Government Printing Office Authenticates Online Budget

On Monday, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the President’s FY 2010 Budget (Peter Orzsag, Director of OMB, blogged about it here).  In addition, for the second year in a row, the Government Printing Office (GPO) has released an authenticated online version of the budget, this year through the new FDsys.

As you might remember, GPO stepped in last year when the White House released an online-only version of the budget. GPO quickly announced that it would also publish the budget in print and distribute 1 or 2 sets at no cost to members of Congress, as well as distributing the print version of the new budget to federal depository libraries. At the time, GPO also announced that it would authenticate the online version of the budget, using the same technology GPO uses to authenticate the online versions of public and private laws.

[Posted by Emily Feldman]

Economic Data Site to Remain Online

Last week, the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its plan to shut down its Economic Indicators web site due to budgetary constraints. The Economic Indicators web site’s mission is to “provide timely access to the daily releases of key economic indicators form the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau.”

In response to the proposed shut-down, OMB Watch quickly compiled an index of commonly cited economic indicators to replace the Economic Indicators site. However, due to strong public pressure, the ESA has now announced it will continue to run the web site but simplify its email subscription service, which is the most costly feature of the site. Email alerts will remain free, but will consist of an abstract and a link to the release rather than the full release itself. We are pleased that the passionate public reaction persuaded ESA to keep this valuable resource available.

[Posted by Emily Feldman]