A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO's review of the reimbursements the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) made to the American Red Cross (Red Cross) related to the 77 presidentially declared major disasters in 2008 found"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security Administration (SSA) took a number of steps to implement the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) requirements aimed at eliminating barriers to Medicare Savings Program (MSP) enrollment and spent about $12 million in fiscal years 2009 through 2011 to do so. SSA reported transferring over 1.9 million Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) program applications to state Medicaid agencies between January 4, 2010 and May 31, 2012. SSA also took steps to make information available to potentially eligible individuals, conduct outreach, and train SSA staff on MSPs. In fiscal years 2009 and 2010, SSA spent $9.2 million of the $24.1 million appropriated by MIPPA for initial implementation costs, and in fiscal year 2011, SSA spent about $2.5 million of the $3 million appropriated by MIPPA for ongoing administrative costs. SSA officials told GAO that implementing the MIPPA requirements has not significantly affected its overall workload and that SSA expects funding provided under the law to be sufficient to carry out the requirements."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The progress of the broadband projects is difficult to measure because of data limitations. As projects progress, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) disburse awarded funds to projects on, for example, a reimbursement basis. As of July 2012, NTIA has disbursed approximately $1.9 billion of the $3.8 billion it awarded for projects under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), and as of June 2012, RUS has disbursed approximately $1 billion of the $3.3 billion it awarded for projects under the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP). These disbursements are one measure of progress, and the disbursements indicate that the projects in aggregate are less than half complete. However, disbursements sometimes lag behind actual progress for a number of reasons, such as contracts that provide for payment after work is completed. In addition, the agencies have been inconsistent in collecting non-financial data on project progress. While NTIA has collected data on BTOP projects, RUS did not collect data until recently. According to NTIA data, 76 percent of planned network miles are complete. According to RUS, the data it has recently collected are …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Progress has been made, but additional work is needed to overcome many of the obstacles to the safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) that GAO identified in 2008. GAO reported in 2008 that UAS could not meet the aviation safety requirements developed for manned aircraft and that this posed several obstacles to safe and routine operation in the national airspace system. These obstacles still exist and include the inability for UAS to sense and avoid other aircraft and airborne objects in a manner similar to manned aircraft; vulnerabilities in the command and control of UAS operations; the lack of technological and operational standards needed to guide safe and consistent performance of UAS; and final regulations to accelerate the safe integration of UAS into the national airspace system. The Joint Planning and Development Office of the FAA has provided UAS stakeholders with a framework to collaborate and coordinate their UAS integration efforts."

This report provides information about The Current Structure and Its Role in the Changing Telecommunications Landscape on the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC is an independent agency with its five members appointed by the president.

This report discusses the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, enacted in 1974, which is a needs-based program that provides cash benefits designed to ensure a minimum income to aged, blind, or disabled persons with limited income and assets.

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The overall objective of this research is to improve our basic understanding of the biophysical processes that govern C sequestration in major rainfed and irrigated agroecosystems in the north-central USA.

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Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) personnel, at the request of Area Completion Projects (ACP), evaluated In-Situ Disposal (ISD) alternatives that are under consideration for deactivation and decommissioning (D&D) of Building 235-F and the Building 294-2F Sand Filter. SRNL personnel developed and used a GoldSim fate and transport model, which is consistent with Musall 2012, to evaluate relative to groundwater protection, ISD alternatives that involve either source removal and/or the grouting of portions or all of 235-F. This evaluation was conducted through the development and use of a Building 235-F GoldSim fate and transport model. The model simulates contaminant release from four 235-F process areas and the 294-2F Sand Filter. In addition, it simulates the fate and transport through the vadose zone, the Upper Three Runs (UTR) aquifer, and the Upper Three Runs (UTR) creek. The model is designed as a stochastic model, and as such it can provide both deterministic and stochastic (probabilistic) results. The results show that the median radium activity concentrations exceed the 5 ?Ci/L radium MCL at the edge of the building for all ISD alternatives after 10,000 years, except those with a sufficient amount of inventory removed. A very interesting result was that grouting was shown …

The purpose of the non-destructive evaluation (NDE) R&D Roadmap for Cables is to support the Materials Aging and Degradation (MAaD) R&D pathway. The focus of the workshop was to identify the technical gaps in detecting aging cables and predicting their remaining life expectancy. The workshop was held in Knoxville, Tennessee, on July 30, 2012, at Analysis and Measurement Services Corporation (AMS) headquarters. The workshop was attended by 30 experts in materials, electrical engineering, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratories (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Idaho National Engineering Laboratory), NDE instrumentation development, universities, commercial NDE services and cable manufacturers, and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The motivation for the R&D roadmap comes from the need to address the aging management of in-containment cables at nuclear power plants (NPPs).

This report attempts to clarify whether or not there is an association between the tax rates of the highest income taxpayers and economic growth. Data is analyzed to illustrate the association between the tax rates of the highest income taxpayers and measures of economic growth.

This report looks at the state of Hong Kong politics after the 2012 elections. It covers three key reasons why Congress may consider appropriating funds to foster the development of civil society and democratic practices in Hong Kong: [1] it is U.S. policy to support democracy in Hong Kong, [2] the conduct of the 2012 elections may be indicators of support for democratic reforms, and [3] there is a possibility that democracy in Hong Kong could lead to democratic reforms in Mainland China.

This report summarizes budgetary decisions relating to research and development funding for FY2013.