Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The General Mining Act of 1872 helped foster the development of the West by giving individuals exclusive rights to mine gold, silver, copper, and other hardrock minerals on federal land. However, miners often abandoned mines, leaving behind structures, safety hazards, and contaminated land and water. Four federal agencies--the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)--fund the cleanup of some of these hardrock mine sites. From 2005 through 2009, GAO issued a number of reports and testimonies on various issues related to abandoned and current hardrock mining operations. This testimony summarizes some of the key findings of these reports and testimonies focusing on the (1) number of abandoned hardrock mines, (2) availability of information collected by federal agencies on general mining activities, (3) amount of funding spent by federal agencies on cleanup of abandoned mines, and (4) value of financial assurances for mining operations on federal land managed by BLM. In 2005, GAO recommended that BLM strengthen the management of its financial assurances, which BLM generally …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In November 1988, the Capitol Preservation Commission (Commission) was established for the purpose of providing for improvements in, preservation of, and acquisitions for the United States Capitol. At the same time, the Capitol Preservation Fund (Fund) was established within the U.S. Treasury (Treasury) and was made available to the Commission to provide financing for the Commission to carry out its purpose. The Library of Congress (Library) provides financial management services and support to the Commission. GAO is required to audit the transactions of the Commission and report the results to the Congress. This report presents the results of our audit of the Commission's transactions as recorded in the Fund during fiscal years 2008 through 2010. Our audit objectives were to determine whether (1) the Fund's recorded transactions for fiscal years 2008 through 2010 were authorized in advance, supported by documentation, accurately accounted for, and in compliance with applicable laws: and (2) operating, reporting, and oversight practices were documented and in place at the Commission and the Library to help ensure that Fund transactions were properly executed and Fund assets were adequately safeguarded."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In May 2008, the United States enacted the Consolidated Natural Resources Act (CNRA), amending the United States' covenant with the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) to establish federal control of CNMI immigration in 2009, with several CNMI-specific provisions affecting foreign workers and investors during a 5-year transition period that began on November 28, 2009, and ends in 2014. One of these provisions authorizes a transitional CNMI-only work permit program that may be extended for up to 5 years at a time past 2014. In addition, CNRA amends existing U.S. immigration law to establish a joint visa waiver program for the CNMI and Guam. CNRA requires that GAO report on implementation of federal immigration law in the CNMI 2 years after enactment. In May 2010, GAO reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had established border control operations in the CNMI in 2009 but had not concluded negotiations with the CNMI government to resolve certain challenges involving access to CNMI airport space, detention facilities, and databases. GAO also noted that DHS had not yet finalized regulations needed to fully implement CNRA provisions affecting foreign workers, visitors, …

The Community Assessment Tool (CAT) for Public Health Emergencies Including Pandemic Influenza (hereafter referred to as the CAT) was developed as a result of feedback received from several communities. These communities participated in workshops focused on influenza pandemic planning and response. The 2008 through 2011 workshops were sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Feedback during those workshops indicated the need for a tool that a community can use to assess its readiness for a disaster - readiness from a total healthcare perspective, not just hospitals, but the whole healthcare system. The CAT intends to do just that - help strengthen existing preparedness plans by allowing the healthcare system and other agencies to work together during an influenza pandemic. It helps reveal each core agency partners (sectors) capabilities and resources, and highlights cases of the same vendors being used for resource supplies (e.g., personal protective equipment [PPE] and oxygen) by the partners (e.g., public health departments, clinics, or hospitals). The CAT also addresses gaps in the community's capabilities or potential shortages in resources. This tool has been reviewed by a variety of key subject matter experts from federal, state, and local agencies and organizations. It also has …

The Community Assessment Tool (CAT) for Public Health Emergencies Including Pandemic Influenza (hereafter referred to as the CAT) was developed as a result of feedback received from several communities. These communities participated in workshops focused on influenza pandemic planning and response. The 2008 through 2011 workshops were sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Feedback during those workshops indicated the need for a tool that a community can use to assess its readiness for a disaster—readiness from a total healthcare perspective, not just hospitals, but the whole healthcare system. The CAT intends to do just that—help strengthen existing preparedness plans by allowing the healthcare system and other agencies to work together during an influenza pandemic. It helps reveal each core agency partners' (sectors) capabilities and resources, and highlights cases of the same vendors being used for resource supplies (e.g., personal protective equipment [PPE] and oxygen) by the partners (e.g., public health departments, clinics, or hospitals). The CAT also addresses gaps in the community's capabilities or potential shortages in resources. While the purpose of the CAT is to further prepare the community for an influenza pandemic, its framework is an extension of the traditional all-hazards approach to planning …

News release about DART's annual "Stuff a Bus" charity drives.

News release about a customer satisfaction survey conducted by DART. It highlights high satisfaction with the new Green Line and much lower satisfaction with bus timeliness and bus-train schedule coordination.

News release about extended service for DART and TRE to accommodate traffic to a Dallas Mavericks' parade and celebration at the American Airlines Center.

News release about DART's adjusted service schedules in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Department of Labor's (Labor) procedures for determining prevailing wage rates under the Davis-Bacon Act. Davis-Bacon wages must be paid to workers on certain federally funded construction projects, and their vulnerability to the use of inaccurate data has long been an issue for Congress, employers, and workers. More recently, the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, focused attention on the need for accurate and timely wage determinations, with more than $300 billion estimated to provide substantial funding for, among other things, federally funded building and infrastructure work potentially subject to Davis-Bacon wage rates. In the 1990s, we issued two reports that found process changes were needed to increase confidence that wage rates were based on accurate data. A third report found that changes then planned by Labor, if successfully implemented, had the potential to improve the wage determination process. However, in 2004, Labor's Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that wage data errors and the timeliness of surveys used to gather wage information from contractors and others, continued to be issues. The testimony will discuss (1) the extent to which Labor …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 1996, the Army began development of the Army Workload and Performance System (AWPS) at the direction of the House National Security Committee. AWPS is a capstone information system that receives data from other systems, primarily the Logistics Modernization Program (LMP), and produces management reports and decision support tools intended to assist the Army in linking its industrial facility workload demands to its workforce requirements. AWPS defines workload demands in terms of the amount of work projected to be completed in an 8-hour period and labels each such period as one "resource." Based on the calculation of these resources, reports from AWPS are designed to aid decision makers in determining workforce needs. In 1998, the House National Security Committee directed that the Army provide the committee with a long-range master plan to implement AWPS. The committee also directed that we provide a report on the Army's plan to implement AWPS, and in 1999 we recommended that the Army strengthen its oversight of AWPS development efforts. In 2001, Congress enacted statutory requirements related to the use and implementation of AWPS. Specifically, Section 346 of the National Defense Authorization Act …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Delphi Corporation (Delphi) was a global supplier of mobile electronics and transportation systems that began as part of the General Motors Corporation (GM) and was spun off as an independent company in 1999. Delphi filed for bankruptcy in 2005, and in July 2009, Delphi's six defined benefit pension plans were terminated and trusteed by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). In March 2011, GAO issued a report providing a timeline of key events leading to the plans' termination (GAO-11-373R). This report focused, in particular, on events related to the reasons for GM providing retirement benefit supplements to certain Delphi employees, but not to others, and the role of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) in those events. GAO was asked to testify on the information gathered on the termination of Delphi's pension plans for this previous report. In preparing that report, GAO relied on publicly available documents--such as bankruptcy filings by GM and Delphi, company reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and press releases--and on documents received from groups with whom we have talked, including Delphi, GM, the Delphi Salaried Retiree Association, PBGC, and Treasury."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security Administration's (SSA) Disability Insurance (DI) program paid almost $123 billion in benefits in fiscal year 2010 to more than 10 million workers and dependents. The program has grown rapidly in recent years and is poised to grow further as the baby boom generation ages. GAO examined (1) what is known about the extent SSA makes work-related overpayments to, and recovers overpayments from, DI beneficiaries, and (2) SSA's policies and procedures for work continuing disability reviews (work CDRs) and potential DI program vulnerabilities that may contribute to overpayments to beneficiaries who have returned to work. To answer these questions, GAO reviewed work CDR policies and procedures, interviewed SSA headquarters and processing center officials, and visited 4 of 8 processing centers. We reviewed a random nongeneralizable sample of 60 CDR case files across those 4 centers to ensure we had a wide range of cases for our review (15 cases from each). These 4 centers received almost 80 percent of all work CDRs from SSA's Internal Revenue Service enforcement data match in fiscal year 2009."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2001, strategic human capital management for federal agencies has been on GAO's high-risk list. Although some progress has been made, GAO reported in February 2011 that the area remains on the high-risk list because of the need for agencies, including DOD, to address current and emerging skill gaps that are undermining their ability to fulfill their missions. The Department of Defense (DOD) had about 718,000 civilians as of March 2010, which includes its senior leader and acquisition workforces. DOD has noted that approximately 30 percent of its civilian workforce--and 90 percent of its senior leader workforce--will be eligible to retire by March 31, 2015. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 required (1) DOD to report on plans for its overall civilian, senior leader, and acquisition workforces for 2009 through 2012; (2) DOD to address a series of legislative requirements for each workforce; and (3) GAO to review and report on these plans. DOD has informed GAO that it expects to issue its next set of plans in September 2011. In anticipation of these plans, it is helpful to understand key issues identified during GAO's …

A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony provides information on selected federal agencies' reported funding and staff resources associated with implementing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) in 2010, 2011, and 2012. The recent financial crisis is considered to be the worst since the Great Depression, and data from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) show that it resulted in the loss of trillions of dollars in household wealth. Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010 in response to the ongoing crisis, including in the legislation numerous provisions intended to strengthen oversight of insured depository institutions and nonbank financial companies and to consolidate consumer protection responsibilities that had been fragmented across multiple agencies. The Dodd-Frank Act also authorized the creation of new offices and agencies to implement the reforms. The extensive reforms and the need for new offices to implement them have raised questions about the potential costs to agencies of complying with the provisions. The testimony today focuses on (1) the agencies' funding estimates and the sources of funds associated with implementing the Dodd-Frank Act, (2) agencies' estimates of …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Globalization has placed increasing demands on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in ensuring the safety and effectiveness of drugs marketed in the United States. The pharmaceutical industry has increasingly relied on global supply chains in which each manufacturing step may be outsourced to foreign establishments. As part of its efforts, FDA may conduct inspections of foreign drug manufacturing establishments, but there are concerns that the complexity of the drug manufacturing supply chain and the volume of imported drugs has created regulatory challenges for FDA. FDA has begun taking steps to address some of these concerns, such as the establishment of overseas offices. This statement discusses (1) FDA's inspection of foreign drug manufacturing establishments, (2) the information FDA has on these establishments, and (3) recent FDA initiatives to improve its oversight of the supply chain. The statement presents findings based primarily on GAO reports since 2008 related to FDA's oversight of the supply chain. These reports include Food and Drug Administration: Overseas Offices Have Taken Steps to Help Ensure Import Safety, but More Long-Term Planning Is Needed (GAO-10-960, Sept. 30, 2010) and Drug Safety: FDA Has Conducted More …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the E-Verify program, which provides employers a tool for verifying an employee's authorization to work in the United States. The opportunity for employment is one of the most powerful magnets attracting immigrants to the United States. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, as of March 2010, approximately 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the country, and an estimated 8 million of them, or about 70 percent, were in the labor force. Congress, the administration, and some states have taken various actions to better ensure that those who work here have appropriate work authorization and to safeguard jobs for authorized employees. Nonetheless, opportunities remain for unauthorized workers to fraudulently obtain employment by using borrowed or stolen documents and for unscrupulous employers to hire unauthorized workers. Immigration experts have noted that deterring illegal immigration requires, among other things, a more reliable employment eligibility verification process and a more robust worksite enforcement capacity. E-Verify is a free, largely voluntary, Internet-based system operated by the Verification Division of the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA). The goals of …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses our prior work on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program and database. IRIS is one of the most significant tools that EPA has developed to support its mission to protect people and the environment from harmful chemical exposures. The IRIS database contains EPA's scientific position on the potential human health effects that may result from exposure to more than 540 chemicals in the environment and is a critical component of EPA's capacity to support its mission. EPA created IRIS in 1985 to help the agency develop consensus opinions within the agency about the health effects from chronic exposure to chemicals. Over time, the importance of the program has increased as EPA program offices, state and local environmental programs, and some international regulatory bodies have increasingly relied on IRIS health risk assessment information to support risk-based decision making to protect public health and the environment. As the IRIS database became more widely used and accepted, EPA took steps, beginning in the early 1990s, to improve and maintain the IRIS program and database. Over the years, the agency has implemented a variety …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is research comparing different interventions and strategies to prevent, diagnose, treat, and monitor health conditions. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) appropriated $1.1 billion to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) specifically for CER, including $400 million to the Secretary of HHS, $300 million to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and $400 million to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Recovery Act required that these funds be obligated by September 30, 2010. For grants and cooperative agreements, funds are drawn down by recipients on an as-needed basis in accordance with the objectives of the project. For contracts, as milestones are met, invoices are submitted to HHS for payments for goods and services provided under the contract. Additionally, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) directed AHRQ to disseminate the findings of CER published by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and other related government-funded research in consultation with NIH. PPACA established a trust fund to support PCORI's mission and specified that percentages of this trust fund be provided to the Secretary of HHS …

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

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Homeownership counseling can help consumers learn about buying a home and give them tools to deal with setbacks that could keep them from making timely mortgage payments. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approves and provides grants to housing counseling agencies and has also implemented a requirement that borrowers seeking federally insured reverse mortgages through the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program receive counseling before taking out a HECM. The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) has also implemented a counseling requirement as part of its mortgage modification efforts under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). This statement discusses (1) what research suggests about the effectiveness of homeownership counseling and the challenges of conducting such research, (2) shortcomings that prior GAO work found in federal agencies' implementation of homeownership counseling requirements, and (3) the status of efforts to establish an Office of Housing Counseling within HUD. In preparing this statement, GAO relied on its past work on homeownership counseling, including a review of research and interviews with federal agency staff on implementing and evaluating counseling programs."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A long-standing goal of Congress has been to improve the performance and transparency of the federal government through the use of information technology (IT). The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) plays a key role in improving the transparency and oversight of federal investments. Given the size of these investments and their importance to the health, economy, and security of the nation, it is critical for OMB and federal agencies to provide appropriate program oversight and ensure adequate transparency. GAO was asked to testify on IT systems used by federal agencies to report spending. To prepare this statement, GAO drew on previously published work on two government reporting mechanisms--an IT Dashboard and USAspending.gov. These public Web sites were deployed by OMB in June 2009 and December 2007, respectively. The Dashboard provides detailed information on approximately 800 major federal IT investments, including assessments of these investments' performance against cost and schedule targets (referred to as ratings). USAspending.gov contains data on federal awards (e.g., contracts, loans, and grants) across the federal government."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "After supporting a Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) acquisition strategy that called for a competitive engine development of the F135 and F136 engines, the Department of Defense (DOD) stopped requesting funding for the F136 alternate engine in its fiscal year 2007 budget request, but the Congress continued to fund it through the 2010 budget. In February 2010, DOD projected that it would cost an additional $2.9 billion through 2016 to support an alternate engine program. DOD decided that an engine competition would not likely generate enough long-term savings to justify this up-front investment and subsequently terminated the alternate engine program. In 2010, at congressional request, we reviewed the basis for DOD's $2.9 billion funding projection and reported that the projection did not include the same level of fidelity and precision normally associated with a detailed, comprehensive cost estimate and that the amount of up-front investment needed could be lower if two key assumptions in DOD's analysis were changed. Moreover, since DOD's projection and our last review, several fundamental changes in the JSF aircraft and engine programs have taken place. We examined the potential implications of these changes to the …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles Covill Schneider. " " In February 1943, he began his ground education. By the time he earned his wings, he had witnessed several fatal crashes, prompting him to become a churchgoer. In August 1944 he narrowly qualified for carrier landings in an SBD. He then volunteered for night training in Corsairs. Flying at night over tremendous ocean swells during his training was terrifying. He made his first high-altitude flights in Hawaii off of the USS Saratoga (CV-3), making an emergency landing when a section of cowl broke off and punctured his canopy. When he deployed to Saipan in July 1945, he was met with the sobering sight of human remains in caves that had been burned out by flamethrowers. Schneider returned home and was discharged soon after.