Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States has a vital national interest in maritime security. The safety and economic security of the United States depend in substantial part upon the secure use of the world's waterways and ports. In an effort to further the progress made through the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act (SAFE Port Act) was passed and became effective in October 2006. This testimony, which is based on past GAO work, synthesizes the results of this work as it pertains to the following: (1) overall port security, (2) facility security at U.S. ports, (3) the international supply chain and cargo container security, and (4) customs revenue collection efforts."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 1992, Congress established the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC) to provide a unifying interagency framework to coordinate U.S. export promotion activities and to develop a governmentwide strategic plan. TPCC member agencies' activities include providing training, market information, advocacy, trade finance and other services to U.S. companies, especially small- and medium-sized businesses. These U.S. government agencies together have $1.5 billion in budget authority for export promotion programs and activities for fiscal year 2006. Each year, the TPCC submits to Congress a mandated national export strategy, reporting member agencies' activities and trade promotion budget authority and establishing broad priorities. The TPCC secretariat, which has no budget of its own, is housed in the Commerce Department, which chairs the committee. In this testimony, which updates findings from a 2002 report, GAO (1) reports on trends in TPCC member agencies' budget authority; (2) assesses TPCC's coordination of trade promotion and its national export strategies; and (3) discusses small- and medium-sized businesses' participation in trade promotion activities."

A chapter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1984, wildland fires have burned an average of more than 850 homes each year in the United States and, because more people are moving into fire-prone areas bordering wildlands, the number of homes at risk is likely to grow. The primary responsibility for ensuring that preventive steps are taken to protect homes lies with homeowners and state and local governments, not the federal government. Although losses from wildland fires made up only 2 percent of all insured catastrophic losses from 1983 through 2002, fires can result in billions of dollars in damages. Once a wildland fire starts, various parties can be mobilized to fight it, including federal, state, local, and tribal firefighting agencies and, in some cases, the military. The ability to communicate among all parties--known as interoperability--is essential but, as GAO has reported previously, is hampered because different public safety agencies operate on different radio frequencies or use incompatible communications equipment. GAO was asked to assess, among other issues, (1) measures that can help protect structures from wildland fires, (2) factors affecting use of protective measures, and (3) the role technology plays in improving …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the budgetary implications of selected program reforms discussed in GAO work but not yet implemented or enacted. To help congressional budget and appropriations committees identify ways to reduce federal spending or increase revenues, this year's report contains more than 100 examples of budget options organized by budget function. Where possible, budgetary savings estimates provided by the Congressional Budget Office or the Joint Committee on Taxation are presented."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed issues the Department of Defense (DOD) faces in its acquisition of weapon systems."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will provide $25 billion in compensation and pension benefits in fiscal year 2002 to more than three million veterans, dependents and survivors. For years, the compensation and pension claims process has been subject to long long waits for decision and large claims backlogs. VA's goal for fiscal year 2003 is to complete accurate decisions on rating-related claims in an average of 100 days. To achieve this, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is focusing on increasing production of rating decisions and reducing the inventory of claims to about 250,000. As of the end of March 2002, VBA was completing claims in an average of 224 days and had an inventory of about 412,000 claims. VBA is trying to significantly increase regional offices' rating decision production to reduce the inventory, and, in turn, reduce the time required to complete decisions. VBA expects to increase production by hiring more staff and increasing the proficiency of new staff. Although VBA has recently increased its production and reduced its inventory, meeting its production and inventory reduction and its timeliness goals will be challenging."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses states' plans for operating their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs in the event of an economic downturn. GAO found that the data available on the levels and adequacy of states' reserves is insufficient and misleading. Furthermore, most states have done little planning for economic contingencies. Many states cite obstacles to saving money for possible economic downturns. Although TANF funds can be set aside in a budgetary reserve, state officials said that they are concerned that the accumulation of unspent TANF funds might signal that the funds are not needed. Another option for states would be to save their own funds in a general purpose rainy day account, but state officials said that welfare would have to compete with other state priorities when these funds are released from state treasuries. There are now federal contingency mechanisms for states to access additional federal resources in the event of a recession or other emergency--the Contingency Fund for State Welfare Programs and the Federal Loan for State Welfare Programs. However, states generally found these programs too complex and restrictive, and would most likely find other ways to …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) proposed rule on the confidentiality of patient health care information, focusing on: (1) the authoritative basis in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) statute for some of the approaches taken by HHS in the proposed rule; (2) the overall pattern of public responses to the rule among a selected group of 40 organizations representing different constituencies affected by the rule; (3) the views expressed by those organizations with respect to sections of the rule that prompted an especially large volume of comments; and (4) concerns that would require legislative action to address."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Dioxins--chemical compounds that share structural and biological characteristics--have been linked to human illnesses, including cancer. Often the byproducts of combustion and industrial processes, complex mixtures of dioxins enter the food chain and human diet through emissions into the air. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) noted the potential human health risks of dioxins in the 1970s when animal studies showed them to be among the most potent cancer-causing chemicals. EPA derived its estimates of human dietary exposure to dioxins in the United States from (1) chemically analyzed samples of 10 food types, (2) toxicity estimates of levels of individual dioxins in these foods, and (3) estimates of the quantities of these foods consumed by Americans. To develop more reliable national estimates of dietary exposure, EPA incorporated into its analysis some food studies that were nationally representative. Although both EPA and the WHO have assessed the human health risks of dioxins during the last decade, some of their objectives and processes have differed. Nonetheless, the analytical methods used and the conclusions reached have much in common. A major difference in the assessments …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In November 2003, we issued our report on the results of our audit of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) financial statements as of and for the fiscal years ending September 30, 2003 and 2002, and on the effectiveness of its internal controls as of September 30, 2003. We also reported our conclusions on IRS's compliance with significant provisions of selected laws and regulations and on whether IRS's financial management systems substantially comply with requirements of the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996. A separate report on the implementation status of recommendations from our prior IRS financial audits and related financial management reports including this one will be issued shortly. The purpose of this report is to discuss issues identified during our fiscal year 2003 audit regarding internal controls and accounting procedures that could be improved for which we do not presently have any recommendations outstanding. Although not all of these issues were discussed in our fiscal year 2003 audit report, they all warrant management's consideration."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress and the Department of Defense (DOD) are concerned about the financial conditions of servicemembers and their families, particularly in light of recent deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Serious financial issues can negatively affect unit readiness. According to DOD, servicemembers with severe financial problems risk losing security clearances, incurring administrative or criminal penalties or, in some cases, face discharge. Despite increases in compensation and DOD programs on personal financial management (PFM), studies show that servicemembers, particularly junior enlisted personnel, continue to report financial difficulties. GAO assessed (1) the extent deployment impacts the financial condition of active duty servicemembers and their families, (2) whether DOD has an oversight framework for evaluating military programs designed to assist deployed and non-deployed servicemembers in managing their finances, and (3) the extent junior enlisted servicemembers receive required PFM training."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Government Performance and Results Act (GRPA) requires federal agencies to set goals for program performance and to report annually on their progress toward achieving those goals. Agencies need to produce credible performance data to provide transparency of government operations so that Congress, program managers, and others can make informed decisions. The Reports Consolidation Act of 2000 requires agencies to assess the completeness and reliability of their performance data. However, GAO found that only five of the 24 Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies' assessed the completeness and the reliability of their performance data in the transmittal letters accompanying their performance reports for fiscal year 2000. The other agencies somewhat discussed the quality of their performance data elsewhere in their performance reports. None of the agencies identified any material inadequacies with their performance data. However, concerns about the quality of performance data were identified by the inspector general as either a major management challenge or included in the discussion of other challenges for 11 of the 24 agencies. Although not required, discussing the performance reports in the standard or method used to assess the completeness and …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In January 2004, Congress established the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to administer the Millennium Challenge Account. MCC's mission is to promote economic growth and reduce extreme poverty in developing countries. The act requires MCC to rely to the maximum extent possible on quantitative criteria in determining countries' eligibility for assistance. MCC will provide assistance primarily through compacts--agreements with country governments. MCC aims to be one of the top donors in countries with which it signs compacts. For fiscal years 2004 and 2005, Congress appropriated nearly $2.5 billion for the Millennium Challenge Corporation; for fiscal year 2006, the President is requesting $3 billion. GAO was asked to monitor MCC's (1) process for determining country eligibility, (2) progress in developing compacts, (3) coordination with key stakeholders, and (4) establishment of management structures and accountability mechanisms."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress asked GAO to comment on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) 2005 report on the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), "CDBG Formula Targeting to Community Development Need." The CDBG program distributes funding to communities using two separate formulas that take into account poverty, older housing, community size, and other factors. That study evaluates the program's funding formula from two perspectives: (1) to what extent do communities with similar needs receive similar CDBG funding, and (2) to what extent are program funds directed to communities with greater community development needs. The HUD report is particularly salient in light of the administration's 2006 budget request which criticizes the program for not effectively targeting high-need communities. Congress asked us to provide our views on the HUD study based on our experience and past assistance to various congressional committees on a wide variety of federal formula funding issues."