Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report stems from the recognition that the Congress faces a daunting challenge: the need to bring government and its programs in line with 21st century realities. This challenge has many related pieces: addressing the nation's large and growing long-term fiscal gap; deciding on the appropriate role and size of the federal government--and how to finance that government--and bringing the panoply of federal activities into line with today's world. The reexamination questions discussed in this report are drawn primarily from the work GAO has done for the Congress over the years. Many of these questions do not represent immediate crises, however many pose important longer-term threats to the country's fiscal and economic, and national security as well as the quality of life for our children and grandchildren."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. government controls arms exports by U.S. companies to ensure that such exports are consistent with national security and foreign policy interests. There have been various efforts to change the arms export control system, which is overseen by the State Department. One effort was the Defense Trade Security Initiative of 2000, which was intended to facilitate defense trade with allies in the post-Cold War environment. Given the September 2001 terror attacks, the U.S. government has had to reevaluate whether existing policies support national security and foreign policy goals. In light of the September 2001 attacks, GAO was asked to review several aspects of the arms export control system. Specifically, GAO is providing information on (1) changes in the arms export control system since September 2001 and overall trends in arms export licensing, (2) extent of implementation of or revision to initiatives designed to streamline arms export licensing, and (3) extent of coordination on these initiatives between State and arms export enforcement agencies, as well as enforcement efforts."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Internal control is at the heart of accountability for our nation's resources and how effectively government uses them. This testimony outlines the importance of internal control, summarizes the Congress's long-standing interest in internal control and the related statutory framework, discusses GAO's experiences and lessons learned from agency assessments since the early 1980s, and provides GAO's views on the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) recent revisions to its Circular A- 123. GAO highlights six issues important to successful implementation of the revised Circular, specifically, the need for supplemental guidance and implementation tools; vigilance over the broader range of controls covering program objectives; strong support from managers throughout the agency, and at all levels; risk-based assessments and an appropriate balance between the costs and benefits of controls; management testing of controls in operation to assess if they are designed adequately and operating effectively; and management accountability for control breakdowns. Finally, GAO discusses its views on the importance of auditor opinions on internal control over financial reporting."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony outlines (1) the impact of the recent increased operational tempo on the process used to reimburse Army Guard soldiers for travel expenses and the effect that travel reimbursement problems have had on soldiers and their families; (2) the adequacy of the overall design of controls over the processes, human capital, and automated systems relied on for Army Guard travel reimbursements; (3) whether the Department of Defense's (DOD) current efforts to automate its travel reimbursement process will resolve the problems identified; and (4) other DOD actions to improve the accuracy and timeliness of Army Guard travel reimbursements."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to a mandate in the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) of 2003 requiring GAO to assess consumers' understanding of credit reporting. The FACT Act, among other things, extended provisions governing the credit reporting system and addressed ongoing concerns about inaccuracies in credit reports. For example, the act expanded access to credit information by entitling consumers to one free credit report each year. It also established the Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC) to improve consumers' understanding of credit issues. This report examines consumers' understanding and use of credit reports and scores and the dispute process and looks at factors that may influence their understanding of credit reporting."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "FCS is the core of Army efforts to create a lighter, more agile, capable force: a $108 billion investment to provide a new generation of 18 manned and unmanned ground vehicles, air vehicles, sensors, and munitions linked by an information network. Although system development and demonstration began in May 2003, the program was restructured in July 2004, including processes to make FCS capabilities available to current forces. GAO has been asked to assess (1) FCS technical and managerial challenges; (2) prospects for delivering FCS within cost and scheduled objectives; and (3) options for proceeding."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) represents one of the largest reorganizations of government agencies and operations in recent history. Significant management challenges exist for DHS as it merges the multiple management systems and processes from its 22 originating agencies in functional areas such as human capital and information technology. GAO was asked to identify opportunities for DHS to improve its management integration."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Modularity is a major restructuring of the entire Army, involving the creation of brigade combat teams that will have a common design and will increase the pool of available units for deployment. The Army is undertaking this initiative at the same time it is supporting the Global War on Terrorism, and developing transformational capabilities such as the Army Future Combat Systems. To achieve modularity, the Army currently estimates it will need $48 billion. The Department of Defense's (DOD) request for fiscal year 2005 supplemental funds includes $5 billion for modularity. The Army plans for another $5 billion to be funded from fiscal year 2006 supplemental funds and the remaining $38 billion from DOD's annual appropriation from fiscal years 2006 through 2011. Our testimony addresses: (1) the Army's goals and plans for modularity, (2) challenges the Army faces in staffing and equipping its modular combat brigades, (3) key decisions that could affect requirements, and (4) the Army's cost estimates and funding plans. This testimony is based on ongoing GAO work examining Army modularity plans and costs. Our work has been primarily focused on the Army's active forces."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Plentiful, relatively inexpensive energy has been the backbone of much of modern America's economic prosperity and the activities that essentially define our way of life. The energy systems that have made this possible, however, are showing increasing signs of strain and instability, and the consequences of our energy choices on the natural environment are becoming more apparent. The reliable energy mainstay of the 20th century seems less guaranteed in the 21st century. As a nation, we have witnessed profound growth in the use of energy over the past 50 years--nearly tripling our energy use in that time. Although the United States accounts for only 5 percent of the world's population, we now consume about 25 percent of the energy used each year worldwide. Looking into the future, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that U.S. energy demand could increase by about another 30 percent over the next 20 years. To aid the subcommittee as it evaluates U.S. energy policies, GAO agreed to provide its views on energy supplies and energy demand as well as observations that have emerged from its energy work. This testimony is based on GAO's …

A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To meet its human capital needs, the Department of Defense (DOD) must convince several hundred thousand people to join the military each year while, at the same time, retain thousands of personnel to sustain its active duty, reserve, and National Guard forces. Since September 11, 2001, DOD has launched three major military operations requiring significant military personnel--Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The high pace of military operations combined with the level of casualties in Iraq and other factors, such as lengthy overseas deployments, have raised concerns about DOD's ability to recruit and retain sufficient numbers of personnel who possess the skills and experience needed. This testimony presents GAO's preliminary findings on (1) the extent to which the active duty, reserve, and Guard components have met their overall recruiting and retention goals, (2) the degree to which the components have met their recruiting and retention goals for selected hard-to-fill critical occupations, and (3) steps the components have taken to enhance their recruiting and retention efforts. This testimony focuses on enlisted personnel. In continuing its work, GAO will assess the reliability of …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1998, the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) E-rate program has committed more than $13 billion to help schools and libraries acquire Internet and telecommunications services. Recently, allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse by some E-rate program participants have come to light. As steward of the program, FCC must ensure that participants use E-rate funds appropriately and that there is managerial and financial accountability surrounding the funds. This testimony is based on GAO's February 2005 report GAO-05-151, which reviewed (1) the effect of the current structure of the E-rate program on FCC's management of the program, (2) FCC's development and use of E-rate performance goals and measures, and (3) the effectiveness of FCC's program oversight mechanisms."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 1998, Congress passed the Veterans Programs Enhancement Act, which authorized the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish a new loan guarantee program for the construction or rehabilitation of multifamily transitional housing projects specifically designed to provide housing for homeless veterans. The program is intended to increase the amount of housing available, as well as provide other services to encourage addiction recovery and reestablish work and social relationships. GAO was asked to examine why no multifamily housing projects are operational, given that the VA's loan guarantee program was authorized 6 years ago. Specifically, GAO was asked to provide information on (1) actions VA has taken to implement the Transitional Housing Loan Guarantee Program and (2) issues that have affected program implementation."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulators have recently identified two significant types of trading abuses--market timing and late trading--in the mutual fund industry. The more widespread abuse was market timing, which involved situations where investment advisers (firms that may manage mutual funds) entered into undisclosed arrangements with favored customers who were permitted to trade frequently in contravention of stated trading limits. These arrangements harmed long-term mutual fund shareholders by increasing transaction costs and lowering fund returns. Late trading, a significant but less widespread abuse, occurs when investors place trades after the mutual fund has calculated the price of its shares, usually at the 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time close of financial markets, but receive that day's fund share price. Investors who late trade have an opportunity to profit, which is not available to other investors. To assess SEC's efforts to impose penalties on violators, this report (1) discusses SEC's civil penalties in settled trading abuse cases, (2) provides information on related criminal enforcement actions, and (3) evaluates SEC's criminal referral procedures."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to a congressionally established bipartisan commission, decreased investment in affordable housing and an elderly population that is projected to grow from about 12 percent of the population in 2002 to 20 percent by 2030 are likely to increase the number of elderly who must spend large portions of their incomes on housing. Moreover, according to this commission, more than one-third of the elderly tenants of government-subsidized housing require assistance with some type of activity of daily living, such as making a meal or getting in and out of bed. This testimony, which is based on a report issued in February 2005, discusses (1) the federal housing assistance programs requiring that supportive services be made available to elderly residents, (2) other Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs that assist the elderly in obtaining supportive services, and (3) private partnerships and federal health care programs that may provide supportive services to elderly beneficiaries of federal housing assistance."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Tax abuses by contractors working for the Department of Defense, on which GAO previously reported, have led to concerns about similar abuses by those hired by civilian agencies. GAO was asked to determine if similar problems exist at civilian agencies and, if so, to (1) quantify the amount of unpaid federal taxes owed by civilian agency contractors paid through the Financial Management Service (FMS), (2) identify any statutory or policy impediments and control weaknesses that impede tax collections under the Federal Payment Levy Program (FPLP), and (3) determine whether there are indications of abusive or potential criminal activity by contractors with unpaid tax debts."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Tax abuses by contractors working for the Department of Defense, which GAO previously reported on, have led to concerns about similar abuses by those hired by civilian agencies. GAO was asked to determine if similar problems exist at civilian agencies and, if so, to (1) quantify the amount of unpaid federal taxes owed by civilian agency contractors paid through the Financial Management Service (FMS), (2) determine whether there are indications of abusive or potential criminal activity by contractors with unpaid tax debts, and (3) identify any statutory or policy impediments and control weaknesses that impede tax collections under the Federal Payment Levy Program (FPLP)."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Census Bureau's mission is to serve as the leading source of high quality data about the American people and the economy. This information is used to determine congressional and state legislative districts and to distribute hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds each year. Information technology (IT) plays a critical role in the bureau's ability to carry out its missions by supporting data collection, analysis, and dissemination activities. In the past, the bureau has experienced problems with the development, acquisition, and implementation of IT systems. GAO was asked to (1) provide an IT profile of the Census Bureau, including an overview of information technology management and plans for the 2010 decennial census and (2) evaluate the adequacy of the bureau's IT policies, procedures, and practices in the areas of investment management, system development/management, enterprise architecture management, information security, and human capital."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Medicare classifies inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRF) using the "75 percent rule." If a facility can show that during a 12-month period at least 75 percent of its patients required intensive rehabilitation for 1 of 13 listed conditions, it may be classified as an IRF and paid at a higher rate than for less intensive rehabilitation in other settings. Because this difference can be substantial, it is important to classify IRFs correctly. GAO was asked to discuss issues relating to the classification of IRFs, and in April 2005 it issued a report, Medicare: More Specific Criteria Needed to Classify Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (GAO-05-366). For that report, GAO analyzed data on all Medicare patients (the majority of patients in IRFs) admitted to IRFs in fiscal year 2003, spoke to IRF medical directors, and had the Institute of Medicine (IOM) convene a meeting of experts to evaluate the use of a list of conditions in the 75 percent rule. This testimony is based on the April 2005 report."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) expends a significant amount of funds overseas, particularly from its Operation and Maintenance (O&M) and Military Personnel (MILPERS) appropriations. As the rate of overseas currencies fluctuates on a daily basis, such fluctuations have an impact on the various expenditures that DOD makes. For budgeting purposes, DOD establishes foreign currency exchange rates to determine its O&M and MILPERS funding needs. During the fiscal year, DOD incurs expenditures at the actual exchange rate, which varies from the budgeted rate. For example, if the dollar depreciates in value, more dollars are needed to pay for goods and services than originally budgeted. Concerned about whether DOD's method for selecting foreign currency rates has produced realistic estimates in its budget submissions, Congress required DOD to consider alternative methods. Specifically, the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 required the Secretary of Defense to submit a report on the foreign currency exchange rate projections used in annual DOD budget presentations. The act required that DOD identify alternative approaches, including the feasibility of using private economic forecasting and approaches used by other federal departments and agencies, …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Many countries, including the United States, are grappling with demographic change and its effect on their national pension systems. The number of workers for each retiree is falling in most developed countries, straining the finances of national pension programs, particularly where contributions from current workers fund payments to current beneficiaries--known as a "pay-as-you-go" (PAYG) system. Although demographic and economic challenges are less severe in the U.S. than in many other developed countries, projections show that the Social Security program faces a long-term financing problem. Because some countries have already undertaken national pension reform efforts to address demographic changes similar to those occurring in the U.S., we may draw lessons from their experiences. The Chairman of the Subcommittee on Social Security of the House Committee on Ways and Means asked GAO to testify on preliminary results of ongoing work on lessons learned from other countries' experiences reforming national pension systems. GAO focuses on (1) adjustments to existing PAYG national pension programs, (2) the creation or reform of national pension reserve funds to partially pre-fund PAYG pension programs, and (3) reforms involving the creation of individual accounts."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program introduced specific work requirements and benefit time limits. However, the Family Violence Option (FVO) requires states that adopt the FVO to screen TANF clients for domestic violence and grant waivers from program requirements for clients in domestic violence situations. TANF also allows the use of TANF funds for marriage and responsible fatherhood programs. Given states' broad discretion in implementing the TANF program, including most aspects of the FVO and marriage and responsible fatherhood programs, this report examines (1) how states identify victims of domestic violence among TANF recipients, (2) how states address domestic violence among TANF recipients once they are identified, and (3) the extent to which states spend TANF funds on marriage and responsible fatherhood programs, and how, if at all, these programs are addressing domestic violence."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has had more work to accomplish than funds available. The Congress has supported the Corps' need to reprogram funds to complete projects. Reprogramming allows the Corps to move funds from projects that can not use available funds to those that can. However, concerns have been expressed about whether the Corps reprogrammed funds in accordance with applicable guidance. GAO determined for fiscal years 2003 and 2004 (1) the amount of funds reprogrammed; (2) if the Corps followed reprogramming guidance; (3) why the Corps reprogrammed funds; and (4) how effective the Corps' reprogramming strategy was in managing funds."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Ammonium perchlorate (perchlorate) is a primary ingredient in solid rocket propellant and has been used for decades by the Department of Defense (DOD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the defense industry in the manufacturing, testing, and firing of rockets and missiles. Perchlorate has been found in the drinking water, groundwater, surface water, or soil in 35 states, the District of Columbia, and 2 commonwealths of the United States. Exposure to perchlorate affects the human thyroid, and certain levels of exposure may result in hyperthyroidism in adults and developmental delays in children. Although there is no specific federal requirement to clean up perchlorate, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state regulatory agencies have used various environmental laws and regulations to require cleanup of perchlorate by responsible parties. Between 1942 and 1945, new military uses for perchlorate led to an increase in the production of perchlorate in the United States. Between 1945 and 1967, the U.S. Navy, Western Electrochemical Company, and the American Potash and Chemical Company manufactured perchlorate at a facility in Henderson, Nevada. The United States owned part of the facility from 1953 to 1962. In …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Judicial Survivors' Annuities System (JSAS) was created in 1956 to provide financial security for the families of deceased federal judges. It provides benefits to eligible spouses and dependent children of judges who elect coverage within 6 months of taking office, 6 months after getting married, or 6 months after being elevated to a higher court, or during an open season authorized by statute. Active and senior judges currently contribute 2.2 percent of their salaries to JSAS, and retired judges contribute 3.5 percent of their retirement salaries to JSAS. Pursuant to the Federal Courts Administration Act of 1992 (Pub. L. No. 102-572), GAO is required to review JSAS costs every 3 years and determine whether the judges' contributions fund 50 percent of the plan's costs. If the contributions fund less than 50 percent of these costs, GAO is to determine what adjustments to the contribution rates would be needed to achieve the 50 percent ratio. GAO is not making any recommendations in this report. The Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) believes that GAO should be recommending a reduction in the judges' contribution rate. …