News
Press Releases: Government to Citizen
December 16, 2002
200 Federal Benefit Programs Now Available on GovBenefits.gov
Enhancements Make Site More Citizen-Centric
Washington D.C. - The U.S. Department of Labor in conjunction with the Office of Management and Budget today announced the addition of 68 federal benefit programs to GovBenefits.gov, a Web site developed to serve as a one-stop resource for government benefit eligibility information. This brings the total number of programs featured on the GovBenefits.gov site to 200, representing approximately $1.3 trillion in annual benefit dollars.
”GovBenefits.gov gives citizens an easy way to determine if they are eligible for training, loan, or other benefits,“ said Patrick Pizzella, assistant secretary of labor for administration and management and chief information officer. ”The addition of these new programs is another step forward in our effort to centralize all federal benefit information on-line so that citizens do not have to dissect the government in order to find the assistance they need.“
The new benefit programs include those from the Departments of Agriculture (Commodity Supplemental Food Program, Direct Housing Natural Disaster Loans & Grants), Education (Even Start: Migrant Education, Women’s Educational Equity Act Program), Health and Human Services (Contraception & Infertility Research Loans, Assistance to Torture Victims), Housing and Urban Development (Mortgage Insurance Homes for Low and Moderate Income Families, Mortgage Insurance for Homes in Urban Renewal Areas), Justice (Immigration and Naturalization Service), Labor (One-Stop Career Center Initiative), and Veterans Affairs (Veterans Group Life Insurance, Pensions to Surviving Spouses and Children of Veterans). For a full list of programs and eligibility information, visit: http://www.govbenefits.gov/.
In addition to these new programs, GovBenefits.gov will now include multi-tiered questions, which will enhance the user experience by reducing the number of redundant questions that users have to answer to determine their eligibility for benefits.
”GovBenefits.gov is committed not only to regularly adding new benefit programs to the site but also to ensuring that citizens can find the information they need quickly and easily, said Denis Gusty, GovBenefits.gov program manager at the Department of Labor. ”The new multi-tiered questions will reduce the amount of time it takes for citizens to determine their eligibility for benefits.“
GovBenefits.gov is one of 24 key initiatives that comprise the President’s E-Government Strategy, an integral part of the President’s Management Agenda to make it easier for citizens to interact with the government, save taxpayer dollars, and streamline citizen-to-government transactions. The project is the collaborative effort of 10 federal agencies including the Departments of Labor (managing partner), Agriculture, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, State, Veterans Affairs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Social Security Administration.
