A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO designated the transformation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as high risk in 2003, and it continues to do so today. One essential tool for facilitating organizational transformation is an enterprise architecture (EA)--a corporate blueprint that serves as an authoritative frame of reference for information technology investment decision making. The Congress required DHS to submit a report that includes its EA and a capital investment plan for implementing it. The Congress also required that GAO review the report. In June 2006, DHS submitted this report to the Congress. GAO's objective was to assess the status of the EA, referred to as DHS EA 2006, and the plan for implementing it. To meet this objective, GAO analyzed architectural documents relative to its prior recommendations; evaluated stakeholder comments and the process used to obtain them; and analyzed the implementation plan against relevant guidance."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Farmers receive about $20 billion annually in federal farm program payments, which go to individuals and "entities," including corporations, partnerships, and estates. Under certain conditions, estates may receive payments for the first 2 years after an individual's death. For later years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) must determine that the estate is not being kept open for payments. As requested, GAO evaluated the extent to which USDA (1) follows its regulations that are intended to provide reasonable assurance that farm program payments go only to eligible estates and (2) makes improper payments to deceased individuals. GAO reviewed a nonrandom sample of estates based, in part, on the amount of payments an estate received and compared USDA's databases that identify payment recipients with individuals the Social Security Administration listed as deceased."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) provision required the Department of Defense (DOD) to close the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP). GAO was asked to address the status and potential impact of implementing this BRAC provision. This report discusses (1) key services AFIP provides to the military and civilian communities; (2) DOD's plans to terminate, relocate, or outsource services currently provided by AFIP; and (3) the potential impacts of disestablishing AFIP on military and civilian communities. New legislation requires DOD to consider this GAO report as it develops its plan for the reorganization of AFIP. GAO reviewed DOD's plans, analysis, and other relevant information, and interviewed officials from the public and private sectors."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Because of the significance of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collections to overall federal receipts and, in turn, to the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government, which GAO is required to audit, and Congress's interest in financial management at IRS, GAO audits IRS's financial statements annually to determine whether (1) the financial statements are reliable, and (2) IRS management maintained effective internal controls. GAO also tests IRS's compliance with selected provisions of significant laws and regulations and its financial systems' compliance with the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA)."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Agencies are required to report improper payment information under the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA) and recovery auditing information under section 831 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002, commonly known as the Recovery Auditing Act. Since the first year of implementation, fiscal year 2004, limited improper payments reporting by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and concerns raised by NASA's auditors about its risk assessment process prompted scrutiny from the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, during several oversight hearings. Because the subcommittee noted that USAID's and NASA's performance and accountability report (PAR) reporting on improper payments and recovery auditing was minimal, GAO was asked to review both agencies' IPIA risk assessment methodologies, recovery auditing procedures, and actions under way to improve their IPIA and recovery audit reporting."

This document presents an Interim Measure Work Plan/Design for the short-term, field-scale pilot testing and subsequent implementation of a non-emergency Interim Measure (IM) at the site of the former grain storage facility operated by the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) in Centralia, Kansas. The IM is recommended to mitigate both (1) localized carbon tetrachloride contamination in the vadose zone soils beneath the former facility and (2) present (and potentially future) carbon tetrachloride contamination identified in the shallow groundwater beneath and in the immediate vicinity of the former CCC/USDA facility. Investigations conducted on behalf of the CCC/USDA by Argonne National Laboratory have demonstrated that groundwater at the Centralia site is contaminated with carbon tetrachloride at levels that exceed the Kansas Tier 2 Risk-Based Screening Level (RBSL) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contaminant level of 5.0 {micro}g/L for this compound. Groundwater sampling and analyses conducted by Argonne under a monitoring program approved by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) indicated that the carbon tetrachloride levels at several locations in the groundwater plume have increased since twice yearly monitoring of the site began in September 2005. The identified groundwater contamination currently poses no unacceptable …

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This report discusses the Invisible Hand Theorem, which states that when certain assumptions hold, market outcomes will be efficient.

This report provides a general overview of HEA provisions that affect institutional eligibility for participation in Title IV student aid programs and, in some instances, discusses specific issues that may arise during the HEA reauthorization process.

For some time there has been a growing sense of urgency to develop and deploy effective missile defenses against a range of long and short range ballistic missile threats. Although many might believe this to be relative new to U.S. national security objectives, such interest has been ongoing since the end of World War II. Many current technologies being investigated date their start to the 1980s, and earlier. This effort has been challenging technically and politically controversial. Some $110 billion has been spent since the mid-1980s; Congress appropriated $9.3 billion in FY2006. For FY2008 the Administration requested $8.9 billion for the Missile Defense Agency. This report provides a brief overview of U.S. efforts to date.

This report is intended to provide a summary of legislative attempts to address issues of energy development and preservation in the Refuge from the 95th Congress through the 109th Congress, with emphasis on the 107th through 109th Congresses.

Two federal programs that support the price and income received by dairy farmers are expiring in 2007 — the dairy price support program and the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program. This report discusses the reauthorization of these and other farm commodity price and income support programs, which is being debated by the 110th Congress in the context of a pending omnibus 2007 farm bill.

This report discusses the new Palestinian unity government, which established in March 2007 complicates U.S. policy toward the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the peace process.

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This report discusses the federal support for child care in several forms, ranging from grant programs to tax provisions. It also points out the federal child care-related programs and tax provisions.

This report will identify and discuss oversight issues and legislation introduced in the 110th Congress to address specific concerns related to how ESA is implemented and how endangered species are managed, and will be updated periodically to reflect legislative action.

This report discusses the polar bear status and they are affected by climate change, contaminants, and subsistence and sport hunting.

This report discusses soil and water conservation topics, which will be prominent in the 110th Congress, especially as it considers policy options for the next farm bill.

Perchlorate is the explosive component of solid rocket fuel, fireworks, road flares, and other products. Used mainly by the Department of Defense (DOD) and related industries, perchlorate also occurs naturally and is present in some organic fertilizer.This report reviews perchlorate water contamination issues and recent developments.

This report examines three starting points from which a U.S. response to the convention is being framed.

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