Federal Eye

Talk about phoning it in! Newly minted General Services Administrator Martha N. Johnson was formally sworn into office on Sunday evening -- by telephone.

GSA Administrator Martha Johnson

Acting Administrator Steve Leeds called Johnson at her Annapolis home and administered the oath of office, the agency said Tuesday. Johnson's husband, Steve, served as the official witness.

The oath-of-office-by-phone is perfectly legal and was necessary because of the weekend snowstorm, the agency said.

The inclement weather has delayed Johnson's ceremonial swearing-in and her town hall forum with employees until 2 p.m. next Tuesday, Feb. 16, at the agency's downtown Washington headquarters.

Johnson was confirmed by the Senate last week after an eight-month delay. Leeds has returned to his role as the agency's senior counselor after serving as GSA's fourth acting administrator in the last two years.

RELATED: Q&A with Martha N. Johnson in Tuesday's Washington Post

Track Obama nominees with The Post's Head Count

Updated 3:38 p.m. ET
The Office of Personnel Management Web site was redirected Monday to a site with larger servers to cope with a crush of traffic from curious Web surfers eager to learn about the government's operating status.

Users who typed in www.opm.gov were redirected to www.data.gov/opm_status.html and an OPM status update page there.

"Due to a very high volume of traffic, the other OPM.gov pages are not available now. Please try back later," a message on the page stated.

The decision about Washington-region office closures posted on that Web page is of high interest to local federal workers, but also impacts those who have business with any shuttered government agencies. Local Federal Executive Boards determine when to close federal facilities in other parts of the country.

OPM.gov had more than 6.1 million total page views on Monday between 3:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., according to White House Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra. That's way up from the approximately 151,000 total page views on a normal day, he said in an e-mail.

Several Federal Eye readers complained on Monday afternoon that the OPM site was inaccessible for several hours. To alleviate the crush of traffic, the Office of Management and Budget redirected the OPM.gov site to an OPM page at Data.gov, the government's new home for open government efforts. Data.gov operates on more robust servers.

"OPM is planning to upgrade its infrastructure to support increased traffic," Kundra said in an e-mail. "They will leverage the data.gov platform throughout this weather period (this week) and will continue to work with GSA to ensure continuity of service."

The switch was noticed by several Twitter users, who first spotted Tuesday's official operating status at Data.gov/opm_status.

By the way -- shameless plug alert -- you can avoid OPM.gov entirely and check The Federal Eye later today for updates on whether the government will pull a threefer and close again on Wednesday.

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Mail carrier Leslie Bonsiewich delivers mail on Hinton Avenue in Belmont, Va. during last Friday's snow. (AP/Megan Lovett)

Updated 1:05 p.m. ET
The U.S. Postal Service plans to deliver the mail as normal across the Washington region on Tuesday, despite the snowbanks, slushy roads and a perilous forecast.

Mail carriers should be able to complete their routes before the most intense periods of the storm begins, said spokeswoman Deborah Yackley. She urged customers to remove snow from around their mailboxes or clear a path to the front door to expedite the delivery process.

Mail carriers completed 80 percent of their deliveries on Monday and 70 percent of mail carriers reported for work, she said.

The Northwest and Randle post offices in Washington are closed today due to staffing shortages. Postal facilities are also closed at the following federal buildings: the State Department, NASA headquarters, Department of Agriculture, Department of Labor, Department of Interior, the Pentagon, the Frances Perkins Building, Navy Annex and the White House.

Retail operations at five post offices in Washington did not open on Monday: Cleveland Park, Farragut North, Georgetown, McPherson Square and Watergate. Retail operations at the Calvert branch in Hyattsville also did not open.

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RELATED: Previous Federal Eye reports on the Postal Service

A man rides his bicycle towards the Capitol Building in Washington on Monday. (Reuters)

Updated 9:12 a.m. ET
Happy Tuesday! And Happy Federal Snow Day 2.0! But many federal employees still have to show up for work today, despite the weather.

Need proof? The Post's David Cho reports that shortly after the federal government announced that it would close for Monday -- cue the yelping for joy around Washington -- the office of the executive secretary for Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner sent a message to its staff saying that he planned to keep his Tuesday schedule.

Cue the groans.

It's not much better at the Government Printing Office, where about 200 printers and security officers were at work Monday, The Post's Carol Morello and N.C. Aizenman report. Sheley Welcher, 40, an assistant production manager whose husband drove her into work from their home in Clinton, said the White House and Congress had several reports that needed printing.

Though not every federal office could do it, this week will certainly revive and refocus the debate on teleworking. Taxpayers lose $100 million each day in lost productivity when the government shuts down. (PLEASE NOTE: The Eye agrees that closing is justified for safety reasons, but the cost is still notable.)

So does your federal office encourage telework? What would be the effect on the workforce and productivity if the federal government allowed more telework? send your extended answers to federaleye@washingtonpost.com and participate in the poll below.

We’ll publish some answers on Friday on The Post's new The Federal Worker page. You can also send along suggested questions.

Leave your thoughts in the comments section below

• Cabinet and Staff News: First Lady Michelle Obama launches a fight against fast. An interview with newly minted GSA Administrator Martha N. Johnson. Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg says he's not headed to Georgetown. Is the current U.S. ambassador to Indonesia headed next to Pakistan? Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) lifts his hold on most Obama administration nominees. Daniel Weinberg, the man behind the nation's census. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) objects to an NLRB nominee.

Victor Zabielski cross country skis past the White House on Monday. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

Here we go again: The federal government will close Tuesday, as the region continues to clean up after the weekend snowstorm and prepares for another round of the white stuff.

The decision means non-emergency federal workers will be granted excused absences. Emergency employees are expected to report for work on time, and some employees who telework may be expected to work from their telework sites, as specified in their individual agreements.

This is the third time the federal government has shut down due to the weather during the Obama administration. It's the first back-to-back shutdown since Hurricane Isabel hit the region on Sept. 18-19, 2003.

Official estimate that closing the federal government for a day due to the weather costs roughly $100 million in lost productivity and opportunity costs, meaning this weekend's storm will have potentially cost taxpayers at least $250 million, for last Friday's early dismissal and Monday's and Tuesday's closures.

Interest in Tuesday's operating status swelled throughout the day. The Eye received several phone calls, e-mails and Tweets from concerned feds and OPM's operating status Web page has been unavailable for some trying to access the site.

(This poll's questions have been fixed -- so vote again!)

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Watch the video above as The Federal Eye predicts the federal government's operating status for Tuesday. Will D.C.-area offices close again? Or operate with unscheduled leave? Maybe an early dismissal? Watch above then leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry has said today that he will not make a final decision on Tuesday's operating status until after 6 p.m. Check the blog later tonight for an update.

By The Post's environment reporter Juliet Eilperin:

The Obama administration proposed a new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Service on Monday, reorganizing the agency so it can provide Americans with predictions on how global warming will affect everything from drought to sea levels.

The initiative, modeled loosely on the 140-year-old National Weather Service, will provide forecasts to farmers, regional water managers and business operators affected by changing climate conditions. But it comes at a time when climate skeptics have become increasingly effective in attacking the credibility of global warming forecasts.

NOAA, along with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, ranks as one of the federal government's key agencies for monitoring the climate and conducting climate research.

"We currently respond to millions of annual requests for climate information, and we expect those requests to grow exponentially," said NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco in an interview, adding that in light of recent scientific advances, "the models will continue to improve, and we will be able to provide more and more information."

Continue reading this story >>>

"NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams makes frequent hysterical appearances on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "Late Show with David Letterman" and whatever show Jay Leno happens to be hosting at the time.

On Friday night he showed up on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" to, um, er.... "slow jam" details of President Obama's 2011 budget plan with the house band.

Hilarity ensues in the clip above.

For a more serious review of the spending details ("back door budget maneuvers" and all), check out The Post's 2011 Budget special report.

Updated 3:53 p.m. ET
Media critics seem to agree: The U.S. Census Bureau should keep to counting people and stay out of the advertising business.

The agency spent $2.5 million on a 30-second ad that aired during the third quarter of Sunday night's Super Bowl, a price tag also earned them two spots during the pregame show and two on-air mentions by CBS Sports anchor James Brown.

The ad was directed by Christopher Guest and starred Ed Begley Jr. and alums of Guest's cult classics, "Best in Show," "For Your Consideration" and "A Mighty Wind."

The ad is one of a five-part series that the agency hopes will spread virally out from a Facebook fan page and YouTube. (The agency prohibits bloggers and third party sites from copying and pasting embed code of the ads, blaming contractual restrictions -- a decision that likely means the agency's viral efforts will fail. UPDATE: The agency's YouTube channel now provides the embed code. Was somebody listening?!)

Entertainment Weekly named the spot one of Sunday night's five worst, stating, "How weird to hire all those funny character actors, then accidentally air an unfinished version of a commercial that left us all wondering what the frak we just watched!"

The ad also ranked poorly in USA Today's annual Super Bowl ad viewer survey, ranking towards the bottom between a CareerBuilder.com ad and one for the new Wolfman movie. (But it did beat the controversial ad starring Tim Tebow.)

Happy Monday! And Happy Snow Day (for most)! Washington area federal offices are closed today, which means the region's largest employer will keep most workers away from the office.

The decision marks the first time the government has shut down this year due to the weather and only the second time during the Obama administration.

With roads impassable, trains and buses running on skeleton schedules and all major school districts closed, officials at the Office of Personnel Management deemed a Monday commute too dangerous, officials said.

But should the government even bother opening on Tuesday? It costs the federal government roughly $100 million in lost productivity and associated opportunity costs, but most schools will be closed, there's only limited public transportation service, most side streets will likely still be impassable and another 8 inches could call fall by Wednesday morning.

So...

Check back later for Tuesday's operating status and Sign up for closing and delays alerts from The Federal Eye

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• Cabinet and Staff News: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has not picked out her mother of the bride dress. Defense Secretary Robert Gates thinks tougher sanctions could work on Iran. White House Counterterrorism Adviser John O. Brennan criticized politicians for using terrorism situations as a "political football." Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner says the U.S. is not in danger of losing its strong credit rating despite a ballooning budget deficit. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is scheduled to meet today with President Obama. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco unveil new climate change policies today. Liberals split on Obama's next Supreme Court pick.