Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Earlier this year, GAO began a governmentwide review of the implementation of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990. The act requires each federal agency to issue a regulation adjusting its covered maximum civil monetary penalties for inflation by October 23, 1996, and requires each agency to make necessary adjustments at least once every 4 years thereafter. During the review, the Customs Service's Office of Chief Counsel indicated that three of the agency's civil penalties are covered by the act but that the agency had not adjusted any of them for inflation."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As the world's leading trading nation, the United States depends on a vast marine transportation system. Ninety-five percent of overseas trade tonnage moves by water, and the cargo moving through the U.S. marine transportation system contributes hundreds of billions of dollars to the U.S. gross domestic product. As it does with the nation's highway and aviation systems, the federal government participates with hundreds of public and private entities in maintaining and improving the marine transportation system. During fiscal years 1999, 2000, and 2001, federal expenditures for the commercial marine transportation system averaged $3.9 billion per year. Funding for about 80 percent of these expenditures came from the U.S. Treasury's general fund. During this same period, federal agencies collected $1 billion each year from marine transportation system users. During the same three-year period, federal expenditures for aviation and highway transportation systems averaged $10 billion and $25 billion, respectively, each year. Unlike the funding approach for the marine transportation system, which relies extensively on tax revenue, the federal funding approach for aviation and highway relies almost exclusively on assessments on users of the transportation systems."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) performs a critical role in supporting America's military forces worldwide by supplying every consumable item--from food to jet fuel--that the military services need to operate. Although customers at the eight locations GAO visited were satisfied with some aspects of routine service, such as delivery time for routine parts and certain contractor service arrangements, customers also raised a number of points of dissatisfaction, particularly with regard to the detrimental impact of DLA's service on their operations. The agency's approach for obtaining customer service feedback has been of limited usefulness because it lacks a systematic integrated approach for obtaining adequate information on customer service problems. Although DLA has initiatives under way to improve its customer service, there are opportunities to enhance these initiatives to provide for an improved customer feedback program."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security Administration (SSA) is responsible for administering the Social Security Disability Insurance and the Supplemental Security Insurance programs--the nation's two largest disability programs. SSA is required to administer its disability programs in a fair and unbiased manner. Nevertheless, the proportion of African American applicants allowed benefits has been historically lower than the proportion of white applicants. These allowances rate differences have occurred with respect to disability determinations made by state Disability Determination Service offices and in decisions made at the hearings level by Administrative Law Judges (ALJ). In response to GAO's 1992 report, SSA initiated an extensive study of racial disparities in ALJ decisions, but methodological weaknesses preclude conclusions being drawn from it. The study--the results of which were not published--set out to analyze a representative sample of cases to determine whether race significantly influenced disability decisions, while simultaneously controlling for other factors. SSA officials told GAO that, by 1998, they found no evidence that race significantly influenced ALJ decisions. However, GAO was unable to draw these same conclusions due to weaknesses in sampling and statistical methods evident in the limited documentation still available …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses challenges in defining the federal role with respect to freight transportation issues. There are concerns that the projected increases in freight tonnage for all transportation modes will place pressures on the marine, aviation, and highway transportation systems. As a result, there is growing awareness of the need to view various transportation modes, and freight movement in particular, from an integrated standpoint, particularly for the purposes of developing and implementing a federal investment strategy and considering alternative funding approaches. The federal approach for funding the marine transportation system relies heavily on general revenues, although the approach for funding the aviation and highway systems relies almost exclusively on collections from users of the systems. During fiscal years 1999 through 2001, customs duties on imported goods transported through the transportation systems averaged $15 billion each year for the marine transportation system, $4 billion each year for the aviation system, and $900 million each year for the highway system. Customs duties are taxes on the value of imported goods and have traditionally been viewed as revenues to be used for the support of the general activities of the federal …

This short report provides background information on the SSBG and tracks relevant legislation and appropriations measures. The Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) is a flexible source of funds that states may use to support a wide variety of social services activities. States have broad discretion over the use of these funds.

The objectives of this North Hill Creek 3-D seismic survey were to: (1) cover as large an area as possible with available budget; (2) obtain high quality data throughout the depth range of the prospective geologic formations of 2,000' to 12,000' to image both gross structures and more subtle structural and stratigraphic elements; (3) overcome the challenges posed by a hard, reflective sandstone that cropped out or was buried just a few feet below the surface under most of the survey area; and (4) run a safe survey.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Alvin, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Newsletter of the Texas Department of Health discussing the news, activities, and events of the organization and other information related to health in Texas.

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly student newspaper from Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

Student newspaper of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma that includes national, local, and campus news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Biweekly student newspaper from Eastern Oklahoma State College in Wilburton, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and campus news along with advertising.

The Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) is a flexible source of funds that states may use to support a wide variety of social services activities. States have broad discretion over the use of these funds. This short report provides background information on the SSBG and tracks relevant legislation and appropriations measures.

Daily newspaper from Perry, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.