Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony summarizes a December 2006 GAO report on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) efforts to implement the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program at land ports of entry (POE). US-VISIT is designed to collect, maintain, and share data on selected foreign nationals entering and exiting the United States at air, sea, and land POEs. These data, including biometric identifiers like digital fingerprints, are to be used to screen persons against watch lists, verify identities, and record arrival and departure. This testimony addresses DHS's efforts to (1) implement US-VISIT entry capability, (2) implement US-VISIT exit capability, and (3) define how US-VISIT fits with other emerging border security initiatives. GAO analyzed DHS and US-VISIT documents, interviewed program officials, and visited 21 land POEs with varied traffic levels on both borders."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Continuing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking a heavy toll on the condition and readiness of the Army's equipment. Harsh combat and environmental conditions in theater over sustain periods exacerbates the wear and tear on equipment. Since fiscal year 2002, Congress has appropriated about $38 billion to the Army for the reset (repair, replacement, and modernization) of equipment that has been damaged or lost as a result of combat operations. As operations continue in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Army's equipment reset requirements increase, the potential for reset costs to significantly increase in future Department of Defense annual budgets also increases. For example, the Army estimates that it will need about $12 billion to $13 billion per year for equipment reset until operations cease, and up to two years thereafter. Today's testimony addresses (1) the extent to which the Army can track and report equipment reset expenditures in a way that confirms that funds appropriated for reset are expended for that purpose, and (2) whether the Army can be assured that its equipment reset strategies will sustain future equipment readiness for deployed as well as non-deployed …

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. government is the largest, most diverse, most complex, and arguably the most important entity on earth today. The United States is also a great nation. It has much to be proud of and much to be thankful for. However, our nation is not well positioned to meet the challenges and capitalize on the opportunities of the 21st Century. We are also failing to properly discharge one of our biggest stewardship responsibilities to our children, grandchildren, and generations of unborn Americans: fiscal responsibility. The purpose of this publication is to assist both the Congress and American citizens in understanding and evaluating the federal government's current financial condition and long-term fiscal outlook."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Stamp Program is intended to help low-income individuals and families obtain a better diet by supplementing their income with benefits to purchase food. USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and the states jointly implement the Food Stamp Program, which is to be reauthorized when it expires in fiscal year 2007. This testimony discusses our past work on two issues related to ensuring integrity of the program: (1) improper payments to food stamp participants, and (2) trafficking in food stamp benefits. This testimony is based on a May 2005 report on payment errors (GAO-05-245) and an October 2006 report on trafficking (GAO-07-53). For the payment error report, GAO analyzed program quality control data and interviewed program stakeholders, including state and local officials. For the trafficking report, GAO interviewed agency officials, visited field offices, conducted case file reviews, and analyzed data from the FNS retailer database."

Guidance issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This publication has been superseded by GAO-07-731G, Government Auditing Standards: July 2007 Revision. This is the Government Auditing Standards 2007 version. This document outlines standards that contain requirements for auditor reporting on internal control. This revision supersedes the 2003 revision."

This final report summarizes the planning, preparation, facilitation and production, and summary of the conference entitled 'Air Quality V: Mercury, Trace Elements, SO{sub 3}, and Particulate Matter,' held September 18-21, 2005, in Arlington, Virginia. The goal of the conference was to build on the discussions of the first four Air Quality Conferences, providing further opportunity for leading representatives of industry, government, research institutions, academia, and environmental organizations to discuss the key interrelationships between policy and science shaping near-term regulations and controls and to assist in moving forward on emerging issues that will lead to acceptable programs and policies to protect human health, the environment, and economic growth. The conference was extremely timely, as it was the last large conference prior to publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's final regulations for mercury control from coal-fired utilities, and provided a forum to realistically assess the status of mercury controls in relation to the new regulations.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the nation's leader in conducting and sponsoring biomedical research. More than 80 percent of NIH's budget, which totaled over $28 billion in fiscal year 2006, is used to support extramural research, which is primarily conducted at over 500 universities nationwide. NIH reimburses universities for direct costs that can be specifically attributed to research sponsored by NIH grants, including costs for labor and materials used solely to carry out the research. It also reimburses universities for indirect costs, which include various facility and administrative expenses incurred by the universities for the shared support of such research. To be reimbursed for direct and indirect costs, universities must properly identify and claim them in accordance with federal guidance. Because indirect costs cannot be specifically attributed to a particular research grant, they are charged via an indirect cost rate that is applied to the direct costs for each grant agreement. The oversight responsibilities of NIH's institutes and centers (IC) include the financial management of grants as well as ensuring that grantees comply with the terms of the grants. …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During the late 1990s, the Department of Energy (DOE) experienced difficulties with a lack of clear management authority and responsibility that contributed to security problems at the nation's nuclear weapons laboratories and management problems with major projects. In response, Congress created the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) as a separately organized agency within DOE under Title 32 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000--the NNSA Act. Since its creation, NNSA has continued to experience security problems, such as unauthorized access to NNSA computer systems, and cost and schedule overruns on major projects, such as the National Ignition Facility. GAO was asked to review the extent to which NNSA has taken steps to (1) improve security at its laboratories and plants and (2) improve its management practices and revise its organizational structure. In January 2007, GAO issued a report--National Nuclear Security Administration: Additional Actions Needed to Improve Management of the Nation's Nuclear Programs, (GAO-07-36)--that addressed these matters. To carry out its work, GAO reviewed legislation; NNSA policies, plans and budgets; collected and analyzed security performance ratings and interviewed current and former DOE and NNSA officials."

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the conflict of interest provisions in Chapter 171 of the Local Government Code prohibit a county constable from owning and operating a wrecker service that is on the county sheriff’s wrecker rotation list (RQ-0487-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the Open Meetings Act, Government Code chapter 551, permits a governmental body to admit selected members of the public into a closed meeting (RQ-0496-GA)

Strategic Planning and Energy Options Analysis provides the Fort Peck Tribes with a tool to build analytical capabilities and local capacity to extract the natural and energy resource potential for the benefit of the tribal community. Each resource is identified irrespective of the development potential and is viewed as an absolute resulting in a comprehensive resource assessment for Tribal energy planning

Biogenic methane is a common constituent in deep subsurface environments such as coalbeds and oil shale beds. Coalbed methane (CBM) makes significant contributions to world natural gas industry and CBM production continues to increase. With increasing CBM production, the production of CBM co-produced water increases, which is an environmental concern. This study investigated the feasibility in re-using CBM co-produced water and other high sodic/saline water to enhance biogenic methane production from coal and other unconventional sources, such as oil shale. Microcosms were established with the selected carbon sources which included coal, oil shale, lignite, peat, and diesel-contaminated soil. Each microcosm contained either CBM coproduced water or groundwater with various enhancement and inhibitor combinations. Results indicated that the addition of nutrients and nutrients with additional carbon can enhance biogenic methane production from coal and oil shale. Methane production from oil shale was much greater than that from coal, which is possibly due to the greater amount of available Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) from oil shale. Inconclusive results were observed from the other sources since the incubation period was too low. WRI is continuing studies with biogenic methane production from oil shale.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In November 2002, the Congress passed the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA). The major objective of the legislation was to enhance the accuracy and integrity of federal payments. This legislation, in conjunction with implementing guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), requires executive branch agency heads to review their programs and activities annually, identify those that may be susceptible to significant improper payments, estimate amounts improperly paid, and report on the amounts of improper payments and actions to reduce them. Since passage of IPIA, the Department of Defense (DOD) has continued to expand its annual disclosures in its performance and accountability reports (PAR) and currently discloses some detail of improper payment estimates for six programs or activities, including civilian pay, commercial pay, travel pay, military retirement, military health benefits, and military pay. DOD has reported improper payment information since 2003. The Congress mandated that we consider one facet of this reporting related to DOD--travel pay. The DOD Office of the Inspector General (OIG) first reported on whether the department complied with IPIA in fiscal year 2006 and identified several significant flaws in DOD's efforts …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Frank Herzog. Herzog joined the Army in April of 1943. He trained in the Signal Corps to work as a lineman. In October of 1943 he traveled to England. He provides details of his travels and accommodations overseas, aboard the troop ship Alexandria. In October Herzog was assigned to an Army Air Forces B-26 unit and prepared for the Normandy landings scheduled for June of 1944. They traveled to a chateau in Northern France, where he worked with the Red Cross as a baker. He shares his experiences at the base in France, watching the B-26s, hearing the machine guns and witnessing bombings by the Germans. He completed infantry training in England, though Germany surrendered before he went to the front lines. Herzog served as a POW guard after the war ended. He remained a Private throughout his service and was discharged 1 January 1946.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Five years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, concerns continue to be raised about the nation's system for protecting commercial aviation. Past disclosures of terrorists' plans for smuggling liquids onboard aircraft to construct a bomb in flight highlighted the continued need to examine this key aspect of homeland security. One layer of the aviation security system involves the ability of the federal government to respond to actual or potential security threats while a commercial aircraft is in flight. These security threats can include the following: (1) Passengers considered to be security risks to aviation are found to be onboard flights bound for or leaving the United States. (2) Situations develop while the aircraft is in flight--for example, a passenger becomes disruptive or acts suspiciously, a bomb threat is received, or an unidentified package is found onboard the aircraft. (3) A commercial aircraft transmits a signal designed to alert authorities that a hijacking is in process. Procedures for addressing these in-flight security threats involve a wide range of federal agencies and entities. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is responsible for taking much of the lead in …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the June 27, 2007, Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) hearing, the project's construction has progressed, and according to the latest schedule, Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is still projecting a June 27, 2008, completion date and a September 22, 2008 opening date. Work has advanced on the project's heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system, interior wall stone and ceiling installation, and other interior and exterior construction work. However, some delays have occurred in activities on the project's critical path (i.e., the work on the fire alarm system) and on most of its near-critical paths, and further delays are possible. AOC was able to mitigate the delay in the project's critical path by reducing the time available for future fire alarm testing. This action may not produce the desired results, though, given the complexity of the requirements for fire alarm testing. Delays in near-critical activities such as the ceiling close-ins and the House and Senate expansion spaces have reduced the time reserved for contingencies along those near-critical paths, but have not yet affected the critical path. Furthermore, a number of risks to the project's schedule remain. These include potential …

Bank statement for the Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus from the Dallas National Bank.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) faces the simultaneous challenges of preparing for the season and implementing the reorganization and other provisions of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006. The Act stipulated major changes to FEMA that were intended to enhance its preparedness for and response to catastrophic and major disasters. As GAO has reported, FEMA and DHS face continued challenges, including clearly defining leadership roles and responsibilities, developing necessary disaster response capabilities, and establishing accountability systems to provide effective services while protecting against waste, fraud, and abuse. This testimony (1) summarizes GAO's findings on these challenges and FEMA's and DHS's efforts to address them; and (2) discusses several disaster management issues for continued congressional attention."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In September 2004, the Air National Guard (ANG) discovered inaccuracies in its personnel strength data for recruits with no prior service assigned to pay groups F (attending Initial Active Duty Training, or IADT) and P (awaiting IADT). Specifically, these data did not reflect an accurate accounting of the number of recruits in pay groups F and P. Those recruits attending IADT work full-time and are paid accordingly (pay group F), while recruits waiting to attend IADT receive pay on a part-time basis at the rate of four drills per month (pay group P). The pay for those attending IADT is much higher than for those waiting to attend IADT, so the effect of miscoding the pay groups on ANG's budget estimates can be considerable. In May 2007, we reported to Congress that although ANG has taken reasonable steps to correct the errors in its personnel strength data, some problems still exist with a key quality assurance tool (the Status Report Card process) and with the reliability of the alternate data being reported while the inaccuracies are addressed. The purpose of this correspondence is to inform Congress of the …

Statement providing a correction to the minutes from a July 2007 meeting of the Texas Daily Newspaper Association.

Testimony of Steve Simmons of the TxDOT before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, dealing with the congestion of I-35 and the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor 35 and I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor.

Reconciliation summary with an ending balance of $5,009.22 for the ending period on July 31, 2007.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "About 111,000 women covered by the Department of Defense's (DOD) TRICARE program gave birth during 2006. During their pregnancies, about half of these women received obstetric care from physicians and other providers practicing at military hospitals and clinics called military treatment facilities (MTF), while half received their care from civilian physicians and other civilian providers. In recent years, the use of civilian obstetric care has increased among TRICARE beneficiaries. In 2004, 51 percent of TRICARE beneficiaries delivered their babies at civilian hospitals; by 2006, 54 percent delivered at civilian hospitals. However, through 2005, some TRICARE beneficiaries reported difficulties obtaining obstetric care from civilian physicians. At the same time, some civilian physicians contended that TRICARE payment rates for obstetric care were too low. TRICARE reimburses physicians for most obstetric care using two global payments, one for uncomplicated vaginal delivery and the other for uncomplicated cesarean delivery, each of which is a single amount that covers a defined set of related services. In the case of obstetrics, these global payments cover a woman's prenatal visits, the physician's assistance at delivery of the baby, and postnatal care after the delivery of …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides direct temporary housing assistance in response to disasters primarily through a combination of travel trailers and manufactured homes and for a period of up to 18 months. In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated much of the housing stock across the Gulf Coast region, leaving thousands of persons in need of temporary housing for lengthy periods. Uncertainty with respect to neighborhood and community recovery and individual and community resistance to the use of travel trailers for extended temporary housing challenged the effectiveness of FEMA's traditional temporary housing options. Recognizing these challenges, Congress, in the Fiscal Year 2006 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, provided for alternative housing pilot programs in the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina and the other hurricanes of the 2005 season, and appropriated $400 million to DHS for this purpose. To implement this provision of law, FEMA announced a competitive grant program--the Alternative Housing Pilot Program (AHPP)--inviting the five Gulf Coast states (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) to submit proposals for projects that …