Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11 killed thousands of Americans and foreign nationals. The economic toll will also be enormous. Countless jobs and retirement funds are now at risk. Estimates of the losses to the airline industry alone have ranged from $4 billion, according to many analysts, to more than $20 billion, according to some airline officials. Congress has already appropriated $40 billion for emergency responses, including increased transportation security, and Congress is considering financial assistance to the airline industry. GAO believes that the government needs to clearly define the nature of the problem--separating short-term needs from long-term challenges, industry wants from real needs. Although all airlines now face major financial challenges, government assistance cannot overcome the financial difficulty that confronted several carriers before the events of September 11. The government has a range of options to assist the airline industry, from loans and loan guarantees to tax subsidies. The choice and design of the assistance is critical to targeting federal aid to the immediate problems, spreading responsibility among all industry stakeholders, and ensuring accountability to Congress and the American …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed changes in airfares and service quality at Buffalo Niagara International Airport since deregulation."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Army Corps of Engineers' Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, focusing on: (1) the role of the Corps' Plan in addressing the major water quality concerns in Florida's ecosystem; and (2) modifications that may be needed as the Corps implements the Plan after it has been authorized by Congress."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed food safety expenditures by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), focusing on: (1) the amount of resources available to FSIS and FDA for food safety activities; (2) how these resources were expended by the agencies; and (3) how much the states, territories, and District of Columbia expended on food safety activities."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has reversed the general decline in its third-party collections for the first time since fiscal year 1995. The fiscal year 2001 increase appears to be largely the result of VA's implementation of a new system, known as the reasonable charges billing system, which allowed VA to move from a flat-rate billing system to one that itemizes charges. However, long-standing problems in VA's revenue operations persist, and VA's collections performance is poor when compared to that of the private sector. VA's attempts at consolidation using either in-house or contractor staff have provided little basis for selecting the best alternative to VA's collections problems. Also, VA's recent 2001 Revenue Cycle Improvement Plan does not call for a comprehensive comparison of alternatives, nor does it focus on net revenues--collections minus operations costs. To collect the most funds for veterans' medical care at the lowest cost, VA needs to develop a business plan and detailed implementation approach that will provide useful data for optimizing net revenues from third-party payments."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A safe and secure civil aviation system is critical to the nation's security, physical infrastructure, and economy. Billions of dollars and myriad programs and policies have been devoted to achieving such a system. Although it is not fully known at this time what actually occurred or what all the weaknesses in the nation's aviation security apparatus are that contributed to the horrendous events on September 11, 2001, it is clear that serious weaknesses exist in our aviation security system and that their impact can be far more devastating than previously imagined. As reported last year, GAO's review of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) oversight of air traffic control (ATC) computer systems showed that FAA had not followed some critical aspects of its own security requirements. Specifically, FAA had not ensured that ATC buildings and facilities were secure, that the systems themselves were protected, and that the contractors who use these systems had undergone background checks. Controls for limiting access to secure areas, including aircraft, have not always worked as intended. GAO's special agents used fictitious law enforcement badges and credentials to gain access to secure areas, bypass security …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A safe and secure civil aviation system is a critical component of the nation's overall security, physical infrastructure, and economic foundation. Billions of dollars and myriad programs and policies have been devoted to achieving such a system. Although it is not fully known at this time what actually occurred or what all the weaknesses in the nation's aviation security apparatus are that contributed to the horrendous events on September 11, 2001, it is clear that serious weaknesses exist in our aviation security system and that their impact can be far more devastating than previously imagined. As reported last year, GAO's review of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) oversight of air traffic control (ATC) computer systems showed that FAA had not followed some critical aspects of its own security requirements. Specifically, FAA had not ensured that ATC buildings and facilities were secure, that the systems themselves were protected, and that the contractors who access these systems had undergone background checks. Controls for limiting access to secure areas, including aircraft, have not always worked as intended. GAO's special agents used fictitious law enforcement badges and credentials to gain access to …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Defense's (DOD) backlog of overdue personnel security reinvestigations, focusing on: (1) how DOD estimates estimates the backlog; (2) the soundness of DOD's backlog estimates; and (3) DOD's plans to address the backlog problem."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As part of its work to improve the management and performance of the federal government, GAO monitors progress and continuing challenges in using performance information to inform budgetary choices (performance budgeting). In light of the nation's long-term fiscal imbalance and other 21st century challenges, we have reported that the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) and performance budgeting can support needed reexamination of what the federal government does, how it does it, and who does it. GAO remains committed to working with Congress and the Administration to help address these important and complex issues."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. government controls the export of defense-related items to minimize the risk such exports may pose to its interests. The U.S. export control system is primarily divided between two regulatory regimes, one managed by the Department of State for defense items and another managed by the Department of Commerce for dual-use items that have both military and commercial applications. Companies are responsible for determining which department to use and what requirements apply when exporting their items, but can obtain government assistance through two different processes. If companies have determined that their items are Commerce-controlled but are uncertain of export licensing requirements, they may request a classification from Commerce through the commodity classification process. Commerce can refer classification requests to State and the Department of Defense to confirm that the items are Commerce-controlled. However, if companies are unsure of which department has jurisdiction over their items, they can request a determination through the commodity jurisdiction process from State, which consults with Commerce and Defense. In implementing the commodity classification process, Commerce has improperly classified some State-controlled items as Commerce-controlled and has not adhered to regulatory time …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the federal paperwork burden, focusing on the: (1) paperwork burden associated with federal agencies' general purpose statistics and research (GPS/R) surveys that are directed towards businesses; (2) nature, use, and burden of selected GPS/R surveys; and (3) agencies' efforts to reduce the burden associated with the selected surveys."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Under the administration's National Energy Policy, the Department of Energy (DOE) is promoting nuclear energy to meet increased U.S. energy demand. In 2003, DOE began developing the Next Generation Nuclear Plant, an advanced nuclear reactor that seeks to improve upon the current generation of operating commercial nuclear power plants. DOE intends to demonstrate the plant's commercial application both for generating electricity and for using process heat from the reactor for the production of hydrogen, which then would be used in fuel cells for the transportation sector. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 required plant design and construction to be completed by 2021. This testimony, which summarizes a GAO report being issued today (GAO-06-1056), provides information on DOE's (1) progress in meeting its schedule for the Next Generation Nuclear Plant project and (2) approach to ensuring the project's commercial viability. For the report, GAO reviewed DOE's research and development (R&D) plans for the project and the reports of two independent project reviews, observed R&D activities, and interviewed DOE, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and industry representatives."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) established the Defense Manufacturing Technology Program to develop and apply advanced manufacturing technologies to reduce the total cost and improve the manufacturing quality of weapon systems. By maturing and validating emerging manufacturing technology and transferring it to the factory floor, the program bridges the gap between technology invention and industrial application. The program, which has existed in various forms since the 1950's, received about $200 million in funding fiscal year 2001. DOD's Office of the Under Secretary of Defense provides guidance and oversight to the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), but each establishes its own policies and procedures for running the program and determines which technologies to develop. Users told GAO that the program was responding to their needs by developing technologies, products, and processes that reduced the cost and improved the quality of weapons systems. To the extent practicable, DOD used competitive procedures to award the work done under the program. The Army, Air Force, and DLA competitively awarded most of the projects GAO reviewed for fiscal years 1999 and 2000, and the remaining non-competitive …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "People are critical to the success of the federal government's overall transformation effort. Yet the government has not transformed, in many cases for decades, how it classifies, compensates, develops, and motivates its employees to achieve maximum results with available resources and existing authorities. This is especially the case with the federal government's top leadership and federal justices and judges. Leading organizations understand that they must often change their culture to successfully transform themselves, and that such a change starts with top leadership. Most importantly, senior leaders who are drivers of continuous improvement are needed to stimulate and support efforts to facilitate change and achieve related transformation efforts for the federal government. At the Chairman's request, we recently reported on executive and judicial pay--Human Capital: Trends in Executive and Judicial Pay (GAO-06-708). This testimony highlights information from that report."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), the nation's intercity passenger rail operator, was created by Congress in 1970 after the nation's railroads found passenger service to be unprofitable. It is a private corporation. Its financial situation has never been strong, and it has been on the edge of bankruptcy several times. Early this year, Amtrak stated that federal financial assistance would have to more than double for the corporation to survive. Given Amtrak's worsening financial condition and the potential for intercity passenger rail to play a larger role in the nation's transportation system, there is growing agreement that the mission, funding, and structure of the current approach to providing intercity passenger rail merits reexamination. If Amtrak had been liquidated on December 31, 2001, secured creditors and unsecured creditors--including the federal government and Amtrak employees--and stockholders would have had $44 billion in potential claims against and ownership interests in Amtrak's estate. It is unlikely that secured and unsecured creditors' claims would have been fully satisfied, because Amtrak's assets available to satisfy these claims and interests are old, have little value, or appear unlikely to have a value …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the progress that the securities industry has made toward the implementation of decimal pricing for U.S. stocks, focusing on: (1) what were the specific reasons that the Nasdaq market was not ready for the July 3, 2000, implementation date and how the National Association of Securities Dealers', Inc. (NASD) decimal-trading preparations compared with those of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE); (2) how the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approached oversight of the securities industry's implementation of decimal trading and how this compared with its year 2000 oversight effort; and (3) what challenges remain regarding implementing decimal trading for the industry."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. commercial aviation industry has had an extraordinary safety record in recent years. However, expected increases in air-traffic--including the introduction of new vehicles into the national airspace, such as unmanned vehicles and very light jets--and human resource issues, present challenges that have the potential to strain the existing safety oversight system. GAO's testimony focuses on these questions: (1) How is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ensuring that the areas of highest safety risk are addressed? (2) How is FAA ensuring that its staff maintain the skills and knowledge to consistently carry out the agency's oversight programs? and (3) What are the key safety challenges facing FAA? This statement is based on our recent reports on FAA's inspection oversight programs, industry partnership programs, and enforcement and training programs. It is also based on interviews with FAA and relevant industry officials."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances' (OPPTS) implementation of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), focusing on the: (1) guidance that OPPTS and the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) three other major program offices have used during the past 10 years to determine whether their proposed rules could be certified as not having a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities (SEISNSE); (2) comparing rate at which OPPTS certified that its substantive proposed rules published during calendar years 1994 through 1999 would not have a SEISNSE with the rates in EPA's other major program offices; and (3) methodology that OPPTS used in the economic analysis for the proposed lead rule and: (a) key aspects of that methodology that may have contributed to the Office's conclusion that the rule would not have a SEISNSE; (b) if so, how OPPTS has changed its economic analysis since publication of the rule; and (c) whether additional data or analysis could have yielded a different conclusion about the rule's impact on small entities."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Alternative mortgage products (AMPs) can make homes more affordable by allowing borrowers to defer repayment of principal or part of the interest for the first few years of the mortgage. Recent growth in AMP lending has heightened the importance of borrowers' understanding and lenders' management of AMP risks. GAO's report discusses the (1) recent trends in the AMP market, (2) potential AMP risks for borrowers and lenders, (3) extent to which mortgage disclosures discuss AMP risks, and (4) federal and selected state regulatory response to AMP risks. GAO used regulatory and industry data to analyze changes in AMP monthly payments under various scenarios; reviewed available studies; and interviewed relevant federal and state regulators and mortgage industry groups, and consumer groups."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Energy's (DOE) efforts to improve the storage of spent nuclear fuel from its nuclear reactors at DOE's Hanford Site in Washington State, focusing on: (1) its status; (2) what problems might affect achieving cost and schedule estimates; and (3) whether changes have been sufficient to address management weaknesses."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (DOE) has 30 major research, development, production, and environmental cleanup sites around the country that account for three-fourths of DOE's over-$20 billion annual budget. DOE manages these sites largely through contractors, which can be either industrial firms or educational institutions. Since fiscal year 1999, DOE's major contractors have spent $6 billion each year on support-related activities. This amount represents 40 percent of the contractors' total annual costs. DOE's management of support-related costs on a departmentwide basis is limited, consisting mainly of the Chief Financial Officer's (CFO) annual analysis, and departmentwide dissemination, of summary data on these costs. The CFO's analysis includes comparing the most recent data with data for previous years, highlighting trends and potential anomalies. At the DOE field and contractor level, virtually all contractors examined during GAO's review have in recent years implemented initiatives to manage certain support-related costs. Some of these initiatives have resulted in millions of dollars in savings reported by the contractor. To achieve these savings, contractors have sometimes set targets for reducing specific types of support-related costs, such as overhead costs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress has questioned whether the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), formerly the Health Care Financing Administration, adequately implemented new payment methods, effectively safeguarded program payments, and adequately oversaw the quality of care provided to beneficiaries. CMS depends on hundreds of information technology (IT) systems to help manage the Medicare program. With year 2000 systems renovations successfully completed, CMS has focused on modernizing its IT systems. The agency's information systems are crucial to carrying out Medicare's core missions of claims processing and payment, program oversight, and administration of participating health plans. Medicare's major systems are aged, however, and many are incompatible with one another. To address these problems, CMS intends to modify, replace, or redesign systems on which key Medicare missions depend. CMS plans to make incremental system improvements while maintaining current functions and accommodating changes mandated by legislation. The agency's IT planning and management processes--intended to increase the likelihood that new systems will be successful and cost-effective--have shortcomings. The agency's blueprint documenting its existing and planned IT environments, also known as its enterprise architecture, is missing essential detail in critical parts, including well-documented business …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Business income taxes, both corporate and noncorporate, are a significant portion of federal tax revenue. Businesses also play a crucial role in collecting taxes from individuals, through withholding and information reporting. However, the design of the current system of business taxation is widely seen as flawed. It distorts investment decisions, hurting the performance of the economy. Its complexity imposes planning and record keeping costs, facilitates tax shelters, and provides potential cover for those who want to cheat. Not surprisingly, business tax reform is part of the debate about overall tax reform. The debate is occurring at a time when long-range projections show that, without a policy change, the gap between spending and revenues will widen. This testimony reviews the nation's long term fiscal imbalance and what is wrong with the current system of business taxation and provides some principles that ought to guide the debate about business tax reform. This statement is based on previously published GAO work and reviews of relevant literature."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO determined: (1) what efforts the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) and its grantees have made to correct problems with case service reporting; and (2) whether these efforts are likely to resolve the case reporting problems that occurred in 1997."