Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), health-care-associated infections (HAI)--infections that patients acquire while receiving treatment for other conditions--are estimated to be 1 of the top 10 causes of death in the nation. This statement summarizes a report issued in March and released today, Health-Care-Associated Infections in Hospitals: Leadership Needed from HHS to Prioritize Prevention Practices and Improve Data on These Infections (GAO-08-283). In this report, GAO examined (1) CDC's guidelines for hospitals to reduce or prevent HAIs and what HHS does to promote their implementation, (2) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) and hospital accrediting organizations' required standards for hospitals to reduce or prevent HAIs, and (3) HHS programs that collect data related to HAIs and integration of the data across HHS. To conduct the work, GAO reviewed documents and interviewed HHS agency and accrediting organization officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2002, the Department of Defense (DOD) established U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) to conduct homeland defense and civil support missions on U.S. soil. It is particularly important that NORTHCOM coordinate with the National Guard Bureau (NGB), because NGB has experience dealing with state and local authorities during incidents and functions as NORTHCOM's formal link to the states. GAO was asked to (1) determine the extent to which NORTHCOM has ongoing efforts to coordinate with the states and NGB in planning, exercises and other preparedness activities and (2) identify the extent to which there are any gaps in this coordination. To do this, GAO surveyed the state adjutants general, the highest ranking guardsman in each state, and received a 100 percent response rate, and reviewed interagency coordination plans and guidance."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The high use of National Guard (Guard) forces for overseas missions has raised questions about its ability to support civil authorities in the event of a catastrophic incident. GAO was asked to assess two alternatives for providing funding and authority specifically for the Guard's civil support missions. Congress subsequently enacted a new approach for the Guard's civil support needs, which GAO also included in this assessment. GAO determined: (1) the extent to which planning to identify the Guard's civil support requirements has been undertaken, (2) the current funding approach for the Guard's civil support capabilities and how three approaches--modeled after the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), the Coast Guard, and that in the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act--could be applied to the Guard; (3) guiding principles to consider when developing and implementing funding alternatives, and (4) the extent to which the existing and alternative approaches are consistent with these principles. GAO synthesized guiding principles for military and civil support effectiveness from the literature and discussed alternatives with defense and homeland security analysts."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The fiscal year 2009 budget request for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is a road map for how IRS plans to allocate resources and achieve ambitious goals for improving enforcement, improving taxpayer service, increasing research, and continuing to invest in modernized information systems. One complicating factor in implementing IRS's plans in the immediate future is the recent passage of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which creates additional, unanticipated workload for IRS. GAO was asked to (1) assess how the President's budget request for IRS allocates resources and justifies proposed initiatives; (2) determine the status of IRS's efforts to develop and implement its Business Systems Modernization (BSM) program; and (3) determine the total costs of administering the economic stimulus legislation. To meet these objectives, GAO drew upon and updated recently issued reports."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, state and local governments formed fusion centers, collaborative efforts to detect, prevent, investigate, and respond to criminal or terrorist activity. Recognizing that the centers are a critical mechanism for sharing information, the federal government--including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Program Manager for the Information Sharing Environment (PM-ISE), which has primary responsibility for governmentwide information sharing--is taking steps to partner with fusion centers. This testimony focuses on (1) the characteristics of fusion centers as of September 2007 and (2) federal efforts to help alleviate challenges centers identified. This testimony is based on GAO's October 2007 report on 58 fusion centers and related federal efforts to support them as well as updated information GAO obtained in March 2008 by reviewing plans describing selected federal efforts and attending the second annual national fusion center conference."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the enactment of key financial management reforms, such as the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990 and the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA), the federal government has devoted significant resources to improving financial management activities and practices. At the same time, continuing attention is needed to address persistent, long-standing accountability problems and to redefine success for federal financial management. Successfully implementing financial management systems has been a particular challenge to the federal government. Many agency financial management systems do not routinely produce the accurate, timely, and meaningful information needed for management decision making. This forum brought together knowledgeable and recognized financial management leaders from the federal government, including the CFO, Chief Information Officer, and Inspector General communities, and selected other officials with extensive experience in financial management from both the public and private sectors. The forum addressed (1) the future of federal financial management, (2) applying lessons learned from federal financial management system implementations, and (3) strategies for transforming federal financial management culture. These highlights do not necessarily represent the views of the organizations that the participants represent, including GAO."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "It has been 5 years since the Department of Defense (DOD) established U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) to conduct homeland defense and civil support missions in the United States. Planning operations in the United States poses unique challenges for traditional military planning. GAO was asked to assess (1) the status of NORTHCOM's plans and the challenges it faces in planning and conducting operations, (2) the number, experience, and training of planning personnel, and (3) the extent to which NORTHCOM coordinates with other federal agencies. To do this, GAO reviewed available NORTHCOM plans, compared them to joint operational planning criteria, compared planning staff with those at other commands, and reviewed documentation and mechanisms for interagency coordination."

The authors report the measurement of the branching fractions of the rare decays B{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup (*)+} {pi}{sup -}, B{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup (*)+} {rho}{sup -}, and B{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup (*)-} K{sup (*)+} in a sample of 381 x 10{sup 6} {Upsilon}(4S) decays into B{bar B} pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} storage ring. They present evidence for the decay B{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup -} K*{sup +} and the vector-vector decays B{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup *+} {rho}{sup -} and B{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup *-} K{sup *+}, as well as the first measurement of the vector meson polarization in these decays. They also determine the ratios of the CM-suppressed to CKM-favored amplitudes r(D{sup (*)}{pi}) and r(D{sup (*)}{rho}) in decays B{sup 0} {yields} D{sup (*)}{sup {+-}}{pi}{sup {-+}} and B{sup 0} {yields} D{sup (*)}{sup {+-}}{rho}{sup {-+}}, and comment on the prospects for measuring the Cp observable sin(2{beta} + {gamma}).

A review of selected recent BaBar results are presented that illustrate the ability of the experiment to search for physics beyond the standard model. The decays B {yields} {tau}{nu} and B {yields} s{gamma} provide constraints on the mass of a charged Higgs. Searches for Lepton Flavour Violation could provide a clear signal for beyond the standard model physics. Babar does not observe any signal for New Physics with the current dataset.

The River Protection Project (RPP) mission is to safely store, retrieve, treat, immobilize, and dispose of the Hanford Site tank waste. The Demonstration Bulk Vitrification System (DBVS) is a research and development project whose objective is to demonstrate the suitability of Bulk Vitrification treatment technology waste form for disposing of low-activity waste from the Tank Farms. The objective of this calculation is to determine the DBVS melter inleakage and off-gas generation rate based on full scale testing data from 38D. This calculation estimates the DBVS melter in leakage and gas generation rate based on test data. Inleakage is estimated before the melt was initiated, at one point during the melt, and at the end of the melt. Maximum gas generation rate is also estimated.

This paper describes the contingency planning for the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory scheduled for the 21-day window beginning on September 15, 2009. National Security Technologies, LLC (NSTec), based in Las Vegas, Nevada, will support the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in its role for managing the overall radiological contingency planning support effort. This paper will focus on new technologies that NSTec’s Remote Sensing Laboratory (RSL) is developing to enhance the overall response capability that would be required for a highly unlikely anomaly. This paper presents recent advances in collecting and collating data transmitted from deployed teams and sensors. RSL is responsible to prepare the contingency planning for a range of areas from monitoring and assessment, sample collection and control, contaminated material release criteria, data management, reporting, recording, and even communications. The tools RSL has available to support these efforts will be reported. The data platform RSL will provide shall also be compatible with integration of assets and field data acquired with other DOE, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, state, and local resources, personnel, and equipment. This paper also outlines the organizational structure for response elements in radiological contingency planning.

This report provides an analysis of House Member mass mailings.

This report describes the types and forms of amendments in the House, including distinctions, degrees, forms, and scopes of amendments.

The amending process is central to the consideration of legislation by the Senate. This report briefly describes the various types of amendments that take place in the Senate.

The discussion on this report is expanded for four aspects of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and its implementation that have raised concerns and promoted debate—listing species, designating critical habitat, consulting on projects, and exempting projects.

This report provides an overview of the implications for U.S. Navy's background issues for Congress on China's naval modernization.

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This report discusses the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), which calls for disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a deep geologic repository.

This report compares selected House and Senate rules of procedure for various stages of the legislative process: referral of legislation to committees; scheduling and calling up measures; and floor consideration. No attempt is made to present a comprehensive discussion of how both chambers operate.

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This is a report on Campaign Finance Reform, specifically Regulating Political Communications on the Internet.

This report presents a brief description of the five methods used to bring proposed legislation to the House floor for consideration. These methods allow for consideration as a privileged matter, under the limited privilege of a special calendar or day, under suspensions of the rules, under the terms of a special rule, or by unanimous consent.

This report discusses the potential hazards of military munitions and related contamination, the authorities of the Department of Defense(DOD) to address these hazards, the status and costs of cleanup efforts, and issues of Congress.

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