"Government likes to begin things - to declare grand new programs and causes. But good beginnings are not the measure of success. What matters in the end is completion. Performance. Results. Not just making promises, but making good on promises." President George W. Bush

Mark Forman, Associate Director for IT and E-Gov gave a live briefing Tuesday at 3pm

For the Fiscal Year 2004 Budget, the President requests $59 billion for information technology on the rise from $52.6 billion in the FY 2003 Budget. Much of this year's increase is focused on spending to help win the war on terror and secure the homeland with $4.7 billion identified for IT security.

The 2004 President's request for information technology includes the following increases: $3 billion in support of homeland security and the war on terrorism across the government, $2 billion increase over FY 2003 due to better management and reporting of IT spending by the agencies and $1.4 billion increase in new IT investments.

The 2004 President's budget proposes $45 million for E-Government Act for the President's E-Government initiatives to make it quicker and easier for citizens and businesses to access government information, services, benefits and businesses opportunities.

Several recent E-Government achievements include:

• IRS Free Filing: Over 78 million or 60 percent of Americans can file their taxes online for free beginning in the 2003 tax filing season.

• Regulations.gov: Makes it quicker and easier for citizens and small businesses to search and comment on hundreds of proposed rules and to participate in the federal rulemaking process via the web.

• E-Payroll: Helps federal agencies migrate from about 22 present payroll service providers to 2 payroll partnerships with an estimated savings of over $1 billion.