Good afternoon, Knocking the way government works makes for an easy political talking point. What's hard is actually changing the way it works, and we want your help to do just that. Launched last year, the President's SAVE Award is about fostering a culture of accountability among all Federal employees, as well as tapping their first-hand knowledge of how to streamline and modernize government, and you choose the winner. The President invited all Federal employees from every agency and department to submit their ideas for saving taxpayer dollars, and to evaluate and discuss the ideas submitted by others for how to make government more efficient and effective. Our budget gurus then went through every single idea with a fine-tooth comb to see what we were already doing, what needed a closer look, and which qualified as our four finalists. Now, you get to decide which idea will be the winner of this year's SAVE Award - and which finalist will get to meet the President. We want public input on this final stage of the process, so have your say: http://www.whitehouse.gov/save-award?utm_source=email83c&utm_medium=image&utm_campaign=saveaward I've been in public service a long time, but the ideas that made the final cut are all new to me. That's because it's the people on the ground who know the nitty-gritty of how the government really works, and how to make it work better. * Paul Behe, a Paralegal Specialist for the Department of Homeland Security out of Cleveland, Ohio, pointed out how advertising seized property online could not only tighten up advertising budgets, but also move these goods out of storage more quickly. * Marjorie Cook of Gobles, Michigan, is a food inspector. She pointed out that while important samples need to be shipped express to be analyzed quickly for public safety, the containers they're sent in can be sent back much less expensively. * Trudy Givens of Portage, Wisconsin is with the Bureau of Prisons and noted that the Federal Register gets printed and mailed to nearly 10,000 recipients in the Federal workforce every workday, yet the Register is available online. * Thomas Koenning of Littleton, Colorado works on mine safety, and gave a prime example of how streamlining government can not only eliminate waste, but allow government to do its job better and ultimately keep people safer by simply having mine operators and contractors report quarterly coal production and worker hours online. As I said, these ideas are all common sense, but the only people who could have known that these things needed to be fixed were the people on the front lines who deal with them every day. And beyond these four ideas, the thousands that were submitted all helped us - and other federal workers - think in new ways about how to serve you better. Come to WhiteHouse.gov http://www.whitehouse.gov/save-award?utm_source=email83c&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=saveaward and cast your vote to take part. Sincerely, Vice President Biden Norfolknet.com your community, on-line