A publication issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses our recent work on the Coast Guard's Deepwater acquisition, which represents the majority of the Coast Guard's efforts to recapitalize its fleet of vessels and aircraft. This statement is based on our July 28, 2011, report, Coast Guard: Action Needed as Approved Deepwater Program Remains Unachievable. This report discusses areas in which the Coast Guard has strengthened its acquisition management capabilities but also emphasizes actions the Coast Guard needs to take to address the cost growth, schedule delays, and capability shortfalls that have made the approved Deepwater Program unachievable. Today's climate of rapidly building fiscal pressures underscores the importance of assessing priorities--from a Coast Guard-wide perspective--so that more realistic budgets can be submitted to Congress. Such a step would help alleviate what has become a pattern of churn in revising program baselines when unrealistic planned funding does not materialize, which contributes to schedule delays and can lead to other issues such as unhealthy competition for funding. We also recognize several steps that the Coast Guard has taken to improve the management of the Deepwater Program. For example, the Coast Guard has updated its Major …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2000, as part of a multibillion-dollar courthouse construction initiative, the judiciary requested and the General Services Administration (GSA) proposed building a new courthouse in Los Angeles to increase security, efficiency, and space--but construction never began. About $400 million was appropriated for the L.A. courthouse project. For this testimony, GAO was asked to report on (1) the status of the L.A. courthouse project, (2) challenges GAO has identified affecting federal courthouses nationwide, and (3) the extent to which these challenges are applicable to the L.A. courthouse project. This testimony is based on GAO-10-417 and GAO's other prior work on federal courthouses, during which GAO analyzed courthouse planning and use data, visited courthouses, modeled courtroom sharing scenarios, and interviewed judges, GSA officials, and others. In GAO-10-417, GAO recommended that (1) GSA ensure that new courthouses are constructed within their authorized size or, if not, that congressional committees are notified, (2) the Judicial Conference of the United States retain caseload projections to improve the accuracy of its 10-year-judge planning, and (3) the Conference establish and use courtroom sharing policies based on scheduling and use data. GSA and the judiciary agreed …

A publication issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the results of our investigation of fraud and prescription drug abuse in Medicare Part D. Prescription drug abuse is a serious and growing public health problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdoses, including those from prescription drugs, are the second leading cause of deaths from unintentional injuries in the United States, exceeded only by motor vehicle fatalities. Unlike addiction to heroin and other drugs that have no accepted medical use, addiction to some controlled substances can be unknowingly financed by insurance companies and public programs, such as Medicare Part D. This statement today summarizes our report, describing indications of doctor shopping in the Medicare Part D program for 14 categories of frequently abused prescription drugs. The objectives of the forensic audit and related investigation were to (1) determine the extent to which Medicare beneficiaries obtained frequently abused drugs from multiple prescribers, (2) identify examples of doctor shopping activity, and (3) determine the actions taken by the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) to limit access to drugs for known abusers."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "While most of Medicare's 46 million beneficiaries are covered by the traditional fee-for-service (FFS) program, about one in four beneficiaries receives benefits through private health plans under the Medicare Advantage (MA) program. Under the FFS program, Medicare pays health care providers for each covered service they furnish. While Medicare sets the price it pays, the volume of services--and, as a consequence, total spending--remains largely uncontrolled. In contrast, MA plans have more control over both the price they pay to providers and the quantity of services they deliver. As of September 2010, more than 11 million beneficiaries were enrolled in approximately 3,900 MA plans sponsored by 181 parent MA organizations (MAO). MAOs generally offer beneficiaries one or more plans to choose from--with different coverage, premiums, and cost sharing features--in the areas they serve. Also, MA plans may provide additional benefits not offered under FFS Medicare, such as reduced cost sharing or vision and dental coverage. Medicare pays plans a fixed amount per enrolled beneficiary monthly. In 2010, Medicare payments to MA plans totaled an estimated $115 billion. In June of each year, MA plans submit bids to the Centers …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 became law on January 2, 2011, and established a World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) to assume the functions of the World Trade Center (WTC) responder health programs beginning on July 1, 2011. From September 11, 2001, through fiscal year 2010, approximately $475 million in federal funds was made available for screening, monitoring, and treating WTC responders for illnesses and conditions related to the WTC disaster. These include asthma, persistent coughing, and other respiratory conditions and mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The three federal programs that provided screening, monitoring, and treatment services to responders prior to July 1, 2011, which we refer to here as the WTC responder health programs, were the New York City Fire Department's (FDNY) WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, the New York/New Jersey (NY/NJ) WTC Consortium, and the WTC National Responder Health Program. The WTCHP is administered by HHS and provides screening, monitoring, and treatment services through contracted clinical centers in the NYC area for responders in that area and through a nationwide network of providers …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. manufacturing plays an important role in the nation's economy, producing about $1.6 trillion of value each year--11.5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP)--and accounting for over 13 million jobs in the United States in 2008, according to the Department of Commerce. However, over the past decade, increased competition abroad and the migration of manufacturing overseas have led to declines in U.S. manufacturing. To support the manufacturing sector, the federal government has undertaken efforts, including creating programs that are partly funded by the federal government and partly funded by nonfederal entities such as state and local governments. However, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2008 to 2009, following the beginning of the recent economic downturn, the United States lost 1.5 million manufacturing jobs. One federal effort aimed at helping manufacturers is the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program. The MEP program was established in 1988 through Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to enhance productivity and technological performance, and strengthen the global competitiveness of small and medium-sized U.S. manufacturers, helping them create and retain jobs. Under this program, NIST has established relationships …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act directed GAO to conduct a one-time audit of the emergency loan programs and other assistance authorized by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve Board) during the recent financial crisis. This testimony summarizes the results of GAO's July 2011 report (GAO-11-696) examining the emergency actions taken by the Federal Reserve Board from December 1, 2007, through July 21, 2010. For these actions, where relevant, this statement addresses (1) accounting and financial reporting internal controls; (2) the use, selection, and payment of vendors; (3) management of conflicts of interest; (4) policies in place to secure loan repayment; and (5) the treatment of program participants. To meet these objectives, GAO reviewed program documentation, analyzed program data, and interviewed officials from the Federal Reserve Board and Reserve Banks (Federal Reserve System)."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As Congress considers the role and design of appropriate budget enforcement mechanisms in changing the government's fiscal path, this testimony outlines some elements that could facilitate debate and contribute to efforts to place the government on a more sustainable long-term fiscal path. Budgeting is the process by which we as a nation resolve the large number of often conflicting objectives that citizens seek to achieve through government action. The budget determines the fiscal policy stance of the government--that is, the relationship between spending and revenues. And it is through the budget process that Congress and the President reach agreement about the areas in which the federal government will be involved and in what way. Because these decisions are so important, we expect a great deal from our budget and budget process. We want the budget to be clear and understandable. We want the process to be simple--or at least not too complex. But at the same time we want a process that presents Congress and the American people with a framework to understand the significant choices and the information necessary to make the best-informed decisions about federal tax …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government's real property portfolio includes more than 900,000 buildings and structures worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Many of these properties are leased from private-sector owners, often at total costs that would exceed what the government would pay for ownership. Overreliance on costly leased space was one of several factors that contributed to GAO's designation of federal real property management as a governmentwide high-risk issue. The administration's proposed Civilian Property Realignment Act (CPRA) would reform federal real property management and disposal. For this subcommittee, GAO is currently examining opportunities for consolidating federal operations and moving them from leased space to federally owned sites. This statement identifies (1) the factors that contribute to the government's reliance on costly leasing, (2) how CPRA may provide an opportunity to reduce reliance on leasing, and (3) federal agencies' independent leasing authorities and General Services Administration's (GSA) delegations of leasing authorities. To do this work, GAO relied on its prior work and reviewed CPRA and other relevant reports."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) provided more than $48 billion to the Department of Transportation (DOT) to be distributed through existing programs and through two new competitive grant programs--high speed intercity passenger rail and the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program. As requested, this testimony addresses the (1) status and use of Recovery Act transportation funds, (2) outcomes and long-term benefits of Recovery Act transportation investments, and (3) lessons learned from DOT's and states' experiences implementing the Recovery Act. GAO reviewed prior and ongoing work, federal legislation, and guidance. GAO also analyzed Recovery Act data and interviewed federal, state, and local officials."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) included $4 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) and $2 billion for the agency's Drinking Water SRF. This testimony is based on GAO's ongoing review of clean and drinking water projects. It provides preliminary observations on (1) the status and use of Recovery Act SRF program funds nationwide and in nine selected states, (2) jobs funded by the Recovery Act SRF programs and federal and state efforts to oversee the programs, and (3) challenges, if any, that states have faced in implementing Recovery Act requirements. For this ongoing work, GAO is, among other things, obtaining and analyzing EPA nationwide data on the status of Recovery Act clean and drinking water funds and projects, as well as information from a nonprobability sample of nine states that it had not reviewed in previous bimonthly reports. These states represent all but one of EPA's 10 regions. GAO is also interviewing EPA and state officials about their experiences with the Recovery Act clean and drinking water funds"

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As Congress requested, this letter discusses the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) efforts to address our January 2009 recommendation to TSA to improve its methodology for comparing the cost and performance of screening services at commercial airports using private-sector screeners under the Screening Partnership Program (SPP airports) and at airports using federal screeners (non-SPP airports). Our January 2009 report identified some design strengths in TSA's analysis comparing the cost and performance of screening services at SPP and non-SPP airports, such as recognizing that cost savings would be limited by the mandated structure of the program, but also identified 10 limitations in TSA's methodology that could affect the accuracy and reliability of the cost and performance comparisons, and its usefulness in informing future management decisions. We recommended that if TSA plans to rely on its comparison of cost and performance of SPP and non-SPP airports for future decision making, the agency should update its analysis to address the limitations we identified. TSA generally concurred with our findings and recommendation."

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Authority of a community college to purchase liability insurance to cover claims arising from the operation of a child-care center (RQ-0846-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether chapter 161 of the Local Government Code is applicable to the District Attorney of the 34th Judicial District and staff (RQ-0865-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the Edgewood Independent School District may change the date of its general election for school trustees to the uniform election date set by statute in May of odd-numbered years (RQ-0893-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a metropolitan transit authority may, under section 451.616 of the Transportation Code, charge a withdrawn city for special transit services provided to the city’s residents with disabilities (RQ-0899-GA)

The project team consisting of the Consensus Building Institute, Inc., Raab Associates, Ltd., and the MIT-Harvard Program on Negotiation created a model and set of tools for building the capacity of state officials to effectively collaborate with diverse stakeholders in advancing wind development policy formation, wind facility siting, and transmission policy and siting. The model was used to enhance the ability of state officials to advance wind development in their states. Training was delivered in Cambridge, MA, in Spring 2011. The training and associated materials, including a Wind Energy Workbook, website, and simulations, is available for ongoing and widespread dissemination throughout the US.

This document contains the summaries of papers presented in poster format at the March 2010 Atmospheric System Research Science Team Meeting held in Bethesda, Maryland. More than 260 posters were presented during the Science Team Meeting. Posters were sorted into the following subject areas: aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions, aerosol properties, atmospheric state and surface, cloud properties, field campaigns, infrastructure and outreach, instruments, modeling, and radiation. To put these posters in context, the status of ASR at the time of the meeting is provided here.

Metric for Quarter 2: Evaluate LDM (Liu, Daum, McGraw) drizzle threshold parameterization for a range of cloud conditions by comparing the threshold function computed using measurements of cloud droplet number concentration and cloud liquid water content to measurements of drizzle droplet number concentrations and/or drizzle water content.

Many others in the fusion energy and advanced scientific computing communities participated in the development of this plan. The core planning team is grateful for their important contributions. This summary is meant as a quick overview the Fusion Simulation Program's (FSP's) purpose and intentions. There are several additional documents referenced within this one and all are supplemental or flow down from this Program Plan. The overall science goal of the DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) Fusion Simulation Program (FSP) is to develop predictive simulation capability for magnetically confined fusion plasmas at an unprecedented level of integration and fidelity. This will directly support and enable effective U.S. participation in International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) research and the overall mission of delivering practical fusion energy. The FSP will address a rich set of scientific issues together with experimental programs, producing validated integrated physics results. This is very well aligned with the mission of the ITER Organization to coordinate with its members the integrated modeling and control of fusion plasmas, including benchmarking and validation activities. [1]. Initial FSP research will focus on two critical Integrated Science Application (ISA) areas: ISA1, the plasma edge; and ISA2, whole device modeling (WDM) including disruption …

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A certificate recognizing the formation of the Dallas Way.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the efforts by the Departments of Defense (DOD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) to integrate their disability evaluation systems. Wounded warriors unable to continue their military service must navigate DOD's and VA's disability evaluation systems to be assessed for eligibility for disability compensation from the two agencies. GAO and others have found problems with these systems, including long delays, duplication in DOD and VA processes, confusion among servicemembers, and distrust of systems regarded as adversarial by servicemembers and veterans. To address these problems, DOD and VA have designed an integrated disability evaluation system (IDES), with the goal of expediting the delivery of VA benefits to servicemembers. After pilot testing the IDES at an increasing number of military treatment facilities (MTF)--from 3 to 27 sites--DOD and VA are in the process of deploying it worldwide. As of March 2011, the IDES has been deployed at 73 MTFs--representing about 66 percent of all military disability evaluation cases--and worldwide deployment is scheduled for completion in September 2011. This testimony summarizes and updates our December 2010 report on the IDES and addresses the following points: (1) the results of DOD …

Interview with H. Ron White, lawyer and activist. White discusses his upbringing, education and early career.