A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "FDA has not taken sufficient steps to ensure that antibiotic labels contain up-to-date breakpoints. FDA designates certain drugs as “reference-listed drugs” and the sponsors of these drugs play an important role in ensuring the accuracy of drug labels. Reference-listed drugs are approved drug products to which generic versions are compared. As of November 2011, FDA had not yet confirmed whether the breakpoints on the majority of reference-listed antibiotics labels were up to date. FDA contacted sponsors of 210 antibiotics in early 2008 to remind sponsors of the importance of maintaining their labels and requested that they assess whether the breakpoints on their drugs’ labels were up to date. Sponsors were asked to submit evidence to FDA showing that the breakpoints were either current or needed revision. As of November 2011, over 3.5 years after FDA contacted sponsors, the agency had not yet confirmed whether the breakpoints on the labels of 70 percent, or 146 of the 210 antibiotics, were up to date. FDA has not ensured that sponsors have fulfilled the responsibilities outlined in the early 2008 letters. For those submissions FDA has received, it has …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Our analysis showed that DOD’s Fiscal Year 2010 Annual Energy Management Report fully addressed two, did not address one (issue 4), and partially addressed five of the eight expanded reporting requirements. In some cases, it was difficult to determine the extent to which DOD had addressed an issue because information related to a specific reporting requirement was fragmented or scattered throughout the report. With regard to the one issue not addressed, DOD indicated it had plans to address it in a separate report tentatively scheduled to be published in early 2012."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Support function costs at NNSA and Science sites for fiscal years 2007 through 2011 are not fully known because DOE changed its data collection approach beginning in 2010 to improve its data and, as a result, does not have complete and comparable cost data for all years. In fiscal years 2007 through 2009, total support costs for NNSA and Science sites grew from $5 billion to about $5.5 billion (nominal dollars). Costs for fiscal year 2010 are unknown because DOE was pilot-testing its new reporting system and only collected data from some sites. For fiscal year 2011, the data are more complete, but changes to DOE’s definitions for support functions make it difficult to compare costs across all years. DOE has taken some steps to ensure the quality of the data in its new system and plans to fully implement a quality control process, such as peer reviews, to ensure data can be compared across sites, but has not yet done so."

Guidance issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Our review identified articles that used varying approaches to estimate the savings associated with generic drug use in the United States. One group of studies estimated the savings in reduced drug costs that have accrued from the use of generics. For example, a series of studies estimated the total savings that have accrued to the U.S. health care system from substituting generic drugs for their brand-name counterparts, and found that from 1999 through 2010 doing so saved more than $1 trillion. A second group of studies estimated the potential to save more on drugs through greater use of generics. For example, one study assessed the potential for additional savings within the Medicare Part D program—which provides outpatient prescription drug coverage for Medicare—and found that if generic drugs had always been substituted for the brand-name drugs studied, about $900 million would have been saved in 2007. A third group of studies estimated the effect on health care costs of using generic versions of certain types of drugs where questions had generally been raised about whether substituting generic drugs for brand-name drugs was medically appropriate. Unlike the other …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The services have coordinated some sea turtle protection efforts, including jointly developing recovery plans, and they established a memorandum of understanding in 1977 to define their roles in joint administration of their efforts. Nevertheless, neither the memorandum nor the services have clearly defined how and when the services are to coordinate; also, the services do not consistently share information about the majority of the take they authorize. According to sea turtle experts GAO spoke with, each service may therefore be authorizing sea turtle take without knowing how much its counterpart has authorized, and the combined allowance may be harming threatened and endangered sea turtles and delaying their recovery."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal dollars obligated to tribal 8(a) firms grew from $2.1 billion in fiscal year 2005 to $5.5 billion in 2010, a greater percentage increase than non-tribal 8(a) obligations (160 percent versus 45 percent). Obligations to 8(a) firms owned by Alaska Native Corporations (ANC) represented the majority of tribal obligationsevery year during the period, rising to $4.7 billion in 2010. While tribal 8(a) firms comprised 6.2 percent of total 8(a) firms, their obligations accounted for almost a third of total 8(a) obligations in fiscal year 2010. Over the 6 years, the percentage of competitively awarded obligations to tribal 8(a) firms rose; however, solesource contracts remained the primary source of growth, representing at least 75 percent of all tribal 8(a) obligations in a given year."

This report gives general overview of the history of the origins and uses of "hollow forces" (i.e., "military forces that appear mission-ready but, upon examination, suffer from shortages of personnel and equipment, and from deficiencies in training"). Senior Department of Defense (DOD) leaders have invoked the specter of a "hollow force" to describe what could happen to the U.S. Armed Forces if significant cuts to the defense budget are enacted. As Congress will play a major role in shaping the Armed Forces both in terms of size, capabilities, and how it is equipped and trained, a nuanced understanding of how the military once became "hollow" could provide a useful context for current and anticipated legislative action.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Air Force has not fully implemented the recommendations from GAO’s 2009 report. With regard to GAO’s recommendation that the military services should formally assign ASA duties to the units that consistently conduct them and ensure that the readiness of those units is fully assessed, the Air Force did so. However, the National Guard Bureau is considering reversing that action because it believes that the recommendation can be better addressed through the Air Force’s standard deployment process. The Air Force has also not established a timetable to implement ASA as a steady-state mission; has not developed and implemented a plan to recapitalize the aging fighter aircraft that conduct ASA operations before the end of their service lives; and, when ASA units are deployed to support other ongoing operations, the Air Force continues to identify replacement units to perform the ASA mission on an ad hoc basis. All of the above were related to recommendations GAO made to the Air Force in its 2009 report. Separately, GAO found considerable confusion about the capabilities associated with ASA operations in part because, in September 2011, NORAD stopped using the …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

Report on a study examining sedimentation in Texas reservoirs. The study identified which reservoirs were most at risk of losing volume and water quality due to sedimentation and looked at regional characteristics which affect sedimentation.

Permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorize various types of development projects in wetlands and other waters of the United States. The Corps' regulatory process involves two types of permits: general permits for actions by private landowners that are similar in nature and will likely have a minor effect on wetlands, and individual permits for more significant actions. The Corps uses general permits to minimize the burden of its regulatory program: they authorize landowners to proceed with a project without the time-consuming need to obtain standard individual permits in advance. About 90% of the Corps' regulatory workload is processed in the form of general permits.

Oversight of the Federal Reserve's (Fed's) monetary policy decisions rests with Congress. But oversight is encumbered by the absence of a straightforward relationship between interest rates and economic performance. Further, the Fed's policy decisions are discretionary, meaning there is no objective, transparent “yardstick” for evaluating their decisions. A simple rule of thumb guide to monetary policy decisions called a “Taylor rule” is an intuitive way to judge actual policy against some objective, albeit simplistic, ideal. Taylor rules prescribe a federal funds target based on inflation and the output gap (i.e., the difference between actual gross domestic product [GDP] and potential GDP) and can be adjusted to reflect a variety of policy goals.

The Federal Reserve (Fed) defines monetary policy as the actions it undertakes to influence the availability and cost of money and credit. Since the expectations of market participants play an important role in determining prices and growth, monetary policy can also be defined to include the directives, policies, statements, and actions of the Fed that influence how the future is perceived. In addition, the Fed acts as a “lender of last resort” to the nation's financial system, meaning that it ensures continued smooth functioning of financial intermediation by providing financial markets with adequate liquidity. This role has become of great importance following the onset of the recent financial crisis. Congress has delegated responsibility for monetary policy to the Fed, but retains oversight responsibilities to ensure that the Fed is adhering to its statutory mandate “maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.” This report looks at the background and influences of current legislation that would affect the Fed's practices.

The change in Russia's trade status will require legislation to lift the restrictions of Title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 as they apply to Russia, which includes the “freedom-of-emigration” requirements of the Jackson-Vanik amendment. The process for Russia's accession has been completed. As a result, Members of the 112th Congress confront the issue of whether to grant Russia permanent normal trade relations (PNTR).

This report discusses the windfall elimination provision (WEP) reduces the Social Security benefits of workers who also have pension benefits from employment not covered by Social Security. Its purpose is to remove an advantage or “windfall” these workers would otherwise receive as a result of the interaction between the Social Security benefit formula and the workers’ relatively short careers in Social Security-covered employment. Opponents contend that the provision is basically imprecise and can be unfair.

The principal federal program to aid municipal wastewater treatment plant construction is authorized in the Clean Water Act (CWA). In appropriations legislation, funding for EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) wastewater assistance is contained in the measure providing funds for the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. This report summarizes, in chronological order, congressional activity to fund items in the State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG) account since 1987.

This report discusses issues related to each of the major Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) simultaneously seeking increases in their capital bases to fund the continued expansion of their development lending programs. U.S. authorization to participate in the GCIs was provided in the FY2011 and FY2012 budget measures. Key issues regarding U.S. participation in the GCIs include: comparative effectiveness of bilateral and multilateral aid, scope of MDB activity, role of emerging economic powers, U.S. bidding for MDB-funded projects, and anti-corruption policies.

This report discusses issues regarding the Presidential Nomination Process including information about the 2008 election, calendar changes from 1988 to 2008, changes to national party rules for 2012, an evaluation of the primary system, reform proposals, and legislative considerations.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to information provided by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and our survey of the Inspectors General (IG), five civilian agencies, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Energy, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission used the Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act's (PFCRA) authorities to refer 141 cases to DOJ for approval by the Attorney General during fiscal years 2006 through 2010. Of the 141 cases, 135, or 96 percent, were referred by HUD. The remaining four agencies referred a total of 6 cases during this period."

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

This report addresses key questions concerning the impact of enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on the TRICARE and VA health care programs. To provide some context to this discussion, the report begins with a brief overview of the two health systems and eligibility for care under each system.

This report provides an overview of the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS's) financial condition, legislation enacted to alleviate the USPS's financial challenges, and possible issues for the 112th Congress. It also includes a side-by-side comparison of two of the postal reform bills, H.R. 2309 and S. 1789.