Hi and Happy New Year,
Salaries and fringe benefits (health insurance, life insurance, pension plans, etc.) are usually the most expensive aspect of an organization’s operation. Government is no different. United States Congressmen’s salaries and fringe benefits should be posted online, along with their staff’s.

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There is a proverb in Persian saying “The Audiences may encourage the Speaker to give a better talk”. If we consider the USA.gov as Audience, so to improve the exchange with other nations give tools to them to communicate better to the USA.gov and also to the US citizens. So, I suggest to give them tools to communicate in their local languages, reply to them and giving them feedback, and encourage them by giving some incentives to keep connection. Some people trying to reduce the connection and exchanges with the US citizens and actually they made a tall wall around the US for their target people by purpose. I do not like to go in detail because most of the people know about that. So, More talk and more exchange, better world with less crisis.

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The government need to allow the people to run business. The job of the government is to protect the people and the country. If a business fails, so be it. There will be another to replace it.

Congress need to learn that they represent us and not the special intrest. All bills should be voted on by the people. Our elected official are elected by the people, but they don’t represent the voice of the people.

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Am samuel john from Kenya.I would like to thank and to congratulate the USA.gov,for the help that they given unto me,when i first entered into USCIS website wanting to read more about DIVERSITY LOTTERY or so called GREENCARD LOTTERY.They guided and given me real instructions about the DV LOTTERY which i followed to the end.
There before I had been into lottery scams’ not knowing the real website.But the time i discovered the USA.gov i was so happy.
Thanks alot for your good work.
Keep Up.

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I live in Turkey i knew nothing about renewable energy and other enrgies i learnt heaps from usa.gov thanks usa.gov i wouldnt want anything to change with you guys However i would want my gov to change to the same set out you guys have

Sepetli Platform
Sünnet Kıyafetleri

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I live in Australia i knew nothing about renewable energy and other enrgies i learnt heaps from usa.gov thanks usa.gov i wouldnt want anything to change with you guys However i would want my gov to change to the same set out you guys have

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Our government has many roles and one of those roles is to protect all Americans no matter where they are at. I believe our government falls short in that aspect.

When Americans are being held in another country against their will due to certain cultural ideologies interwoven within their religious beliefs, our government refuses to get involved stating “we cannot put pressure on their government at this time”. It seems Americans matter little at a time like this.

I know of one country our government spends billions of dollars each year on just to keep this country as an alley so they will help fight in our war. Pakistan is this country.

My daughter and grandson went to Pakistan in September 2008 to visit his father. My daughter’s life was threatened by this man and his family every day and they threatened to take her son away from her. She asked the US Embassy for help and guidance in what to do. She was advised to leave the country without her son. A way would be found to get him back to the USA.

My daughter did leave in November 2008 without her son. It tore her to pieces as it did all of us. My grandson died April 15, 2009 from bacterial meningitis and sepsis, which we had learned later he had for awhile. We were never informed by this man or his family how our grandson was doing while over in Pakistan.

All we have of Junaid are memories, pictures of him up until he was 10 months old and a few pictures this man took when Junaid died and was being prepared for his burial.

I believe our government should work with other countries in forcing Pakistan and other countries like it to not hold people against their will.

Our government should post warnings about Pakistan and other countries whose citizens hold people against their will. Postings should be made at airline ticket stations at the airports, at the State Department’s web site, at on-line travel agencies, and wherever people are who want to travel to Pakistan and other countries. These postings would warn travelers, especially women with children about the dangers involved in traveling to Pakistan and other such countries who do not abide each other’s laws.

Also, all children should be listed on their mother’s passport and visa’s. Letting children have their own passport and visa under the age of 18 should never be allowed.

There are many wonderful Pakistani people. But, changes need to be made by our government so the American people will be safe abroad.

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When searching for a job, and then going through the required details, it become very difficult to know if you qualify with items such as previous work bands – G7 or similar. As a civilian looking to join a government position there is no simple way to figure out if I meet the minimum requirements.

Also, the amount of information posted for the job – description, qualifications etc. is just too much for me to sort through.

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In these last few years I and others I know believe that our representatives and senators are not listening to what we say/comment.
We definitely want each law, rule, & regulation voted on separately/line veto. We also very strongly want any type of gratuity to be prohibited for any elected or appointed official of these United States of America and that means not even a cup of coffee will be accepted and no gifts of any kind and no trips etc, nothing. The purchasing of influence and of votes is wrong and should not be allowed, which includes trading of votes in order to get one’s way. We are sick and tired of the shenanigans. Do what is
right and that includes right now stopping all immigration.

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The first thing I thought when I saw this website was Glenn Beck. What exactly would his utopian views be once he puts government in check like he sees and reports? Glenn probably is the most noteworthy newscaster with his well-known views about Barack Obama. But where would he go once he gets past this?

We need and could use this website.

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If you are accustomed to this site or browsing through these type of government websites and know where to look then it’s a great source for information.
In the end you want to keep it as simple and accessible as possible for all visitors to the website. Having the appropriate content in the right place. Overall though I’m pleased with the website thanks.

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In the “For Government Employees” tab the link that is “Get Free Government E-Newsletters” should also be available from the other main divisions, “For Citizens,” “For Businesses and Nonprofits, “For Visitors to the USA”. All four of your main audiences will find E-newsletters they’d be interested in.

Steve Beleu, Oklahoma Dept. of Libraries

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US.gov should consider linking to the U.S. Government Printing Office’s “Catalog of Federal Government Publications” at http://catalog.gpo.gov

If you could add a information box that will show up after a customer has done a search that says something to this effect: “To link to online publications from federal government agencies about this topic, click on this link” the customer would then go to the “CGP”. Then one of two things would happen: 1. they’d do a search themselves in the CGP, and/or 2. the CGP would have already done a search on the topic they were looking for in USA.gov.

If the #2 best-case-scenario isn’t a do-able thing technically, then USA.gov could surely feature option #1.

Example: someone is looking in the “Native Americans and Tribal Governments” audience section for something about tribal housing programs. They do the search and get search results, but they also see your note that says “To link to…” and then continue on to the “CGP”.

Steve Beleu, Regional Depository Librarian for Federal Government Information, Oklahoma Department of Libraries (where I teach a USA.gov workshop to librarians).

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I would like you to take off any outdated information on Marijuana. It doesn’t show any of the new research being done in the Scientific community. You seem to still be showing old views from people that have been proven wrong time and time again. Having this information still available continues to hold the legalization of Marijuana back. People that are trying to make a knowledgeable decision on how they feel on the topic. It holds people back on making a decision based on facts.

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The content is useful. I use information on senior citizens, veterans, AF, VA retiree and other general topics that come to me. The only trouble is that the weekly updates always arrive about a week late and if there is something to respond to, it’s too late for my response, or an “upcoming” event has already passed.

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Great source of information if you have an idea where to look.
Web features are interesting and appropriate.
Many recent improvements have been beneficial. I believe in
keeping it simple.

The only suggestion I have is for you to develop a way to list when
information sources have updated or data revised. This might be a rather large list of significant areas that would be automatically submitted to you on a weekly(?) basis. Otherwise, your fields are static
and don’t give you a hint to look for changes.

Great survey. Interesting comments.

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I like the layout however I am trying to find some government information but can’t locate it. I’ve been at it for three days.

My suggestion would be something along the lines of ask.com. You type in a question and obtain links to the agencies which may be able to help.

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1. Featured Topic – Have a detailed consumer-driven topic that you request from readers/users quarterly or monthly, and then showcase all aspects of the topic requested in the next quarter under a “”What you wanted to know about…” or some such feature

2. Key Word groupings –Add key words to search areas/results within text and in titles areas of focus so that topics can be archived and searched that way like many other online info for a. Search engine features help in building a stronger scope on a topic, as well as make it more interesting

3. Enhance content-focus and inter-sectoral benefits with a featured topic where in you place the strongest information you have on a topic, and include links to other strong information on premiere sites for other sectors and disciplines on the same or (what you determine) are relevant spin-offs/topics.

*As you have a diverse audience, you want to remain relevant without being condescending and presumptuous about what “level” of competence or what makes sense for their competency. Definitely have a pilot group for readability, and then attach ideas such as “easy-read”, or “evidence-based” or “emerging concept” etc into your key word choices/legends.
Hope helpful.

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This is a step forward in communication between the people and their government. It’s so unfortunate that the peoples government, elected and paid for by the people of this nation have presented themselves in such a shamfull way concerning the health care of people they represent. It has been a discusting thing to watch and read about. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I am ashamed that the rest of the world is watching you make fools of yourselves. Think of the message you are sending to the rest of the world about Americans. It’s truly unfortunate that they have no idea what the majority of Americans are like.

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Keep a link to an orientation tutorial in the top half of your opening page. It seems like people are asking for stuff (“live chat”, list of agency phone numbers, information by topic) that is already in the current version of usa.gov.

Maybe try to partner with high schools, vocational centers, universities and public libraries to offer 1/2 to one hour sessions on getting the most out of usa.gov.

Not exactly about making usa.gov better, but launch some PSAs making note that about 40% of the federal web is NOT indexed by Google and that people searching for government information on Google are sometimes led to commercial sites asking money for things that should be free.

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I can not do much see i am disabled and so is wife and all that i would like is someone to read what i am trying to say. I am not good at trying to say what i would like its hard for me but i do my best but one is in my on my side to the Gov is not when you service your country and that will not help you keep your home. 4 years of my life and that turn there backs on us.

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While searching, I find the “limit by agency” on the left hand side of the results page somewhat useful, but I’d like to see it do a better job of distinguishing levels of government (federal, state local).

It seems like the current filters assume that anything with a *.gov is federal, but california.gov and sanantonio.gov show this is not true.

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Please load a complete set of the United States Code for all available editions. Please load historic sets of the CFRS too.

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WHAT KIND OF AMERICA IS IT IF THIS IS NOT FREE SPEECH? http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312848/quotes.htm#Other Voices: Congresses, Docum////”One if by land two if by sea.”/

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Though it would be a lot more work, it would be nice if site “regulars” could customize their visit. There’s a ton of information; it would be great to reduce it down to what I want to see when I regularly visit the site. All in all it’s not bad for a government site! While it may not win any awards, it’s definitely user friendly and fairly easy to navigate.

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We welcome comments, but will remove comments that contain personal information, including addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, etc. Please review our Moderation Policy (http://blog.citizen.apps.gov/yourvoicematters/moderation-policy/). Thank you.

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I generally like the audience and topic organization of the site but I get confused / lost when I click on a link on your site and then I’m taken to another government web site that has a completely different look and feel; the navigation structure; and I have to really search sometimes to find the “search” box! If USA.gov is the gateway to all USG information than why isn’t there a more uniform presentation of USG information across government? I’m tired of having to learn how to find stuff on this or that other USG site.

Maybe, USA.gov becomes the service delivery portal for all things USG and leave the agency sites to serve up the message of the day kind of thing. As a citizen, I expect better from my government. It’s my government and I want it my way! So, let’s separate message from service and make it easy for citizens like me to conduct my business with my government.

Happy Holidays!

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I think the US Government need to do more thay make thing so hard and its not that hard. If thay would see what the people need and thats to help get them back on ther feet. We need more jobs and a gov that spends less on things that thay do not need. The have lost there home and the bank get to hold on to them the banks need to work with the people and the gov nees to help more i know that thay can do so much but there hands our tied and people with VA lones need the help of the VA but thay did not help me when we needed it and just gave me a hard time I serviced my country and that was for 4 years of my life that i gave to my country i was there when i was needed but were were thay when i needed them. We our bout disabled and that makes it hard on us to do anything. All we ask for was some help but did not get it.

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Hi,
It would be nice if there were a link or landing page that would post a consolidated list of items that are being voted on by the congress and allow citizens to comment on them.

It would also be nice to have a place that lists all public meetings about political issues or policies under consideration so that the public could make an attempt to attend.

I would also like to see a rotating feature block that allows for live chat with congressional figures, agency leaders and decision makers so that we can address them head on about our issues, problems or concerns.

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As a government manager myself, I find the “for government employees” tab useful, especially for looking things up when I am at home and cannot access my agency’s web space. I would like to see a secure login feature for government employees that would allow us to see contact information for counterparts in other agencies. I would also like a more BlacKBerry-friendly mobile version.

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