U.S. Department of the Treasury

(Archived Content)

FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Good morning and thank you for joining us today for this exciting announcement of two major e-commerce initiatives. I am pleased to be accompanied here by the Commissioners of the two Treasury bureaus responsible for the launch of these two initiatives-Dick Gregg of Financial Management Service (FMS) and Van Zeck of the Bureau of the Public Debt. I also would like to thank for their vision and dedication both Gary Grippo, FMS Director of E-Commerce, and Cindy Springer, the Assistant Commissioner for Information Technology and Public Debt.

We come together today at an exciting time. America is experiencing enormous progress and prosperity that few could have imagined at the beginning of this Administration. By the end of this fiscal year, we will have achieved three straight years of unified budget surpluses, totaling just over $400 billion. We are in the midst of the longest economic expansion in our nation's history. And the benefits of this expansion are being felt all up and down the economic ladder. For the first time in a generation, the purchasing power of wages is now rising even for the families in the bottom 20 percent of wage earners and unemployment is at its lowest level in 30 years.

This prosperity is being fueled by the Information Revolution. Information technologies and the Internet have ushered in an economic transformation as profound as that of the Industrial Revolution of the 19 ^th century. Information technology has been the largest single factor in the remarkable increase in productivity, which has given us a high rate of GDP growth with very low unemployment and low inflation. For businesses, the Information Revolution has increased productivity, lowered costs and spurred growth. For consumers, it has meant greater choice, faster service and lower prices. It has helped make the United States a high performance economy, powered by technology, driven by ideas, rewarding the value of innovation, flexibility and enterprise and attaining ever better living standards for its people.

It is for all these reasons that the Clinton-Gore Administration has worked so hard to create an environment in which the Internet has flourished, adding efficiencies and dynamism to our economy.

• We have helped to instill confidence in the Internet by ensuring that appropriate measures are taken to protect consumers, guard individuals' privacy and safeguard critical infrastructure components.
• We have created the legal and regulatory regimes necessary to promote the growth of electronic commerce. On issues such as digital signatures, electronic payments and Internet taxation, the Administration is ensuring that our laws and institutions keep pace with the rapid changes in e-commerce technology.
• And as part of our efforts to promote the growth of the digital economy, the Administration has recognized the need to invest in educating and training our workers to bridge the oft-discussed digital divide.

President Clinton and Vice President Gore have also used the Internet to make government work better for the American people. Every Cabinet department is online, using web sites to make information and services available to people at the click of a mouse. Citizens are now using web sites to file their taxes-in fact, one out of four did so last year. You can also go online to apply for student loans, find new jobs and compare Medicare options. They are tapping into the latest health care research, browsing the vast collection of the Library of Congress and following NASA missions into outer space.

At the Treasury Department, we recognize that it is important to lead by example, and thus we have invested much time and many resources in thinking about how we can adjust the way the government conducts its business to adapt to rapid advances in information technology. I am pleased to tell you that we have had significant success using new technologies. In some areas, we are ahead of the private sector.

Treasury, through FMS, runs one of the largest payment collection systems in the world, with more than $1.3 trillion-or two out of every three dollars of U.S. government revenue-now collected electronically. Three-quarters of all government benefit payments are now made electronically. So are sixty percent of payments to vendors.

We also are the largest issuer of stored value cards in the Western hemisphere. This year we will issue close to a quarter of a million stored value cards at U.S. military installations throughout the world. FMS has stored value projects at Army and Air Force training sites throughout the U.S. And in May, FMS announced a project called EagleCash whereby stored value cards were issued to soldiers, civilians and contractors at U.S. peacekeeping bases in Bosnia.

We also are developing or testing a variety of new programs, including digital cash, secure Internet e-mail for the delivery of digital checks to vendors, and Automated Clearing House (ACH) debit authorizations over the Internet.

Sales of Treasury debt, both retail and institutional, also take advantage of new technologies. Auctions of Treasury securities are now entirely electronic, as the last paper bidders were recently moved to an Internet-based system. Consumers holding Treasury securities through the Treasury Direct program can make purchases or reinvest on line or through an automated phone system. Even Savings Bonds can now be purchased over the Internet.

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve and expand the government's Internet services, I have the privilege today of announcing the launch of two new and dynamic electronic commerce initiatives.

The first initiative is Pay.gov. Pay.gov, which will be launched in early fall, will be a one-stop shop for people to make government payments using the Internet. Pay.gov grew out of our commitment to modernize the operations of government. We leveraged our relationship with private banks and reached out to Internet service providers to create a low-cost website that will enable users to register once and subsequently transact with the government. With Pay.gov, the government will be able to handle online any of the 80 million transactions it currently processes each year. It will enable the public to interact with government electronically for such purposes as:

• Authorizing payment and collection methods. Government agencies will be able to use Pay.gov to allow corporations and consumers to use the Internet to authorize electronic transfers to pay government fees, fines, sales, leases, donations, and certain taxes. This can cover everything from a family paying for a camping license for a national park to a corporation paying fees or fines.
• Signing and processing forms. The site can be used for direct electronic processing of government forms-such as direct deposit enrollment forms or order forms for government products like U.S. Mint coins, bonds from Public Debt and maps from the National Park Service.
• Accessing and sharing information. Companies will be able to view federal agency invoices and authorize payment, while agencies will be able to retrieve information immediately about bills paid, forms completed or purchases made.
Government agencies will be able to use Pay.gov to allow corporations and consumers to use the Internet to authorize electronic transfers to pay government fees, fines, sales, leases, donations, and certain taxes. This can cover everything from a family paying for a camping license for a national park to a corporation paying fees or fines. The site can be used for direct electronic processing of government forms-such as direct deposit enrollment forms or order forms for government products like U.S. Mint coins, bonds from Public Debt and maps from the National Park Service. Companies will be able to view federal agency invoices and authorize payment, while agencies will be able to retrieve information immediately about bills paid, forms completed or purchases made.

Pay.gov benefits the public by enhancing government services and by responding to the increasing demand of individuals and businesses for electronic alternatives. It is a system built to the specific requirements of government agencies. We listened carefully to the needs and concerns of difference agencies, and built a system that is secure, yet flexible enough to meet them.

Pay.gov is also one of the many efforts on the part of this Administration to make the federal government more accessible and consumer-friendly. Today, forms and fees need to be sent by mail and questions can be answered over the phone during regular business hours only. With Pay.gov, people will be able to take care of such transactions over the Internet whenever it is most convenient-any time of day, any day of the week.

The second initiative I am pleased to announce today has been developed by the Bureau of Public Debt. It is a secure, e-commerce Internet site to serve the Public Debt's customers in state and local government who invest in Treasury's State and Local Government Securities, known as SLGS (pronounced slugs). The new site, which Public Debt calls SLGSafe (pronounced slugs safe), allows state and local governments, as well as the financial institutions that act for them, to:

• Subscribe to and redeem securities
• Make changes to their portfolio
• And review financial reports

Using Digital Certificates and additional security features, SLGSafe (slugs safe) offers a full range of specialized investment and account management services, providing faster, more convenient service. Public Debt has piloted the site since December with a small group of financial institutions. With the ten institutions in the pilot program, Public Debt has already succeeded in moving approximately 20 percent of its subscription volume to the Internet. The site ultimately will permit all of our state and local government customers and their financial institutions to manage their accounts over the Internet.

In addition to these two exciting new e-commerce initiatives, today I would also like to announce that on September 22, the Treasury Department will be hosting a one-day conference focusing on electronic financial transactions. The September conference will bring together government and industry leaders to discuss the emerging technologies in the payments arena and the public policy issues they raise. Topics will range from challenges we face on issues such as privacy and security to broader visionary discussions of what the future has in store. The conference will take place here in Washington, DC at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building.

Lastly, I would like to take a moment to recognize the outstanding work that Dick Gregg and Van Zeck have done to create Pay.gov and SLGSafe (slugs safe). Their support has been critical to make possible what you will see and hear today. I also would like to thank our private sector partners, notably in the technology and banking sectors. We have worked closely with our partners in our effort to keep pace with changing technologies and improve our services for the American people.

The initiatives that I have discussed and the others that you will see demonstrated today are important steps forward in this Administration's efforts to make e-government a reality for all people in America. The result will be a government that is more user-friendly, more convenient and more accessible-24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Further, putting government online helps free up tax revenues for other needs by allowing the public sector to enjoy the same kinds of reduced costs and increased efficiency that the Internet has brought to the private sector.

In the short term, implementing e-government is essential if government is to meet the rising expectations of service that Americans have developed both as consumers and as public citizens. In the long-term, e-government offers the potential for services tailored to citizens' needs, more open and responsive politics and a more participatory democracy.

The task will not be easy. The scale of public sector operations, the rapid pace of technological change, and the concerns about privacy and security that must be addressed all make the challenge of putting government online quite daunting. Yet, as you can see from the initiatives on display here today, I am confident that we are up to the task. With capable and committed leadership in our bureaus, as well as strong private sector partnerships, I am confident that we can continue to ensure that the government adapts successfully to the rapid changes in this Information Age.

Thank you.