The Military Installment Loans and Educational Services was supposed to help service members or so they thought. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered U.S. Bank and its partner, Dealers Financial Services, to pay $6.5 million to service members. This is after 50,000 of them learned that they’ve been a victim of deceptive marketing tactics.

Most of the new members of President Obama’s cabinet have settled into their new appointments now, but a few important holes still remain. James Comey is the nominee for FBI director and he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday. Labor nominee Tom Perez has hit a few bumps in the confirmation road. And what about Immigrations and Customs Enforcement? John Morton will leave for the private sector at the end of the month, with no word yet on his successor. Bob Litan, director of research for Bloomberg Government, gives us an update.

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John Thompson is promising to do something few other Census directors have achieved. He tells senators at his confirmation hearing, he’ll do the 2020 count better, faster and cheaper.

President Barack Obama recently called on his new cabinet to look for fresh ways to help federal agencies deliver information and data to the public. The administration is launching the next version of its open government strategy. It’s called the National Action Plan 2.0. Meanwhile, the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act pending in Congress would put the Treasury Department in charge of setting data publishing guidelines.

President Barack Obama gave his new cabinet some marching orders this week. He wants them to reinvigorate the government by making it, in his words, smarter and more innovative. He gave Sylvia Burwell, the Office of Management and Budget chief, the job of leading the effort. Every president has some sort of plan. Recall Service to the Citizen, Reinventing Government and the President’s Management Agenda. Tim Young, a senior management at Deloitte Consulting, and former deputy administrator at OMB, share his views on the prospects for a smarter government.