For starters, Feds could work on Columbus Day, Sterling Whitehead writes in the GovLoop blog.

"The truth is we serve the public, and there's a popular perception that we are insulated from the Great Recession," Whitehead writes.

Working on Columbus Day won't save $5.5 billion -- like a proposed two-week furlough claims to do -- but, Whitehead said, it would be a good start.

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