Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses how states are using the March 2002 Reed Act distribution, which was part of the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002. This broad stimulus package included an additional 13 weeks of federally-funded extended unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for all states and a distribution to states of $8 billion of the unemployment tax revenue it holds in reserve, referred to as a Reed Act distribution. Under the act, these funds may be used to pay UI benefits, and/or to enhance UI benefits, such as increasing weekly benefit payments, extending the period of time benefits are paid, or otherwise expanding eligibility to groups that currently do not qualify for benefits. States may also appropriate these funds for the administrative costs of UI, including activities related to program integrity, and employment services (ES) programs, including one-stop service centers. This testimony focuses on: (1) the proportion of Reed Act dollars that states have spent; (2) the proportion of total Reed Act dollars that remains in state UI trust funds and the effect this has had on employer UI taxes; and (3) the proportion of Reed Act dollars …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony focuses on the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), its interaction with the regular tax system, and its projected growth in coverage. GAO found that (1) AMT was designed to ensure that high-income individuals do not avoid significant income tax liabilities--for tax year 1997, about 14,000 taxpayers would not have paid any income taxes absent AMT, (2) AMT operates as a separate tax system that parallels the regular individual income tax system but with different rules for determining taxable income, different tax rates for computing tax liability, and different rules for allowing the use of tax credits, (3) AMT affected about one percent of taxpayers in 2000 and accounted for about $5.8 billion in additional tax revenue; by 2010, it is expected to increase the tax liabilities of about one out of six taxpayers and account for about $189 billion in tax revenues over the period, (4) the projected increase in AMT coverage is, for the most part, attributable to inflation and to the scheduled expiration of legislation temporarily excluding some tax credits from AMT rules, and (5) AMT's impacts include increased taxpayer compliance burden; increased Internal Revenue …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Because pending legislation would modify current law, which requires that military retirement pay be reduced by the amount of VA disability compensation benefit received, the Subcommittee on Personnel, Senate Committee on Armed Services asked GAO to discuss the treatment of concurrent benefit receipt in other programs. GAO was also asked to discuss its broader work on federal disability programs."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Energy's (DOE) annual performance plan for fiscal year (FY) 2000 which is required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "One of the primary missions of the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) focuses on border control--preventing the illegal entry of people and goods into the United States. Part of this mission is controlling the passage of travelers through official ports of entry into the United States. Facilitating the flow of people while preventing the illegal entry of travelers requires an effective and efficient process that authenticates a traveler's identity. Generally, identifying travelers at the ports of entry is performed by inspecting their travel documents, such as passports and visas, and asking them questions. Technologies called biometrics can automate the identification of individual travelers by one or more of their distinct physiological characteristics. Biometrics have been suggested as a way of improving the nation's ability to determine whether travelers are admissible to the United States."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the challenges the Department of Education faces in achieving financial management reform, focusing on: (1) Education's fiscal year (FY) 1999 financial audit results in the context of related work GAO has performed; (2) the relationship between the audit findings and the potential for waste, fraud, and abuse; and (3) the status of GAO's ongoing study of the department's grantback account."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of the Secretary of Defense and the service headquarters provide overall policy guidance and negotiate agreements on the treatment of the military's historic properties. However, most decisions on historic properties are made at the installation level. The installations are responsible for identifying and evaluating properties to determine if they are eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places as well as maintaining all properties that are listed on or have been determined eligible for listing on the National Register. The military lacks complete and reliable data on the number of its historic properties. None of the services have a centralized database that comprehensively identifies all of their respective historic properties. Data is not available on the costs to to maintain or repair historic properties. Cost data GAO examined at several installations showed that, overall, the day-to-day maintenance historic properties was similar to maintenance on non-historic properties."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Financial management problems at the Department of Defense (DOD) are complex, long-standing, and deeply rooted throughout its business operations. DOD's financial management deficiencies represent the single largest obstacle to achieving an unqualified opinion on the U.S. government's consolidated financial statements. So far, none of the military services or major DOD components have passed the test of an independent financial audit because of pervasive weaknesses in financial management systems, operations, and controls. These problems go back decades, and earlier attempts at reform have been unsuccessful. DOD continues to rely on a far-flung, complex network of finance, logistics, personnel, acquisition, and other management information systems for financial data to support day-to-day management and decision-making. This network has evolved into an overly complex and error-prone operation with (1) little standardization across DOD components, (2) multiple systems performing the same tasks, (3) the same data stored in multiple systems, (4) manual data entry into multiple systems, and (5) a large number of data translations and interfaces, which combine to exacerbate problems with data integrity. Many of the elements that are crucial to financial management reform and business process transformation--particularly those that rely …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed its ongoing monitoring of the Forest Service's efforts to improve its financial accountability, focusing on: (1) the historical pattern of the Forest Service's financial management weaknesses; (2) the fundamental problems which the Forest Service must resolve in order to achieve financial accountability; (3) GAO's criteria for placing Forest Service financial management on its high-risk list and what must take place for the agency to be removed from the list; and (4) highlighting corrective measures the agency has under way."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Accurate cost information is crucial for proper program management. Such information is especially important for the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Mining Law Administration Program (MLAP) because this program partially funded through mining fees that Congress has earmarked only for mining law administration operations. Some labor costs and several contracts and services were improperly charged to MLAP, causing other subactivities to benefit from funds intended for MLAP operations. Therefore, fewer funds have been available for actual MLAP operations. Although BLM has tried to make correcting adjustments for some of these improper charges, it has not established specific guidance or procedures to prevent improper charging of MLAP funds from recurring. Until additional procedures for MLAP are developed and effectively implemented, Congress and program managers can only place limited reliance on the accuracy of MLAP cost information."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) oversees 2.2 million miles of pipelines that transport potentially dangerous materials, such as oil and natural gas. OPS has been slow to improve its oversight of the pipeline industry and implement critical pipeline safety improvements. As a result, OPS has the lowest rate of any transportation agency for implementing the recommendations of the National Transportation Safety Board. In recent years, OPS has taken several steps to improve its oversight of the pipeline industry, including requiring "integrity management" programs for individual operators to assess their pipelines for risks, take action to mitigate the risks, and develop program performance measures. OPS has also (1) revised forms and procedures to collect more complete and accurate data, which will enable OPS to better assess the causes of incidents and focus on the greatest risks to pipelines; (2) allowed more states to oversee a broader range of interstate pipeline safety activities; and (3) increased the use of fines. OPS has made progress in responding to recommendations from the Safety Board and statutory requirements, but some key open recommendations and requirements, such as requiring pipeline operators to periodically …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Through the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, the Federal Housing Administration operates a single-family insurance program that helps millions of Americans buy homes. Last year, the Fund's economic value appeared to have reached its highest level in the last 20 years--prompting proposals to spend some of the Fund's current resources or reduce net cash flows into the Fund. This testimony discusses (1) the financial health of the Fund under different economic scenarios and (2) the impact of proposals to reduce the size of the Fund. Under several scenarios it tested, GAO found that the Fund would be able to withstand moderately severe economic downturns. However, in three other scenarios GAO tested, the Fund would not be able to maintain its actuarial soundness. Because of the professional judgment and uncertainty involved in these analyses, GAO urges caution in using these estimates to conclude that the Fund would withstand any particular economic scenario under all circumstances. Congress and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development have taken and could take several steps to influence the economic value of the Fund. However, those actions will affect the federal budget, and, if not …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed civilian personnel downsizing in the Department of Defense (DOD) and a framework that could be useful for approaching its human capital management challenges in the future."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "E-government refers to operations that enhance delivery of government information and services. Enterprise architectures provides for successful delivery of e-government applications, which in turn promise improved government performance and accountability. Under the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) leadership, the president's fiscal year 2003 budget proposes 24 e-government initiatives, most involving multiple agencies. These initiatives have laudable goals, including the elimination of redundant, nonintegrated business operations and systems which could save billions of dollars. The success of these initiatives depends in large part on whether they are pursued within the context of enterprise architectures. Approved architectures for most of these initiatives do not currently exist. OMB has been a proponent of enterprise architectures and has recently devoted increased attention to them. However, it can and should play a larger role. The maturity framework and benchmark data about 116 departments, component agencies, and independent agencies GAO reviews in this testimony provide important baseline information against which targeted improvement across the government can be defined and measured."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the role of chief information officers (CIO) in the federal government."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the financial management issues at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), focusing on: (1) FAA's financial management weaknesses; (2) fundamental problems which FAA must resolve in order to achieve financial accountability; and (3) corrective measures the agency has under way."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed federal information security, focusing on actions federal agencies can take immediately to strengthen their security programs as well as other actions required to make more fundamental and long-term improvements."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed selected state patient protection provisions already in place and congressional proposals under consideration, focusing on state statutes that relate to seven types of patient protections: (1) coverage of emergency services; (2) access to obstetricians and gynecologists; (3) access to pediatricians; (4) access to other specialists; (5) continuity of care for enrollees whose providers leave the plan; (6) drug formularies; and (7) patient-provider communication."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed how best to ensure the long-term viability of the nation's social security program."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO: (1) discussed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) budget justification for the Science and Technology account; and (2) presented observations on EPA's budget justifications for fiscal years (FY) 1999, 2000, and 2001."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has been at the forefront of federal agencies in using the OMB Circular A-76 process. In 1995, DOD made it a priority to reduce operating costs and free funds for other needs. DOD has also augmented the A-76 program with what it terms strategic sourcing--a broader array of reinvention and reengineering options that may not necessarily involve A-76 competitions. The number of positions--at one point 229,000--that DOD planned to study and the time frames for the studies have varied. Current plans are to study about 183,000 positions between fiscal years 1997 and 2007. Changes in the inventory of commercial activities and the current administration's sourcing initiatives could change the number of positions studied in the future. However, GAO has not evaluated the extent to which these changes might occur. DOD's A-76 program has faced several challenges that may provide valuable lessons learned for other federal agencies. These lessons include the following: (1) studies took longer than initially projected, (2) costs and resources required for the studies were underestimated, (3) selecting and grouping functions to compete can be difficult, and (4) determining and maintaining …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Air Force's 50-percent ceiling waiver, focusing on the basis for the waiver and the likelihood that the Air Force will need additional waivers in the future."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the proposals to change the entire budget process from an annual to a biennial cycle."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed its review of the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) financial management activities for Medicare, focusing on challenges HCFA faces in establishing an adequate foundation for control and accountability over the Medicare program's financial operations."