women ruled the world, it'd be all peace & no war, all shiny happy people and no conflict? Well about that… The discussion streams at 7PM on Thursday, June 6th, 2025, or you can find other viewing and listening options at honeybadgerbrigade.com in the dropdown menu at the top of the page.

Ever been burned by finance companies, I know I have. So often as small minority owned businesses we do not get the best rates, offers or just out right get taken advantage of because of what we don't know. Thanks to our new partner, Encore Funding we are now bringing you a trusted source for government contract financing. With more than $500M in funding going to minorities alone in 2024 Encore is here to support your business. Visit encoregov.com for information on how to apply.  On this episode of the GovCon Giants Podcast, I sat down with Jon Barker—a government pricing expert who's been in the federal space since 2000, helping companies win and manage billions in contracts. We pulled up a real opportunity from SAM.gov and walked through the entire thought process behind pricing a government proposal the right way. From analyzing Section B to understanding wage determinations and deliverables, Jon broke it all down like a true pro. He emphasized why understanding the customer, not just the solicitation, is key to winning—not just bidding. We also talked about the dangers of blind bidding and why alignment with your customer's mission can be the difference between scoring solid past performance or being stuck with a contract you can't execute. Jon dropped gold on evaluating milestones, building pricing strategies from the scope of work, and even using USAspending to uncover historical pricing. Whether you're brand new or seasoned in GovCon, this episode is your crash course in leveling up your pricing game. Don't miss it. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-barker-4648b84/ Company Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stratgrowthpartners/ Website: https://strategicgrowthpartners.com/  

Arab nations slam Netanyahu's comments for Palestinian state on Saudi land "Arab nations have fiercely rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal of a Palestinian state on Saudi land. Saudi Arabia slammed the idea as a diversion from Israel's actions in Gaza, while the Arab League called it ""detached from reality."" The Saudi foreign ministry said Netanyahu's statements aim to divert attention from the continuous crimes committed against Palestinians in Gaza. Regional outrage followed, with Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates denouncing the remarks as violations of international law." No power can force Palestinians out of their homeland: Türkiye "Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that no force can expel Palestinians from their homeland. ""Palestine, including Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, belongs to the Palestinians,"" Erdogan said. Speaking in Istanbul before departing for Malaysia, another nation opposing Israeli war in the region, Erdogan dismissed US proposals on Gaza, calling them unworthy of discussion." Dozens killed in terror attack in Mali "At least 25 gold miners were killed, and 13 injured in a brutal terrorist ambush near Mali's Gao region, the army confirmed. The attack targeted a convoy of miners under military escort. In swift retaliation, Malian forces eliminated 19 terrorists. The assault, near Kobe, saw militants fire on fleeing civilians. No group has claimed responsibility, however, Daesh and Al-Qaeda-linked factions operate in the area." Colombia's Petro urges ministers to resign ahead of reshuffle "Colombian President Gustavo Petro has called for the resignation of his entire cabinet ahead of an approaching reshuffle. The decision came after Environment Minister Susana Muhamad's resignation in protest of Petro's appointment of Armando Benedetti, citing concerns. Petro says the changes aim to better fulfill his administration's mandate." US funnelled $472 million for 'state propaganda': WikiLeaks "WikiLeaks has unveiled shocking details in a report, claiming that the US funnelled $472.6 million into Internews Network—a global non-governmental organisation accused of covert censorship and media control. USAspending data shows 87% of the funding —equivalent to $415 million — came from USAID, while the US State Department added $57 million. With ties to Soros and Clinton initiatives, Wikileaks also said Internews trained 9,000 journalists and backed social media censorship. As Trump freezes USAID's budget, critics call it a “state propaganda network.”"

What if I told you that your hard-earned tax dollars were being funneled into corrupt media, shady NGOs, and foreign governments with zero accountability? After digging through USAspending.gov, I've uncovered shocking evidence that mainstream media outlets like Politico, the New York Times, and CBS have received millions in government payouts. Meanwhile, billions are being sent overseas under the guise of “foreign aid,” much of it ending up in corrupt hands.Why are politicians on a $174K salary worth hundreds of millions? Why is the U.S. funding 80-90% of Ukraine's media? And how do private companies like Chemonics International keep getting billion-dollar contracts with no oversight?It all comes down to narrative control, money laundering, and political kickbacks. The system is rigged against you—but now the receipts are out.Support the showThanks for listening. For more commentary, head over to my website and join my newsletter. You can also follow me on social to stay up to date! Click Here To Subscribe To My NewsletterClick Here To Find Me On Your Favorite Platform See you next time!

In this episode of Game Changers for Government Contractors, host Michael LeJeune breaks down the key steps for building an effective corporate strategy in the government contracting space. Learn how to define what you sell, identify your target buyers, understand how they procure, and develop a tailored marketing strategy. Michael shares practical tips on leveraging tools like SAM.gov and USAspending.gov, choosing the right certifications, and partnering with strategic players. Whether you're new to government contracting or looking to refine your approach, this episode provides actionable insights to help you focus your efforts, build relationships, and position your business for long-term success. ----- Frustrated with your government contracting journey? Join our group coaching community here: federal-access.com/gamechangers Grab my #1 bestselling book, "I'm New to Government Contract. Where Should I Start?" Here: amzn.to/4c5Vb0d

Sean Davis, CEO and Co-founder of the Federalist, joins the pod to discuss the future of evangelicals and the new Christian right in the second Trump term.    #SeanDavis #Federalist #Election #2024 #Trump #Evangelicals #Vote #USA #Politics   Sean Davis is CEO and co-founder of The Federalist. He previously worked as an economic policy adviser to Gov. Rick Perry, as CFO of Daily Caller, and as chief investigator for Sen. Tom Coburn. He was named by The Hill as one of the top congressional staffers under the age of 35 for his role in spearheading the enactment of the law that created USASpending.gov. Sean received a BBA in finance from Texas Tech University and an MBA in finance and entrepreneurial management from the Wharton School. He can be reached via e-mail at sean@thefederalist.com.   Learn more about Sean Davis's work: https://thefederalist.com/author/seandavis/   ––––––   Follow American Reformer across Social Media: X / Twitter – https://www.twitter.com/amreformer Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AmericanReformer/ YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@AmericanReformer Rumble – https://rumble.com/user/AmReformer Website – https://americanreformer.org/   Promote a vigorous Christian approach to the cultural challenges of our day, by donating to The American Reformer: https://americanreformer.org/donate/   Follow Us on Twitter: Josh Abbotoy – https://twitter.com/Byzness Timon Cline – https://twitter.com/tlloydcline   The American Reformer Podcast is  hosted by Josh Abbotoy and Timon Cline, recorded remotely in the United States, and edited by Jared Cummings.   Subscribe to our Podcast, "The American Reformer" Get our RSS Feed – https://americanreformerpodcast.podbean.com/ Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-american-reformer-podcast/id1677193347 Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/1V2dH5vhfogPIv0X8ux9Gm?si=a19db9dc271c4ce5

In this episode of Game Changers for Government Contractors, host Michael LeJeune dives into the art of pricing for government contracts. He breaks down key strategies for finding competitive pricing information, including how to reverse-engineer past contracts using tools like USAspending.gov and GSA schedules. Michael also offers tips on using wage determinations and subcontractor quotes to create winning proposals. Whether you're a seasoned contractor or new to GovCon, this episode provides practical advice to help you navigate the complexities of pricing and increase your chances of success in the competitive government contracting market. ----- Frustrated with your government contracting journey? Join our group coaching community here: https://federal-access.com/gamechangers Grab my #1 bestselling book, "I'm New to Government Contract. Where Should I Start?" Here: https://amzn.to/4c5Vb0d

How do you find Federal Agencies who buy what you sell?✅ In this training, GovCon Chamber president Neil McDonnell explainsHow to Use Your Top 3 NAICS Codes & PSC to focus your researchWhich agencies buy what you sell usingSAM.gov, FPDS.gov, USASpending.gov, Long-Range Acquisition Forecasts (LRAF),  Industry Days & APBIs and GSA eBuyLet Your Competitors Teach You✅ Join us on LinkedIn to build your network and engaging other in the largest Government Contracting community online.–––––––––––––––––––––––––HOST | Neil McDonnellpresident GovCon Chamber of Commerce and co-founder of GovCon in a Boxhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-mcdonnell/Small business owners trust Neil to show them HOW to earn federal government contracts and subcontracts. A passionate 'evangelist' for business development in the federal marketplace, Neil has helped 1000s of small business contractors collectively win over $3B (federal contract value).A small business contractor in the tech space for 25+ years, Neil successfully won contracts worth hundreds of millions for the Department of Defense and civilian agencies, includingUS Army • US Navy • US Air Force • HHS • VA • White House • Departments of Education, Transportation, Interior and Energy and numerous large prime contractors✅ SPONSORED BY GOVCON IN A BOX | www.GOVCONinaBox.comGovCon in a Box is a FREE AI Community Resource for small business government contractors (launched July 2024)Maximize your visibility to federal buyers by getting a '100 Visibliity Score'Find teammates who want to work with youGettting daily updates of RFIs in your sweet spotRespond to opportunities that you can winSee consolidated data from USA Spending, FDPS, and DSBSwww.GOVCONinaBox.com

In this special episode of the DOD Contract Academy podcast, we provide a comprehensive Q&A session originally aired live on YouTube.   The episode addresses key questions and strategies for navigating government contracts, particularly for those new to the field or considering a consulting career in the government space.   Topics include using USAspending.gov for market research, understanding the importance of NAICS codes, finding out if the government buys what you sell, and initial steps for small businesses looking to enter government contracting. A   dditional advice is given on finding niches, understanding competition, and the timeline for securing government contracts.   00:00 Introduction and Overview 00:45 Starting with Government Contracting 01:30 Understanding Government Spending 02:12 Using USA Spending and NAICS Codes 04:10 Registering Your Business 04:49 Exploring Government Contracting Careers 05:46 Finding Your Niche     SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE Chanel! https://www.youtube.com/@dodcontractacademy/?sub_confirmation=1 GET CERTIFIED: Earn up to $400K a year as a freelance GOVERNMENT CONTRACT CONSULTANT: https://www.govclose.com/sales-certification SCHEDULE A BUSINESS GROWTH COACHING SESSION WITH Lt Col (Ret) Howard https://www.dodcontract.com/offers/icoUFuC2/checkout Order Today "The Government Contract Planner" https://a.co/d/7HCQFHy WATCH NEXT: The GovClose Certification https://youtu.be/S2UwMq6933Y How To Write Proposals: https://youtu.be/5GoJFzFrsSk 2024 Sam.gov Registration https://youtu.be/ahOJCDV4Q-E?si=e_fZxBuIrwkQaOtQ Follow me on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickychoward/

Victoria Guido hosts Robbie Holmes, the founder and CEO of Holmes Consulting Group. The conversation kicks off with Robbie recounting his initial foray into the tech world at a small web hosting company named A1 Terabit.net, chosen for its alphabetical advantage in the white pages. This job was a stepping stone to a more significant role at Unisys, working for the state of New York's Department of Social Services, where Robbie inadvertently ventured into civic tech and public interest technology. Robbie shares his career progression from supporting welfare systems in New York to becoming a technological liaison between the city and state, leading to a deeper involvement in open-source solutions. His journey through tech spaces includes developing websites, diving into the Drupal community, and eventually establishing his consulting business. Robbie emphasizes the serendipitous nature of his career path, influenced significantly by community involvement and networking rather than a planned trajectory. Additionally, Robbie gives insights on the impact of technology in public services and his stint with the U.S. Digital Service (USDS), where he contributed to significant projects like vets.gov. Robbie promotes the value of community engagement in shaping one's career, stressing how connections and being in the right place at the right time can lead to unexpected opportunities and career pivots. Follow Robbie Holmes on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbiethegeek/), X (https://twitter.com/RobbieTheGeek), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/robbiethegeek), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/robbiethegeek), or GitHub (https://github.com/robbiethegeek). Check out his website at robbiethegeek (https://about.me/robbiethegeek). Follow thoughtbot on X (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Transcript: VICTORIA: This is the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Victoria Guido. And with me today is Robbie Holmes, Founder and CEO of Holmes Consulting Group. Robbie, thank you for joining me. ROBBIE: I'm so happy to be here. It's great to talk to you, Victoria. VICTORIA: Yes. I have known you for a long time now, but I don't know everything about you. So, I thought I would start with the question: What was your first job that you ever had? ROBBIE: My first technical job, I ended up working for an internet web hosting company called A1 Terabit.net. And note the A1 because it came first in the white pages. It was a really small web hosting company run by a man named [SP] Maxim Avrutsky. I worked there for about six months before I submitted my resume to an online job forum. That's how old I am. And it ended up in the hands of Unisys, where I eventually worked for the state of New York. VICTORIA: Wow [laughs]. So, what a journey that you've been on to get from starting there, and what a marketing ploy back in the day with the white pages. So, tell me a little bit more about how you went from that first job to where you are today with having your own business in consulting. ROBBIE: Yeah, I wasn't even aware that I was jumping into the sort of civic tech space and public interest technology because the job I ended up with was working for New York State in the Department of Social Services. And welfare is federally funded and distributed to states and then states to localities. And New York City and New York State have a weird parasymbiotic relationship because over 50% of the welfare in New York State goes to the five boroughs in New York City. So, so much of my job was supporting the welfare system within the city, which was run by the human resources administration. So, that just led to this cascade of me, like, getting invested in supporting that, and then eventually jumping over to the other side where I worked for the City of New York. And at that point, I ended up becoming sort of a technology project manager and almost a tech liaison between the city and state. And I was out in the welfare centers, helping get the job centers up to a new application called the Paperless Office System, which was a client-server app that was a wrapper around welfare. All of that ended up leading to me finally making it to the network operation center for the City of New York, where I started replacing expensive solutions like HP OpenView with open-source solutions like Nagios and another open-source solution that provided an interface. And it really opened my eyes to the idea of open source. And I had really paid attention to a lot of open-source operating systems. So, I was kind of just a general tech nerd. And eventually, I started building websites, and that led me to the Drupal community in New York City, which was sort of this cascade that led me to communities. And I think that's sort of a through line for my entire career is I don't really think I ever had a plan. I think my entire career has been this sort of a lucky happenstance of being prepared when an opportunity arose and sometimes being in the right place because of my connections and community. VICTORIA: That's interesting about being involved with the people around you and seeing what problems are out there to solve and letting that lead you to where your interests lie. And then, following that, naturally led you to, like, this really long career and these really interesting, big projects and problems that you get to solve. ROBBIE: Yeah. And I think one interesting aspect is like, I feel I spent a lot of time worried about what I was going to do and where I was going to do it. I don't have a bachelor's degree. I don't have an advanced degree. I have a high school diploma and a couple of years in college. Well, 137 credits, not the right 125 or 124 to have a bachelor's degree. I have enough credits for a couple of minors though, definitely Greek art history, I think mathematics, maybe one more. I just never got it together and actually got my degree. But that was so interesting because it was limiting to what jobs I could find. So, I was in the tech space as an IT person and specifically doing networking. So, I was running the network operation center. I helped, like, create a whole process for how we track tickets, and how we created tickets, and how things were moved along. And, in the process, I started building websites for family and friends. And I built a website for our network operation center, so that way we could have photos to go with our diagrams of the network. So that way, when we were troubleshooting remotely, we could actually pull up images and say, "The cable that's in port six goes off to the router. I think that port is dead. Can we move it to the port two to its right, and I'll activate it?" And that made a really interesting solution for something we weren't even aware we had, which was lack of visibility. So many of the people in the fields were newer or were trying to figure it out. And some of us had really deep knowledge of what was going on in those network rooms and hubs. It led me to this solution of like, well, why don't we just start documenting it and making it easier for us to help when they're in the field? That led me to, like, the Drupal community because I started building sites in the Drupal CMS. And I went to, like, my first Drupal meetup in 2007, and there was, like, five of us around the table. That led to eventually me working for Sony Music and all these other things. But the year before I found my way to the Drupal community, I probably sent out, like, 400 resumes for jobs in the tech space, didn't really get any callbacks. And then, I met the community, and I started attending events, and then eventually, I started organizing events. And then, Sony I interviewed and talked to them a couple of times. And then, a friend of mine became the boss. And she contacted me and was like, "Hey, are you in the market?" And I was like, "I don't know. Why? What's up?" And she's like, "I became Doug." And I was like, "What?" And she was like, "I'm now replacing Doug at Sony. I'm running the team." And I was like, "Yeah, I'm happy to talk." And that was the big transition in my career from IT to sort of development and to delivery, right? Like, when it comes right down to it, is I became the manager of interactive media at Sony Music, which was really a job I landed because I was connected to the community, and running events, and getting to know everyone. VICTORIA: Yeah. And I think it's really cool that you had this exposure early on to what you called civic tech, which we'll get into a little bit, and then you went from the community into a commercial technology space and really getting into engineering with Drupal. ROBBIE: Yeah, it was an interesting transition because what they needed at Sony was sort of somebody who could ride the line between systems engineer, database administrator, and Drupal engineer, and also probably pre-DevOps DevOps person. So, I was responsible for all deployments and all tickets that came in. I was sort of both the technical arm of the help desk. When I joined, there was 24 websites on the Drupal platform, and when I left, there was over 200. And we upgraded it from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 while I was there. So, I was heavily involved in all of those updates, and all those upgrades, and all of the deployments of all the new themes, and all the changes to all these sites. So, what was great was they, I believe, if I understand it correctly, they actually created a role for me out of, like, two or three jobs because they needed a me, and they didn't have a role that existed. So, all of a sudden, they made a manager of interactive media role. And I was able to work there for two years, sort of being what I jokingly say, like, a digital janitor. I used to say that I had, like, an eight-bit key ring in a push broom. And I was always mad at your kids for trying to break my stuff. VICTORIA: [laughs] That's so good. A digital service janitor [laughs]? The connection for me between that and where I met you in the U.S. digital service space [laughs] I feel like there's a lot of parallels between that and where your career evolved later on in life. ROBBIE: Yeah. What's amazing is I did all this early work in my career in civic tech and didn't realize it was civic tech at the time. I just realized what I was doing was providing this huge impact and was value. You know, I spent a couple of years in the welfare centers, and I used to say all the time that the two hardest jobs in the welfare center are the person applying for welfare and the person deciding whether or not that person gets welfare. So, being a technologist and trying to help make that as simple as possible or easier and smooth the edges off of that process was really important. And it really taught me how important technology is to delivering service. And I really never thought about it before. And then, when I was working for Phase2 technologies, I was a director of Digital Services. And I read in a blog post, I believe that was written by Mikey Dickerson, who was the original administrator for USDS, and he talked about HealthCare.gov. And he walked in the door, and he said, "How do you know HealthCare.gov is down?" And I think there was some allusion to the fact that we were like, we turn on the television and if they're yelling at us, we know it's down. And Mikey was like, "We know how to monitor things." So, like, if you don't know Mikey Dickerson, he's the person who sort of created the web application hierarchy of needs in Google. He was an SRE. And his pyramid, like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, was all over Google when I was there. I was so impressed with the idea that, like, we aren't talking about how do we solve this problem? We're talking about knowing when there's a problem. And then, if we know there's a problem, we can put some messaging around that. We can say, like, "We're aware," right? Like if the president calls the secretary, the secretary can say, "We know it's down. We're working on it," which is building up political capital. It's a really amazing process that I kept reading this blog post, and I was like, God, that's how I would approach it. And then, I was like, wow, I wonder if I could use my skills to help America, and very shortly submitted an application and was like, well, we'll see what happens. And about six months later, I walked in the door at the VA and was the eighth employee of the Digital Service team at the VA. That was a franchise team of the USDS model. VICTORIA: And can you say a little bit more about what is the U.S. Digital Service and expand upon your early experience there? ROBBIE: Yeah. So, the United States Digital Service was created after HealthCare.gov had its issues. Todd Park had convinced President Obama to reach out to get support from the private industry. And the few of the people who were there, Todd convinced to stick around and start creating a team that could support if there was this kind of issue in the future. I believe the team that was there on the ground was Mikey Dickerson, Erie Meyer, Haley Van Dyck, and Todd. And there was a few other people who came back or were very close at the beginning, including the current administrator of USDS. She has been around a long time and really helped with HealthCare.gov. It's amazing that Mina is back in government. We're very lucky to have her. But what came out of that was what if we were able to stand up a team that was here in case agencies needed support or could vet solutions before these types of problems could exist? So, USDS was what they called the startup inside the White House that was created during the 2014 administration of President Obama. The team started that year, and I joined in May of 2016. So, I would be, like, sort of the beginning of the second team of the VA U.S. Digital Service team. So, USDS supported this idea of tours of duty, where you're a schedule A employee, which meant you were a full-time government employee, but you were term-limited. You could do up to two years of duty and work, and then you could theoretically stick around and do two more years. That was how these roles were envisioned. I think there's lots of reasons why that was the case. But what's nice is it meant that you would come in with fresh eyes and would never become part of the entrenched IT ecosystem. There are people that transition from USDS into government, and I think that's a huge value prop nowadays. It's something that I don't know they were thinking about when the original United States Digital Service was stood up, but it was hugely impactful. Like, I was part of the team at the VA that helped digitize the first form on vets.gov and all the work that was done. When the VA team started, there was a team that was helping with veteran benefits, and they worked on the appeals process for veteran benefits. And I joined. And there was a team that was...eventually, it became dubbed the veteran-facing tools team. And we worked on vets.gov, which was a new front door to expose and let veterans interact with the VA digitally. And over time, all the work that went into the tools and the solutions that were built there, everything was user-researched. And all of that work eventually got brought into VA.gov in what they called a brand merger. So, we took, like, the sixth most trafficked front door of the VA and took all the modern solutioning that that was and brought it into VA.gov, the main front door. So, all of a sudden, there was an identity, a login provided on VA.gov for the first time. So big, impactful work that many people were a part of and is still ongoing today. Surprisingly, so much of this work has now fallen under OCTO, which is the Office of the CTO in the VA. And the CTO is Charles Worthington, who was a USDSer who's the epitome of a person who goes where the work is. Charles was a Presidential Innovation Fellow who helped out in the times of HealthCare.gov and, joined USDS and did anything and everything that was necessary. He interviewed engineers. He was a product person. Charles is one of the most unique technologists and civic tech people I've ever met in my life. But Charles, at the end of the Obama administration and in this transition, realized that the VA was in need of someone to fill the CTO role. So, he came over to become the interim CTO because one of the values of USDS is to go where the work is. And he realized, with the transition, that Marina Nitze, who was the CTO who was transitioning out, there was going to be a need for continuity. So, he came in to provide that continuity and eventually became the full-time CTO and has been there ever since. So, he has helped shape the vision of what the VA is working towards digitally and is now...he was just named the Chief AI Officer for the agency. Charles is a great person. He has successfully, you know, shepherded the work that was being done early by some of us into what is now becoming a sort of enterprise-wide solution, and it's really impressive. VICTORIA: I appreciate you sharing that. And, you know, I think there's a perception about working for public service or for government, state or federal agencies, that they are bureaucratic, difficult to work with, very slow. And I think that the USDS was a great example of trying to really create a massive change. And there's been this ripple effect of how the government acquires products and services to support public needs, right? ROBBIE: Yeah, I would say there's a couple of arms of the government that were sort of modernization approaches, so you have the Presidential Innovation Fellows, which are the equivalent of, like, entrepreneurs and residents in government. And they run out of...I think they're out of the TTS, the Technology Transformation Service over at GSA, which is the General Services Administration. But the PIFs are this really interesting group of people that get a chance to go in and try to dig in and use their entrepreneurial mindset and approach to try to solve problems in government. And a lot of PIFS work in offices. Like, Charles' early team when he first became the CTO included a lot of Presidential Innovation Fellows. It was basically like, "Hey, the VA could use some support," and these people were available and were able to be convinced to come and do this work. And then, you have the Presidential Management Fellows, which I think is a little bit more on the administration side. And then, we have 18F and USDS. The United States Digital Service is a funded agency with an OMB. And we were created as a way to provide the government with support either by detailing people over or dropping in when there was a problem. And then, 18F is an organization that is named because the offices of GSA and TTS (Technology Transformation Service), where it's housed, are on the corner of 18th Street and F in DC. And 18F is sort of like having a technology or a digital agency for hire within the government. So, they are full-time employees of the government, sort of like USDS, except government agencies can procure the support of that 18F team, just like they would procure the support of your company. And it was a really interesting play. They are fully cost-recoupable subcomponent of TTS, which means they have to basically make back all the money that they spend, whereas USDS is different. It's congressionally funded for what it does. But they're all similar sibling organizations that are all trying to change how government works or to bring a more modern idea or parlance into the government. I used to say to people all the time that at USDS, you know, we would set a broken bone say, and then we would come back around and say, like, "Hey, does your arm hurt anymore?" The idea being like, no. Be like, "Cool, cool. Maybe you should go to the gym, and you should eat better." And that would be, like, procurement change. That would be, like, changing for the long term. So, all the work I was doing was building political capital so we could do better work in changing how procurement was done and then changing how the government delivered these things. So, what was awesome was, like, we used to have these fights at USDS about whether or not we were a culture change or we were firefighters. And I think the reality is once we're involved, culture changes happen. The bigger question is, are we going to be there for the long haul, or are we only there for a shorter period of time? And I think there are reasons why USDS teams had both plays. And I think it really is just two different plays for the same outcome. VICTORIA: Yeah, that makes sense. And to pivot a little bit, I think, you know, our audience, we have clients and listeners who are founders of products that are aimed at making these, like, public service needs, or to give some examples, like, maybe they're trying to track Congressional voting patterns or contact information for different state representatives, and they're trying to navigate this space [laughs]. So, maybe you can give some advice for founders interested in selling their products to government agencies. What can they do to make it more appealing and less painful for themselves? ROBBIE: I wouldn't consider myself a procurement expert, but at USDS, the procurement team called themselves the [SP] procurementati. And I was a secret member of the procurementati. I often was the engineer they would call to evaluate statements of work or sometimes be on technology evaluation panels. And it was fun to be a part of that. Things that most companies don't realize is government agencies will put out things like request for information or sources sought in the government space. And this is a way for industry to influence how government tries to solve problems. If you are trying to go after government work and you're only responding to an RFP, you're probably behind in your influence that you could have on the type of work. So, you'll see if a procurement seems to be, like, specifically focused on an approach, or a technology, or a framework, it's probably because some companies have come through and said, "I think this would probably solve your problem," and they gave examples. So, that's one way to be more connected to what's going on is to follow those types of requests. Another is to follow the money. My wife is this amazing woman who helped write The Data Act and get it passed through government. And The Data Act is the Data and Transparency Act. And that led to her heading over to treasury and leading up a team that built USAspending.gov. So, there is a website that tracks every dollar, with some exceptions, of the funding that comes out of Congress every year. And what's great is you can track it down to where it's spent, and how it's spent, and things like that. For education purposes, I think that is a really good thing that business and growth people can focus on is try to see and target where competitors or where solutions that you've looked at have gone in the past. It's just a good set of data for you to take a look at. The other piece is if you're creating a solution that is a delivery or a deliverable, like a SaaS solution, in order for something to be utilized in the government, it probably needs to be FedRAMP-approved, which is a process by which security approvals have been given so that government agencies have the green light to utilize your solution. So, there's tons of documentation out there about FedRAMP and the FedRAMP approval process. But that is one of those things that becomes a very big stopping point for product companies that are trying to work in the government. The easiest way to work your way through that is to read up on it a bunch, but also find an agency that was probably willing to sponsor you getting FedRAMP approval. Most companies start working with a government agency, get an exemption for them to utilize your product, and then you get to shape what that FedRAMP process looks like. You start applying for it, and then you have to have some sort of person who's helping shepherd it for you internally in the government and accepting any issues that come along in the process. So, I guess FedRAMP approval is one that's a little complicated but would be worth looking into if you were planning on delivering a product in government. VICTORIA: Right. And does that apply to state governments as well? ROBBIE: So, lots of state-related and city and locality-related governments will actually adopt federal solutions or federal paradigms. So, I think in the state of California, I think FedRAMP as one of the guiding principles for accepting work into the state of California, so it's not consistent. There's not a one-to-one that every state, or every city, or every locality will pull this in. But if you are already approved to be a federal contractor, or a federal business, or a federal product, it's probably going to be easier to make your way into the local spaces also. VICTORIA: Right. And as you said, there's plenty of resources, and tools, and everything to help you go along that journey if that's the group you're going for [laughs]. Mid-Roll Ad: When starting a new project, we understand that you want to make the right choices in technology, features, and investment but that you don't have all year to do extended research. In just a few weeks, thoughtbot's Discovery Sprints deliver a user-centered product journey, a clickable prototype or Proof of Concept, and key market insights from focused user research. We'll help you to identify the primary user flow, decide which framework should be used to bring it to life, and set a firm estimate on future development efforts. Maximize impact and minimize risk with a validated roadmap for your new product. Get started at: tbot.io/sprint. VICTORIA: So, kind of bringing it back to you, like, you're saying you want those partnerships within the government. You want someone advocating for you or for your product or your service. Drawing that back to what you said earlier about community, like, how do you form a community with this group of people who are in the state, or federal government, or civic tech spaces? ROBBIE: Yeah, I think it's an interesting problem because so much of it feels impenetrable from the outside. Most people don't even know where to start. There are organizations out there that are pretty good community connections, an example I would give is ACT-IAC. It is a public-private partnership where people from within the government, experts in their fields, and people in the private industry who are experts in their fields will be together on community boards and engaging in panels. And so, it's a really nice way to start connecting those dots. I have no direct affiliation with ACT-IAC. But if they'd like to give me my own account, that would be great. But it is one of those organizations I've seen be successful for people trying to find their way into a community that is a little harder to find. I think, also, so much of the community engagement happens at conferences and around...so, like, if you're in the healthcare space, this last month, you've had multiple conferences that I think were really great for people to get to know one another, you know, an example is ViVE. It just happened out in LA, which is a little more on the private sector health space, but still, government agencies were there. I know that the Department of Veterans Affairs had people there and were on panels. And then, HIMSS is another conference that takes place, and that just took place down in Miami. And in Miami, HIMSS happened and a whole bunch of other social community events took place. So, I'm close with a thing called the Digital Services Coalition, which is 47 companies that all try to deliver good government based on the Digital Services Playbook that was created by USDS that lives at playbook.cio.gov and the way that they try to accomplish this work. And that organization, while they were in Miami, hosted a happy hour. So, there's a lot of connections that can be made once you start seeing the players and getting to know who's around. So, it's a little bit about trying to find your way to that first event, and I think that will really open up everything for you. Within a week or two, I was at an International Women's Day event at MetroStar, which is a really great company that I've gotten a chance to spend some time with. And then, I was at an event for the Digital Services Coalition talking about open source in government. So, there's a lot of stuff out there for you to be a part of that isn't super cost-prohibitive and also doesn't take a lot once you start to open the door. You know, once you peek around that corner and you find some people, there's a lot more to be done. VICTORIA: Yeah. And you touched on something at the end there that wants me to bring up some of the advantages you can have being a small business, a minority-owned business, or woman-owned business, or veteran-owned business, so thinking about how you can form those connections, especially if you have one of those socio and economic set-asides that you might want to consider if they're looking to work with the government as well. ROBBIE: Yeah. Those socioeconomic set-asides include small businesses, woman-owned small business. I think it's Native and Alaskan 8(a), which is historically underrepresented and service-disabled veteran-owned. So, there are also sub-communities of associations, like there's the Digital WOSB, the digital Women-Owned Small Business alliance that was founded by Jess Morris from Pluribus Digital, and a bunch of other companies in the Digital Services Coalition. I believe she's the president of the Digital WOSB right now. That is a sub-community of women-owned small businesses that are trying to connect and create a community that they can support one another. And that's just one example of the type of connection you can make through those types of socioeconomic set-asides. But once you have those official socioeconomic set-asides, it will allow you to get specific contracts engagements in the government that are not allowed or available for others. So, the government procurement process will have some amount of these specific socioeconomic set-asides that need to be hit. Like, 8% of all procurements need to go to this and 10% of all procurements need to go to this. So, I think the VA is probably one of the most effective at hitting any of the socioeconomic set-asides, specifically related to service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. So, if you happen to be a person of color and you found a business and you are female presenting, right? You may have 8(a) woman-owned small business. If you also happen to be a veteran and you're service-disabled, all of those things stack. You don't just get to have one of them. And they can be really effective in helping a business get a leg up and starting out and trying to help even the playing field for those communities. VICTORIA: Yeah. What I really appreciated about my experience working with Pluribus Digital, and you, and people who had had that experience in the U.S. Digital Services, that there is this community and desire to help each other out and that you can have access to people who know how to move your product forward, get you the connections that you need to be competitive, and to go after the work. So, I love encouraging people to consider civic tech options. And maybe even say more about just how impactful some of it can be. And what kind of missions are you solving in these spaces? ROBBIE: Yeah, I often try to remind people, especially those who are heading towards or considering civic tech, there are very few places in this world that you can work on something that can impact millions of people. Sure, I was lucky enough. I have tons of privilege. I worked at a lot of wacky places that have given me the access to do the type of work that I think is impactful, but very little has the kind of impact. Like, when I was interviewed by Marina Nitze as, my last interview when I joined USDS, she sent me an email at the end of it and said like, "Everything was great. I look forward to working with you. And remember, every time you commit code into our GitHub, you'll be helping 8 million veterans." And then, she cc'd Todd Park. And Todd was the CTO of the U.S., and he responded back within a minute. Todd is one of the most busy people. It was amazing to me how fast he responded. But he was like, "Lemme tell you, as somebody who can talk on behalf of our president, our country needs you." And those kinds of things they're hard to comprehend. And then, I joined the Digital Service team at the VA. And one of the first things that I got to support was the 10-10EZ. It's the healthcare application for veterans. And before I got there, it was a hosted PDF that we were trying to replace. And the team had been working for months to try to build a new, modern solution. What it was is it was, like, less than six submissions were happening a day because it only worked in Adobe Acrobat, I think it was 6.5 and below, and Internet Explorer 8.5 and below. And if you think about the people that could submit utilizing that limited set of technologies, it was slowly becoming homeless veterans who were using library computers that had not been upgraded. So, there was a diminishing amount of value that it was providing. And then, on top of it, it was sort of lying to veterans. If the version of the Adobe Acrobat was out of date, or wrong, or too new, it would tell them to upgrade their browser. So, like, it was effectively not providing any value over time. We were able to create a new version of that and that was already well on its way when I joined, but we were able to get it out the door. And it was a React frontend using a Node backend to talk to that SOAP API endpoint. Within the first week, we went from 6 submissions a day to 60 submissions a day. It's a joke, right? We were all 10x developers. We were like, "Look at us. We're killing it." But about three years later, Matt Cutts came to a staff meeting of USDS, and he was the second administrator of the USDS. And he brought the cake that had the actual 10-10EZ form on it, and it said, "500,000." And he had checked with the analytics team, and there were over 500,000 submissions of that form, which means there are 500,000 possible veterans that now may or may not have access to healthcare benefits. Those are big problems. All of that was done by changing out one form. It opened up the world. It opened up to a group of veterans that no one else was able to do. They would have had to go into a veteran's office, and they would have had to fill it out in paper. And some veterans just don't have the ability to do that, or don't have an address, or don't have a...so, there are so many reasons why having a digital form that worked for veterans was so important. But this one form that we digitized and we helped make modern has been submitted so many times and has helped so many veterans and their families. And that's just one example. That's just one form that we helped digitize. But now the team, I mean, I'm back in the VA ecosystem. There's, like, 2,500 people in the general channel in the office of the CTO Slack organization. That's amazing. There's people there that are working all day, every day, trying to solve the same problems that I was trying to solve when I got here. And there's so much work being done to help veterans. But that's just one example, right? Like, at USDS, I know that the digital filing for the free version of your tax form, the IRS e-file Direct, just went live. That was something that USDS had been working on for a very long time behind the scenes. And that's going to impact everybody who submits their taxes. These are the kind of problems that you get to work on or the scope of some of the problems if you work in these types of organizations, and that's really powerful. It's the thing that keeps drawing me back. I'm back supporting the VA again through some contracts in my business. But it's funny, like, I was working for another agency. I was over working at DHS on an asylum project. And a friend of mine kept telling people to tell me, "Man, veterans need you. If only there was another one of you to help us over here, that would be great." And eventually, it led to me being like, well, veterans need me. I'm going to go back to the VA. And that was my second tour at USDS at the Department of Veteran Affairs. And now I'm back there again. So, it's a very impactful place to work. There's tons of value you can provide to veterans. And, to me, it's the kind of work that keeps bringing me back. I didn't realize just how much I was a, like, impact junkie until I joined USDS, and then it really came to a head. I cannot believe how much work I've gotten to be a part of that has affected and supported those who get benefits and services from the federal government. VICTORIA: [inaudible 33:47] impact junkie. That's funny. But yeah, no, thank you for sharing that. That's really interesting. Let me see if you could go back in time to when you first started in this journey; if you could give yourself any advice, what would you say? ROBBIE: Yeah, I think I spent so much time being nervous about not having my degree that I was worried it was going to hinder me forever. And it's pretty amazing the career I've been able to thread together, right? Like, you know, I've hit on a few of them already. But, like, I started with a small web hosting company, and then New York State in the Department of Social Services, then New York City in the Human Resources Administration, Sony Music, Zagat Survey, Google, Johnson & Johnson, IDT telecommunications, Phase2 technologies, where I got to work on an awful lot of problems in lots of awesome places like NBA.com, and Major League Soccer, and Bassmaster. And then, the United States Digital Service where I got to work on things supporting the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Homeland Security over at ADA.gov in DOJ. I helped them out. And I worked over at USDA helping get Farmers.gov off the ground. So, everything on my left leg, tattoo-wise, is something that changed my life from my perspective. And I have a Drupal tattoo on the back of my leg. I have a DrupalCon. So, anytime somebody said "Drupal" anywhere near a USDS person, I would magically appear because they would just be like, "Oh, Robbie has that Drupal tattoo." So, I got to work on a lot of dot govs that eventually landed or were being built in Drupal. So, I got to support a lot of work. And it meant that I got to, like, float around in government and do a lot of things that others didn't get to do. When CISA stood up, which is the office of security inside of DHS, it's one of the newest sub-communities or subcomponents, they built DHS SchoolSafety.gov, which is a cross-MOU'd site. And I got to sit in and help at the beginning of that because of my Drupal background. But it was really fun to be the person who helped them work with the vendors and make sure that they understood what they were trying to accomplish and be a sort of voice of reason in the room. So, I did all of that work, and then after that, I went and worked at Pluribus Digital, where I got a chance to work side by side with you. And then, that led to other things, like, I was able to apply and become the director of Digital Services and software engineering for my local county. So, I worked for Prince William County, where I bought a house during the pandemic. And then, after that contract ended, I had already started my own business. So, that's led to me having multiple individual contracts with companies and so many people. I've gotten to work on so many different things. And I feel very lucky. If I could go back and tell myself one thing, it's just, take a breath. Everything's going to be okay. And focus on the things that matter. Focus on the things that are going to help you. Focus on community. Focus on delivering value. Everything else will work itself out. You know, I joke all the time that I'm really good at providing impact. If you can measure my life in impact and value, I would be a very rich man. If you can measure it in money, I'm doing all right, but I'm never going to be yacht Robbie, you know, but I'm going to do okay. VICTORIA: Oh my god, yacht Robbie. That's great. So, just to recap, everything's going to be okay. You never know where it's going to take you. And don't be limited by the things that you think, you know, make you not enough. Like, there's a lot of things that you can do out there. I really like that advice. ROBBIE: And I think one last piece is, like, community matters, if you are a part of communities and you do it genuinely, how much that will impact your career. I gave a talk from Drupal NYC to the White House and beyond. And I talked through my entire resume and how everything changed when I started doing community engagement. When I went to the Drupal community in New York City and how that led to Sony, and that led to Zagat, which led to me getting acquired by Google, like, these things all cascaded. And then, when I moved to the DMV, I was able to join here and continue supporting communities, which allowed me to bring people into the local civic tech community from the local DC tech community. So, so many of the best USDS engineers, and designers, and product people I was able to help influence to come to government were people I met in the community or the communities I helped support. You know, I was an early revivalist of Alexandria Code and Coffee. It was a community that was started and then wavered. And then, Sean McBeth reached out to the community and said, "Do we want to help and support getting it off the ground again?" And I immediately said, "Yes." And then, that led to my friends at BLACK CODE COLLECTIVE wanting to create a community where they could feel safe and connected and create a community of their own. And then DC Code & Coffee started. And from there, Baltimore Code & Coffee kicked off. And it's just really nice that, like, it doesn't matter where I've been. All these things keep coming back to be a part of community and help support others. And you will be surprised at how much you get back in return. I wouldn't be the person I am today in my community. I wouldn't have my career if it wasn't for the people who started and helped shepherd me when I was starting out. And I feel like I've been trying to do the same for people for a really long time. VICTORIA: I love that. That's what I say, too, when people ask me for advice on careers and how to grow. And my biggest piece is always to go out and meet people. And go to your community, like, look and see what's happening. Like, find people you like hanging out with and learning from. And just that should be the majority of your time probably if you're trying to figure out where to go with your career or even just, like, expand as a person sometimes [laughs]. Robbie, I was going to ask; you mentioned that you had bought a house in Virginia. One of my other warmup questions was going to be, what's your favorite thing to put on the grill? ROBBIE: My house in Virginia definitely gets a lot of use, especially in the spring and the fall. I'm a big fan of team no extreme when it comes to temperature. But during those time periods, my grill is often fired up. My favorite is probably to make skirt steak on the grill. I'm a huge fan of tacos, especially made out of skirt steak. I'm in all day. That's one of my favorites. I also love to smoke. I have a smoker because I'm a caricature-esque suburban dude. I'm going to live into all of the possible things I could have. But I've had a smoker for a long time, and I love making sort of poor man's burnt ends. It's one of my favorite things to make. But you got to have some time. That's the kind of thing that takes, you know, 14 hours or 16 hours, but it's really fun to take advantage of it. A quick thing I love to make is actually smoked salmon. It takes longer to brine it than it usually does to smoke it. But it is one of the nicest things I've made on my smoker, you know, fresh pesto on a piece of salmon is pretty awesome, or everything bagel. Everything with the bagel seasoning is a pretty fun way to smoke some salmon. VICTORIA: Wow, that sounds so good. I'm going to have to stop in next time I'm in Virginia and get some [laughs] and hang out. Do you have any questions for me? ROBBIE: I'm excited to see where you've gone and how you've gotten here. I think this is such a cool job for you. Knowing who you are as a person and seeing you land in a company like this is really exciting. And I think you getting to be a part of this podcast, which we were joking about earlier, is I've been listening to probably since it started. I've been a big fan for a long time. So, it's cool to be here on this podcast. But it's also cool that my friend is a part of this and gets to be a part of this legacy. I'm really excited to see where you go over time. I know my career has been changing, right? I worked in government. Before that, I did all kinds of other stuff. Nowadays I have my own business where I often joke I have sort of, like, three things I offer, which is, like, consigliere services. Wouldn't it be nice to have a Robbie on your executive team without having to pay them an executive salary? You know, another one is like, you know, strategy and mentoring, but these are all things I know you do also, which I think is cool. But I've been working on contracts where I support companies trying to figure out how they modernize, or how their CTO can be more hands-off keyboard, or how their new director of business development can be more of a technical leader and taking on their first direct reports. So, I just enjoy all those aspects, and I just think it's something that I've watched you do in the company where we worked together. And it's always fun to see what you're working on and getting a chance to catch up with you. I feel like you're one of those people that does a really great job of staying connected. Every once in a while, I'll get a random text message like, "Hey, how you doing?" It always makes me smile. I'm like, Victoria is a really good connector, and I feel like I am, but you're even better at it on the being proactive side. That's how this all came about, right? We caught up, and you were like, "Why don't you come on the podcast?" So, that's really exciting. VICTORIA: Well, thank you, Robbie. Yeah, I think that's one of the great things about community is you meet people. You're like, "Oh, you're really cool. And you're doing cool stuff all the time. Like, how can I support you in your journey [laughs]? Like, what's up?" Yeah, for me, it was hard to actually leave DC. I didn't, you know, really think about the impact of leaving behind my tech community, like, that network of people. It was pretty emotional for me, actually, especially when we finally, like, stopped doing the digital version [laughs]. And I, like, kind of gave up managing it from California, which was kind of funny anyways [laughs]. Yeah, so no, I'm grateful that we stayed in touch and that you made time to be here with us today. Is there anything else that you would like to promote? ROBBIE: You know, just to remind you, you've done a great job of transitioning into where you are today, but anybody can do that, right? Like, before I moved to the DC area, I was in New York, and I was helping to organize JavaScript events. And I started looking at the DC area before I moved down here. And I found the DC Tech Community. And I found the Node School DC GitHub organization and reached out to the person who had ownership of it and said I wanted to help and support. I looked at this the other day. I think I moved on May 8th, and then, like, May 11th, when I walked in the door, somebody was like, "Are you new?" And I was like, "Yeah, I just moved here." And they were like, "Oh, from where?" And I was like, "New York." And they were like, "Are you that guy who's been bugging Josh about running Node school events?" I was like, "Yeah." And like, they were planning an unconference at the end of the month. And they were like, "Would you like to run a Node school at that unconference?" Like, 27 days later. So, it was amazing that, like, I immediately, like, fell from the New York Community where I was super connected, but I went out of my way to try to, like, see what the community looked like before I got there. And I was lucky enough to find the right people, and immediately I joked...I think I wrote a blog post that said like, "I found my new friends. By, like, going from one community to another, gave a person who was in his 40s a chance to meet new people very quickly." And it was pretty amazing, and I felt very lucky. But I did spend a little bit of energy and capital to try to figure it out because I knew it was going to be important to me. So, I think you've done a really good job. You've helped launch and relaunch things that were going on in San Diego and becoming a part of this connection to more people. I think you and I have a very similar spirit, which is like, let's find a way to connect with humans, and we do it pretty effectively. VICTORIA: Well, thank you. That really boosts my confidence, Robbie [laughs]. Sometimes, you show up to an event you've never been to before by yourself, and it's like a deer in headlights kind of moment. Like, oh God, what have I done [laughs]? ROBBIE: Oh, and the last thing I need to mention is I also have a podcast. I have my podcast about film. It's called Geek on Film. I used to record it with my friend, Jon. He's a little busy right now. But I used to pitch it as a conversation show about the current films that were going on. Now, it's one lone geek's ramblings about what he just saw. It's a great podcast for me because it gives me an opportunity to think a little more critically about film, which is one of the things that I probably have almost enough credits to get a minor in. But I absolutely love cinema and film in general. And it's given me an opportunity to connect with a lot more people about this subject and also to scratch the itch of me being able to create something around a community and around a thing I really love. VICTORIA: That's super cool. Yeah. You're top of mind because I also like films. I'm like, what's Robbie up to? Like, what's the recommendations, you know [laughs]? Do you have a top film recommendation from the Oscars? Is that too big of a question? ROBBIE: So, the one I will say that didn't get enough spotlight shined on it was Nimona. So, I'm a huge fan of the Spider-Man movies. I think Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse are both masterpieces. But Nimona is an animated film that was picked up by Netflix, and it is amazing. I don't know that I laughed or cried or was more moved by a film last year. And I don't know that it gets enough credit for what it was. But it did get nominated for best-animated film, but I don't know that enough people paid attention to it. Like it may have gotten lost in the algorithm. So, if you get a chance, check out Nimona. It's one of those beautiful, little gems that, if you travel down its story, there's all these twists and turns. It was based on a webcomic that became a graphic novel. One of the production companies picked it up, and it wasn't going to see the light of day. And then, Netflix bought its distribution rights. There's going to be a great documentary someday about, like, Inside Nimona. But I think the movie itself is really charming and moving, and I was really impressed with it. So, that was the one that got me, like, just before the Oscars this year, where I was like, this is the little animated movie that could, in my opinion. It's so charming. VICTORIA: I will definitely have to check that out. Thank you for giving us that recommendation. ROBBIE: Totally. VICTORIA: Final question. I just wanted to see if you had anything to share about being an advisory board member for Gray and for Hutch Studio. Could you tell us a little bit more about that? ROBBIE: Yeah. So, Gray Digital was founded by a friend of mine. We met through United States Digital Service. And his organization...I had been supporting him for a while and just being behind the scenes, talking to him and talking through business-related issues. And it was really nice. He offered to make me an official advisory board member. It was a great acknowledgment, and I really felt moved. There's some great people that are supporting him and have supported him. They've done really great work. Gray is out there delivering digital services in this space. And I think I was really lucky to be a part of it and to support my friend, Randall. Hutch is different. Hutch is an organization that's kind of like if you think about it, it almost is a way to support entrepreneurs of color who are trying to make their way into the digital service delivery space. Being an advisory board member there has been really interesting because it's shaping how Hutch provides services and what their approach is to how to support these companies. But over the last year, I've convinced the person who's running it, Stephanie, with a couple of other people, to open the door up or crack the door so we could talk directly and support the individual companies. So, it's been really great to be a Hutch advisory member to help shape how Hutch is approaching things. But I've also been a part of, like, many interview processes. I've reviewed a lot of, like, [inaudible 48:01] who want to join the organization. And I've also created personal relationships with many of the people who are part of Hutch. And, you know, like, you know me personally, so you know I run a Day of the Dead party. We'll just party at my house every year. I have a huge amount of affection for Mexican culture and, in general, the approach of how to remember people who are a part of your life. So, this is, like, the perfect way for me to bring people together at my house is to say, like, "Hey, my dad was awesome. What about your family? Who are your people?" What's really nice is that has given me an opportunity to host people at my house. And I've had Hutch company owners at my house the last couple of years and the person who runs Hutch. So, it's a really great community that I look at that is trying to shape the next emergent companies that are helping deliver digital services across the government. And it's really fun to be early on in their career and help them grow. Again, it seems silly, but it's the thing I care a lot about. How do I connect with people and provide the most value that I can? And this is a way I can provide that value to companies that may also go off and provide that value. It's a little bit of an amplifier. So, I'm a huge fan of what we've been able to accomplish and being a part of it in any way, shape, or form. VICTORIA: Well, I think that's a really beautiful way to wrap it up. ROBBIE: Really glad to catch up with you and be a part of this amazing podcast. VICTORIA: Yeah, so much fun. Thank you again so much. It was great to be here with you today. You can subscribe to the show and find notes along with a complete transcript for this episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. You can find me on thoughtbotsocial@vguido. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thanks for listening. See you next time. AD: Did you know thoughtbot has a referral program? If you introduce us to someone looking for a design or development partner, we will compensate you if they decide to work with us. More info on our website at: tbot.io/referral. Or you can email us at: referrals@thoughtbot.com with any questions.

USA Spending is an essential tool for government contracting market research.In today's government contracting training, GovCon Chamber president Neil McDonnell explains how to identify and understand spending patterns and government contracting trends, as well as information about other government contractors who might be potential teaming partners. USASpending.gov gives government contractors access to massive amounts of information about your buyers – everything you need for government contracting business development.✅ Join the discussion on LinkedIn:• "Step-by-Step Guide to USASpending for Government Contractors in 2024" https://www.linkedin.com/events/7152074266853720064/comments/–––––––––––––––––––––––––✅ HOST | Neil McDonnell, president GovCon Chamber of CommerceSmall business owners​ trust Neil to​ show them HOW to earn federal government contracts and subcontracts.​A passionate 'evangelist' for business development​ in the federal marketplace, Neil has helped 1000s of small business contractors collectively win over $3B (federal contract value)Neil's Daily LinkedIn Live and YouTube training have been viewed over 1 Million x.​ ​#experiencemattersAs B2G technology business owner for 25+ years, Neil successfully won contracts worth hundreds of millions for the Department of Defense and civilian agencies, including ...US Army • US Navy • US Air Force • HHS • VA • White HouseDepartments of Education, Transportation, Interior and Energyplus numerous large prime contractors

Hour 1 * Guest: Eldon Stahl – Field Coordinator – The John Birch Society – JBS.org – TheNewAmerican.com * Guest: Bryan Rust, Over the past 50 years, Rust Coins has been working to educate customers about precious metals – RustCoinAndGift.com * Honest Money Report: Gold – $1990.00 Silver – $24.05. * Citigroup begins massive layoffs, will begin cutting employees ASAP! * Millionaires Feel Like They're Just Middle Class These Days Only 8% of those with at least $1M consider themselves wealthy. * If You Try to Flip Your Tesla Cybertruck, Watch Out Fine print indicates Tesla might sue resellers for $50K. * Judge Approves JPMorgan's $290 Million Settlement With Nearly 200 Epstein Victims. Hour 2 * Guest: Jay Valentine, Fractal Delivers Confidence Through Transparency! – FractalWeb.app. * Identifying Problems in Voter Rolls with Fractal Technology – America Needs Confidence In Its Voter Rolls – Omega4America.com * Fraud Expert Jay Valentine Speaks Out Against Voter Fraud! * Why We Need Real Time Voter Roll Monitoring! * A report published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Tuesday found government agencies incorrectly reported spending and, at times, did not report their expenditures to USAspending.gov, the official source of federal spending information. * The Departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security (DHS) and Transportation (DOT) were flagged by GAO for having multi-billion dollar discrepancies across different public COVID-19 spending disclosures during the 2022 fiscal year. * US debt interest bill tops $1 trillion a year – Bloomberg. * Customers at major US banks hit with deposit delays. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loving-liberty/support

* Guest: Jay Valentine, Fractal Delivers Confidence Through Transparency! - FractalWeb.app. * Identifying Problems in Voter Rolls with Fractal Technology - America Needs Confidence In Its Voter Rolls - Omega4America.com * Fraud Expert Jay Valentine Speaks Out Against Voter Fraud! * Why We Need Real Time Voter Roll Monitoring! * A report published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Tuesday found government agencies incorrectly reported spending and, at times, did not report their expenditures to USAspending.gov, the official source of federal spending information. * The Departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security (DHS) and Transportation (DOT) were flagged by GAO for having multi-billion dollar discrepancies across different public COVID-19 spending disclosures during the 2022 fiscal year. * US debt interest bill tops $1 trillion a year - Bloomberg. * Customers at major US banks hit with deposit delays.  

✅ Government agencies ramp up their spending at the end of each fiscal year and today, Neil explains how to use USAspending to find the federal agencies most likely to "sole source contracts" to 8(a) firms in Q4.DOWNLOAD Neil's presentation slides and watch the video replayon his blog hereListen to learn–

FIRST A LITTLE EVALUATION OF HOW THE PODCAST IS DOING. I DISCUSS WHO I THINK THIS SHOW SHOULD BE FOR GOING FORWARD. THE PEOPLE I THINK WILL GET THE MOST OUT OF IT. I GIVE MY LONG AWAITED THOUGHTS ON FEDERAL SPENDING, BUT IN A FUN WAY I THINK YOU WILL ENJOY. OF COURSE I OFFER MY SOLUTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS TO DEAL WITH OUR OUT OF CONTROL FEDERAL SPENDING. I FINSH UP WITH A SLIGHTLY "IN YOUR FACE" RANT ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HOOKER AND A HO.WWW.USASPENDING.GOV  WWW.THECOMPARISONGROUP.COM FOR SOURCES AND FACT CHECKS

Support the SHOW https://www.buymeacoffee.com/derekosheashowSUPPORT THE SHOW : https://streamelements.com/theoneminutenews/tipWANT A MUG WITH MY FACE ON IT?https://store.streamelements.com/theoneminutenewsState Department funding 'drag theater performances' in Ecuador#Politics #BreakingNews #ecuador Source:https://www.foxnews.com/politics/state-department-funding-drag-theater-performances-ecuador-promote-diversity-inclusionFIRST ON FOX: The U.S. Department of State has awarded more than $20,000 for a cultural center in Ecuador to host "drag theater performances" in the name of diversity and inclusion. The State Department awarded a $20,600 grant on Sept. 23 to the Centro Ecuatoriano Norteamericano (CEN), a non-profit organization supported by the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Ecuador, to "promote diversity and inclusion" in the region.The project at CEN, which started Sept. 30 and runs until Aug. 31, 2023, will include "3 workshops," "12 drag theater performances," and a "2-minute documentary," according to the State Department's grant listed on the USASpending.gov website. - Fox NewsPolitically Homeless Daily Comedy News ShowEmail: derekosheashow@gmail.comLocals:  https://locals.com/member/DerekOsheaShowYoutube: Rumble  : https://rumble.com/c/c-624233Podcast Audio Webpage: https://derekosheashow.buzzsprout.comApple Podcast : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/derek-oshea-show-comedy-news-show/id1508917484Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/show/3BNCK8HjbDOtyOlHMOVGTXOdysee: https://odysee.com/@DerekOsheaShowWebsite : https://theoneminutenews.wixsite.com/derekosheashowTwitter: https://twitter.com/DerekOsheaShowInstagram : https://www.instagram.com/derekosheashow/Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/LgKyzhcXmm52/Gab: https://gab.com/TheOneMinuteNewsFacebook : https://www.facebook.com/DerekOsheaShowTikTok : https://www.tiktok.com/@derekosheashow?Twitch : https://www.twitch.tv/derekosheaBreaking News Live,Breaking News Today,Current Events,brunch drag show,brunch drag queen,brunch drag show miami,drag brunch texas protest,drag brunch dallas,drag brunch protest,drag brunch london,drag brunch las vegas,drag brunch,drag show,politics,political satire,political comedy,comedy,current events 2022,breaking news,national geographic,Centro Ecuatoriano Norteamericano,drag theater performancesSupport the show

Good Tuesday morning everyone, this is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, August 23th, 2022. FLF Magazine: We are on a mission to make magazines great again. So, subscribe to our Fight Laugh Feast magazine. This is a quarterly mini-book like experience, packed full of a variety of authors that includes theologically-driven cultural commentary, a Psalm of the quarter, recipes for feasting, laughter sprinkled throughout the glossy pages, and more. Sign your church up, sign your grumpy uncle up, and while you are at it…sign up the Pope, Elon Musks, and Russel Moore. Disclaimer: This magazine will guarantee various responses and CrossPolitic is not held liable for any of them. Reading the whole magazine may cause theological maturation, possibly encourage your kids to take the Lord’s Supper with you, and will likely cause you to randomly chuckle in joy at God’s wondrous world. Sign up today! Four issues and $60 per year, that is it. Go to fightlaughfeast.com right now to sign up!. https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-fauci-to-retire-by-end-of-2022-as-gop-slated-to-retake-congress?utm_campaign=64487 Fauci to retire by end of 2022 as GOP slated to retake Congress Dr. Anthony Fauci will step down in December after more than fifty years of public service, he said on Monday. Fauci, who has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and joined the National Institute of Health in 1968, was President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor since he became president in 2021. Fauci has said for months that he has considered retiring. In an ABC podcast interview from March, Fauci said that he would stay in his role until "we get out of the pandemic phase," and added that "we might already be there." Fauci was asked if retirement or stepping back were options for him, to which he said "I certainly have, because I have to do it some time. I can't stay at this job forever, unless my staff find me slumped over at my desk one day. I'd rather not do that," he said. President Biden praised Fauci in a statement released on Monday, according to the Washington Post, saying: "Whether you’ve met him personally or not, he has touched all Americans’ lives with his work. I extend my deepest thanks for his public service. The United States of America is stronger, more resilient, and healthier because of him." Fauci has a lot to look forward to in his retirement. According to Forbes, Fauci is likely to rake in the highest-ever government retirement package in US history, "with an annual payment exceeding $350,000." https://www.theepochtimes.com/fence-surrounding-bidens-delaware-beach-house-costs-about-500000-records-show_4678740.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=BonginoReport Fence Surrounding Biden’s Delaware Beach House Costs About $500,000, Records Show The price tag of a taxpayer-funded project to build a barrier around President Joe Biden’s Delaware beach house has grown to nearly $500,000, federal spending records suggest. In September 2021, the Homeland Security Department paid $456,548 to Delaware-based construction company Turnstone Holdings for the purchase and installation of “security fencing” surrounding the president’s Rehoboth Beach property, according to USAspending.gov, an online database operated by the Treasury Department. The database entry shows two additional payments since then. One bill of $6,844 was paid in late November 2021 to cover expenses resulting from extra “gravel pads” and “crane services.” This was followed by another $26,933 bill in June, described as simply “to add funds to current project.” The overall cost of the fence now stands at $490,324. Although the project was originally expected to be completed by the end of 2021, its “potential end date” has been pushed back to June 6, 2023, marking a delay of more than 18 months. The exact reason for the setbacks remains unclear. The Epoch Times has reached out to the Homeland Security Department, listed as the main awarding agency and funding office for the contract, for further information. Amid a record influx of illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border, the costly presidential residence fence has drawn mockery from critics of the president’s border policy. “So walls work at Joe Biden’s beach house but not the Southern border?” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote on Twitter. According to data released by the Biden administration, the number of apprehensions at the nation’s southern border is reaching the 2 million benchmark for the first time in history. In July, Border Patrol reported 181,552 arrests of individuals who tried to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, a 5.6 percent drop from the 192,418 reported in June. With just two months before the fiscal year 2022 wraps up, the agency has already made more than 1.81 million arrests, beating fiscal year 2021’s record of 1.66 million. In the border town of Yuma, Arizona, the state is spending $6 million to fill a quarter-mile gap in the border barrier with shipping containers. Those 8,800-pound, 40-by-9-foot containers will be topped with razor wire once tractor-trailers move them into position. Tim Roemer, Arizona’s director of Homeland Security, told Phoenix radio station KTAR-FM that his state couldn’t wait any longer. https://thepostmillennial.com/oregon-gubernatorial-race-could-go-for-the-gop?utm_campaign=64487 Oregon gubernatorial race could go for the GOP The Oregon gubernatorial race in the historically blue state has gone from "Leans Democratic" to "Toss-Up," according to the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia Crystal Ball rating. The last time Republicans won a gubernatorial race in Oregon was in 1982. Democratic Governor Kate Brown is term-limited and according to the rating is "deeply unpopular, and there may be some desire for change in the Beaver State." According to the Center, "the state is hosting an unusual 3-way race among a trio of women who are all recent members of the state legislature: former state House Speaker Tina Kotek (D), former state House Minority Leader Christine Drazan (R), and former state Sen. Betsy Johnson, an unaffiliated, former Democrat who is more conservative than most of the members of her former party and who has been backed by Nike co-founder Phil Knight." "The race sets up an unusual situation where the winner may not need to crack even 40%," noted the Center. "Additionally, the 3 candidates all served concurrently in the state legislature, which should provide the campaigns ample opportunities to draw contrasts among the candidates." The rating added, "Johnson, the independent, would still be the most surprising winner, and Kotek and Drazan both will be working to try to prevent their voters from flocking to her banner. There’s just enough uncertainty here that we’re looking at the race as a Toss-up now." The Center for Politics also noted that there are toss-up governorships in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Kansas. Ya hear that folks? You may not have to flee your blue states afterall! But if you’d still like to, then pay attention to this ad: Story Real Estate: Home. It’s where you build your legacy. Where traditions are started, seeds are planted, meals are shared, and stories are told. Home is where you prepare to go out into the world. Finding the home that’s perfect for your family is a big job. Story Real Estate is Moscow’s top real estate team. They give people real estate advice all over the country. Family homes, investments, land, new construction, or commercial— they know real estate. If you’ve thought about a move to Moscow or anywhere in the country, reach out to get connected with a Story Real Estate agent. Wherever you’re going, they can help guide you Home. Visit storyrealestate.com. So, you guys have all probably heard that Brian Stelter, the human potato, was removed from CNN, but how about this? https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2022/08/21/is-don-lemon-the-next-to-be-purged-from-cnn-n2612030 CNN Appears to Be Cleaning House. Will Don Lemon Be Next? Spencer had the news about CNN's Brian Stelter this week. He's gone. The host of "Reliable Sources" was given the ax amid CNN's front office shake-up and reorganization of the news outlet's coverage, which has been pilloried as pro-Democratic Party propaganda. The new management at CNN wants to return to the days when CNN was more straight news, less drama, and not the subject of attacks over media bias for peddling explicit Democratic National Committee talking points. Longtime legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin also announced he was leaving, opting to retire and write a book. Toobin had emerged from the wilderness after The New Yorker fired him in 2020 following a humiliating incident where he exposed himself to the magazine's staff during a Zoom call. When Stelter was given the boot, people asked if Don Lemon, another insufferable fixture at the network, would be next. That could be in the cards, as a source is spilling the names of who's next on the butcher's bill. Yes, Don Lemon is on there: If Trump runs again, the network will need Lemon, Acosta, and others to kick the hornet's nest again. At the end of the day, while I know gutting CNN of their liberal cancers would be optimal, it's also a business. So, I could see this going either way regarding these potential firings. The new top brass could get rid of these folks and tread water for 2024, hoping their recent relaunch doesn't implode. Or they do a 180-degree turn, keep the Trump-hating hosts and contributors, and make a boatload of cash again. https://thepostmillennial.com/97-percent-of-execs-say-us-in-recession-despite-bidens-definition-change?utm_campaign=64487 97 percent of execs say US in recession despite Biden's definition change The Biden administration changed the definition of the word recession in July, prior to the release of numbers that showed the US was in a recession, in order to be able to make the claim that the US was not in a recession. Despite this, a large number of US executives believe the country is now in a recession. Stifel Financial conducted a survey that shows 18 percent of business owners, executives, and investors consider the US economy already in a recession, compared to 79 percent that expect a downturn within the next 18 months. The standard definition of the word is a decline in GDP for two consecutive quarters, while the new, Biden definition links the word to unemployment numbers. Only three percent believe the US could conceivably avoid a recession within the next 18 months, according to the Daily Mail. According to the survey, businesses believe labor shortages, inflation, supply chain disruptions, and a recession are the biggest threats to profitability. 53 percent of executives expect inflation risk to remain a challenge to their assets and interests for the next two quarters to a year. 43 percent expect an economic decline to last for longer than that. According to the Labor Department, the US consumer price index was up 8.5 percent in July from a year ago. Though that was lower than the 9.1 percent increase in June, it was still above the Federal Reserve's two percent target rate. Inflation is the highest it has been in 40 years. The cost of goods has spiked hitting low-income and middle-class families the hardest. Food prices have continued to increase, with the cost of groceries increasing 13.1 percent in July from the previous year. The Biden administration continues to deny that the country is in a recession, despite the negative economic growth for a second consecutive quarter. President Joe Biden and members of the administration argue that metrics like record job growth and steady levels of consumer spending show the country is not in a recession. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has also said that he "doesn’t think the US is currently in a recession." In September, the Federal Reserve is expected to announce if they are raising interest rates again for a third consecutive hike to help curb inflation. Raising the interest rates has had other side effects. According to the National Association of Realtors, buying a home in the US is the least affordable it has been in 33 years as mortgages spike and home prices hit record highs. Rents have also been jumped in many markets, as families that have been priced out of buying a home drive up the demand for rentals. https://www.foxnews.com/sports/leon-edwards-knocks-out-champion-kamaru-usman-kick-head-stuns-ufc-world Leon Edwards knocks out champion Kamaru Usman with kick to the head, stuns UFC world Leon Edwards stunned Kamaru Usman and the rest of the mixed martial arts world on Saturday night with a knockout kick in the fifth round of their bout at UFC 278. Edwards snatched the UFC welterweight championship from Usman with the win. The knockout blow came with 56 seconds remaining in the match. "That crosshead kick landed perfectly," Edwards said. https://twitter.com/i/status/1561215902187720706 - Play Video Usman, considered to be the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport, was likely on his way to a decision victory against Edwards before the kick. He controlled Edwards throughout the third round and led on the judge’s scorecard 39-37. But Edwards landed the shocking blow to put the "Nigerian Nightmare" on his back. Edwards has 10 wins and one no contest since he lost to Usman in December 2015 at UFC on FOX 17. The victory over Usman was the 20th of his career. "The octagon belongs to nobody. No man is meant to hold the belt for that long. I said all week I felt like this was my moment. This is how it was meant to play out," he said, adding he felt like he had more to show. "That wasn’t my best performance, and I did not feel myself in this. I feel like I have much more to offer." The win left UFC fighters and fans astounded. This has been your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief. If you liked the show, hit that share button down below. If you want to sign up for a club membership, sign up for our conference, or sign up for our magazine, you can do all of that at fightlaughfeast.com. As always, if you want to send me a news story, have questions about our conference, or become a corporate partner, email me, at garrison@fightlaughfeast.com. For CrossPolitic News, I’m Garrison Hardie. Have a great day, and Lord bless.

Good Tuesday morning everyone, this is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, August 23th, 2022. FLF Magazine: We are on a mission to make magazines great again. So, subscribe to our Fight Laugh Feast magazine. This is a quarterly mini-book like experience, packed full of a variety of authors that includes theologically-driven cultural commentary, a Psalm of the quarter, recipes for feasting, laughter sprinkled throughout the glossy pages, and more. Sign your church up, sign your grumpy uncle up, and while you are at it…sign up the Pope, Elon Musks, and Russel Moore. Disclaimer: This magazine will guarantee various responses and CrossPolitic is not held liable for any of them. Reading the whole magazine may cause theological maturation, possibly encourage your kids to take the Lord’s Supper with you, and will likely cause you to randomly chuckle in joy at God’s wondrous world. Sign up today! Four issues and $60 per year, that is it. Go to fightlaughfeast.com right now to sign up!. https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-fauci-to-retire-by-end-of-2022-as-gop-slated-to-retake-congress?utm_campaign=64487 Fauci to retire by end of 2022 as GOP slated to retake Congress Dr. Anthony Fauci will step down in December after more than fifty years of public service, he said on Monday. Fauci, who has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and joined the National Institute of Health in 1968, was President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor since he became president in 2021. Fauci has said for months that he has considered retiring. In an ABC podcast interview from March, Fauci said that he would stay in his role until "we get out of the pandemic phase," and added that "we might already be there." Fauci was asked if retirement or stepping back were options for him, to which he said "I certainly have, because I have to do it some time. I can't stay at this job forever, unless my staff find me slumped over at my desk one day. I'd rather not do that," he said. President Biden praised Fauci in a statement released on Monday, according to the Washington Post, saying: "Whether you’ve met him personally or not, he has touched all Americans’ lives with his work. I extend my deepest thanks for his public service. The United States of America is stronger, more resilient, and healthier because of him." Fauci has a lot to look forward to in his retirement. According to Forbes, Fauci is likely to rake in the highest-ever government retirement package in US history, "with an annual payment exceeding $350,000." https://www.theepochtimes.com/fence-surrounding-bidens-delaware-beach-house-costs-about-500000-records-show_4678740.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=BonginoReport Fence Surrounding Biden’s Delaware Beach House Costs About $500,000, Records Show The price tag of a taxpayer-funded project to build a barrier around President Joe Biden’s Delaware beach house has grown to nearly $500,000, federal spending records suggest. In September 2021, the Homeland Security Department paid $456,548 to Delaware-based construction company Turnstone Holdings for the purchase and installation of “security fencing” surrounding the president’s Rehoboth Beach property, according to USAspending.gov, an online database operated by the Treasury Department. The database entry shows two additional payments since then. One bill of $6,844 was paid in late November 2021 to cover expenses resulting from extra “gravel pads” and “crane services.” This was followed by another $26,933 bill in June, described as simply “to add funds to current project.” The overall cost of the fence now stands at $490,324. Although the project was originally expected to be completed by the end of 2021, its “potential end date” has been pushed back to June 6, 2023, marking a delay of more than 18 months. The exact reason for the setbacks remains unclear. The Epoch Times has reached out to the Homeland Security Department, listed as the main awarding agency and funding office for the contract, for further information. Amid a record influx of illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border, the costly presidential residence fence has drawn mockery from critics of the president’s border policy. “So walls work at Joe Biden’s beach house but not the Southern border?” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote on Twitter. According to data released by the Biden administration, the number of apprehensions at the nation’s southern border is reaching the 2 million benchmark for the first time in history. In July, Border Patrol reported 181,552 arrests of individuals who tried to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, a 5.6 percent drop from the 192,418 reported in June. With just two months before the fiscal year 2022 wraps up, the agency has already made more than 1.81 million arrests, beating fiscal year 2021’s record of 1.66 million. In the border town of Yuma, Arizona, the state is spending $6 million to fill a quarter-mile gap in the border barrier with shipping containers. Those 8,800-pound, 40-by-9-foot containers will be topped with razor wire once tractor-trailers move them into position. Tim Roemer, Arizona’s director of Homeland Security, told Phoenix radio station KTAR-FM that his state couldn’t wait any longer. https://thepostmillennial.com/oregon-gubernatorial-race-could-go-for-the-gop?utm_campaign=64487 Oregon gubernatorial race could go for the GOP The Oregon gubernatorial race in the historically blue state has gone from "Leans Democratic" to "Toss-Up," according to the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia Crystal Ball rating. The last time Republicans won a gubernatorial race in Oregon was in 1982. Democratic Governor Kate Brown is term-limited and according to the rating is "deeply unpopular, and there may be some desire for change in the Beaver State." According to the Center, "the state is hosting an unusual 3-way race among a trio of women who are all recent members of the state legislature: former state House Speaker Tina Kotek (D), former state House Minority Leader Christine Drazan (R), and former state Sen. Betsy Johnson, an unaffiliated, former Democrat who is more conservative than most of the members of her former party and who has been backed by Nike co-founder Phil Knight." "The race sets up an unusual situation where the winner may not need to crack even 40%," noted the Center. "Additionally, the 3 candidates all served concurrently in the state legislature, which should provide the campaigns ample opportunities to draw contrasts among the candidates." The rating added, "Johnson, the independent, would still be the most surprising winner, and Kotek and Drazan both will be working to try to prevent their voters from flocking to her banner. There’s just enough uncertainty here that we’re looking at the race as a Toss-up now." The Center for Politics also noted that there are toss-up governorships in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Kansas. Ya hear that folks? You may not have to flee your blue states afterall! But if you’d still like to, then pay attention to this ad: Story Real Estate: Home. It’s where you build your legacy. Where traditions are started, seeds are planted, meals are shared, and stories are told. Home is where you prepare to go out into the world. Finding the home that’s perfect for your family is a big job. Story Real Estate is Moscow’s top real estate team. They give people real estate advice all over the country. Family homes, investments, land, new construction, or commercial— they know real estate. If you’ve thought about a move to Moscow or anywhere in the country, reach out to get connected with a Story Real Estate agent. Wherever you’re going, they can help guide you Home. Visit storyrealestate.com. So, you guys have all probably heard that Brian Stelter, the human potato, was removed from CNN, but how about this? https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2022/08/21/is-don-lemon-the-next-to-be-purged-from-cnn-n2612030 CNN Appears to Be Cleaning House. Will Don Lemon Be Next? Spencer had the news about CNN's Brian Stelter this week. He's gone. The host of "Reliable Sources" was given the ax amid CNN's front office shake-up and reorganization of the news outlet's coverage, which has been pilloried as pro-Democratic Party propaganda. The new management at CNN wants to return to the days when CNN was more straight news, less drama, and not the subject of attacks over media bias for peddling explicit Democratic National Committee talking points. Longtime legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin also announced he was leaving, opting to retire and write a book. Toobin had emerged from the wilderness after The New Yorker fired him in 2020 following a humiliating incident where he exposed himself to the magazine's staff during a Zoom call. When Stelter was given the boot, people asked if Don Lemon, another insufferable fixture at the network, would be next. That could be in the cards, as a source is spilling the names of who's next on the butcher's bill. Yes, Don Lemon is on there: If Trump runs again, the network will need Lemon, Acosta, and others to kick the hornet's nest again. At the end of the day, while I know gutting CNN of their liberal cancers would be optimal, it's also a business. So, I could see this going either way regarding these potential firings. The new top brass could get rid of these folks and tread water for 2024, hoping their recent relaunch doesn't implode. Or they do a 180-degree turn, keep the Trump-hating hosts and contributors, and make a boatload of cash again. https://thepostmillennial.com/97-percent-of-execs-say-us-in-recession-despite-bidens-definition-change?utm_campaign=64487 97 percent of execs say US in recession despite Biden's definition change The Biden administration changed the definition of the word recession in July, prior to the release of numbers that showed the US was in a recession, in order to be able to make the claim that the US was not in a recession. Despite this, a large number of US executives believe the country is now in a recession. Stifel Financial conducted a survey that shows 18 percent of business owners, executives, and investors consider the US economy already in a recession, compared to 79 percent that expect a downturn within the next 18 months. The standard definition of the word is a decline in GDP for two consecutive quarters, while the new, Biden definition links the word to unemployment numbers. Only three percent believe the US could conceivably avoid a recession within the next 18 months, according to the Daily Mail. According to the survey, businesses believe labor shortages, inflation, supply chain disruptions, and a recession are the biggest threats to profitability. 53 percent of executives expect inflation risk to remain a challenge to their assets and interests for the next two quarters to a year. 43 percent expect an economic decline to last for longer than that. According to the Labor Department, the US consumer price index was up 8.5 percent in July from a year ago. Though that was lower than the 9.1 percent increase in June, it was still above the Federal Reserve's two percent target rate. Inflation is the highest it has been in 40 years. The cost of goods has spiked hitting low-income and middle-class families the hardest. Food prices have continued to increase, with the cost of groceries increasing 13.1 percent in July from the previous year. The Biden administration continues to deny that the country is in a recession, despite the negative economic growth for a second consecutive quarter. President Joe Biden and members of the administration argue that metrics like record job growth and steady levels of consumer spending show the country is not in a recession. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has also said that he "doesn’t think the US is currently in a recession." In September, the Federal Reserve is expected to announce if they are raising interest rates again for a third consecutive hike to help curb inflation. Raising the interest rates has had other side effects. According to the National Association of Realtors, buying a home in the US is the least affordable it has been in 33 years as mortgages spike and home prices hit record highs. Rents have also been jumped in many markets, as families that have been priced out of buying a home drive up the demand for rentals. https://www.foxnews.com/sports/leon-edwards-knocks-out-champion-kamaru-usman-kick-head-stuns-ufc-world Leon Edwards knocks out champion Kamaru Usman with kick to the head, stuns UFC world Leon Edwards stunned Kamaru Usman and the rest of the mixed martial arts world on Saturday night with a knockout kick in the fifth round of their bout at UFC 278. Edwards snatched the UFC welterweight championship from Usman with the win. The knockout blow came with 56 seconds remaining in the match. "That crosshead kick landed perfectly," Edwards said. https://twitter.com/i/status/1561215902187720706 - Play Video Usman, considered to be the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport, was likely on his way to a decision victory against Edwards before the kick. He controlled Edwards throughout the third round and led on the judge’s scorecard 39-37. But Edwards landed the shocking blow to put the "Nigerian Nightmare" on his back. Edwards has 10 wins and one no contest since he lost to Usman in December 2015 at UFC on FOX 17. The victory over Usman was the 20th of his career. "The octagon belongs to nobody. No man is meant to hold the belt for that long. I said all week I felt like this was my moment. This is how it was meant to play out," he said, adding he felt like he had more to show. "That wasn’t my best performance, and I did not feel myself in this. I feel like I have much more to offer." The win left UFC fighters and fans astounded. This has been your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief. If you liked the show, hit that share button down below. If you want to sign up for a club membership, sign up for our conference, or sign up for our magazine, you can do all of that at fightlaughfeast.com. As always, if you want to send me a news story, have questions about our conference, or become a corporate partner, email me, at garrison@fightlaughfeast.com. For CrossPolitic News, I’m Garrison Hardie. Have a great day, and Lord bless.

Good Tuesday morning everyone, this is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, August 23th, 2022. FLF Magazine: We are on a mission to make magazines great again. So, subscribe to our Fight Laugh Feast magazine. This is a quarterly mini-book like experience, packed full of a variety of authors that includes theologically-driven cultural commentary, a Psalm of the quarter, recipes for feasting, laughter sprinkled throughout the glossy pages, and more. Sign your church up, sign your grumpy uncle up, and while you are at it…sign up the Pope, Elon Musks, and Russel Moore. Disclaimer: This magazine will guarantee various responses and CrossPolitic is not held liable for any of them. Reading the whole magazine may cause theological maturation, possibly encourage your kids to take the Lord’s Supper with you, and will likely cause you to randomly chuckle in joy at God’s wondrous world. Sign up today! Four issues and $60 per year, that is it. Go to fightlaughfeast.com right now to sign up!. https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-fauci-to-retire-by-end-of-2022-as-gop-slated-to-retake-congress?utm_campaign=64487 Fauci to retire by end of 2022 as GOP slated to retake Congress Dr. Anthony Fauci will step down in December after more than fifty years of public service, he said on Monday. Fauci, who has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and joined the National Institute of Health in 1968, was President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor since he became president in 2021. Fauci has said for months that he has considered retiring. In an ABC podcast interview from March, Fauci said that he would stay in his role until "we get out of the pandemic phase," and added that "we might already be there." Fauci was asked if retirement or stepping back were options for him, to which he said "I certainly have, because I have to do it some time. I can't stay at this job forever, unless my staff find me slumped over at my desk one day. I'd rather not do that," he said. President Biden praised Fauci in a statement released on Monday, according to the Washington Post, saying: "Whether you’ve met him personally or not, he has touched all Americans’ lives with his work. I extend my deepest thanks for his public service. The United States of America is stronger, more resilient, and healthier because of him." Fauci has a lot to look forward to in his retirement. According to Forbes, Fauci is likely to rake in the highest-ever government retirement package in US history, "with an annual payment exceeding $350,000." https://www.theepochtimes.com/fence-surrounding-bidens-delaware-beach-house-costs-about-500000-records-show_4678740.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=BonginoReport Fence Surrounding Biden’s Delaware Beach House Costs About $500,000, Records Show The price tag of a taxpayer-funded project to build a barrier around President Joe Biden’s Delaware beach house has grown to nearly $500,000, federal spending records suggest. In September 2021, the Homeland Security Department paid $456,548 to Delaware-based construction company Turnstone Holdings for the purchase and installation of “security fencing” surrounding the president’s Rehoboth Beach property, according to USAspending.gov, an online database operated by the Treasury Department. The database entry shows two additional payments since then. One bill of $6,844 was paid in late November 2021 to cover expenses resulting from extra “gravel pads” and “crane services.” This was followed by another $26,933 bill in June, described as simply “to add funds to current project.” The overall cost of the fence now stands at $490,324. Although the project was originally expected to be completed by the end of 2021, its “potential end date” has been pushed back to June 6, 2023, marking a delay of more than 18 months. The exact reason for the setbacks remains unclear. The Epoch Times has reached out to the Homeland Security Department, listed as the main awarding agency and funding office for the contract, for further information. Amid a record influx of illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border, the costly presidential residence fence has drawn mockery from critics of the president’s border policy. “So walls work at Joe Biden’s beach house but not the Southern border?” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote on Twitter. According to data released by the Biden administration, the number of apprehensions at the nation’s southern border is reaching the 2 million benchmark for the first time in history. In July, Border Patrol reported 181,552 arrests of individuals who tried to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, a 5.6 percent drop from the 192,418 reported in June. With just two months before the fiscal year 2022 wraps up, the agency has already made more than 1.81 million arrests, beating fiscal year 2021’s record of 1.66 million. In the border town of Yuma, Arizona, the state is spending $6 million to fill a quarter-mile gap in the border barrier with shipping containers. Those 8,800-pound, 40-by-9-foot containers will be topped with razor wire once tractor-trailers move them into position. Tim Roemer, Arizona’s director of Homeland Security, told Phoenix radio station KTAR-FM that his state couldn’t wait any longer. https://thepostmillennial.com/oregon-gubernatorial-race-could-go-for-the-gop?utm_campaign=64487 Oregon gubernatorial race could go for the GOP The Oregon gubernatorial race in the historically blue state has gone from "Leans Democratic" to "Toss-Up," according to the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia Crystal Ball rating. The last time Republicans won a gubernatorial race in Oregon was in 1982. Democratic Governor Kate Brown is term-limited and according to the rating is "deeply unpopular, and there may be some desire for change in the Beaver State." According to the Center, "the state is hosting an unusual 3-way race among a trio of women who are all recent members of the state legislature: former state House Speaker Tina Kotek (D), former state House Minority Leader Christine Drazan (R), and former state Sen. Betsy Johnson, an unaffiliated, former Democrat who is more conservative than most of the members of her former party and who has been backed by Nike co-founder Phil Knight." "The race sets up an unusual situation where the winner may not need to crack even 40%," noted the Center. "Additionally, the 3 candidates all served concurrently in the state legislature, which should provide the campaigns ample opportunities to draw contrasts among the candidates." The rating added, "Johnson, the independent, would still be the most surprising winner, and Kotek and Drazan both will be working to try to prevent their voters from flocking to her banner. There’s just enough uncertainty here that we’re looking at the race as a Toss-up now." The Center for Politics also noted that there are toss-up governorships in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Kansas. Ya hear that folks? You may not have to flee your blue states afterall! But if you’d still like to, then pay attention to this ad: Story Real Estate: Home. It’s where you build your legacy. Where traditions are started, seeds are planted, meals are shared, and stories are told. Home is where you prepare to go out into the world. Finding the home that’s perfect for your family is a big job. Story Real Estate is Moscow’s top real estate team. They give people real estate advice all over the country. Family homes, investments, land, new construction, or commercial— they know real estate. If you’ve thought about a move to Moscow or anywhere in the country, reach out to get connected with a Story Real Estate agent. Wherever you’re going, they can help guide you Home. Visit storyrealestate.com. So, you guys have all probably heard that Brian Stelter, the human potato, was removed from CNN, but how about this? https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2022/08/21/is-don-lemon-the-next-to-be-purged-from-cnn-n2612030 CNN Appears to Be Cleaning House. Will Don Lemon Be Next? Spencer had the news about CNN's Brian Stelter this week. He's gone. The host of "Reliable Sources" was given the ax amid CNN's front office shake-up and reorganization of the news outlet's coverage, which has been pilloried as pro-Democratic Party propaganda. The new management at CNN wants to return to the days when CNN was more straight news, less drama, and not the subject of attacks over media bias for peddling explicit Democratic National Committee talking points. Longtime legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin also announced he was leaving, opting to retire and write a book. Toobin had emerged from the wilderness after The New Yorker fired him in 2020 following a humiliating incident where he exposed himself to the magazine's staff during a Zoom call. When Stelter was given the boot, people asked if Don Lemon, another insufferable fixture at the network, would be next. That could be in the cards, as a source is spilling the names of who's next on the butcher's bill. Yes, Don Lemon is on there: If Trump runs again, the network will need Lemon, Acosta, and others to kick the hornet's nest again. At the end of the day, while I know gutting CNN of their liberal cancers would be optimal, it's also a business. So, I could see this going either way regarding these potential firings. The new top brass could get rid of these folks and tread water for 2024, hoping their recent relaunch doesn't implode. Or they do a 180-degree turn, keep the Trump-hating hosts and contributors, and make a boatload of cash again. https://thepostmillennial.com/97-percent-of-execs-say-us-in-recession-despite-bidens-definition-change?utm_campaign=64487 97 percent of execs say US in recession despite Biden's definition change The Biden administration changed the definition of the word recession in July, prior to the release of numbers that showed the US was in a recession, in order to be able to make the claim that the US was not in a recession. Despite this, a large number of US executives believe the country is now in a recession. Stifel Financial conducted a survey that shows 18 percent of business owners, executives, and investors consider the US economy already in a recession, compared to 79 percent that expect a downturn within the next 18 months. The standard definition of the word is a decline in GDP for two consecutive quarters, while the new, Biden definition links the word to unemployment numbers. Only three percent believe the US could conceivably avoid a recession within the next 18 months, according to the Daily Mail. According to the survey, businesses believe labor shortages, inflation, supply chain disruptions, and a recession are the biggest threats to profitability. 53 percent of executives expect inflation risk to remain a challenge to their assets and interests for the next two quarters to a year. 43 percent expect an economic decline to last for longer than that. According to the Labor Department, the US consumer price index was up 8.5 percent in July from a year ago. Though that was lower than the 9.1 percent increase in June, it was still above the Federal Reserve's two percent target rate. Inflation is the highest it has been in 40 years. The cost of goods has spiked hitting low-income and middle-class families the hardest. Food prices have continued to increase, with the cost of groceries increasing 13.1 percent in July from the previous year. The Biden administration continues to deny that the country is in a recession, despite the negative economic growth for a second consecutive quarter. President Joe Biden and members of the administration argue that metrics like record job growth and steady levels of consumer spending show the country is not in a recession. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has also said that he "doesn’t think the US is currently in a recession." In September, the Federal Reserve is expected to announce if they are raising interest rates again for a third consecutive hike to help curb inflation. Raising the interest rates has had other side effects. According to the National Association of Realtors, buying a home in the US is the least affordable it has been in 33 years as mortgages spike and home prices hit record highs. Rents have also been jumped in many markets, as families that have been priced out of buying a home drive up the demand for rentals. https://www.foxnews.com/sports/leon-edwards-knocks-out-champion-kamaru-usman-kick-head-stuns-ufc-world Leon Edwards knocks out champion Kamaru Usman with kick to the head, stuns UFC world Leon Edwards stunned Kamaru Usman and the rest of the mixed martial arts world on Saturday night with a knockout kick in the fifth round of their bout at UFC 278. Edwards snatched the UFC welterweight championship from Usman with the win. The knockout blow came with 56 seconds remaining in the match. "That crosshead kick landed perfectly," Edwards said. https://twitter.com/i/status/1561215902187720706 - Play Video Usman, considered to be the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport, was likely on his way to a decision victory against Edwards before the kick. He controlled Edwards throughout the third round and led on the judge’s scorecard 39-37. But Edwards landed the shocking blow to put the "Nigerian Nightmare" on his back. Edwards has 10 wins and one no contest since he lost to Usman in December 2015 at UFC on FOX 17. The victory over Usman was the 20th of his career. "The octagon belongs to nobody. No man is meant to hold the belt for that long. I said all week I felt like this was my moment. This is how it was meant to play out," he said, adding he felt like he had more to show. "That wasn’t my best performance, and I did not feel myself in this. I feel like I have much more to offer." The win left UFC fighters and fans astounded. This has been your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief. If you liked the show, hit that share button down below. If you want to sign up for a club membership, sign up for our conference, or sign up for our magazine, you can do all of that at fightlaughfeast.com. As always, if you want to send me a news story, have questions about our conference, or become a corporate partner, email me, at garrison@fightlaughfeast.com. For CrossPolitic News, I’m Garrison Hardie. Have a great day, and Lord bless.

This week's episode covers a proposed rule regarding the Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts, ongoing concerns about the transition from DUNS to Unique Entity Identifier, assessment of the quality of data in USAspending.gov, and a court decision regarding suspension and debarment, and is hosted by Peter Eyre and Yuan Zhou. Crowell & Moring's "Fastest 5 Minutes" is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or executive should be without.

This week I'm chatting with Henry Mooney, Ph.D. about plastics, oceans, and our environment. Henry holds a Ph.D. in Global Systems, a Masters in Sustainable Development, and a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies. The bulk of his research focuses on the modern processes by which terrestrial and marine spatial boundaries are drawn, armed conflict over finite socioecological resources, and the emergent geopolitical alignments of foreign direct investment into sustainable development projects abroad. His field research has included coral reef surveys in Mauritius, the investigation of land grabbing for renewable energy development in Kenya, and the exploration of micro-economies formed around marine resource conservation in Mexico. Dr. Mooney currently works for an environmental consulting firm based in Ojai, California, gives talks on environmental philosophy and ocean plastics, and serves as a board member of a telecommunications non-profit based in San Diego. In his free time, he enjoys traveling and surfing. Links from the show:Henry Mooney, Ph.D.PAX Environmental, Inc.USAspending.govBeyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development, Herman E. Dal Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, Daron Acemoglu & James a. Robinson  Support the show (https://paypal.me/TheBookshopPodcast?locale.x=en_US)

The Federal Government continues to modernize their management of data, including data governance and analytics. In the episode of the AI Today podcast we interview Justin Marsico who is the Chief Data Officer at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, a part of the United States Department of the Treasury. Justin oversees the Fiscal Service’s provision of data to the public, including on USAspending.gov and shared with us some of the unique opportunities around data at the federal level, challenges in data governance, security, ownership, as well as what areas of seeing AI he sees effectively being used in the federal government. Continue reading AI Today Podcast: Challenges in Federal AI Adoption, Interview with Justin Marsico, Chief Data Officer at the Bureau Of The Fiscal Service at Cognilytica.

This week’s discussion is on “Have Gov’t Contractors Been Impacted by Pandemic”. In order to make this determination I can reports through USASpending.gov. The results were surprising. In fact, two set-aside actually saw an increase in contracting dollars when compared to just a year ago. Now, I could have used the FPDS database to obtain the numbers for this episode, but I find it too cumbersome when compared to USASpending. Besides, the information is the same no matter which system you use. Depending on the set-aside used government contractors saw a 11.54% decrease to a 24% increase! The biggest winner were small businesses with a 24% increase. 8(a) contractors saw the largest decrease of 11.54%. HUBZone contractors saw an 11.03% decrease as well. The service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses saw an increase of 1%. This number really surprised me. Last but not least Women-Owned Small businesses (including Economically Disadvantaged women-owned small businesses) saw a 2.5% decrease.

Agencies submit $4 trillion worth of spending data to USASpending.gov each year. The Treasury Department's Bureau of the Fiscal Service finds trends in the data. The bureau recently launched a new tool to track federal investment specifically in higher education. Justin Marsico, deputy assistant commissioner for data transparency and the founder of the bureau's Data Lab, told Federal News Network's Jory Heckman what the bureau looks to accomplish by tracking all this spending data. Hear more on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Today's Flash Back Friday comes from Episode 235, originally published in February 2016. Kevin Jans is the President and Founder of Skyway Acquisition Solutions (“Skyway”). After 16 years as a Department of Defense contracting officer, he founded Skyway to help companies navigate the increasingly complex process of competing for Federal contracts. Kevin built the company on the premise that no one knows the Federal acquisition system better than contracting officers who managed it from the inside. Following this idea, he built a team of experts with actual contracting officer experience. What separates this podcast is the insight that Kevin and Paul bring from having been Contracting Officers (COs). In addition to his hands on experience, Kevin has extensive credentials in the contracting and source selection field. He is an active member of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA), Suncoast Chapter. Kevin also has elite training and development experience in the Federal contract market. He was competitively selected for both the US Air Force's Copper Cap Training Program and the Career Broadener Programs. Both of these targeted Department of Defense training programs are designed to accelerate the experience and knowledge of high-performing professionals in the DOD contracting and acquisition field. He is a Certified Federal Contracts Manager (through NCMA), DOD-Certified in both Contracting and Program Management (through Defense Acquisition University) and he holds a Yellow Belt Certification in Six Sigma. Key Takeaways: [4:27] Kevin's new 80/20 rule [6:21] A few places you can go to find government contracts out there and if you might be a fit [9:02] Getting started and learning the basics of learning to get government contracts [11:04] How to compete for government contracts with small businesses and minority owned businesses [14:07] Comparing the government contract market to the stock market [17:05] How long it takes to get a government contract going [21:09] Exploring the all important topic of how much it costs to get help submitting your government contract proposal [23:54] Looking at what the government's going to look at when they're considering if you'll win the contract Websites Mentioned: www.USASpending.gov www.FederalBusinessOpporunities.gov www.SkywayAcquisition.com www.ContractingOfficerPodcast.com

How to Write a Proposal – Pricing The best advice that we can give to you is to be as competitive on your pricing as possible.  There are too many ways to price a product or service.  I am not going to provide you with a ton of insight into this, but I will provide sound guidance.  I can tell you that the old stories of the government buying toilet seats for $200 and $300 hammers are simply that – old news.  In today’s age, you had best sharpen your pencils and be as competitive as possible. Next, we will be discussing common pricing factors to consider. Common Pricing Factors Make sure when pricing your product or service that you cover all your costs and protect your profit.  Here are things to consider when determining your price: Pricing History – For pricing information on previous products, you may be able to obtain pricing from Block 10 of FS Form 33. That is if that form was used.  If not, contact your local PTAC and ask them to research for you.  They will be able to provide you with a report for an item. Now on a service, that is a lot more difficult.  You will have to get ahold of the contract number and request the contract, along with the statement of work.  Obtaining copies of this information can be accomplished through the Freedom of Information Act. (FOIA).  You may also be able to achieve this research yourself by using USASpending or Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS). ·       Cost Out All Special Requirements The buyer may ask for many costly extras. Look for packaging requirements.  These can be expensive.  Don’t just stick on a percentage of the cost of the item to cover packaging. ·       Quality Requirements – Will any of the certifications and acknowledgments add on extra costs? Spend some time thinking about this.  ·       Factor in Bidding Costs – some offers are rather simple and straightforward, but as the value of the contract increases, more time and labor are usually required. As a rule of thumb, you can estimate that the cost of putting together an offer will run 3% to 4% of the value of the proposed contract. Make sure current finances can handle that cost. ·       Overhead and Profit – Make sure your profit is reasonable. Remember that the bidding process is very competitive.  You are free to figure in as high a profit as you wish, but you must win the contract to enjoy it.  Never bid if it doesn’t make good business sense.  And while making sure that your price covers your overhead costs may seem very basic and obvious, it is the pricing factor that small businesses most often get wrong.  This can be detrimental to your business.  If your cost information is not correct, you can’t accurately bid a contract, be competitive, or make the right decisions for your company. Additionally, I am including some helpful formulas to assist you. Helpful Formulas To help you, we are including some formulates that might help you figure out what your essential costs and profit might be. Product Pricing Formula Material Cost + Labor Costs + Overhead Expenses /# of times produced = Cost per item.     Material Costs: Figure the total cost of the raw materials used to make up a single item, or Divide the material cost of a batch of items, by the number of items produced.     Labor Costs: Figure what you pay to employees to produce the item, whether you have employees. Assign a wage figure even if you are the only one producing the item. Take the weekly salary you pay someone to produce the weekly volume of items and divide it by the number of items.   Overhead Expenses: Rent, Gas, Electricity, Business telephone calls, Cleaning, Insurance, Office Supplies, Postage, Repairs, Maintenance, Delivery and Freight Charges, Packaging, and Shipping Supplies. If you are working from home, calculate a portion of your total rent or mortgage payment, in proportion to your workspace, or assign a reasonable figure. List all overhead expenses items and total them. Divide the total overhead figure by the number of items per month. This will be your overhead per product.   Profit Add an amount to the cost of each item. Check your competition for what they are charging and work accordingly. This establishes your profit margin.  Remember that just because this is a “government” contract does not mean you can add excessive profit.        Add Profit to the Cost per Item for the Total Price per Item.   Service Pricing Formula Hourly Overhead Expense + Hourly Wage + Profit = Total Price per hour. Overhead Expense: Calculate all the costs related to operating your business from home and arrive at a total cost per month. Divide this by the average number of hours worked per month, to obtain your hourly expense. Hourly Wage. Decide on a wage to pay yourself, considering background training and expertise. Compare this to industry averages Hourly Profit: Add a factor to your hourly wage to provide a profit. Margin Check your competition and market demand. I find that the simpler you can make your calculation, using all factor above, will help you come up with some real costs.  Determine Your Costs Why do we say that small businesses tend to get their cost information wrong?  Simply because many, if not most, small businesses don’t know what their overhead costs are. Most small business only uses prime costs to compute their pricing.  Let's find out why is not the best way to compute your costs. Prime Costs Often when pricing your project, businesses will take their prime costs (labor and materials) and mark that figure up by some percentage that they believe is enough to cover all indirect costs and give them some profit.  Or they will use a single, company-wide rate applied on only one type of bases, such as direct labor hours or engineering hours, for assigning indirect costs to the product or service provided.  In either case, if this estimated percentage is higher than what their overhead is, it affects their ability to be competitive. If their estimate is lower than what their costs are, it affects their ability to be profitable. If your business falls into one of these categories, we strongly recommend that, before you bid on a contract (or on any other project for that matter), you take the time and the steps necessary to determine your actual costs. Activity-Based Costing You might consider using some form of activity-based costing (ABC) to accomplish this.  ABC, in its simplest terms, is a cost management method that allows a business to determine the actual cost associated with each product or service.  With this method yo look at every time and activity in your business associated with putting out your product or service (e.g., heats, lights, administrative help, sending out an invoice, doing payroll, etc.) and then attach a cost to it. In other words, you break your costs down to their least common denominator, so you know what they are. Without knowing your actual costs, you can never be sure where the money is being made or lost, you can’t identify moneymakers and losers (an increase in sales does not necessarily mean an increase in profit), and you can’t make sound strategic decisions and plans for your company. Although ABC is geared toward a large business, a small business can adapt this philosophy and utilize a more simplified form of it.  For more information on ABC, try searching the Internet or check out some of the books on the topic at your local bookstore or online.  Now, I do have a word of caution. Caution Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 15 discusses negotiations and costs for contracts of $100,000 or more and looks at allowable and allocable expenses.  If you are going to be submitting proposal over $100,000 either bone up on the FAR in this area or get an accountant who is familiar with government contracting. Conclusion Again, I need to remind you to carefully read the solicitation and make notes on points you don’t understand. Then ask the questions.  Go to the buyer or Point of Contact identified in the contract, the small business specialist at the buying office, or a Procurement Technical Assistance Center.  Please ask someone.  Also, the answers could significantly affect your price and your profit.      

  FCME uploads new episodes every Monday & Friday morning at 6:00 a.m. MST. Topics include proposal writing, bonds, types of contracts, why do business with the federal government, 8(a), business services for veterans and women, where federal opportunities are listed, and more. You can listen to the podcast here or with your favorite podcast provider (iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, or Stitcher). FCME is also active on social media and launched the Federal Contracting Made Easy YouTube channel on January 1, 2019.   Website Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube   Episode 051 Small Businesses Don’t wait learn these contracting secrets now!!! In today's competitive Federal contracting market, it is necessary to take advantage of all opportunities available. In this second part series, we discuss our secret method using an Internet Search engine for finding opportunities that have not been released for proposal yet. Why is finding contracting opportunities prior to their release so important? Well, here are a few reasons for doing so. Benefits 1. Allows you to track federal opportunities so you know when they are going to be released. 2. You can concentrate on contracting opportunities within your niche. 3. Allows you to build a team to proposal on the opportunity 4. You can gather information from last proposal (on recurring contracts) to better position yourself by using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 5. You can market to the government. 6. Goal is to meet with the government (hopefully a contracting officer, end user or technical representative) and give your Capability Briefing along with your Capability Statement. 7. Learn how to use USASpending.gov or Federal Procurement Data System to enhance your competitive edge.   Relationships The above reasons alone should convince you that it is time to start tracking opportunities before they are released. By finding out what the government thinks they are going to spend their money on allows you to start to build relationships with them. The more familiar the government is with you and your company the more comfortable they will be. The benefits of building relationships are the government may have other opportunities that are not listed that they will need some help with. If they are familiar with you, they may just consider you for those opportunities. How will they consider you? They may ask that you bid on the project! Conclusion Now I do have to say that the proposed listings that I teach you how to find will have opportunities that may not get funded that year. These listings are the government's wish list of things that need to be done but do to budget restraints they just can't fund the project. This does not happen to all projects, but it does happen. So, what are you waiting for? Watch your video and learn all that you can to become a better contractor. For more topics. Please help support our podcast by purchasing from our store. https://teespring.com/stores/federal-contracting-made-easy    

  FCME uploads new episodes every Monday & Friday morning at 6:00 a.m. MST. Topics include proposal writing, bonds, types of contracts, why do business with the federal government, 8(a), business services for veterans and women, where federal opportunities are listed, and more. You can listen to the podcast here or with your favorite podcast provider (iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, or Stitcher). FCME is also active on social media and launched the Federal Contracting Made Easy YouTube channel on January 1, 2019.   Website Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube   GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Today, we answer the public's questions on a variety of topics. -Subcontracting -Where to find prime contractors (SBA Subnet https://eweb1.sba.gov/subnet/client/dsp_Landing.cfm or USASpending usaspending.gov) -DCAA Audits -Contracting Trends -Support our channel. http://bit.ly/fcmeProducts

  FCME uploads new episodes every Monday & Friday morning at 6:00 a.m. MST. Topics include proposal writing, bonds, types of contracts, why do business with the federal government, 8(a), business services for veterans and women, where federal opportunities are listed, and more. You can listen to the podcast here or with your favorite podcast provider (iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, or Stitcher). FCME is also active on social media and launched the Federal Contracting Made Easy YouTube channel on January 1, 2019.   Website Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube   Episode #049 Contracting Secrets, Finding Opportunities Before Your Competitors, Part 1 Watch Part 1 of Contracting Secrets, where I walk you through the process of 1.) finding government agencies that can use your product or service, 2.) Show you where to find opportunities before your competitors. 3.) Show you where to find opportunities before on Fed Biz Ops. Stay Tune and Subscribe for the second part which is coming soon. *Support our channels (Podcast & YouTube) by purchasing products from http://bit.ly/fcmeProducts Websites: www.federalcontractingmadeeasy.com www.byerlyenterprises.com FOIA: https://www.foia.gov/ USASpending www.usaspending.gov www.Fpds.gov

Useful as it may be, the government's main website where people can find spending information is a work in progress. Recently the Project on Government Oversight sent the Treasury Department a long list of detailed suggestions for improving USASpending.gov. Sean Moulton, POGO's open government project manager, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for the highlights.

This week of FedHeads, Robert and Francis talk to Justin Marsico and Renata Maziarz from the Treasury Department's Bureau of the Fiscal Service about the relaunch of USASpending.gov with additional capability called Data Lab. http://www.usaspending.gov/ https://datalab.usaspending.gov/ About FedHeads FedHeads are Robert Shea and Francis Rose, who love to talk about the arcana of government management and the people who are trying to make it better. They don't have t-shirts yet, but are open to ideas. If government is your bag, you've got to listen to 'em. They're the FedHeads.

The Treasury Department is launching a series of new data analysis tools to let people have access to a treasure trove of contracts, grants and other spending information like never before. Federal News Radio's Jason Miller joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to explain.

Did you know that according to USAspending.gov the federal government alone spends over $74 billion with contractors? And that $6.9 billion of that was awarded to companies and business in Virginia, second only to California? Have you heard that winning a contract or selling to local, state or federal government is tedious or cumbersome? Or that government only buys from the “big guys”? The reality is that local, state and federal government are organizations that spend a lot of money with all sizes of private sector businesses for the products and services they need. Though their purchasing process is different, it’s not necessarily difficult – and can be very profitable. In this episode, host Mary Foley talks with Tammy Farmer, founder of Government Marketing, who has over 25 years of experience in the Supply Chain where she gained valuable purchasing and inventory experience as a buyer in the local, state, and federal government. Today she and her team educate and assist small business owners about navigating the government procurement process so they can win contracts. Listen and learn: Why selling to the government is a savvy way to grow your business How to easily determine if government buys your type of product or service The difference between selling to local governments, the State of Virginia, and the federal government Which certifications are required or advantageous to sell to state or federal government The surprising amount Virginia State agencies can spend using “Quick Quotes” to speed up purchasing Top challenges to selling to the government market that can be easily overcome

Title: "Help for Tribes from NCAI 2017" Guests: Kelsey Ducheneaux (Intertribal Ag Council), Masewa Mody (Cheyenne River Sioux, Prevention Specialist), Caroline Fisher and Jim Landelius (American Indian Living Magazine), Kathryn Mills (VP, Creating Stronger Nations and DCI America) Description: Experts who attended NCAI’s Annual Meeting in 2017 share insights on a variety of topics that can help you and your tribe. Contact Info: www.Usaspending.gov, www.AmericanIndianLiving.org, kmills@csninc.net, 800-888-1027 (Mills)

The DATA Act requires agencies to disclose budget, contract and grants spending information in a uniform, searchable format. So far, they're not doing very well. Government Accountability Office auditors found that almost none of the contracts and grants data posted to USASpending was consistent with agency records. Paula Rascona, director of financial management and assurance issues at the GAO, joins Federal Drive with Tom Temin with more.

Kevin Jans spent 16 years on the government side of federal contracting as a contract specialist and contracting officer. He bought goods and services across a variety of industries, totaling over $1 Billion. Kevin now hosts the Contracting Officer Podcast. He also serves as the president of Skyway Acquisition Solutions, which he founded in 2011 and has helped clients win $470 million in contracts. Kevin’s super-power is his ability to help people understand this complex market in simple terms.Kevin is an amazing resource of information for anyone wanting to land a government contract. He says there is a literal sea of opportunities in government contracts and while the process might be complicated it is not undoable. He helps small business owners get through the process every day. His company helps them understand their focus.Kevin says to get an idea of what is available to you as a small business owner or “vendor” of services that the government may hire you to provide. Your first stop is www.USAspending.gov; your next is www.FBO.gov.The short story here is that the government has a lot of money to spend with providers of services and goods. But Kevin says those large numbers is exactly what gets people unfocused. He says to focus on your niche and start there. He must be pretty good, because Kevin’s company has helped others land more than $470 MILLION in contracts. Pretty impressive to say the least. Learn more about Kevin’s path to becoming a killer contracts officer. Hear about how solving problems is at the crux of what he does to help others.terms. 

In this episode, Jen and Joe recap all the bills that passed the House of Representatives and were covered on Congressional Dish in 2013. Also, an update on the debt ceiling. Music in This Episode: Intro and Exit Music: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) In Your Name by The Undercover Hippy (found on Music Alley by mevio) Debt Ceiling  See how your representative voted on S. 540, the bill that suspends the debt ceiling until March 16, 2015, which passed the House on February 11 and the Senate on February 12. If we don't suspend the debt ceiling, we probably will not default on our debt as doing so would be unconstitutional. However, the only way that we would avoid a default would involve a scenario along the lines of the one described by Jeffrey Dorfman in Forbes, which involved slashing the Federal government and even eliminating whole departments. The debt ceiling either needs to be raised or suspended or the government drastically slashed by February 27. Bills Covered by Congressional Dish in 2013 (In Chronological Order) H.Res.5: House Rules for the 113th (Agreed to 1/3/13) Highlighted in episode CD010: House (Finally!) Votes on Sandy Aid Members can take private jets using government money (CD016) Speaker John Boehner promised we would have at least 72 hours to read bills, but this promise wasn't put in the official House rules. (112th Congress) H.R. 8: The Fiscal Cliff Bill (Passed House & Senate 1/1, LAW 1/2) Highlighted in episode CD009: What's in the Fiscal Cliff Bill Extended unemployment insurance Extended Farm bill until September 2013 Extended the Bush tax cuts Increased capital gains taxes from 15% to 20% Extended the college and child tax credits Multinationals -including banks- don't have to pay taxes on income from foreign subsidiaries H.R. 152: Funded Hurricane Sandy relief (Passed House 1/15, Senate 1/28, LAW 1/29) Highlighted in episode CD010: House (Finally!) Votes on Sandy Aid Sandy was on 10/29/12, funding for the recovery was finally provided on 1/15/13 All Reps from Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas voted against it H.R. 307: Prepares for Biological Attacks (Passed Senate 2/27, House 3/4, LAW 3/13) Highlighted in episode CD011: No Budget, Still Get Paid Loosened the definition of an "emergency" to include "threat justifying emergency authorized use" of unapproved medical devices H.R. 325: "The No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013" (Passed House 1/23, Senate 1/31, LAW 2/4) Highlighted in episode CD011: No Budget, Still Get Paid Suspended the debt ceiling until May 18, 2013 House & Senate both have to pass budgets by April 15, 2013 (which they did). Would have paid Congress no matter whether or not they passed their budgets; they would have been back paid. H.R. 225: Pediatric Research (Passed House 2/4) Highlighted in episode CD013: Surveillance, Stupidity, and Drones Public & private non-profits need to help CDC with surveillance systems in order to get pediatric research grants but provided no money. H. R. 444: "Require A Plan Act" (Passed House 2/6) Highlighted in episode CD013: Surveillance, Stupidity, and Drones President would have to submit a second budget if his first budget wasn't balanced. H.R. 235: Helping Veterans Become Emergency Medical Technicians (Passed House 2/12) Highlighted in episode CD014: Marching Towards Sequester Gives grants to States to streamline requirements for veteran EMTs to become civilian EMTs H.R. 592: Gave Hurricane Sandy Money to Repair Churches (Passed House 2/13) Highlighted in episode CD014: Marching Towards Sequester The first amendment to the Constitution prohibits direct funding of religious buildings [caption id="attachment_419" align="alignright" width="150"] A small conduit hydro-electric project[/caption] H.R. 267: Fast Tracks Hydro-Power Projects (Passed House 2/13, Senate 8/1, LAW 8/9) Highlighted in episode CD014: Marching Towards Sequester Fast tracks hydro-power projects on existing dams. H.R. 273: Eliminates Federal Workers' First COLA in 3 Years (Passed House 2/15) Highlighted in episode CD014: Marching Towards Sequester S. 47: Violence Against Women Act Re-authorization (Passed Senate 2/12, House 2/28, LAW 3/7) Highlighted in episode CD017: VAWA & Funding Defense Adds stalking and date rape to list of punishable offenses Cyber stalking counts as stalking Most of the funding decreased from previous levels H.R. 749: Banks Only Send Privacy Notices When Something Changes (Passed House 3/12) Highlighted in episode CD018: The Ryan Budget H.R. 890: Extended a welfare program and prohibits states from operating their own (Passed House 3/13) Highlighted in episode CD018: The Ryan Budget H.R. 803: "SKILLS Act" (Passed House 3/15, S. 1911 introduced in Senate committee 1/9/2014) Highlighted in episode CD018: The Ryan Budget Would effectively put decisions on welfare-to-work training programs in corporate control by changing the make-up of local boards. Would have required layoffs of Federal workers by consolidating 35 programs into one. H.R. 933: The Continuing Resolution (Passed Senate 3/20, House 3/21, LAW 3/26) Highlighted in episodes CD017: VAWA & Funding Defense, CD019: Continuing Resolution- Part 1, CD020: Continuing Resolution- Part 2, and CD021: Trailblazer vs Thin-thread Funded the government until September 30, 2013 Included the Monsanto Protection Act H.R. 678: Waives hydro-power projects from National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)  (passed House 4/10, Senate 8/1, LAW 8/9) Highlighted in episode CD022: Crippling the Regulators Authorizes small hydro-power projects and determines who is first in line for the power H.R. 1120: Shut Down the National Labor Relations Board until 2014 (passed 4/12) Highlighted in episode CD022: Crippling the Regulators Board would have had to stop all work & not enforce decisions make after 1/4/2012 Could have restarted if recess appointments were ruled Constitutional or at start of second session of 113th All about recess appointments made by President Obama which may have been unconstitutional S. 716: Gut the STOCK Act (Passed Senate, 4/11, House 4/12, LAW 4/15 - Passed Congress with no recorded votes) Highlighted in episode CD024: Let's Gut the STOCK Act Exempted Congressional staff and executive branch employees from financial reporting. Eliminated the searchable website for financial reports. H.R. 882: No Contracts for Tax Delinquent Companies (passed House 4/15) Highlighted in episode CD024: Let's Gut the STOCK Act Can be waived H.R. 1163: Authorizes NSA Spying & Data Collection (Passed House 4/16 by 416-0) Highlighted in episode CD024: Let's Gut the STOCK Act Provides a framework for the coordination of information security between civilian, national security, and law enforcement communities. Focuses on automated and continuous monitoring of information systems. Acknowledges “market solutions for the protection of critical information systems important to the national defense and economic security of the National that are designed, built, and operated by the private sector.” Authorizes "secure facilities" for storing information Authorizes having enough staff with classified clearance to analyze that information H.R. 756: "Cybersecurity Enhancement Act" (Passed House 4/16) Highlighted in episode CD024: Let's Gut the STOCK Act Trains cyber-security professionals with taxpayer money & creates a strategy for buying private sector cloud services H.R. 624: CISPA "Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act" (Passed House 4/18) Highlighted in episode CD025: What's in CISPA? Director of National Intelligence would create procedures for giving "cyber threat information" to private companies and utilities Information can be passed from private companies to DHS and DOJ Information given by the private companies to the government will be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act A company that shares cyber intelligence with the government will be exempt from civil or criminal liability if they act "in good faith" The military and intelligence communities can't control, change or direct in any way the cyber-security efforts of a private company. Says US citizens can not be targets for surveillance H.R. 527: The Helium Bill (Passed House 4/26, Senate 9/26, LAW 10/2) Highlighted in episode CD026: A Tale of Two Bills Changes the way we sell our stockpile of helium so we get a fairer price & end the global helium shortage by allowing the government to sell our helium H.R. 807: Debt Ceiling Games (Passed House 5/9) Highlighted in episode CD027: Overtime Tells Treasury to make interest payments and social security payments when we hit the debt ceiling H.R. 1406: Time Off Instead of Overtime Pay (Passed House 5/8, S. 1623 Introduced in Senate committee 10/30) Highlighted in episode CD027: Overtime Allows time and a half in paid time off instead of time and a half pay for overtime, if the employee chooses that option H.R. 45 Repeal Obamacare (Passed House 5/16) Highlighted in episode CD028: The IRS Scandal Introduced by Michelle Bachmann H.R. 1062: Prevent Wall Street Regulations (Passed House 5/17) Highlighted in episode CD028: The IRS Scandal Forces SEC to do a cost-benefit analysis on their regulations of Wall Street SEC must explain why they didn't include suggestions made by the financial industry SEC must review all existing regulations every five years H.R. 258: Don't Lie About Military Medals for Money (Passed House 5/20, Senate 5/22, LAW 6/2) Highlighted in episode CD029: Keystone XL Pipeline The Bush Administration version was ruled unconstitutional for violating the First Amendment This changes it so that you get busted for fraud if you fake having a medal for financial gain H.R. 1073: Penalties for Attacking US and Corporate Ships (Passed House 5/20) Highlighted in episode CD029: Keystone XL Pipeline Penalties that currently apply when a US ship or ship in US territory is attacked would be applied worldwide and would include attacks on corporate ships. H.R. 3: No Permit Needed for Keystone XL (Passed House 5/22) Highlighted in episode CD029: Keystone XL Pipeline [caption id="attachment_580" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Tar sands oil next to a home in Mayflower, Arkansas. Source: EPA[/caption] Bill by Lee Terry of Nebraska Would exempt Keystone XL from the law requiring a Presidental permit Government can waive any law or regulation in order to issue the Keystone XL permit H.R. 1911: Increase Interest Rates for Students (Passed Senate 7/24, Passed House 7/31, LAW 8/9) Highlighted in episodes CD029: Keystone XL Pipeline and CD038: Wasting July Caps student loan interest rates at 8.25% for undergrads and 9.5% for graduate level students H.R. 1344: "Helping Heros Fly Act" (Passed Senate 8/1, House 8/2, LAW 8/9) Highlighted in episode CD029: Keystone XL Pipeline Creates procedures for expediting and private TSA screenings for injured and disabled veterans H.R. 2216: Appropriations for Military Construction and Veterans (Passed House 6/4) Highlighted in episode CD030: Military Construction & Anti-Biotics Never went to conference with the Senate & was funded via Jan 2014 omnibus budget S. 622: Animal Drug Bill (Passed Senate 5/8, house 6/3, LAW 6/13) Highlighted in episode CD030: Military Construction & Anti-Biotics Reauthorizes a fee system for accelerating testing or distribution of animal antibiotics Caps the amount of revenue the fees can bring into the government H.R. 1919: Electronic System for Tracing Pharmaceutical Drug Origins (Passed House 6/3) Highlighted in episode CD030: Military Construction & Anti-Biotics Allows so much time for implementation that the soonest the system would exist is 2028 Prohibits states from enacting stricter standards H.R. 742: Repeal Part of Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform (Passed House 6/12 by 420-2) Highlighted in episode CD031: First Draft of 2014 NDAA Makes SEC (Wall Street Police) liable for lawsuits that arise from them sharing information with other regulators. H.R. 634: Some Financial Gamblers Would be Exempt from Providing Collateral (Passed House 6/12 by 411-12) Highlighted in episode CD031: First Draft of 2014 NDAA H.R. 1256: Merge the Wall Street Police Forces (Passed 6/12) Highlighted in episode CD031: First Draft of 2014 NDAA The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and SEC would have to issue the exact same rules. Would exempt the biggest foreign swap gamblers from United States swaps regulations. Matt Taibbi: "This really just gives banks permission to go around the world regulator shopping." H.R. 1960: House NDAA (Passed 6/14, Final version LAW 12/26) Highlighted in episode CD031: First Draft of 2014 NDAA H.R. 1797: The Abortion Bill (Passed House 6/18, S. 1670 introduced to Senate committee 11/7) Highlighted in episode CD032: The Abortion Bill Doctors can't perform an abortion on a fetus that is 20 weeks or older. Doctors can be fined and sentenced to five years in prison. The mother can't be prosecuted. Exceptions: Life of the  mother in danger, rape, or incest. H.R. 1613: Deepwater Drilling in The Center of the Gulf of Mexico (Passed House 6/27) Highlighted in episode CD033: Let's Deepwater Drill Approves the treaty with Mexico allowing drilling the Western Gap - in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. Slipped into the 2014 budget and is now LAW H.R. 2231: Force Offshore Drilling Upon States (Passed House 6/28) Highlighted in episode CD034: Let's Drill Offshore Forces Federal government to lease at least 50% of the unleased Outer Continental Shelf with the most fossil fuel resources Increase oil and gas production Forces leases off of the east coast and southern California Limited the content of environmental impact studies H.R. 2609: Energy & Water Funding (Passed House 7/10) Highlighted in episode CD035: Energy and Water Shorted renewable energy by $1.9 billion Shorted power grid upgrades, fuel efficiency, energy efficient buildings, geothermal energy, wind energy, energy assistance for the poor, environmental clean ups, and natural gas. Gave more than requested for nuclear energy and fossil fuels. H.R. 2094: The Epinephrine Bill (Passed House 7/30, Senate 10/31, LAW 11/13) Highlighted in episode CD038: Wasting July Public schools will be allowed to stockpile epinephrine for students with food allergies and train staff to administer it H.R. 2218: Coal Waste is Not Hazardous (Passed House 7/25) Highlighted in episode CD038: Wasting July Coal industry will have 10 years of meet groundwater protection standards EPA cannot categorize waste from burning coal, oil, natural gas, and tar sands as ‘hazardous waste’. H.R. 1582: Stop EPA Regulations (Passed House 8/1) Highlighted in episode CD038: Wasting July EPA is not allowed to issue a regulation costing over $1 billion The social cost of carbon – climate change, cancer rates, etc. – can’t be used in a cost-benefit analysis H.R. 367: Stop All Regulations, Expect Federal Reserve Regulations (Passed House 7/31) Highlighted in episode CD038: Wasting July Authored by Jo Ann Emerson Forces Federal agencies to get Congressional approval for all major rules that cost over $100 million, affect the finances of businesses, or create a carbon tax If Congress does nothing for 70 working days, the rule can’t be enacted None of this is subject to judicial review Monetary policy by the Federal Reserve is exempted H.R. 313: Stop Government Conferences (Passed House 7/31) Highlighted in episode CD038: Wasting July Government conferences capped at $500,000 but private companies can make up the rest. All conference materials must be posed online. H.R. 2879: Screw Federal Workers (Passed House 8/1) Highlighted in episode CD038: Wasting July Makes it easier to fire high level Federal employees Caps some Federal worker bonuses and prohibits any bonus at all for others. H.R. 1660: Customer Service in Government (Passed House 7/31) Highlighted in episode CD038: Wasting July Each agency must establish customer service standards but will get no extra funding to do so. H.R. 2769: No IRS Conferences (Passed House 7/31) Highlighted in episode CD038: Wasting July H.R. 2768: IRS Staff Must be Told that Taxpayers Have Rights (Passed House 7/31) Highlighted in episode CD038: Wasting July H.R. 2565: IRS Agents Can't Target Audits for Political Purposes (Passed House 7/31) Highlighted in episode CD038: Wasting July and CD028: The IRS Scandal H.R. 2009: Stop Enforcement of ObamaCare (Passed House 8/2) Highlighted in episode CD038: Wasting July IRS prohibited from enforcing tax provisions of Affordable Care Act H.R. 5: The Charter School Bill (Passed House 7/19) Highlighted in episode CD039: The Charter School Bill Expands the number of charter schools Gives charter schools as much taxpayer money as real public schools Charter school programs can be provided by for-profit businesses Public money will go to private schools and tutoring Sex education must teach abstinence to get Federal funds High schools students contact information must be given to military recruiters H.R. 2217: DHS Funding Bill (Passed House 6/6) Highlighted in episode CD042: House DHS Funding Bill Never went to conference & was funding in the omnibus budget in January 2014. S. 157 Natural Gas Pipeline in an Alaska National Park (Passed Senate 7/19, House 9/10, LAW 9/18) Highlighted in episode CD043: Nothin' Allows permits for small hydroelectric projects and a natural gas pipeline to cut through an Alaska national park. H.R. 2844: Prevent Americans From Knowing They Have Slow Internet (Passed House 9/9) Highlighted in episode CD043: Nothin' FCC does a 25 country comparison of data transmission speeds and price; this bill repeals that report. H.R. 2275: Damage ObamaCare (Passed House 9/12, passed House & Senate 10/16, LAW 10/17) Highlighted in episode CD043: Nothin' and CD049: Crisis… Postponed The bill was the "vehicle" to end the shutdown. The text was completely changed Prevents Americans from getting subsidies until the Secretary of Health and Human Services has a subsidy verification system in place. Funded government until 1/15/14 Suspended debt ceiling until 2/7/14 Killed the Monsanto Protection Act H.R. 3102: Cut Food Stamps by $40 Billion (Passed House 9/19) Highlighted in episode CD044: Pretend to Defund ObamaCare Was Titled the "Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act" H.R. 1410: Stop a Casino Near Arizona Cardinal's Stadium (Passed House 9/17) Highlighted in episode CD044: Pretend to Defund ObamaCare Done on behalf of wealthy casino-owning tribes in Arizona that don't want the competition S. 793: Organization of American States is the Main Diplomatic Group in South America (Passed House 9/17, Senate 9/25, LAW 10/2) Highlighted in episode CD044: Pretend to Defund ObamaCare South American wants us out of their business; we're saying we're not going away. H.R. 761: Mining Projects are "Infrastructure" (Passed House 9/18) Highlighted in episode CD044: Pretend to Defund ObamaCare Exempts mining projects from environmental regulations. H.R. 1961: Fire Safety Exemption for the Delta Queen (Passed House 9/25) Highlighted in episode CD045: Stop the Shutdown Exempts an old wooden boat from fire safety standards for 10 years so it can carry passengers overnight The Shutdown Bills The House CR that didn’t really defund the Affordable Care Act (Episode CD044) The Senate CR that has not had a vote yet in the House (Episode CD045) The House CR that delays the Affordable Care Act for year (Episode CD046) The House CR that delays the Affordable Care Act & kills employer-paid health benefits for Congress and their staff. The House bill that requests a conference committee with Senate Funds National Parks and some museums Funds operations in Washington D.C. Funds veterans benefits Funds the National Institutes of Health Funds the National Guard and reserves H.R. 2275 finally ended the shutdown (see above) Back to Work H.R. 3080: Rush Water Projects (Passed House 10/23, Passed Senate with changes 10/31) Highlighted in episode CD050: Privatize Water Projects Speeds up and consolidates studies Speeds up permitting by letting utilities and natural gas companies pay the Army Speeds up environmental reviews Prohibits lawsuits after five months Privatizes maintenance and management of public water infrastructure H.R. 992: Expands Bank Bailouts (Passed House 10/30) Highlighted in episode CD051: Expand Bank Bailouts Bill written mostly by Citigroup lobbyists Makes foreign banks eligible for a bailout Allows bailout-eligible banks to trade in credit default swaps H.R. 2374: Prevent Brokers from Having a Fiduciary Duty to Their Customers (Passed House 10/29) Highlighted in episode CD051: Expand Bank Bailouts Prevents a Department of Labor regulation forcing brokers to do what is best for their customers, not themselves S. 252: Reauthorize and Decrease Funding for Premature Birth Research (Passed House 11/12, Senate 11/14, LAW 11/27) S. 330: HIV Organs Can Go to People With HIV (Passed Senate 6/17, House 11/12, LAW 11/21) Highlighted in episode CD053: TPP- The Leaked Chapter S. 893: Cost of Living Adjustment for Disabled Veterans (Passed Senate 10/28, House 11/12, LAW 11/21) Highlighted in episode CD053: TPP- The Leaked Chapter H.R. 2922: Personal Security Detail for Supreme Court Justices (Passed House 11/12, Senate 12/10, LAW 12/20) Highlighted in episode CD053: TPP- The Leaked Chapter H.R. 982: Publicly Publish Names of People Who Make Asbestos Trust Fund Claims (Passed House 11/13) Highlighted in episode CD053: TPP- The Leaked Chapter H.R. 2655: Penalize Americans for Using the Justice System (Passed House 11/14) Highlighted in episode CD053: TPP- The Leaked Chapter Imposes mandatory financial penalties for filing “frivolous” lawsuits. Eliminates the 21-day grace period to withdraw a lawsuit without financial penalty. H.R. 3350: Allow Insurance Companies to Sell Junk Policies (Passed House 11/15) Highlighted in episode CD053: TPP- The Leaked Chapter H.R. 2061: DATA Act (Passed House 11/12) Highlighted in episodes CD054: Hidden Data Act and CD057: Data Act-tually Pretty Good Streamline reporting standards and publish spending data on USAspending.gov H.R. 1965: Hand Over Our Land to Oil Companies (Passed House 11/20) Highlighted in episode CD055: Three Bills for Fossil Fuels Speeds up oil and gas permitting Forces us to lease our land to fossil fuel companies Leases land for oil shale development - a technology that still doesn't exist Limits Americans' access to the courts to stop drilling Severely limit Native Americans' access to the courts to stop drilling H.R. 2728: Prevent Fracking Regulations (Passed House 11/20) Highlighted in episode CD055: Three Bills for Fossil Fuels Prevents Federal regulation of fracking Rigs studies to only examine benefits of fracking, not the costs H.R. 1900: Speed Up Gas Pipeline Permitting (Passed House 11/21) Highlighted in episode CD055: Three Bills for Fossil Fuels Automatically permits pipelines that are not permitted in under 120 days H.R. 3547: Public Insurance for Private Space Flights (Passed House 12/2, served as the vehicle for the 2014 budget, LAW 1/17/14) Highlighted in episode CD059: NDAA 2014 Taxpayers will pay for private space accidents starting at $500 million and up to $2.8 billion H.R. 2719: TSA Must Publish Their Plans for New Technology (Passed House 12/3, S. 1893 referred to Senate committee 12/20) Highlighted in episode CD059: NDAA 2014 TSA must publicly publish a plan for the security technology they intend to buy Private sector must be included and plan must identify "public private partnership" opportunities H.R. 3626: Illegal To Have Firearms Undetectable to Metal Detectors (Passed House 12/3, Senate 12/9, LAW 12/9) Highlighted in episode CD059: NDAA 2014 H.R. 1105: Private Equity Fund Advisors Don't Need to Register With SEC (Passed House 12/4) Highlighted in episode CD059: NDAA 2014 H.R. 3309: Limit Patent Lawsuits (Passed House 12/5) Highlighted in episode CD059: NDAA 2014 Claims must be available on a public, searchable website Limits lawsuits down the supply chain Lawsuit losers must pay expenses and fees of the winners H.R. 3304: NDAA for 2014 (Passed House 10/28, Senate 11/19, LAW 12/26) Highlighted in episode CD059: NDAA 2014 A cyber-security section was added last minute by Jay Rockefeller Creates a "Conflict Records Research Center" and allows states, foreign governments, and “any source in the private sector” to give money to the Department of Defense. Allows contractors to make more than the President of the United States. Expands the drug war to Chad, Libya, Mali, & Niger.

A bill marketed as for "transparency" appears to keep information secret from the public and gut an oversight board. Taxpayers treat a group of Representatives to an expensive Summer getaway. Cocaine. HR 2061: "The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA) of 2013" passed the House of Representatives 388-1 on Monday, November 12, 2013. Section 3: The following information would be published on the USASpending.gov website: A "pilot program" will "consolidate reports" that agencies and companies who receive Federal money must turn in: The agencies and companies allowed into the pilot program must be worth at least $1 billion total; there's no limit to the number of participants. The Recovery Board would start investigating the Inspectors General: Section 5: Expands the amount of information that can be kept secret: Section 3 of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 says: Section 5 of the DATA Act changes it to say: The "information protected" under the Freedom of Information Act which the DATA Act would keep secret from the public is:   Some information from the Privacy Act of 1974 that the DATA Act would keep secret from the public is: The information from the US Tax Code that the DATA Act would keep secret from the public is: The Recovery Board investigates companies that are given government money - "recipients". [caption id="attachment_1065" align="aligncenter" width="336"] Quote by Rep. Darrell Issa, House Floor, November 18, 2013.[/caption] The DATA Act extends the Recovery Board but lets its functions and website expire six weeks from now: H.R. 313- which passed the House in May 2013- is attached to the end of the DATA Act. Limits spending on conferences to $500,000. Extraordinarily detailed reports required for conferences over $10,000. Cuts agencies' travel budget by at least 30%. Congressional Travel Expenses Five Representatives and two staffers took a $179,938 six-day all expense paid-by-taxpayers trip to Singapore and Australia in Summer 2013. Representatives Discussed in This Episode Rep. Rush Holt of New Jersey was the only Representative to vote against the DATA Act. As a scientist, I know firsthand how important scientific conferences and meetings are.  I opposed H.R. 2061, the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, because it would cut by 30 percent the amount of travel federal employees could undertake for conferences, meetings, and other crucial events. - Rep. Rush Holt Rep. Henry "Trey" Radel of Florida is on a leave of absence due to his proven cocaine habit. [caption id="attachment_1049" align="alignright" width="300"] Rep. Darrell Issa represents California's 49th district[/caption] Rep. Darrell Issa of California was the main author of the DATA Act. Darrell Issa is the richest person in Congress in 2013. He has at least $430 million; he made $135 million in 2012 on Wall Street. Darrell Issa does the bidding of Big Business. Representatives Quoted in this Episode Rep. Darrell Issa of California Additional Information Sunlight Foundation blog in support of HR 2061 Music Intro and Exit Music: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Dirty Little Secret by 54 Seconds (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cocaine by Eric Clapton Homework Watch Chasing Ice

Vanessa comments on the New IT Dashboard on the redesigned USASpending.gov, plus she revisits her discussion on ranking metrics and how well your website is being indexed and crawled.