Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the dispute between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the industrial laundry industry regarding EPA's cost benefit analyses of its proposed pretreatment standards, focusing on: (1) EPA's implementation of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA); (2) the significant differences between EPA's and the industry's cost estimates of this proposed regulation; (3) ascertaining how EPA estimated the benefits of the proposed rule and disclosed the uncertainties associated with the accuracy of its estimates; and (4) how EPA's analysis supports its belief that the agency has chosen the least costly, most cost-effective, or least burdensome regulatory alternative."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2010, 13 federal agencies invested over $3 billion in 209 programs designed to increase knowledge of STEM fields and attainment of STEM degrees. The number of programs within agencies ranged from 3 to 46, with the Departments of Health and Human Services and Energy and the National Science Foundation administering more than half of these programs. Almost a third of the programs had obligations of $1 million or less, while some had obligations of over $100 million. Beyond programs specifically focused on STEM education, agencies funded other broad efforts that contributed to enhancing STEM education."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From fiscal years 1994 through 2009, the Department of Defense (DOD) separated over 13,000 active military servicemembers under its homosexual conduct policy. These separations represent about 0.37 percent of the 3.6 million members separated for all reasons, including expiration of terms of service and retirement. In 2005, GAO reported on the number of separated servicemembers under DOD's homosexual conduct policy who held critical skills and the costs associated with administering the policy from fiscal years 1994 through 2003. GAO was asked to examine data from fiscal years 2004 through 2009 to determine (1) the extent to which the policy has resulted in the separation of servicemembers with skills in critical occupations and important foreign languages and (2) the services' costs for certain activities associated with administering the policy. GAO obtained and analyzed DOD personnel and cost data; examined DOD regulations and policy documents; and conducted interviews with officials from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, the Defense Manpower Data Center, and each of the military services. GAO provided a draft of this report to DOD for review and comment. DOD …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Justice Management Division (JMD), the component responsible for managing the working capital fund, effectively tracks fund functions to ensure adherence to applicable fiscal laws and sound management practices. For example, JMD has well-established policies and procedures for tracking and monitoring the four working capital fund functions so that the fund adheres to authorized purposes. Further, JMD structures its reimbursable agreements with customers to facilitate adherence to the Economy Act—the statutory authority underlying most of JMD’s customer orders. JMD also clearly delineates roles and responsibilities, which allows customers to know who to contact with questions and clearly assigns responsibility for obligating and expending funds. Justice also ensures the fund’s self-sufficiency by recovering total costs for the provided services. These actions are consistent with two of the four key operating principles for working capital funds.Customers noted positive benefits from Justice’s shared services but seek more information on rate structures and want assurances that fund costs are equitably distributed. For example, customers said they valued the breadth of services offered as well as the experience of fund staff but wanted to better understand the basis for shared services …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Assistance provided by the Department of the Treasury (Treasury), under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) to American International Group, Inc. (AIG) represents one of the federal government's largest investments in a private-sector institution since the financial crisis began in 2008. AIG is a holding company that, through its subsidiaries, engaged in a broad range of insurance and insurancerelated activities in the United States and abroad. As part of GAO's statutory oversight of TARP, this report updates a set of indicators GAO last reported in April 2010. Specifically, GAO discusses (1) trends in AIG's financial condition, (2) trends in the unwinding of AIG Financial Products (AIGFP) and the financial condition of AIG's insurance companies, and (3) the status of the government's exposure to AIG. To update the indicators, GAO primarily used available public filings as of September 30, 2010, and more current publicly available information; reviewed rating agencies' reports; and identified critical activities and discussed them with officials from Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and AIG. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and AIG provided technical comments …

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the impact of loan sales on tenants and properties, focusing on: (1) the impact on tenants as project-based assistance contracts expire; and (2) the steps that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has taken to ensure that mortgage purchasers honor the tenant protections."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed: (1) the year 2000 risks facing the nation; (2) the federal government's progress and remaining challenges in correcting its systems; (3) state and local government year 2000 issues; and (4) the readiness of key public infrastructures and economic sectors."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the progress being made in addressing the year 2000 computing challenge and outlined the actions that need to be taken to ensure a smooth conversion to the next century."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has experienced declines in most of its enforcement programs, including declines in audits and in efforts to collect delinquent taxes. Increasing enforcement productivity is one strategy that can help reverse these declines. To this end, IRS is currently planning and has begun implementing enforcement process improvement projects. GAO was asked to assess the extent to which the planning for the projects followed steps consistent with both published GAO guidance and the experiences of private sector and government organizations. Specifically, GAO assessed the extent to which four judgmentally selected projects followed the 20 planning steps."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the issues being considered in the proposed legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) aviation programs, focusing on: (1) air traffic control modernization program; (2) efforts to make its computer systems ready for the year 2000; (3) Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funding; (4) aviation safety and security measures; and (5) efforts to enhance aviation competition."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the development of the Office of Multifamily Housing Assistance Restructuring's (OMHAR) mark-to-market program and the relationship between OMHAR and other Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) offices, focusing on: (1) OMHAR's progress in obtaining staffing resources to implement the program; (2) the status of OMHAR's progress on seven actions that are integral to the program's successful implementation; (3) whether OMHAR has implemented nine statutory requirements in accordance with the act; (4) the extent to which HUD management is involved in directing, reviewing, and approving OMHAR's operations; (5) whether OMHAR's Director has complied with the legislative requirements to report to congressional committees if actions by HUD's Secretary interfere with the Office's ability to carry out the mark-to-market program; and (6) whether the other HUD offices from which OMHAR must obtain support have provided the support requested."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on whether interim guidance for investigating Title VI administrative complaints challenging permits issued by the Environmental Protection Agency is a rule under the Congressional Review Act portion of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Act (SBREFA). GAO held that, irrespective of whether or not in isolation the second portion of the interim guidance is properly viewed as procedural, considered as a whole, the interim guidance clearly affects the rights of non-agency parties. Thus, it constitutes a rule under SBREFA subject to congressional review."