A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Recent legislative and regulatory changes have blurred some distinctions between credit unions and other depository institutions such as banks. The 1998 Credit Union Membership Access Act (CUMAA) allowed for an expansion of membership and mandated safety and soundness controls similar to those of other depository institutions. In light of these changes and the evolution of the credit union industry, GAO evaluated (1) the financial condition of the industry and the deposit (share) insurance fund, (2) the impact of CUMAA on the industry, and (3) how the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) had changed its safety and soundness processes."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The LOCAL TV Act required that GAO perform an annual audit of the (1) administration of the provisions of the Act, and (2) financial position of each applicant who receives a loan guarantee under the Act, including the nature, amount, and purpose of investments made by the applicant. In fiscal year 2002, the LOCAL TV Program was funded; however, because it was not fully implemented in that year, there were no loan guarantee applicants for GAO to audit. Therefore, this report primarily addresses whether program administration during fiscal year 2002 satisfied the provisions of the Act."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government has been a key participant in the efforts to provide aid to the New York City area to help it respond to and recover from the September 11 terrorist attacks. The President pledged, and the Congress subsequently authorized, about $20 billion in federal aid. This federal aid was provided primarily through four sources: the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Liberty Zone tax benefits--a set of tax benefits targeted to lower Manhattan. These sources provided 96 percent, or $19.63 billion, of the committed federal aid to the New York City area. It has been over 2 years since the attacks occurred, and many efforts have been undertaken to aid the New York City area to cope with the disaster and its many impacts. GAO was asked to describe how much and what type of federal assistance was provided to the New York City area through these four sources and how the federal government's response to this disaster differed from previous disasters. We provided a draft of this report to …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the late 1990s, GAO found that the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac), a federal government-sponsored enterprise, had significant assets in nonmission investments and analyzed its long-term viability. Recently, Congress asked GAO to report on Farmer Mac's (1) financial condition, (2) mission, (3) corporate governance, and (4) oversight provided by the Farm Credit Administration (FCA)."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Over 70 million American households receive television service from a cable television operator. In recent years, rates for cable service have increased at a faster pace than the general rate of inflation. GAO agreed to (1) examine the impact of competition on cable rates and service, (2) assess the reliability of information contained in the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) annual cable rate report, (3) examine the causes of recent cable rate increases, (4) assess the impact of ownership affiliations in the cable industry, (5) discuss why cable operators group networks into tiers, and (6) discuss options to address factors that could be contributing to cable rate increases."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Following the shutdown of a nuclear power plant a significant radioactive waste hazard remains until the waste is removed and the plant site decommissioned. In 1999, GAO reported that the combined value of the owners' decommissioning funds was insufficient to ensure enough funds would be available for decommissioning. GAO was asked to update its 1999 report and to evaluate the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) analysis of the owners' funds and its process for acting on reports that show insufficient funds."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government makes consolidation loans available to help borrowers manage their student loan debt. By combining loans into one and extending the repayment period, a consolidation loan reduces monthly repayments, which may lower default risk and, thereby, reduce federal costs of loan defaults. Consolidation loans also allow borrowers to lock in a fixed interest rate--an option not available for other student loans--and are available to borrowers regardless of financial need. GAO was asked to examine (1) how consolidation borrowers differ from nonconsolidation borrowers; (2) how federal costs have been affected by recent interest rate and loan volume changes; and (3) the extent to which repayment options--other than consolidation--are available to help simplify and reduce loan repayments."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Most patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) must rely on dialysis treatments to compensate for kidney failure. Currently, over 222,000 ESRD patients visit dialysis centers several times a week to have toxins removed from their bloodstreams. While dialysis care has improved overall, questions remain regarding the quality of care provided by some of the nation's roughly 4,000 ESRD facilities. We examined (1) the extent and nature of quality of care problems identified at dialysis facilities, (2) the effectiveness of state survey agencies in ensuring that quality issues are uncovered, corrected, and stay corrected, and (3) the extent to which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) funds, monitors, and assists state survey activities related to dialysis care."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Community economic development (CED) lenders serve the credit needs of nonconventional borrowers and economically distressed areas across the nation. However, little is known about this industry, its ability to tap private sources of capital, and loan performance and volume in the industry. To provide information that would be helpful in considering the role that the federal government might play in facilitating the creation of a secondary market for CED loans, GAO was asked among other items to (1) determine the barriers to more widely securitizing CED loans and (2) identify options for overcoming these barriers and the likely implications of these options."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The rapidly rising costs of health care, along with an increasing concern for the quality of care and the safety of patients, are driving health care organizations to use information technology (IT) to automate clinical care operations and their associated administrative functions. Among its other functions, IT is now being used for electronic medical records, order management and results reporting, patient care management, and Internet access for patient and provider communications. It also provides automated billing and financial management. The Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions asked GAO to identify cost savings and other benefits realized by health care organizations that have implemented IT both in providing clinical health care and in the administrative functions associated with health care delivery. GAO analyzed information from 10 private and public health care delivery organizations, 3 health care insurers, and 1 community data network."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has previously reviewed facets of Treasury's Financial Management Service's (FMS) cross-servicing efforts. These reviews did not include FMS's handling of nontax debts that were returned to FMS uncollected by its private collection agency (PCA) contractors because FMS officials did not consider the cross-servicing program to be fully mature. During fiscal years 2000, 2001, and 2002, FMS's PCA contractors returned about $3.9 billion of uncollected debts to FMS. This report focuses primarily on (1) actions taken by FMS on uncollected nontax debts returned from its PCA contractors and (2) actions taken, if any, by FMS and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to ensure that federal agencies are reporting their eligible uncollectible nontax debts to IRS as income to debtors."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal fire community's decades old policy of suppressing wildland fires as soon as possible has caused a dangerous increase in vegetation density in our nation's forests. This density increase combined with severe drought over much of the United States has created a significant threat of catastrophic wildfires. In response to this threat, the Forest Service performs activities to reduce the buildup of brush, small trees, and other vegetation on national forest land. With the increased threat of catastrophic wildland fires, there have been concerns about delays in implementing activities to reduce these "forest fuels." Essentially, these concerns focus on the extent to which public appeals and litigation of Forest Service decisions to implement forest fuels reduction activities unnecessarily delay efforts to reduce fuels. The Forest Service does not keep a national database on the number of forest fuels reduction activities that are appealed or litigated. Accordingly, GAO was asked to develop this information for fiscal years 2001 and 2002. Among other things, GAO was asked to determine (1) the number of decisions involving fuels reduction activities and the number of acres affected, (2) the number …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Small Business Administration (SBA) has recognized that it needs to realign its current organizational structure and processes to improve its ability to fulfill its primary mission--supporting the nation's small businesses. In July 2002, SBA announced that it was initiating a transformation effort to increase the public's awareness of SBA's services and products and make its processes more efficient. GAO evaluated SBA's progress in implementing its transformation initiatives and challenges that have impeded or could impede implementation and whether SBA's transformation incorporates practices GAO has identified in previous work that are important to successful organizational change."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 2000, Congress required the Department of Defense (DOD) to report quarterly on the services' expenditures for consultants in support of the military family housing privatization programs. GAO was asked to review the costs of the consultants DOD used to support privatizing housing for servicemembers and their families. This report discusses (1) the number of family housing units the services have privatized, particularly newly constructed or renovated units, and project to be privatized by fiscal year 2005; (2) the portion of privatization support costs used for consultants; (3) the services' consistency in the definition for privatization support and consultant costs; and (4) factors that limit an evaluation of how consultant fees for the military housing initiative compare among the services."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Despite extensive research on the progress that women have made toward equal pay and career advancement opportunities over the past several decades, there is no consensus about the magnitude of earnings differences between men and women and why differences may exist. According to data from the Department of Labor's Current Population Survey (CPS), women have typically earned less than men. Specifically, in 2001, the published CPS data showed that for full-time wage and salary workers, women's weekly earnings were about three-fourths of men's. However, this difference does not reflect key factors, such as work experience and education, that may affect the level of earnings individuals receive. Studies that attempt to account for key factors have provided a more comprehensive estimate of the earnings difference. However, recent information is lacking because many studies on earnings differences relied on data that predated the mid-1990s. But, even when accounting for these factors, questions remain about the size of and reasons for any earnings difference. To provide insight into these issues, Congress asked that we examine the factors that contribute to differences in men's and women's earnings."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Over the past 10 years, GAO, the Congress, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and others have raised numerous concerns about the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. GAO was asked to assess (1) the adequacy of the Commission's project management procedures, (2) whether the Commission's controls over contracting services and managing contracts are sufficient, and (3) the extent of recent oversight of the Commission's financial activities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "More than 34 million participants in 30,000 single-employer defined benefit pension plans rely on a federal insurance program managed by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to protect their pension benefits, and the program's long-term financial viability is in doubt. Over the last decade, the program swung from a $3.6 billion accumulated deficit (liabilities exceeded assets), to a $10.1 billion accumulated surplus, and back to a $3.6 billion accumulated deficit, in 2002 dollars. Furthermore, despite a record $9 billion in estimated losses to the program in 2002, additional severe losses may be on the horizon. PBGC estimates that financially weak companies sponsor plans with $35 billion in unfunded benefits, which ultimately might become losses to the program."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revisions to the New Source Review (NSR) program--a key component of the federal government's plan to limit harmful industrial emissions--have been under scrutiny by the Congress, environmental groups, state and local air quality agencies, the courts, and several industry groups. The revisions more explicitly define when companies can modify their facilities without needing to obtain an NSR permit or install costly pollution controls, as NSR requires. GAO was asked to determine (1) whether EPA and the Department of Justice (DOJ) assessed the potential impact of the revisions on the ongoing enforcement cases against coal-fired utilities and, if so, what the assessments indicated; and (2) what effect, if any, the revisions might have on public access to information about facility changes and their resulting emissions."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Ineffective oversight and management of the Department of Defense's (DOD) travel card program, which GAO has previously reported on, have led to concerns about DOD's use of first and business class airfares. GAO was asked to (1) identify the magnitude of premium class travel, (2) determine if DOD's key internal control activities operated effectively and provide examples of control breakdowns, and (3) assess DOD's monitoring and key elements of the control environment."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The 1998 Head Start Act mandated that 50 percent of all Head Start teachers nationwide have a minimum of an associate degree in early childhood education, or, in a related field with preschool teaching experience, by September 30, 2003. This law also required that each classroom in center-based programs (those that primarily provide services in classroom settings) without such a degreed teacher have a teacher with a Child Development Associate credential or an equivalent state certificate. In preparation for the reauthorization of Head Start in fiscal year 2003, GAO was asked to examine: (1) the extent to which Head Start has met legislative mandates concerning teacher qualifications; (2) whether Head Start teachers' salaries have increased and enabled grantees to attract and retain teachers with degrees; and (3) the extent to which degree and other programs in early childhood education are available for Head Start teachers and if grantees have taken steps to enhance access to them."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1986, the United States entered into a Compact of Free Association (Compact) that provided about $2.1 billion in U.S. assistance from 1987 through 2003 to the Pacific Island nations of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). GAO has issued a number of reports raising concerns about the effectiveness of this assistance. GAO was asked to review possible FSM and RMI misuse of Compact funds. We reviewed single audits for 1996 through 2000 and this report summarizes the audit results."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Testifying before Congress in 2002, military beneficiary groups and civilian managed care support contractors described problems with the processing of TRICARE claims for civilian-provided care. These problems included slow payments and procedures that made claims processing inefficient. The Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act of 2003 required GAO to review improvements to TRICARE claims processing and continuing impediments to claims processing efficiency. Specifically, GAO describes (1) efforts to improve claims processing and changes in processing timeliness and (2) Department of Defense (DOD) procedures and data that continue to affect claims processing efficiency. To identify improvements to claims processing and impediments to processing efficiency, GAO analyzed 1999 and 2002 claims data for changes in processing timeliness. GAO also interviewed and analyzed claims processing documentation from DOD officials, managed care support contractors, and claims processors."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Over the last decade, a series of educational reforms have increased opportunities for private companies to play a role in public education. For instance, school districts have sometimes looked to private companies to manage poorly performing schools. The accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 may further increase such arrangements because schools that continuously fail to make adequate progress toward meeting state goals are eventually subject to fundamental restructuring by the state, which may include turning the operation of the school over to a private company. GAO determined the prevalence of privately managed public schools and what could be learned about student achievement in these schools from publicly available sources. To do so, GAO examined existing data on the number and location of privately managed schools and reviewed a variety of reports on student achievement. In addition, GAO compared standardized test scores of students attending privately managed public schools with scores of students attending similar traditional public schools. GAO identified privately managed schools that had been in operation for four years or more in 6 large cities and matched these schools with …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 2002, the Social Security Administration (SSA) issued nearly 6 million new Social Security numbers (SSNs), of which 1.3 million were issued to noncitizens. Despite its narrowly intended purpose, the SSN has in practice become the national identifier. SSNs are key pieces of information in creating false identities, underscoring the importance of issuing SSNs only to those eligible for them and of protecting those already assigned to individuals. The flow of noncitizens into the United States and the accompanying number of SSNs issued to them over the last several years add to the importance of having sound practices to avoid issuing SSNs to those who do not qualify for them. Congress asked GAO to describe and assess SSA's key initiatives to ensure the appropriate issuance of SSNs to noncitizens and identify vulnerabilities to error or fraud SSA has not yet addressed."