ProPublica’s Christopher Flavelle reports that $136 billion in stimulus money has been spent and $84 billion in stimulus tax cuts has been allocated. That means there’s $284 billion left to spend in stimulus money (as well as $128 billion in remaining tax cuts) — more than twice the federal spending outlined in the stimulus bill has yet to take place.

There has been a lot of talk of a “2nd stimulus” or a stimulus that more directly deals with job creation. Most economists seem to favor such additional government spending, especially with national unemployment at 10.2 percent. But stimulus implementation has only started. The stimulus will eventually be judged not only on economic growth and job numbers but the success of projects like high-speed rail and centralization of health care records that have yet to begin.

On some early Obama administration issues — labor market recovery, Afghanistan, health care reform — it seems folly to render an even temporary verdict on whether the White House has done a good job. That’s not the case with the epidemic in home foreclosures — thus far it’s been a clear failure. (more…)

The Washington Post’s Peter Whoriskey reports that 93 percent of soybeans and 80 percent of corn grown in the United States grow from seeds genetically altered by the Monsanto company. Yet this market share is only now being scrutinized by the Justice Department’s anti-trust division: Obama anti-trust chief Christine Varney wants to look at monopolistic practices in the food supply. The DuPont company is pressing the case — they’re the closest thing Monsanto has to a rival in producing genetically modified seeds that can survive sprays from the weed killer RoundUp.

Monsanto has used its seed patent to corner the soybean and corn market over the past twenty years. Is it still politically and economically feasible for the Obama administration to break-up a possible monopoly that the Bush and Clinton administrations ignored?

Washington Post

Lenders to Get Push to help Homeowners – Renae Remle looks at Treasury Department plans to pressure banks receiving government assistance to speed mortgage relief to pressured borrowers

Monsanto’s Dominance Draws Antitrust Inquiry – Peter Whoriskey on possible Justice Department antimonopoly steps in relation to Monsanto’s dominance of seed market

National Parks Seeks Share in Discoveries – Mead Gruver looks at Park Service initiative to share in profits from scientific discoveries made on parks territory

OPM Chief Floats Ideas on Personnel System Fix – Joe Davidson (Federal Diary) on OPM director John Berry and the possibility of more merit appraisals for federal employees

New York Times

Food Stamp Use Soars and Stigma Fades – (Nov 28) Jason DeParle and Robert Gebeloff look at the 36 million Americans who now use food stamps

A Generation in the Balance – Ross Douthat looks at how lack of faith in government affects the liberal-conservative political balance (Op-Ed)

Wall Street Journal

Buyers Take a Pass on Some Failed Banks – Matthias Rieker explains the market for failed banks seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the FDIC’s role in approving purchases by healthy banks

FAA Rejects Boeing 777 Safety Warnings – Andy Pasztor looks at FAA decision not to accelerate parts replacement on Boeing jets with questionable safety standards

New Push on Mortgage Relief – Ruth Simon reports that the Treasury Department will announce plans to help tens of thousands of homeowners obtain permanent, rather than temporary, mortgage modifications to stem the tide of foreclosures

For Bank Stock Gains, Hope for a Slow Recovery – Tom Lauricella reports on the impact that a future Federal Reserve Board decision on interest rates will have on bank stocks, which soared due to rock bottom short-term interest rates

Todd Tiahrt

In a story this summer on youth homicides in Chicago, I reported that the obscure “Tiahrt amendment” Congress passed in 2003 has made the job of tracking gun buyers — and possible murderers — much harder for the federal government. Yesterday, in a Washington Post op-ed, Michael Bloomberg and former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean assert that “Tiahrt” was a factor in the Fort Hood murders allegedly committed by Army Major Nidal Hasan:

During the Clinton administration, the FBI had access to records of gun background checks for up to 180 days. But in 2003, Congress began requiring that the records be destroyed within 24 hours. This requirement, one of the many restrictions on gun data sponsored by Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), meant that Hasan’s investigators were blocked from searching records to determine whether he or other terrorist suspects had purchased guns. When Hasan walked out of Guns Galore in Killeen, Tex., the FBI had only 24 hours to recognize and flag the record — and then it was gone, forever.

As former FBI agent Brad Garrett has said, “The piece of information about the gun could have been critical. One of the problems is that the law sometimes restricts you in what you can do.”

(more…)

From Understanding Government’s “Public Service Announcement” series about the life, work, and career highlights of federal government employees.

By Norman Kelley

Given the all-too-common belief that government can’t do anything right, most Americans may be surprised at how well the U.S. Department of Agriculture has helped exporters gain access to foreign markets.

James Higgiston, Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Country and Regional Affairs (OCRA), a subdivision of the Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS), has spent half of his career overseas, in countries such as Turkey and in the Central Asian region of the former Soviet Union, helping break down trade barriers and making sure that American agriculture can finds its way into international markets.

“A lot of the information we gather,” he told Understanding Government, “is use to brief the Secretary or brief anyone from the administrator on up if they are having a meeting or going overseas. When they get into those meetings, if there’s an issue they want to raise bilaterally, we have the information to inform them.”

With 600 hundred workers in Washington, FAS administers twelve programs as part of its mandate, and consults American farmers and agriculture companies about overseas market opportunities. It also develops and tracks strategies for U.S. international agricultural policies and interests. (more…)

Government Executives’ Katherine McIntire Peters picks up on the fact that the same day Barack Obama pledged to cap carbon emissions, Interior Sec. Ken Salazar announced 38 sites where the federal government will lease land for oil and natural gas drilling. This development of fossil fuels is managed by Interior’s Bureau of Land Management. Salazar admitted that the timing of the announcement was meant to reassure oil and natural gas companies that the Obama administration is still committed to traditional energy sources.

Even absent the climate change debate, the announcement of lease sales usually draw the ire of environmentalists — “In recent years between 40 percent and 50 percent of lease sales have been sidelined by costly lawsuits,” Peters reports.

The Washington Post’s Dan Eggen reports that the White House ethics counsel has told federal agencies that they can no longer have registered lobbyists on their federal advisory boards. Federal advisory boards, Eggen explains, are a bureaucratic labyrinth of about about 1,000 panels featuring a total of 60,000 people that provide expertise to federal agencies. For example, there’s a National Petroleum Council and a Defense Policy Board, that played a role in the Pentagon’s support for invading Iraq.

Industry reps tell Eggen that these boards, and by extension these agencies, will lose crucial expertise on how to handle complex policies and regulations. A good government advocate says it will make these boards more neutral. (more…)