Project Vote Smart - Executive Departments

Executive Departments

Department of Agriculture (USDA)

1400 Independence Avenue, Southwest
Washington, DC 20250
Phone: 202-720-3631

Function:
We provide leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, and related issues based on sound public policy, the best available science, and efficient management.
Secretary: Thomas James Vilsack

Department of Commerce

1401 Constitution Avenue, Northwest
Washington, DC 20230
Phone: 202-482-2112

Function:
The historic mission of the Department is "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce" of the United States. This has evolved, as a result of legislative and administrative additions, to encompass broadly the responsibility to foster, serve, and promote the Nation's economic development and technological advancement. The Department fulfills this mission by: a. Participating with other Government agencies in the creation of national policy, through the President's Cabinet and its subdivisions. b. Promoting and assisting international trade. c. Strengthening the international economic position of the United States. d. Promoting progressive domestic business policies and growth. e. Improving comprehension and uses of the physical environment and its oceanic life. f. Ensuring effective use and growth of the Nation's scientific and technical resources. g. Acquiring, analyzing, and disseminating information regarding the Nation and the economy to help achieve increased social and economic benefit. h. Assisting states, communities, and individuals with economic progress.
Secretary: Gary Locke

Department of Defense (DoD)

1400 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301

Function:
The mission of DefenseLINK is to support the overall mission of the Department of Defense by providing official, timely and accurate information about defense policies, organizations, functions and operations. Also, DefenseLINK is the single, unified starting point for finding military information online.
Secretary: Robert Michael Gates

Department of Education

400 Maryland Avenue, Southwest
Washington, DC 20202
Phone: 800-872-5327
202-401-0689

Function:
ED's 4,200 employees and $68.6 billion budget are dedicated to: Establishing policies on federal financial aid for education, and distributing as well as monitoring those funds. Collecting data on America's schools and disseminating research. Focusing national attention on key educational issues. Prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education.
Secretary: Arne Duncan

Department of Energy

1000 Independence Avenue, Southwest
Washington, DC 20585

Function:
The Department of Energy's overarching mission is to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States; to promote scientific and technological innovation in support of that mission; and to ensure the environmental cleanup of the national nuclear weapons complex.
Secretary: Steven Chu

Department of Health and Human Services

200 Independence Avenue, Southwest
Washington, DC 20201
Phone: 877-696-6775

Function:
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the United States government's principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves.
Secretary: Kathleen Sebelius

Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
W ashington, DC 20528
Phone: 202-282-8000

Function:
This Department of Homeland Securitys overriding and urgent mission is to lead the unified national effort to secure the country and preserve our freedoms.
Secretary: Janet Napolitano

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

451 7th Street, Southwest
Was hington, DC 20410
Phone: 202-708-1112

Function:
HUD's mission is to increase homeownership, support community development and increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination. To fulfill this mission, HUD will embrace high standards of ethics, management and accountability and forge new partnerships--particularly with faith-based and community organizations--that leverage resources and improve HUD's ability to be effective on the community level.
Secretary: Shaun L.S. Donovan

Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest
Washington, DC 20530
Phone: 202-514-2000

Function:
To enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.
Attorney General: Eric H. Holder

Department of Labor

200 Constitution Avenue, Northwest
Washington, DC 20210

Function:
The Department of Labor fosters and promotes the welfare of the job seekers, wage earners, and retirees of the United States by improving their working conditions, advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, protecting their retirement and health care benefits, helping employers find workers, strengthening free collective bargaining, and tracking changes in employment, prices, and other national economic measurements. In carrying out this mission, the Department administers a variety of Federal labor laws including those that guarantee workers rights to safe and healthful working conditions; a minimum hourly wage and overtime pay; freedom from employment discrimination; unemployment insurance; and other income support.
Secretary: Hilda L. Solis

Department of State

2201 C Street, Northwest
Washington, DC 20520
Phone: 202-647-4000

Function:
Advises the president of foreign-policy issues; works to carry out the country's foreign policy; maintains relations between foreign countries and the U.S.; negotiates treaties and agreements with foreign nations; speaks for the U.S. in the United Nations and other major international organizations; supervises embassies, missions, and consulates overseas.
Secretary: Hillary Rodham Clinton

Department of Transportation (DOT)

400 7th Street, Northwest
Washington, DC 20590
Phone: 202-366-4000

Function:
The mission of the Department is to: Serve the United States by ensuring a fast, safe, efficient, accessible and convenient transportation system that meets our vital national interests and enhances the quality of life of the American people, today and into the future.
Secretary: Ray H. LaHood

Department of Veterans Affairs

810 Vermont Avenue, Northwest
Washington, DC 20420
Phone: 800-827-1000

Function:
Our goal is to provide excellence in patient care, veterans' benefits and customer satisfaction. We have reformed our department internally and are striving for high quality, prompt and seamless service to veterans. Our department's employees continue to offer their dedication and commitment to help veterans get the services they have earned. Our nation's veterans deserve no less.
Secretary: Eric Ken Shinseki

Department of the Interior

1849 C Street, Northwest
Washington, DC 20240
Phone: 202-208-3100

Function:
Protects the natural environment; develops the country's natural resources; manages national parks, monuments, rivers, seashores, lakes, outdoor recreation areas, and historic sites; oversees more than 400 wildlife refuges, research centers, wildfowl production areas, and fish hatcheries; supervises economic development and environmental protection of public land; helps Native Americans living on reservations. The Department of the Interior is also responsible for the following U.S. territories: the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, the Trust Territory of Palau, and the Freely Associated States (Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia).
Secretary: Ken Salazar

Department of the Treasury

1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest
Washington, DC 20220
Phone: 202-622-2000
202-622-6415

Function:
Serve the American people and strengthen national security by managing the U.S. Government's finances effectively, promoting economic growth and stability, and ensuring the safety, soundness, and security of the U.S. and international financial systems.
Secretary: Timothy Franz Geithner

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