Veterans Administration Sends Out Pro-Obama Email to Employees

John Gingrich, the Chief of Staff of the Veterans Administration, sent out a pro-Obama email to employees, touting President Barack Obama as a president concerned about reducing government waste while encouraging his employees to submit cost-cutting ideas.

Gingrich wrote, in something that sounds like a press release from the administration, that “submissions from Federal employees are saving hundreds of millions of dollars, rooting out redundancy and waste, and making government more efficient, effective, and accountable to the American people,” before adding, “that’s exactly why President Obama started the SAVE Award back in 2009…” 

Those in the Obama administration never give up the chance to hype up Obama. 

Of course, the fact that these contests even exist shows how bloated the budgets of the various federal bureaucracies are. 

The full e-mail can be seen below: 

A MESSAGE FROM THE CHIEF OF STAFF

Over the past three years, Federal employees like you have submitted more than 75,000 cost-cutting ideas to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) through the SAVE Award.

And those ideas are having an impact.

Already, submissions from Federal employees are saving hundreds of millions of dollars, rooting out redundancy and waste, and making government more efficient, effective, and accountable to the American people.

That’s exactly why President Obama started the SAVE Award back in 2009, and it’s also why I am excited to announce that today we are launching this year’s competition. Our goal this year is simple: to give every Federal employee a chance to submit suggestions about how their agency can save money and perform better.  Submitting your idea is quick and easy.  Just go to www.whitehouse.gov/save-award.  The winner will be invited to the White House to present his or her idea directly to the President. 

And as done in previous years, dozens of other ideas will be included in the President’s next budget submission.

Learn more about the SAVE Award here.

Last year’s winner was Matthew Ritsko from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Crofton, Maryland.  Matthew noticed that many of the tools NASA employees purchased for developing and building flight projects were not tracked once projects were complete, leading to duplicative purchases.  To cut down on repeat purchases, he suggested creating a “lending library” where these tools can be stored, catalogued, and checked in and out by NASA staff.

So do you have an idea to cut costs at VA?  If so, take a minute to enter it here. VA employees have shown me time and again their tremendous commitment to making government work better and more efficiently for the American people.

I hope you will participate and put your ideas forward.  Let’s show the country that VA is a leader in finding smart, creative ways to do more with less for the American people.

Thank you for your support in this effort.

Sincerely,

John R. Gingrich

VA Chief of Staff