Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed 24 agencies that are covered by the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990 to analyze trends in hiring patterns. Generally, GAO did not find any discernable patterns. More than half of the 24 agencies GAO reviewed reported career hiring increases of 10 percent or more between July and December 2000 compared to the same period in 1999. A similar number of agencies, although not necessarily the same ones, reported increases of 10 percent or more for 1999, compared to 1998. Although the percentage changes exceeded 10 percent for most agencies, the actual number of hires were often small. The total number of career and Senior Executive Service employees on board in each of the 24 CFO agencies remained relatively stable during the three-year period."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Workers' compensation "occupational accident" policies were brought to the reinsurance market by Unicover Managers, Inc., a reinsurance pool manager and intermediary. Reinsurance is the acceptance by one insurance company of a portion of the risk or claims loss underwritten by another insurance company for a share of the premium to support that risk. In a reinsurance pool arrangement, several reinsurers combine their capital and delegate underwriting authority to a pool manager that is normally not exposed to risk from the reinsurance. Losses from the failed Unicover venture came in the wake of rapid, high-volume, multilevel reinsurance of portions of workers' compensation policies that were initially underpriced in the aggregate because of a highly competitive market. Reinsurance activities had the effect of subsidizing unprofitable workers' compensation insurance at the expense of insurance companies that reinsured the business. Five rating agencies took a series of rating downgrade actions on two of the five insurance companies GAO reviewed. The other three insurance companies experienced substantial losses but were not downgraded because either the insurer was more than adequately capitalized or the parent organization made capital contributions to cover the anticipated losses …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO and the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General have issued many reports in recent years on the Department's financial management problems, including internal control weaknesses that put the Department at risk for waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. In an April 2001 assessment of the internal control over Education's payment processes and the associated risks for improper payments, GAO identified four broad categories of internal control weaknesses: poor segregation of duties, lack of supervisory review, inadequate audit trails, and inadequate computer systems' applications controls. This testimony discusses how these weaknesses make Education vulnerable to improper payments in grant and loan payments, third party drafts, and government purchase card purchases. GAO found that Education's student aid application processing system for grants and loans lacks an automated edit check that would identify potentially improper payments from students who were much older than expected, a single social security number associated with two or more dates of birth, grants to recipients in excess of statutory limits, and searches for invalid social security numbers. GAO also found problems with Education's third party draft system. Specifically, Education (1) circumvented a system's application control …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the implementation of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). The data indicate that federal paperwork increased by nearly 180 million burden hours during fiscal year 2000--the second-largest one-year increase since the act was passed. This increase is largely attributed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which raised its paperwork estimate by about 240 million burden hours. The rest of the government decreased its burden estimate by about 70 million burden hours during the fiscal year. Within that non-IRS grouping, some agencies were more successful than others in reducing their paperwork estimates and some increased their estimates. In addition, federal agencies identified a total of 487 violations of the PRA during fiscal year 2000--fewer than the 710 they identified during fiscal year 1999. These 487 violations, however, represent substantial opportunity costs and many have persisted for years. GAO believes that the Office of Management and Budget can do more to ensure that agencies do not use information collections without proper clearance."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Although the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has made significant progress establishing a national formulary that has generally met with acceptance by prescribers and patients, VA oversight has not fully ensured standardization of its drug benefit nationwide. The three medical centers GAO visited did not comply with the national formulary. Specifically, two of the three medical centers omitted more than 140 required national formulary drugs, and all three facilities inappropriately modified the national formulary list of required drugs for certain drug classes by adding or omitting some drugs. In addition, as VA policy allows, Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN) added drugs to supplement the national formulary ranging from five drugs at one VISN to 63 drugs at another. However, VA lacked criteria for determining the appropriateness of the actions networks took to add these drugs. In addition to problems standardizing the national formulary, GAO identified weaknesses in the nonformulary approval process. Although the national formulary directive requires certain criteria for approving nonformulary drugs, it does not prescribe a specific nonformulary approval process. As a result, the processes health care providers must follow to obtain nonformulary drugs differ among …

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The JFMIP White Paper, "Parallel Operation of Software: Is It A Desirable Software System Transition Technique?" is intended to assist agencies when developing appropriate risk mitigation strategies when to new financial systems, especially commercial off-the-shelf software where existing business processes must be reengineered to avoid software customization. This White Paper updates selected information contained in the JFMIP Framework for Federal Financial Management Systems, issued in January 1995, regarding to a new system. Because the Framework document is comprehensive, this white paper, as well as others to come, is designed to update and expand upon selected topics that are of critical interest to agencies and oversight communities."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Before September 11, insurance coverage for losses from terrorism was a normal feature of insurance contracts. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have changed insurers' perceptions of their risk exposure. Both insurers and reinsurers say that they do not know how much to charge for this coverage, and because they cannot predict future losses, they may exclude terrorism insurance from future contracts unless the federal government provides some guidance to the industry. Several insurance programs in the United States and other countries ensure that insurance will be available to cover risks that the private sector has been unable or unwilling to cover, including losses from catastrophic events and terrorism. For government insurance programs, the question of long-term cost and program funding needs to be addressed before any program is established. Some federal insurance programs have a statutory intent to provide subsidized coverage, while others are intended to be self-funding. Regardless of statutory intent, if federal insurance is underpriced relative to its long-run costs and the federal government pays the difference, a government subsidy results."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 requires federal agencies to examine the impact of their proposed and final rules on small businesses, small governmental jurisdictions, and small organizations and to solicit the ideas and comments of such entities for this purpose. Specifically, whenever agencies are required to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking, the act requires agencies to prepare an initial and a final regulatory flexibility analysis. However, those analytical requirements do not apply if the head of the agency certifies that the rule will not have a "significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities." The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 was enacted to strengthen the protections for small entities, and some of the requirements of that legislation are built on this significant impact determination. Although both of these reform initiatives have clearly affected how federal agencies regulate, their full promise has not been realized. The Regulatory Flexibility Act does not define what Congress meant by the terms "significant economic impact" and "substantial number of small entities" and does not give any entity the authority or responsibility to define them governmentwide. As …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the Olmstead case, the Supreme Court decided that states were violating title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) if they provided care to disabled people in institutional settings when they could be a appropriately served in a home or community-based setting. Considerable attention has focused on the decision's implications for Medicaid, the dominant public program supporting long-term care institutional, home, and community-based services. Although Medicaid spending for home and community-based service is growing, these are largely optional benefits that states may or may not choose to offer, and states vary widely in the degree to which they cover them. The implications of the Olmstead decision--in terms of the scope and the nature of states' obligation to provide home and community-based long-term care services--are still unfolding. Although the Supreme Court ruled that providing care in institutional settings may violate the ADA, it also recognized that there are limits to what states can do, given the available resources and the obligation to provide a range of services for disabled people. The decision left many open questions for states and lower courts to resolve. State programs …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses three bills that would change the overall leadership and management of programs to combat terrorism. The three bills--H.R. 525, H.R. 1158, and H.R. 1292--vary in scope. H.R. 525 focuses on federal programs to prepare state and local governments for domestic terrorist attacks. Both H.R. 1158 and H.R. 1292 focus on the larger issue of homeland security, which includes terrorism and additional threats such as military attacks. The bills are similar in that they all advocate a single focal point for programs to combat terrorism. However, some bills place the focal point in the Executive Office of the President and others place it with a lead executive agency. In addition, the three bills provide the focal point with different, but often similar, duties to improve the management of federal programs. To the extent that these three bills--or some hybrid of them--address these problem areas, GAO believes that federal programs to combat terrorism will be improved. It will be important to develop a consensus on these matters and provide the focal point with legitimacy and authority through legislation are important tasks that lie ahead."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Before September 11, insurance coverage for losses from terrorism was a normal feature of insurance contracts. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have changed insurers' perceptions of their risk exposure. Both insurers and reinsurers say that they do not know how much to charge for this coverage and because they cannot predict future losses, they may exclude terrorism insurance from future contracts unless the federal government provides some guidance to the industry. Several insurance programs in the United States and other countries ensure that insurance will be available to cover risks that the private sector has been unable or unwilling to cover, including losses from catastrophic events and terrorism. For government insurance programs, the question of long-term cost and program funding needs to be addressed before any program is established. Some federal insurance programs have a statutory intent to provide subsidized coverage, while others are intended to be self-funding. Regardless of statutory intent, if federal insurance is underpriced relative to its long-run costs and the federal government pays the difference, a government subsidy results."

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ethel Reisberg Schectman. She begins by discussing her family background: her parents were Jews born in Poland and emigrated to the United States. Ethel's European aunts, uncles and grandparents all likely died in the Holocaust. As a first grade student, she taught her mother, a Polish immigrant, how to read and write English. She recalls, wartime rationing, Victory Gardens, scrap drives, and antisemitism among her school-aged classmates in Dallas, Texas, and the end of the war.

Transcript of an oral interview with Bill Graham. He begins by discussing joining the Navy and becoming a corpsman, then being transferred to the 2nd Marine Division after the Pearl Harbor attack. He discusses being in the first wave on Guadalcanal and various things that happened during the six months there, contracting a severe strain of malaria, getting shipped back to the States and stationed near his home in Fort Worth, then to training in Virginia preparing for an invasion of Japan.

Transcript of an oral interview with Joesph B. Brown. He discusses going to Guadalcanal, various guns and artillery he used, the battle of Tarawa and getting malaria just before it, then going to Hawaii for more training before returning to the South Pacific and fighting on Saipan and Tinian. He also discusses being wounded on Saipan, getting a bayonet run through his forearm and keeping the bayonet as a souvenior after the war and talks about some of his experiences and travels after the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Steele, Sr. He was born in Nashville, Tennessee on January 6, 1924. He enlisted into the Marines in February, 1943 and was assigned to 2nd Marine Division, M Company, 3rd Battalion 8th Marines, as a machine gunner. He describes his experiences while landing at Tarawa in LCVPs (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel) also known as Higgins Boats. During the landing he recalls being wounded by shrapnel. After Tarawa, he recounts returning to Hawaii where he received training for the invasion of Saipan. He recalls the landing at Saipan and being once more wounded by shrapnel from an artillery round. After being treated for his wounds, he recalls returning to the island and providing machine gun cover. After ten days on Saipan he describes his third landing on Tinian and his unit taking a Japanese Air Force airfield. Steele recalls that he returned to the States on December 7, 1944, with other veterans who had received multiple wounds.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Abe Santos. Santos joined the Navy in November of 1939. He served as a Fireman aboard the USS Astoria (CA-34). They participated in the battles of the Coral Sea, Midway and Savo Island, where the ship was sunk. He traveled back to Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Wharton (AP-7). Santos was placed on tugboat duty for six months, then transferred to Johnston Island as a Second-Class Machinist’s Mate. He assisted with airstrip construction. He later transferred back to headquarters at Pearl Harbor, and worked on staff for Admiral Robert L. Ghormley. He continued his service after the war ended.

News release about DART's electric light rail cars.

News release about a DART Christmas food drive.

News release concerning public meetings on proposed rail alignments and stations servicing the Dallas Medical Center area.

News release about train test being conducted along a new light rail corridor ahead of the opening of the White Rock Station.

News release encouraging the use of DART transportation options to avoid traffic congestion cause by construction on an interchange in Dallas.

News release about DART's electric light rail cars.

News release encouraging the use of DART transportation options to avoid traffic congestion cause by construction on an interchange in Dallas.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Annie May Webb. She discusses her husband's service and her experiences on the homefront. She describes delivering word of the birth of their daughter to her husband while he was aboard the USS Bennington serving with VMF-112