Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) new rule on early-season migratory bird hunting. GAO noted that: (1) the rule would establish the early-seasons frameworks from which states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands may select dates and other options available to them for the 1999-2000 migratory bird hunting season; and (2) FWS complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO audited the expenditures of eight independent counsels for the 6 months ended March 31, 1999."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) safe drinking water research efforts, focusing on: (1) comparing EPA's budget requests for drinking water research during fiscal years (FY) 1997 through 2000 with: (a) the amounts authorized for such purposes by the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996; and (b) the amounts estimated by EPA to be needed to support the regulations and regulatory determinations required under the amendments; (2) obtaining the views of stakeholders--those involved with supplying and ensuring the safety of drinking water--regarding the likelihood that EPA will be able to complete the research necessary to support new regulations and regulatory decisions over the next 10 years and the potential consequences if the research is not completed; and (3) assessing EPA's drinking water research plans, including the tasks, projected funding, and anticipated accomplishments, to support the development of new regulations and regulatory decisions over the next 10 years."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of the management and disposal of commercially generated low-level radioactive wastes, including the progress of states and compacts of states in developing new disposal facilities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on how states design and monitor Medicaid mental health programs, and how, at the federal level, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) exercises its oversight of the Medicaid program, focusing on: (1) the extent of beneficiary choice in capitated mental health carveouts, the range of covered mental health services, and access to these services; (2) the states' approaches to monitoring the quality of care in their Medicaid mental health carveouts; and (3) HCFA's oversight of states' mental health carveouts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the export sales of five Department of Defense (DOD) weapon systems--the Hellfire missile, Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), Black Hawk Helicopter, and Aegis Weapon System, focusing on whether: (1) export sales reduced the price of the five weapon systems; (2) DOD waived the requirement to recover nonrecurring research and development and production costs associated with the sales; and (3) DOD included this information when notifying Congress about the sales or requesting budgetary authority to purchase weapon systems."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on efforts to assess the economic impact of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulations to enhance environmental quality, focusing on: (1) to what extent EPA's regulations have been the subject of retrospective studies; (2) whether retrospective studies are viewed as useful or difficult to do; and (3) ways to foster such studies in the future."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's (DOD) implementation of its Medicare Subvention Demonstration program, focusing on: (1) progress in establishing the ground rules for program operation, receiving Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) approval, attracting enrollment, and starting to deliver health services; (2) the useful practices and operational difficulties that emerged during program start-up; and (3) issues for the future."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO determined: (1) what efforts the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) and its grantees have made to correct problems with case service reporting; and (2) whether these efforts are likely to resolve the case reporting problems that occurred in 1997."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) management of the maintenance of its real properties, focusing on: (1) how the services determine and prioritize maintenance and repair requirements and how they allocate resources to meet their needs; (2) promising practices in facility management that the services could consider; and (3) barriers to implementing promising practices and ways to address them."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the District of Columbia's Courts' funding of Criminal Justice Act (CJA) obligations, focusing on two funding sources from the District of Columbia's Appropriations Act of 1999. GAO noted that: (1) the first proviso to the appropriation provides that of the $121 million, up to $6.9 million shall be for the Child Abuse and Neglect (CCAN) Program and up to $25,036,000 shall be for CJA cases, $31,936,000 in total; (2) because the District of Columbia Appropriations Act of 1999 restricts the amount of the Federal Payment to the District of Columbia Courts that may be used for CJA, any reprogramming to CJA from funds for CCAN or other court operations would be reprogramming that falls within statutory law; (3) accordingly, statutory law would require a written notice of the reprogramming to the Senate and House Appropriations Committees 30 days before the reprogramming takes place; (4) whether a June 21 letter constituted the Courts' reprogramming notice and, if so, whether that notice satisfies statutory law is a matter for the Courts in the first instance to determine; and (5) if CCAN funds, or other fiscal year …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the planning and budgeting difficulties faced by District of Columbia (DC) Courts during fiscal year (FY) 1998."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO presented the results of its audit of the District of Columbia's Highway Trust Fund, focusing on: (1) GAO's opinion on the effectiveness of the District's internal control related to the Fund as of September 30, 1998; and (2) the results of GAO's evaluation of the District's fiscal year 1998 compliance with laws and regulations as they relate to the Fund."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO commented on the legality of recent regulations authorizing the reduction of the origination fee charged in the William D. Ford Federal Direct Student Loan Program. In GAO's view, the regulations conflict with a statutory requirement that the Department of Education charge a 4 percent origination fee for loans made under the Direct Loan Program."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on President Clinton's 1998 trips to Africa, Chile, and China, focusing on: (1) the estimated costs and the nature of the costs of these trips; and (2) executive branch accounting procedures for such expenses."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the International Monetary Fund's financial operations, focusing on the: (1) Fund's liquidity position as of April 30, 1999, including its experience with borrowed resources to meet its members' financing needs; (2) role of gold holdings in the Fund's operations; and (3) Fund's process for determining the amount of quota contributions required from its members."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO analyzed the efforts to improve the financial sectors of the emerging market countries of Indonesia, South Korea, and Thailand, focusing on: (1) the nature of weaknesses in the countries' financial sectors; (2) the extent to which the countries have achieved reforms in their financial systems; (3) the extent to which the countries have implemented international principles for banking supervision; and (4) U.S. government and multilateral institutions' efforts to effect changes in the financial sectors of these emerging markets."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO: (1) followed-up on the status of the Federal Reserve Banks' (FRB) corrective actions to address vulnerabilities identified in GAO's fiscal year (FY) 1997 financial statement audit; and (2) reviewed the general and application controls that support key Financial Management Service (FMS) and Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) automated financial systems maintained and operated by the FRBs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) actions to ensure the year 2000 readiness of its high impact food assistance and food safety programs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on state experiences with reserve funds for emergencies or other unpredictable funding needs and state practices that could be instructive in the emergency spending debate, particularly regarding how the federal government might budget for emergencies with surplus funds."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program's vulnerability to fraud and abuse, focusing on: (1) the extent to which SSI is vulnerable to individuals who obtain eligibility by feigning disabilities with the help of middlemen and medical providers; (2) the Social Security Administration's (SSA) methods for preventing, detecting, and responding to this type of program fraud and abuse; and (3) additional strategies SSA could use to more effectively address this problem."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on crop insurance, focusing on: (1) the extent to which crop insurance claims are paid in error--either unintentionally or fraudulently--and, to the extent practical, a comparison of the rate at which claims are paid in error with rates for other types of insurance; (2) the insurance companies' and the Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency's (RMA) quality controls to ensure that accurate claims payments are made; and (3) the proposals being considered to reduce insurance companies' administrative requirements and the potential impact of these proposals on the operations of the crop insurance program."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) efforts to increase revenues from alternative sources as a way to supplement its medical care appropriations, focusing on trends in third-party collections."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the District of Columbia's financial management issues related to its year 2000 efforts, focusing on the: (1) funds provided and the District's reported expenditures to date; (2) District's ability to track its year 2000 costs; and (3) additional funding requested by the District."