Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and the International Monetary Fund's concessional (below-market terms) lending facility--the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility--are two multilateral programs intended to help spur economic growth and reduce poverty in low-income countries, most notably countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The HIPC Initiative represents a step forward in the international community's efforts to relieve poor countries of their heavy debt burdens. It does so by seeking to include all creditors and by providing significant debt relief to recipient countries. Unless strong, sustained economic growth is achieved, however the initiative will not likely provide recipient countries with a lasting exit from their debt problems. Furthermore, as long as the initiative links debt relief to poverty reduction strategies, the tension between quick debt relief and comprehensive country-owned strategies is likely to persist. These issues should not be seen, however, as a reason to abandon efforts to provide debt relief to eligible countries. Heavily indebted poor countries continue to carry unsustainable debt burdens that are unlikely to be lessened without debt relief, but participants and observers need to be more realistic about what the initiative may ultimately achieve. …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the event of a domestic terrorist attack or other major disasters, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is to provide backup medical resources to the military health system and local communities. VA now assists other federal agencies that have lead responsibility for responding to disasters, including terrorism. Its areas of responsibility include disaster simulation exercises and maintaining medical stockpiles. VA's efforts in these areas have enhanced national emergency preparedness by improving medical response procedures and by strengthening the security of federal pharmaceutical stockpiles to ensure rapid response to local authorities. VA also has resources that could play a role in future federal homeland security efforts. Its assets include the bricks, mortar, and human capital components of its health care system; graduate medical education programs; and expertise involving emergency backup and support activities. In managing large-scale medical emergencies arising from terrorist attacks, VA's emergency response capabilities have strengths and weaknesses. Determining how VA can best contribute to homeland security is especially timely given the extraordinary level of federal activity underway to manage large-scale disasters."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of the Secretary of Defense and the service headquarters provide overall policy guidance and negotiate agreements on the treatment of the military's historic properties. However, most decisions on historic properties are made at the installation level. The installations are responsible for identifying and evaluating properties to determine if they are eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places as well as maintaining all properties that are listed on or have been determined eligible for listing on the National Register. The military lacks complete and reliable data on the number of its historic properties. None of the services have a centralized database that comprehensively identifies all of their respective historic properties. Data is not available on the costs to to maintain or repair historic properties. Cost data GAO examined at several installations showed that, overall, the day-to-day maintenance historic properties was similar to maintenance on non-historic properties."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) faces major challenges that collectively call for a structural transformation if it is to remain viable in the 21st century. This testimony discusses USPS' current financial outlook, actions that USPS has taken or planned to take, and the transformation issues that will need to be addressed. GAO concludes that structural transformation is essential if USPS is to overcome its financial, operational, and human capital challenges. It is at a growing risk of being unable to continue providing universal postal service at reasonable rates while remaining self-supporting through postal revenues. Although USPS has announced steps to address its mounting problems, it lacks a comprehensive plan to address its various financial, operational, or human capital challenges. USPS needs to develop a transformation plan in conjunction with Congress and other stakeholders that would address the key transformation issues facing USPS."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The President's January 2001 changes in the export control thresholds for high performance computer exports are not adequately justified. Although the President's report recognizes that high performance computing capabilities will become increasingly available to other countries through computer clustering, the report fails to address all military significant uses for computers at the new thresholds and assess the national security impact of such uses. The support for the President's policy proposal for relaxed U.S. computer controls also is not adequate. Although the new policy was based on the conclusion that computer hardware exports can no longer be controlled, the executive branch did not adequately assess alternative control options. GAO identified several implications of the changes to the control thresholds and the proposed change in U.S. computer export control policy related to increased risks for U.S. national security. For example, the inadequacies of the President's justifications demonstrate the need for a comprehensive study of the issues involved. Furthermore, the policy proposal would reduce information that might be useful in detecting patterns of exports to customers engaged in proliferation activities because it would eliminate an annual reporting requirement that provides information …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 required Medicare to change its payment system for ambulance services. In response, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), now called the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), proposed a fee schedule to standardize payments across provider types on the basis of national rates for particular services. Under the act, the fee schedule was to have applied to ambulance services furnished on or after January 1, 2000. HCFA published a proposed rule in September 2000 and has received public comment, but it has not yet issued a final rule. This testimony discusses the unique concerns of rural ambulance providers and the likely effects of the proposed fee schedule on these providers. Many rural ambulance providers face a set of unique challenges in implementing an appropriate payment policy. Rural providers--particularly those serving large geographic areas with low population density--tend to have high per-trip costs compared with urban and suburban providers. The proposed Medicare fee schedule does not sufficiently distinguish the providers serving beneficiaries in the most isolated rural areas and may not appropriately account for the higher costs of low-volume providers."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Various approaches have been proposed to increase private and public health care coverage of uninsured persons. The success of these proposals will depend on several key factors. The impact of tax subsidies on promoting private health insurance will depend on whether the subsidies reduce premiums enough to induce uninsured low-income individuals to buy health insurance and on whether these subsidies can be made available at the time the person needs to pay premiums. The effectiveness of public program expansions will depend on states' ability and willingness to use any new flexibility to cover uninsured residents as well as develop effective outreach to enroll the targeted populations. Although crowd-out is a concern with any of the approaches, some degree of public funds going to those currently with private health insurance may be inevitable to provide stable health coverage for some of the 42 million uninsured Americans."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the progress of welfare reform. GAO found that states are transforming the nation's welfare system into a work-based, temporary assistance program for needy families, with a focus on moving people into employment rather than signing them up for cash assistance. States' implementation of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), undertaken in a time of strong economic growth, has been accompanied by a 50 percent decline in the number of families receiving cash welfare. GAO's review of state-sponsored studies available in 1999 and several more recent studies show that most of the adults in families remaining off the welfare rolls were employed at some time after leaving welfare. All six of the states GAO visited have modified their "work first" programs to better serve recipients who face difficulties in entering the workforce. States have found that some of the recipients with such difficulties do, in fact, find jobs. Although states have made significant progress in meeting work-focused goals attention should be paid to the following issues: (1) emphasizing and enhancing work-based strategies, including engaging hard-to-employ recipients in work and helping families stay off welfare and increase …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The security systems installed by the Department of Energy (DOE) are reducing the risk of theft of nuclear material in Russia, but hundreds of metric tons of nuclear material still lack improved security systems. As of February 2001, DOE had installed, at a cost of about $601 million, completed or partially completed systems that protect 192 metric tons of the 603 metric tons of nuclear material identified at risk of theft. These systems, although not as stringent as those installed in the United States, are designed to prevent individuals or small groups of criminals from stealing nuclear material. During its first two years of operation, DOE's Nuclear Cities Initiative (NCI) has had limited success. DOE estimates that the program employs about 370 people, including many weapons scientists who are primarily working on a part-time basis through research projects sponsored by the U.S. national laboratories. A disproportionate amount of the NCI program's funding has been spent in the U.S. GAO also found that DOE's NCI program lacks a plan for the future. This testimony summarizes two reports, GAO-01-312, and GAO-01-429."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Graduate School provides extensive training opportunities to government employees and others. As a nonappropriated fund instrumentality, the Graduate School relies solely on income from the training it offers. During fiscal year 1999, the federal agencies GAO reviewed had 20 interagency agreements with the Graduate School totaling about $5.7 million. The agencies also had 531 contracts, totaling $29 million, with private companies for training and related services. The Graduate School's financial statements for fiscal year 1999 incorrectly identified the portion of revenue that was earned through interagency agreements. This misclassification occurred primarily because of the Graduate School's reporting policies."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Following the 2000 presidential election, concerns were raised about the election process, including the ability of some voting equipment to render a complete and accurate vote count. Furthermore, minorities and disadvantaged voters were seen as more likely to have their votes not counted because they may have used less reliable voting equipment than affluent white voters. GAO found that although the state in which counties are located had more of an effect on the number of uncounted presidential votes than did counties' demographic characteristics or voting equipment, there were statistically significant effects on uncounted presidential votes. State differences accounted for 26 percent of the total variation in uncounted presidential votes across counties. State differences may have included such factors as statewide voter education efforts, state standards for determining what is a valid vote, the use of straight party ballots, the number of candidates on the ballot, the use of provisional ballots, and the extent to which absentee or early voting occurred."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the challenges facing U.S. agricultural biotechnology products in international trade. GAO found that new regulations and guidelines that may restrict U.S. exports of crops with a large biotech component are being enacted or considered by some U.S. trading partners and are also under discussion in various international organizations. These actions address approval, labeling, and traceability of agricultural biotech products. U.S. corn and soybean exports are most threatened by new foreign regulatory measures because of their biotech content. Although U.S. soybean exports have not yet experienced disruptions, U.S. corn exports have been largely shut out of the European Union (EU) market because U.S. farmers are producing some biotech varieties that have not been approved for marketing in the EU. U.S. agricultural biotech exports face several significant challenges in international markets. First, as the single major producer of biotech products, the United States has been relatively isolated in its efforts to maintain access to markets for these products. Second, in many parts of the world, consumer concerns are growing about the safety of biotech foods, which have led key market countries to implement or consider …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. asparagus imports increased in the 1990s and now comprise nearly one-half of the asparagus consumed in the United States. Peru is the second largest source of imported asparagus and benefits from duty-free treatment under the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA). ATPA is estimated to have displaced between two and eight percent of the value of domestic production from what it would have been without the act. Although the supply of fresh asparagus from imports has increased since ATPA's enactment, consumer demand has been strong, and prices have risen. In addition, an apparent increase in consumer preference for fresh asparagus has contributed to a downward shift in the domestic demand for processed asparagus. Most of the decline in the domestic production of processed asparagus occurred in Michigan and Washington, the two states that produce most canned and frozen asparagus. If ATPA is reauthorized, domestic producers of asparagus and, in particular, asparagus for processing, will likely face continued displacement, but consumers can expect continued benefits from the year-round availability of fresh asparagus. However, some of this displacement will likely occur even if ATPA is not reauthorized and …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Although some welfare recipients who might seem hard to employ are able to successfully enter the workforce, others have needed considerable time and support to become work-ready. As a result, some states have begun to implement or are considering strategies to help hard-to-employ recipients join the workforce. To be successful in moving hard-to-employ Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients into the workforce within their 60-month time limit for federal benefits, states must develop programs and provide work and work-preparation activities tailored to the needs of their hard-to-employ recipients and they must ensure that recipients with characteristics that impede employment have access to programs and activities that meet their needs. Some states believe that they would be better able to accomplish this if they (1) had caseload data on the number and characteristics of hard-to-employ TANF recipients, particularly those who will reach their 60-month limit before they are able to work and (2) used a range of work and work-preparation activities that meet the needs of hard-to-employ recipients, including activities that extend beyond those that meet federal work participation requirements."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Information sharing and coordination are key elements in any defense against cyber attacks. The organizations GAO reviewed identified factors they considered critical to their success in building successful information-sharing relationships with and among their members. All of the organizations identified trust as essential to successful relationships. They said that trust could only be built over time and through personal relationships. One of the most difficult challenges identified was the initial reluctance of new members to share information. Other challenges included (1) developing agreements on the use and protection of shared information, (2) obtaining adequate funding for websites and meetings while avoiding contributions intended primarily to promote the interests of an individual organization, (3) maintaining a focus on emerging issues of interest to members, and (4) maintaining appropriately skilled professional and administrative staff."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO published a report describing the activities of the Personnel Appeals Board, its Office of General Counsel, and its Office of Equal Employment Opportunity Oversight during the last two fiscal years."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Department of the Interior's fiscal year 2000 performance report and fiscal year 2002 performance report plan required by the Government Performance and Results Act. Specifically, GAO discusses Interior's progress in achieving the following four outcomes: (1) maintaining the health of federally managed land, water, and renewable resources; (2) ensuring visitors' satisfaction with the availability, accessibility, diversity, and quality of national parks; (3) meeting the federal government's responsibility to preserve and protect Indian trust lands and resources; and (4) ensuring the safe and environmentally sound development of mineral resources. GAO could not judge the agency's progress in promoting the health of federally managed land, water, and renewable resources because the goals Interior has reported do not foster a broad or departmentwide approach to measuring progress. Although the Park Service's strategies for continuing to meet and exceed its visitor satisfaction and visitor education goals appear clear and reasonable, the agency's fiscal year 2002 performance plan lacks information on the strategic human capital management strategies to achieve this outcome. GAO cannot judge the Bureau of Indian Affairs' progress in protecting Indian trust lands and resources …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Department of Health and Human Service's (HHS) fiscal year 2000 performance report and fiscal year 2002 performance plan required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 to assess HHS' progress in achieving selected key outcomes that are important to its mission. It is difficult to fully assess the HHS' progress in fiscal year 2000 toward achieving the outcomes GAO reviewed because lags in reporting performance data are common for many of its components such as the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Food and Drug Administration. In some cases, the delays are associated with the need to obtain performance data from states and local organizations. Some HHS components are working to improve the timeliness of data submitted by others and, in some instances, have reported trend data to show that progress is being made. For example, both ACF and CDC supplied fiscal year 1999 performance data in their current performance reports--data that were not available until this year. It is likely that ACF's …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal law requires that disabled persons have access to polling places on election day. State political subdivisions must ensure that polling places used in federal elections are accessible. Exceptions are allowed if all potential polling places have been surveyed, no accessible place is available, and the political subdivision cannot make one temporarily accessible. In these cases, disabled voters must either be reassigned to an accessible polling place or provided another means for voting on election day. All states have provisions that address voting by people with disabilities, but these provisions vary greatly. All states provide for one or more alternative voting methods or accommodations that may facilitate voting by people with disabilities. States and localities have made several efforts to improve voting accessibility for the disabled, such as modifying poling places, acquiring new voting equipment, and expanding voting options. Nevertheless, state and county election officials GAO surveyed cited various challenges to improving access."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Settling 30 years of sometimes acrimonious dispute, the National Park Service completed an exchange of land interests on two vacant parcels of land in Potomac Yard in March 2000. However, the Park Service could have received more than $15 million from the private developer--rather than owing the developer $14 million--if the exchanged interests had been appropriately valued. As a federal agency, the Park Service has a responsibility to protect federal taxpayers' interests when it acquires or conveys land interests. Yet, the Park Service did not do so when it instructed the appraiser to derive a value for development on the Alexandria parcel that was not shown to be reasonably probable, or when it used an appraised value on the Arlington parcel that understated the worth of the Park Service's interests. Consequently, the Park Service gave the developer credit for losses that might not have realistically occurred and did not receive enough credit for allowing the developer to develop the Arlington parcel. However, the transaction is now fully executed--as in similar situations when a government agency pays too much for an item under a contract--it is unlikely …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Until the 2000-2001 flu season, the production and the distribution of flu vaccine generally went smoothly. In the fall of 2000, however, stories began to circulate about delays in obtaining flu vaccines. GAO reviewed (1) the circumstances that contributed to the delay and the effects the delay had on prices paid for vaccine, (2) how effectively current distribution channels ensure that high-risk populations receive vaccine on a priority basis, and (3) what the federal government is doing to better prepare for possible disruptions of influenza vaccine supply. GAO found that manufacturing difficulties resulted in an overall delay of about 6-8 weeks in shipping vaccine to most customers and a temporary price spike. Manufacturers experienced unprecedented problems growing a new viral strain, while two of four manufacturers halted production--one permanently--to address safety and quality control concerns. There is currently no system to ensure that high-risk patients have priority when the supply of vaccine is short. Although the federal government has no direct control over how influenza vaccine is purchased and distributed by the private sector and state and local governments, the Department of Health and Human Services …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) fiscal year 2000 performance report and fiscal year 2002 performance plan required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 to assess VA's process in achieving selected key outcomes that are important to its mission. VA reported making mixed progress towards achieving its key outcomes. For example, VA reported that it made good progress in providing high-quality care to patients, but it did not achieve its goal of processing veterans' benefits claims in a timely manner. GAO found out that VA made several improvements to its fiscal year 2000 performance report and 2002 performance plan. These improvements resulted in clearer discussions of VA's management challenges and additional performance measures for assessing program achievement. Furthermore, VA addressed all six of the major management challenges previously identified by GAO, and generally described goals or actions that VA is taking or plans to take in response to them. VA has established strategies for achieving strategic goals and objectives for two of these challenges: human capital management and information security. VA has established a performance goal and identified milestones for …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United Nations' (U.N.) headquarters in New York clearly needs to be renovated, and the Secretary-General will ask member states to make key decisions in 2002 about the future of the renovation. As host country to U.N. headquarters, the United States needs to play a major role in making these decisions if the renovation is to proceed. However, the administration and the Department of State have not yet developed a comprehensive U.S. position on the renovation. Assuming the United States decides to support the renovation, it needs considerable lead time to examine the issues, including what scope of renovation meets U.N. and U.S. needs in the 21st century, what share of the renovation costs would the United States be willing to provide, and what process is needed to ensure that the construction is cost-effective and timely. One option for examining these issues would be to establish a team comprised of experts on construction management and U.N. issues, using appropriate administration resources from State, the National Academy of Sciences, and the General Services Administration."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Air Force has made progress in developing the F-22, particularly with respect to fulfilling the criteria for awarding a fully funded contract for low-rate initial production. Nevertheless, it lags significantly in flight-testing because of continuing assembly and manufacturing delays, and it is behind schedule in completing nonflying tests that assess the aircraft's structural integrity These delays increase the risk that the Air Force will likely have to extend the test program past the planned completion date or proceed to the next stages of the program without completing all flight-tests. Moreover, the scheduling delays increase the likelihood that costs will not fall within the congressional cap. The Director of Operational Test and Evaluation has indicated that, on the basis of the test program's current status, operational testing cannot be started as scheduled without clearly unacceptable risks and will probably be delayed almost a year. The Director also concluded there was no reason to authorize low-rate production in January 2001 and some justification to delay it. Cost growth in the development program because of manufacturing and design problems and underestimated amounts of labor required to complete scheduled …