Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Smithsonian Institution (Smithsonian) is the world's largest museum complex. Its funding comes from its own private trust fund assets and federal appropriations. The Smithsonian Board of Regents, the Smithsonian's governing body, is responsible for the long-term stewardship of the Smithsonian. In recent years, GAO and others have documented significant governance and accountability breakdowns at the Smithsonian, which could ultimately put funding and the organization's credibility at risk. In 2007 the Board of Regents Governance Committee released a report recommending 42 governance reforms. In May 2008 GAO found that the Board of Regents had implemented 30 of these 42 reforms. GAO also made 4 additional recommendations. In response to a congressional mandate, this report provides an update on the status of the Smithsonian's implementation of governance reforms recommended by the Board of Regents Governance Committee and GAO. The work for this report is based on analysis of Smithsonian documents, interviews with Smithsonian officials, and a GAO report on Smithsonian governance (GAO-08-632). GAO is not making any new recommendations. The Smithsonian and the Board of Regents concurred with the findings of this report."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Owing to high levels of poverty, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) rely heavily on need-based federal programs to provide basic services. Two federal agencies publish measures used by some federal programs to determine poverty status and allocate need-based assistance: the Census Bureau (Census) publishes poverty thresholds--dollar-value benchmarks for determining poverty status--and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provides poverty guidelines, which are derived from the poverty thresholds. The approaches used to determine these poverty measures affect, respectively, poverty population statistics and income eligibility of individuals and families for certain need-based federal assistance. The poverty thresholds apply nationwide and in the insular areas, with no geographic variation, while separate poverty guidelines for Alaska and Hawaii, but not for the insular areas, have been provided since 1970. We (1) examined how the Census poverty thresholds and HHS poverty guidelines are determined for the insular areas. In addition, we (2) considered the possibility of providing poverty thresholds and guidelines specific to the insular areas and identified the implications of extending to the …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In October 2007, we reported on how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other federal agencies had assessed and addressed risks at sites that were thought to have received asbestos-contaminated ore from a mine located in Libby, Montana, and the overall results of these efforts. As we noted at that time, EPA has identified hundreds of sites nationwide that are thought to have received millions of tons of the contaminated ore between 1923 and the early 1990s. This report provides information that will be helpful in understanding the site descriptions in the database, which is provided in a separate report, entitled Hazardous Materials: EPA's Assessment of Sites That May Have Received Asbestos- Contaminated Ore from Libby, Montana (GAO-09-7SP)."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In November 2005, the President issued an executive order establishing the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding (OFC) with the broad mission of supporting recovery efforts following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Given their vast size and impact, these storms presented unprecedented rebuilding challenges to federal, state, and local officials which, combined with concerns about the lack of coordination in government's initial response to the disaster, precipitated the creation of the Office of the Federal Coordinator. To assist in Congress' ongoing oversight responsibilities of the recovery of the Gulf Coast, Congress asked us to: (1) describe the functions the Coordinator has performed, (2) obtain stakeholder perspectives regarding the office's operation, and (3) provide observations on issues to be considered for moving forward. We provided Congressional staff with summaries of our findings this past February to answer these questions as well as our observations, including extending the term of OFC. We have since updated some of the information in our briefing, using information that has subsequently become available including the President's decision to extend the operations of OFC through September 30, 2009."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2001, Congress has provided the Department of Defense (DOD) with $888 billion in supplemental and annual appropriations, as of June 2009, primarily for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). DOD's reported annual obligations for OCO have shown a steady increase from about $0.2 billion in fiscal year 2001 to about $162.4 billion in fiscal year 2008. For fiscal year 2009 OCO, Congress provided DOD with about $65.9 billion in the fiscal year 2009 DOD Appropriations Act and about $80.0 billion in a supplemental appropriation enacted in June 2009. A total of $59.6 billion has been obligated through the second quarter of fiscal year 2009 through March 2009. The United States' commitments to OCO will likely involve the continued investment of significant resources, requiring decision makers to consider difficult trade-offs as the nation faces an increasing long-range fiscal challenge. The magnitude of future costs will depend on several direct and indirect cost variables and, in some cases, decisions that have not yet been made. DOD's future costs will likely be affected by the pace and duration of operations, the types of facilities needed to support troops overseas, redeployment plans, and …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Pervasive and sustained computerbased (cyber) attacks against federal and private-sector infrastructures pose a potentially devastating impact to systems and operations and the critical infrastructures that they support. To address these threats, President Bush issued a 2003 national strategy and related policy directives aimed at improving cybersecurity nationwide. Congress and the Executive Branch, including the new administration, have subsequently taken actions to examine the adequacy of the strategy and identify areas for improvement. Nevertheless, GAO has identified this area as high risk and has reported on needed improvements in implementing the national cybersecurity strategy. In this testimony, you asked GAO to summarize (1) key reports and recommendations on the national cybersecurity strategy and (2) the views of experts on how to strengthen the strategy. In doing so, GAO relied on its previous reports related to the strategy and conducted panel discussions with key cybersecurity experts to solicit their views on areas for improvement."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This supplementary report to GAO-10-231 provides individual state appendixes for 16 states and the District of Columbia for GAO's work on the fourth of its bimonthly reviews of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act). GAO's work focused on nine federal programs that are estimated to account for approximately 87 percent of federal Recovery Act outlays in fiscal year 2009 for programs administered by states and localities."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP), the Department of Defense (DOD) has charged the Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) with cleaning up 4,700 formerly used defense sites (FUDS) and active sites that were under its jurisdiction when they were initially contaminated. The 661-acre Spring Valley site in Washington, D.C is one such site. Like many other FUDS, the U.S. Army used the Spring Valley site during World War I for research and testing of chemical agents, equipment, and munitions. Most of the site is now privately owned and includes private residences, a hospital, and several commercial properties. The primary threats at the site are buried munitions, elevated arsenic in site soils, and laboratory waste; perchlorate was also found onsite. This testimony discusses GAO's past work relating to remediation efforts at FUDS and military munitions sites to provide context for issues at Spring Valley. Specifically, it addresses: (1) the impact that shortcomings in information and guidance can have on decision-making; (2) the impact that incomplete data can have on cost estimates and schedules; (3) how funding for a particular site may be influenced by overall program goals; …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) included more than $48 billion for the Department of Transportation's (DOT) investment in transportation infrastructure, including highways, rail, and transit. This testimony--based on Government Accountability Office (GAO) report GAO-10-231, issued on December 10, 2009, in response to a mandate under the Recovery Act--addresses (1) the uses of Recovery Act highway funding, including the types of projects states have funded and efforts by DOT and the states to meet the requirements of the act, and (2) the uses of Recovery Act transit funding and how recipients of Recovery Act funds are reporting information on the number of jobs created and retained under section 1512. In GAO-10-231, GAO continues to examine the use of Recovery Act funds by 16 states and the District of Columbia (District), representing about 65 percent of the U.S. population and two-thirds of the federal assistance available through the act. GAO also obtained data from DOT on obligations and reimbursements for the Recovery Act's highway infrastructure and public transportation funds. GAO updates the status of agencies' efforts to implement previous GAO recommendations to help address a …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is one of the largest federal land-holding agencies and operates one of the largest health care-related real estate portfolios in the nation. However, many of VA's facilities were built more than 50 years ago and are underutilized or unutilized. Congress has provided VA with certain authorities, such as enhanced-use lease (EUL) authority, enabling the agency to lease or dispose of these properties. This statement focuses on (1) VA's authority to enter into EULs, (2) how VA has used its EUL authority, and (3) the relationship between VA's authorities and the amount of real property that is retained or sold. This statement is based on GAO's February 2009 report on federal agencies' authorities and actions regarding EULs and sale of unneeded real property (GAO-09-283R). To prepare that report, GAO analyzed the authorities and actions of the 10 largest federal land-holding agencies, including VA, to enter into EULs and sell unneeded real property. GAO reviewed VA's legal authorities related to EULs, the sale of real property, and retention of proceeds from EULs and sales; collected data on VA's use of EULs; and visited a …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Smithsonian Institution (Smithsonian) is the world's largest museum complex. Its funding comes from its own private trust fund assets and federal appropriations. The Smithsonian Board of Regents, the Smithsonian's governing body, is responsible for the long-term stewardship of the Smithsonian. In recent years, GAO and others have documented (1) significant governance and accountability breakdowns at the Smithsonian, which could ultimately put funding and the organization's credibility at risk, and (2) the deterioration of the Smithsonian's facilities and the threat this deterioration poses to the Smithsonian's collections. This testimony discusses (1) the Smithsonian's status in implementing governance reforms recommended by its Governance Committee and by GAO in a 2008 report (GAO-08-632)--as discussed in a GAO report being released today (GAO-10-190R)--and (2) the Smithsonian's progress in implementing facilities and funding recommendations GAO made in a 2007 report (GAO-07-1127). The work for this testimony is based on GAO-10-190R and an analysis of documentary and testimonial evidence from Smithsonian officials. GAO is not making recommendations in this testimony and did not make new recommendations in GAO-10-190R. The Smithsonian and the Board of Regents concurred with the findings of GAO-10-190R."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A safe, efficient, and convenient transportation system is integral to the health of our economy and quality of life. Our nation's vast transportation system of airways, railways, roads, transit systems, and waterways has served this need, yet is under considerable pressure due to increasing congestion and costs to maintain and improve the system. Calls for increased investment come at a time when traditional funding for transportation projects is increasingly strained. The authorizing legislation supporting transportation programs will soon expire. The Department of Transportation (DOT) implements national transportation policy and administers most federal transportation programs. DOT received funds for transportation infrastructure projects through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to aid in economic recovery. DOT also requested $72.5 billion to carry out its activities for fiscal year 2010. This statement presents GAO's views on major challenges facing DOT and Congress as they work to administer recovery funds and reauthorize surface transportation and aviation programs. It is based on work GAO has completed over the last several years. GAO has made recommendations to DOT to improve transportation programs; the agency has generally agreed with these recommendations. To supplement …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony is based largely on GAO's July 8, 2009 report, in response to a mandate under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). This testimony provides selected updates, including the status of federal Recovery Act outlays. The report addresses: (1) selected states' and localities' uses of Recovery Act funds, (2) the approaches taken by the selected states and localities to ensure accountability for Recovery Act funds, and (3) states' plans to evaluate the impact of Recovery Act funds. GAO's work for the report is focused on 16 states and certain localities in those jurisdictions as well as the District of Columbia--representing about 65 percent of the U.S. population and two-thirds of the intergovernmental federal assistance available. GAO collected documents and interviewed state and local officials. GAO analyzed federal agency guidance and spoke with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials and with program officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Departments of Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, and Transportation."

This report discusses the direction of a national policy to protect oceans, coasts, and the Great Lakes while coordinating with national security and foreign policy interests. The priorities include ecosystem restoration, water quality, resiliency to climate change and acidification, and improved environmental observation systems.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter responds to a Congressional request that we address questions submitted for the record related to the February 11, 2009, hearing entitled FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009. Our attached responses to these questions are based on updates to our previous work and our knowledge of the areas addressed by the questions."

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Olle Hotel, in Flatonia, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, floor plans, and photographs.

Photocopy of an envelope addressed to Al Daniels, Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus from Houston Stonewall Young Democrats PAC.

Photocopy of an envelope addressed to Al Daniels from Houston Stonewall Young Democrats.

Envelope addressed to Al Daniels at Dallas, Texas from SDD.

A photograph of Fred Hartman, for the Fred Hartman Award for Excellence in Sports Writing to Barry Horn of The Dallas Morning News that will be presented at the annual Texas Daily Newspaper Associations meeting in Austin, Texas, March 23, 2009.

A document listing all the former and current winners of the Fred Hartman Excellence in Sportswriting Award. The record goes back to 1991 and is current to 2008.

Overview of Research Goals and Accomplishments for the Period 07/01/06 – 06/30/07: Our overall research goal is to transform the rapidly emerging synthetic chemistry involving alkyl-alkyl cross-couplings into more of a mechanism-based field so that that new, rationally-designed catalysts can be performed under energy efficient conditions. Our specific objectives for the previous year were 1) to obtain a proper electronic description of an active catalyst for alkyl-alkyl cross-coupling reactions and 2) to determine the effect of ligand structure on the rate, scope, selectivity, and functional group compatibility of C(sp3)-C(sp3) cross-coupling catalysis. We have completed both of these initial objectives and established a firm base for further studies. The specific significant achievements of the current grant period include: 1) we have performed magnetic and computational studies on (terpyridine)NiMe, an active catalyst for alkyl-alkyl cross couplings, and have discovered that the unpaired electron resides heavily on the terpyridine ligand and that the proper electronic description of this nickel complex is a Ni(II)-methyl cation bound to a reduced terpyridine ligand; 2) we have for the first time shown that alkyl halide reduction by terpyridyl nickel catalysts is substantially ligand based; 3) we have shown by isotopic labeling studies that the active catalyst (terpyridine)NiMe …

A press release from Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehitnen for a reception for Helen Snapp. It details a reception at Snapp's house that is not open to the public, but press is invited. All of the WASPs are going to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Rail transit generally has been one of the safest forms of public transportation. However, several recent notable accidents are cause for concern. For example, a July 2009 crash on the Washington Metro Red Line resulted in nine deaths. The federal government does not directly regulate the safety of rail transit. Through its State Safety Oversight program, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) requires states to designate an oversight agency to directly oversee the safety of rail transit systems. In 2006, GAO issued a report that made recommendations to improve the program. The Department of Transportation (DOT) is planning to propose legislation that, if passed, would result in a greater role for FTA in regulating and overseeing the safety of these systems. This statement (1) summarizes the findings of GAO's 2006 report and (2) provides GAO's preliminary observations on key elements DOT has told us it will include in its legislative proposal for revamping rail transit safety oversight. It is based primarily on GAO's 2006 report, an analysis of key elements of DOT's planned proposal through review of documents and interviews with DOT officials, and GAO's previous work on regulatory …