A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the preliminary results of GAO's ongoing review of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which is run by the Federal Emergency Management Administration's (FEMA) Federal Insurance Administration (FIA) and Mitigation Directorate, a major component of the federal government's efforts to provide flood assistance. This program creates standards to minimize flood losses. GAO found that FEMA has several performance goals to improve program results, including increasing the number of insurance policies in force. Although these goals provide valuable insight into the degree to which the program has reduced flood losses, they do not assess the degree to which the most vulnerable residents--those living in flood-prone areas--participate in the program. Capturing data on the number of uninsured and insured structures in flood-prone areas can provide FEMA with another indication of how well the program is penetrating those areas with the highest flood risks, whether the financial consequences of floods in these areas are increasing or decreasing, and where marketing efforts can better be targeted. However, before participation rates can be used to measure the program's success, better data are needed on the total number …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Endangered Species Act seeks to protect affected species and their habitats from the activities of federal agencies and individual landowners. If a landowner plans to engage in an activity that may harm endangered species or their habitats, the landowner may prepare a Habitat Conservation Plan that may include paying a fee to a third party to ensure that the affected species is protected. GAO reviewed (1) the various types of fee-based mitigation arrangements currently used by the Fish and Wildlife Service, (2) who selects the alternative used to mitigate adverse impacts, (3) the Service's role in setting fees and land exchange ratios, and (4) how the Service ensures that fees are used as intended and that desired mitigation results are achieved. GAO found that (1) eight types of fee-based arrangements are now at the locations GAO visited, seven of which require the landowner to act; (2) the landowner is ultimately responsible for deciding whether to use a fee-based mitigation arrangement after considering its advantages and disadvantages; (3) the Service's level of involvement in setting fees and establishing land exchange ratios varies by project and type of arrangement; …

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO published a report describing the activities of the Personnel Appeals Board, its Office of General Counsel, and its Office of Equal Employment Opportunity Oversight during the last two fiscal years."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal research and preparedness activities related to bioterrorism center on detection; the development of vaccines, antibiotics, and antivirals; and the development of performance standards for emergency response equipment. Preparedness activities include (1) increasing federal, state, and local response capabilities; (2) developing response teams; (3) increasing the availability of medical treatments; (4) participating in and sponsoring exercises; (5) aiding victims; and (6) providing support at special events, such as presidential inaugurations and Olympic games. To coordinate their efforts to combat terrorism, federal agencies are developing interagency response plans, participating in various interagency work groups, and entering into formal agreements with other agencies to share resources and capabilities. However, coordination of federal terrorism research, preparedness, and response programs is fragmented, raising concerns about the ability of states and localities to respond to a bioterrorist attack. These concerns include insufficient state and local planning and a lack of hospital participation in training on terrorism and emergency response planning. This testimony summarizes a September 2001 report (GAO-01-915)."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and the International Monetary Fund's concessional (below-market terms) lending facility--the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility--are two multilateral programs intended to help spur economic growth and reduce poverty in low-income countries, most notably countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The HIPC Initiative represents a step forward in the international community's efforts to relieve poor countries of their heavy debt burdens. It does so by seeking to include all creditors and by providing significant debt relief to recipient countries. Unless strong, sustained economic growth is achieved, however the initiative will not likely provide recipient countries with a lasting exit from their debt problems. Furthermore, as long as the initiative links debt relief to poverty reduction strategies, the tension between quick debt relief and comprehensive country-owned strategies is likely to persist. These issues should not be seen, however, as a reason to abandon efforts to provide debt relief to eligible countries. Heavily indebted poor countries continue to carry unsustainable debt burdens that are unlikely to be lessened without debt relief, but participants and observers need to be more realistic about what the initiative may ultimately achieve. …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the event of a domestic terrorist attack or other major disasters, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is to provide backup medical resources to the military health system and local communities. VA now assists other federal agencies that have lead responsibility for responding to disasters, including terrorism. Its areas of responsibility include disaster simulation exercises and maintaining medical stockpiles. VA's efforts in these areas have enhanced national emergency preparedness by improving medical response procedures and by strengthening the security of federal pharmaceutical stockpiles to ensure rapid response to local authorities. VA also has resources that could play a role in future federal homeland security efforts. Its assets include the bricks, mortar, and human capital components of its health care system; graduate medical education programs; and expertise involving emergency backup and support activities. In managing large-scale medical emergencies arising from terrorist attacks, VA's emergency response capabilities have strengths and weaknesses. Determining how VA can best contribute to homeland security is especially timely given the extraordinary level of federal activity underway to manage large-scale disasters."

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 "The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) faces major challenges that collectively call for a structural transformation if it is to remain viable in the 21st century. This testimony discusses USPS' current financial outlook, actions that USPS has taken or planned to take, and the transformation issues that will need to be addressed. GAO concludes that structural transformation is essential if USPS is to overcome its financial, operational, and human capital challenges. It is at a growing risk of being unable to continue providing universal postal service at reasonable rates while remaining self-supporting through postal revenues. Although USPS has announced steps to address its mounting problems, it lacks a comprehensive plan to address its various financial, operational, or human capital challenges. USPS needs to develop a transformation plan in conjunction with Congress and other stakeholders that would address the key transformation issues facing USPS."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The President's January 2001 changes in the export control thresholds for high performance computer exports are not adequately justified. Although the President's report recognizes that high performance computing capabilities will become increasingly available to other countries through computer clustering, the report fails to address all military significant uses for computers at the new thresholds and assess the national security impact of such uses. The support for the President's policy proposal for relaxed U.S. computer controls also is not adequate. Although the new policy was based on the conclusion that computer hardware exports can no longer be controlled, the executive branch did not adequately assess alternative control options. GAO identified several implications of the changes to the control thresholds and the proposed change in U.S. computer export control policy related to increased risks for U.S. national security. For example, the inadequacies of the President's justifications demonstrate the need for a comprehensive study of the issues involved. Furthermore, the policy proposal would reduce information that might be useful in detecting patterns of exports to customers engaged in proliferation activities because it would eliminate an annual reporting requirement that provides information …

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "One of the priorities of the U.S. Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Council is to improve financial performance through better financial management systems. The Bush administration has identified several management reform initiatives, including strategic management of human capital, improving financial performance and expanding e-government. Under the auspices of the Financial Systems Committee and Human Resources Committee of the CFO Council and the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program, an interagency team was established to develop strategies to build the work force capacity for financial system implementation projects."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 required Medicare to change its payment system for ambulance services. In response, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), now called the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), proposed a fee schedule to standardize payments across provider types on the basis of national rates for particular services. Under the act, the fee schedule was to have applied to ambulance services furnished on or after January 1, 2000. HCFA published a proposed rule in September 2000 and has received public comment, but it has not yet issued a final rule. This testimony discusses the unique concerns of rural ambulance providers and the likely effects of the proposed fee schedule on these providers. Many rural ambulance providers face a set of unique challenges in implementing an appropriate payment policy. Rural providers--particularly those serving large geographic areas with low population density--tend to have high per-trip costs compared with urban and suburban providers. The proposed Medicare fee schedule does not sufficiently distinguish the providers serving beneficiaries in the most isolated rural areas and may not appropriately account for the higher costs of low-volume providers."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Various approaches have been proposed to increase private and public health care coverage of uninsured persons. The success of these proposals will depend on several key factors. The impact of tax subsidies on promoting private health insurance will depend on whether the subsidies reduce premiums enough to induce uninsured low-income individuals to buy health insurance and on whether these subsidies can be made available at the time the person needs to pay premiums. The effectiveness of public program expansions will depend on states' ability and willingness to use any new flexibility to cover uninsured residents as well as develop effective outreach to enroll the targeted populations. Although crowd-out is a concern with any of the approaches, some degree of public funds going to those currently with private health insurance may be inevitable to provide stable health coverage for some of the 42 million uninsured Americans."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the progress of welfare reform. GAO found that states are transforming the nation's welfare system into a work-based, temporary assistance program for needy families, with a focus on moving people into employment rather than signing them up for cash assistance. States' implementation of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), undertaken in a time of strong economic growth, has been accompanied by a 50 percent decline in the number of families receiving cash welfare. GAO's review of state-sponsored studies available in 1999 and several more recent studies show that most of the adults in families remaining off the welfare rolls were employed at some time after leaving welfare. All six of the states GAO visited have modified their "work first" programs to better serve recipients who face difficulties in entering the workforce. States have found that some of the recipients with such difficulties do, in fact, find jobs. Although states have made significant progress in meeting work-focused goals attention should be paid to the following issues: (1) emphasizing and enhancing work-based strategies, including engaging hard-to-employ recipients in work and helping families stay off welfare and increase …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The security systems installed by the Department of Energy (DOE) are reducing the risk of theft of nuclear material in Russia, but hundreds of metric tons of nuclear material still lack improved security systems. As of February 2001, DOE had installed, at a cost of about $601 million, completed or partially completed systems that protect 192 metric tons of the 603 metric tons of nuclear material identified at risk of theft. These systems, although not as stringent as those installed in the United States, are designed to prevent individuals or small groups of criminals from stealing nuclear material. During its first two years of operation, DOE's Nuclear Cities Initiative (NCI) has had limited success. DOE estimates that the program employs about 370 people, including many weapons scientists who are primarily working on a part-time basis through research projects sponsored by the U.S. national laboratories. A disproportionate amount of the NCI program's funding has been spent in the U.S. GAO also found that DOE's NCI program lacks a plan for the future. This testimony summarizes two reports, GAO-01-312, and GAO-01-429."

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Release of "provisional autopsy report" maintained by a justice of the peace (RQ-0380-JC)

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Kenneth Zartman. Zartman joined the Army in May of 1940. After basic training he was sent to Hawaii. He joined the Coast Artillery stationed at Fort Kamehameha, and worked with the 3-inch guns. Zartman was stationed in Hawaii during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He provides vivid details of his experiences through that fateful day, including someone in their outfit shooting down a Japanese plane. In early 1942 Zartman was sent to an air base on Canton Island for nine months, where he worked as a stevedore. He then served on Makin Island, and joined the 6th Ranger Battalion. He participated in the Marianas Islands Campaign and the Battle of Saipan in 1944. Zartman was discharged in June of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Trudy Varrs Harris. Harris was born in Buffalo, New York in 1926. She attended Hockaday Private School and graduated in 1941. She joined the American Women’s Voluntary Service during the summer as a 15 year old driver whose job was to pick up military officers in a command car at various locations and take them to defense plants and various offices. During this time her sister worked in a hospital and her mother rolled bandages for the Red Cross. The interview was concluded with members of an audience posing questions concerning Trudy’s opinions about rationing, the surrender of Germany, the atomic bomb, etc.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Forest Rees. Rees was born in Beeville, Texas, 23 May 1926 and was accepted into the Navy’s V-12 Program on 1 July 1943 and enrolled at Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi. Following two semesters, he was sent to basic training at Great Lakes, Illinois and upon graduation, was enrolled in aviation machinist’s school. He was next transferred to the engine overhaul and testing section at Naval Air Station, Corpus Christi, Texas. Over the course of the following two years, he describes working on every radial engine used by the Navy. He was separated from the Navy at Camp Wallace, Texas on 20 May 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Norman Delisle. Delisle enlisted in the Navy right after Pearl Harbor and went to basic training in Newport, Rhode Island. He was assigned to the Boston Navy Yard awaiting assignment and while there he went to Wentworth Institute for training on diesel engines and air conditioning. After 2-3 months of training, he was transferred back down to Newport and he was made a gunnery instructor, instructing crews from different ships that were anywhere near the area. He was there about eight months and transferred to Vallejo, California to pick up the USS Oakland but before he could report aboard he was diagnosed with rheumatic fever, spending many months in hospitals. They were going to give him a disability discharge but he wanted to go back to active duty which he was allowed to do. He reported to the USS Oakland at Mare Island Shipyard. The Oakland left Mare Island in October, went to Pearl Harbor and joined the Pacific Fleet. The Oakland was involved in the invasion bombardment of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands and then came back to Hawaii. After Hawaii, the Oakland joined Task Force 38 …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard (Dick) Bennett. He begins by discussing joining the Army Air Corps, basic training and flight school. Then he went to a base in South Carolina to learn to fly B-25s, then to Fort Myers, Florida to fly B-26 bombers, and train to fly B-26s off aircraft carriers so they could drop torpedos on the Japanese fleet during naval battles, traveling across the Pacific to Brisbane to be told they didn't have B-26s for the crews and the Colonel there knew nothing about the plan to launch B-26s from aircraft carriers so they were sent up to New Guinea to fly B-17s and supplement the crews for those bombers. From there they made bombing runs or ""Washing Machine Charlie""-type runs to keep people awake at night on various Japanese targets in the islands, particularly the base at Rabaul. In Fall of 1943, the Army grounded the B-17s since they were getting very shot up and gave them B-24s to fly, handed them the manuals and gave them a couple days to familiarize themselves with the planes, then sent them back up on bombing runs. He finished his tour …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Orby Ledbetter. Ledbetter joined the Texas Army National Guard in 1937 as a soldier in the Texas 36th Infantry Division, 142nd Infantry Regiment. He provides details of serving in the Texas Guard and remaining with the 36th Infantry Division throughout the war. He describes his experiences completing basic training through numerous camps and traveling overseas aboard the SS Argentina. Beginning in April of 1943 Orby served in the North African Campaign and also landed at Salerno, Italy. He was captured by the German Army in September of 1943 and remained a prisoner of war at Stalag VII-A in Moosburg, Germany until April of 1945. Ledbetter provides vivid details of these experiences. He was discharged in September of 1945.

News release concerning traffic interruptions caused by construction on DART's light rail extension.

News release about the Trinity Railway Express's "Game Train," to sporting events.

News release concerning DART's "Big 12 Flyer" bus service to college football games at the Texas Stadium.