Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1992, GAO has published long-term fiscal simulations of what might happen to federal deficits and debt levels under varying policy assumptions. GAO developed its long-term model in response to a bipartisan request from Members of Congress who were concerned about the long-term effects of fiscal policy. In 1992 GAO said: "The federal budget is structurally unbalanced. This will do increasing damage to the economy and is unsustainable in the long term. Regardless of the approach chosen, prompt and meaningful action is essential. The longer it is delayed, the more painful it will be." These words are as relevant today as when GAO first published them. GAO updates its simulations three times a year as new estimates become available from the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) Budget and Economic Outlook (January), Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports (early spring), and CBO's Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update (late summer)."

A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Under the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Superfund program, parties responsible for pollution bear the cost of cleaning it up. However, these parties sometimes no longer exist, leaving the problem for others, typically the federal government, to address. Furthermore, many sites' cleanup remedies leave some waste in place, relying on institutional controls--legal or administrative restrictions on land or water use--to limit the public's exposure. GAO was asked to summarize the findings of its August 2005 report, Environmental Liabilities: EPA Should Do More to Ensure that Liable Parties Meet Their Cleanup Obligations (GAO-05-658) and its January 2005 report, Hazardous Waste Sites: Improved Effectiveness of Controls at Sites Could Better Protect the Public (GAO-05-163). GAO's statement addresses the actions EPA could take to better ensure that parties meet their cleanup obligations and the long-term effectiveness of institutional controls in protecting the public. GAO's reports recommended, among other things, that EPA (1) implement a financial assurance mandate for businesses handling hazardous substances; (2) enhance its oversight and enforcement of existing financial assurances and authorities; (3) ensure that the frequency and scope of monitoring of controls sufficiently maintain their effectiveness; …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Through the Civil Works Program, the Corps of Engineers (Corps) constructs, operates, and maintains thousands of civil works projects across the United States. The Corps uses a two-phase study process to help inform congressional decision makers about civil works projects and determine if they warrant federal investment. As part of the process for deciding to proceed with a project, the Corps analyzes and documents that the costs of constructing a project are outweighed by the benefits. To conduct activities within its civil works portfolio, the Corps received over $5 billion annually for fiscal years 2005 and 2006. During the last 4 years, GAO has issued five reports relating to the Corps' Civil Works Program. Four of these reports focused on the planning studies for specific Corps' projects or actions, which included a review of the cost and benefit analyses used to support the project decisions. The fifth report focused on the Corps management of its civil works appropriation accounts. For this statement, GAO was asked to summarize the key themes from these five studies. GAO made recommendations in the five reports cited in this testimony. The Corps generally …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Unemployment Insurance (UI) has been a key component in ensuring the financial security of America's workforce for over 70 years. In fiscal year 2004, UI covered about 129 million wage and salary workers and paid about $41 billion in benefits to nearly 9 million workers. With unemployed workers at a greater risk of long-term unemployment than in the past, it is increasingly important to understand how individual workers are being served by UI. This testimony draws upon the results of three GAO reports providing new information about (1) the extent to which individual workers ever receive UI benefits or receive benefits multiple times, (2) the types of workers who are more likely to receive UI, and (3) what is known about the extent to which UI beneficiaries receive reemployment services and their reemployment outcomes. GAO is not making new recommendations at this time. The Department of Labor (Labor) generally agreed with the findings from each of the three reports on UI, but took issue with GAO's recommendation that the Secretary work with states to consider collecting more comprehensive information on UI claimants' services and outcomes. Labor commented that, …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Coast Guard's fiscal year 2007 budget request total $8.4 billion, an increase of 4 percent ($328 million) over the approved budget for fiscal year 2006 and a slowing of the agency's budget increases over the past 2 fiscal years. This testimony, which is based on both current and past GAO work, synthesizes the results of these reviews as they pertain to meeting performance goals, adjusting to added responsibilities, acquiring new assets (especially the Deepwater program--to replace or upgrade cutters and aircraft, and the Rescue 21 program--to modernize rescue communications), and meeting other future challenges."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Mobility--that is, the movement of passengers and goods through the transportation system--is critical to the nation's economic vitality and the quality of life of its citizens. However, increasing passenger travel and freight movement has led to growing congestion in the nation's transportation system, and projections suggest that this trend is likely to continue. Increased congestion can have a number of negative economic and social effects, including wasting travelers' time and money, impeding efficient movement of freight, and degrading air quality. U.S. transportation policy has generally addressed these negative economic and social effects from the standpoint of individual transportation modes and local government involvement. However, there has been an increased focus on the development of intermodal transportation. Intermodal transportation refers to a system that connects the separate transportation modes--such as mass transit systems, roads, aviation, maritime, and railroads--and allows a passenger to complete a journey using more than one mode. This testimony is based on GAO's prior work on intermodal transportation, especially intermodal ground connections to airports, and addresses (1) the challenges associated with developing and using intermodal capabilities and (2) potential strategies that could help public decision makers …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) administers the federal crop insurance program in partnership with private insurers. In 2005, the program cost $2.7 billion, including an estimated $117 million in losses from fraud, waste, and abuse. The Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 (ARPA) provided new tools to monitor and control abuses, such as providing RMA sanction authority to address program abuse and having USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) inspect farmers' fields. This testimony is based on GAO's September 30, 2005, report, Crop Insurance: Actions Needed to Reduce Program's Vulnerability to Fraud, Waste, and Abuse (GAO-05-528). GAO assessed (1) USDA's processes to address fraud, waste, and abuse, and (2) the extent to which the program's design makes it vulnerable to abuse."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Of the $18.4 billion that Congress appropriated for Iraq relief and reconstruction in fiscal year 2004, the Department of Defense (DOD) received the largest share--$13.5 billion. As of September 30, 2006, DOD had obligated about $13.1 billion and disbursed about $9.7 billion--$5.6 billion for construction, $3.6 billion for nonconstruction (e.g., engineering, procurement, and the delivery of equipment), and about $480 million for related overhead costs. Among the many contracts DOD uses in Iraq, DOD has obligated about $3.7 billion for 12 large-scale, multiple-year design-build contracts for major construction projects. The design-build contracting approach makes one award for both the design and construction of a project, thus eliminating the need for a separate bidding process for the construction phase. To help Congress monitor the current progress and costs of DOD's reconstruction activities in Iraq, this report discusses (1) the status of the current construction work and targeted completion dates and (2) the support costs incurred by the design-build contractors in DOD's construction program."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) most recent estimate of the difference between what taxpayers timely and accurately paid in taxes and what they owed was $345 billion. IRS estimates it will eventually recover some of this tax gap, resulting in an estimated net tax gap of $290 billion. The tax gap arises when taxpayers fail to comply with the tax laws by underreporting tax liabilities on tax returns; underpaying taxes due from filed returns; or nonfiling, which refers to the failure to file a required tax return altogether or in a timely manner. The Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Committee on the Budget asked GAO to present information on the causes of and possible solutions to the tax gap. This testimony addresses the nature and extent of the tax gap and the significance of reducing the tax gap, including some steps that may assist with this challenging task. For context, this testimony also addressed GAO's most recent simulations of the long-term fiscal outlook and the need for a fundamental reexamination of major spending and tax policies and priorities."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Under the Public Housing Program, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and local public housing agencies (PHA) provide housing for low-income residents at rents they can afford. Today, over 3,000 PHAs administer approximately 1.2 million public housing units throughout the nation. First authorized in 1937, the program has undergone changes over the decades. The Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 increased managerial flexibility but also established new requirements for housing agencies. Some observers have questioned the program's ability to provide quality, affordable housing to the nation's neediest families. This testimony, which is based upon a number of reports that GAO has issued related to public housing since 2002, discusses the roles of (1) HUD (2) public housing agencies, (3) capital markets, and (4) community services organizations in the public housing system."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As GAO and others have reported, the use of information technology (IT) has enormous potential to improve the quality of health care and is critical to improving the performance of the U.S. health care system. Given the federal government's influence in the health care industry, it has been urged over the years to take a leadership role in driving change to improve the quality and effectiveness of medical care, including the adoption of IT. In April 2004, President Bush called for widespread adoption of interoperable electronic health records within 10 years; established the position of the National Coordinator for Health IT, who was appointed in May 2004 and released a framework for strategic action two months later. In May 2005, GAO recommended that HHS establish detailed plans and milestones for each phase of the framework and take steps to ensure that those plans are followed and milestones are met. HHS agreed with our recommendation. GAO (1) assessed the progress being made by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) since 2005 to develop a national health IT strategy and (2) provided an overview of selected federal agencies' …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses entitlement and other mandatory spending programs in light of our nation's long-term fiscal outlook and the challenges it poses for the budget and oversight processes. In our report entitled 21st Century Challenges: Reexamining the Base of the Federal Government, we presented illustrative questions for policy makers to consider as they carry out their responsibilities. These questions look across major areas of the budget and federal operations including discretionary and mandatory spending, and tax policies and programs. We hope that this report, among other things, will be used by various congressional committees as they consider which areas of government need particular attention and reconsideration. Congress will also receive more specific proposals, some of them will be presented within comprehensive agendas. Our report provides examples of the kinds of difficult choices the nation faces with regard to discretionary spending; mandatory spending, including entitlements; as well as tax policies and compliance activities."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO audits and evaluations identify federal programs and operations that in some cases are high risk due to their greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. Increasingly, GAO also has identified high-risk areas that are in need of broad-based transformations to address major economy, efficiency, or effectiveness challenges. Since 1990 with each new Congress, GAO has reported on its high-risk list. GAO's most recent update, in January 2005, presented the 109th Congress with the latest status of existing and new high-risk areas warranting attention by both the Congress and the administration. Lasting solutions to high-risk problems offer the potential to save billions of dollars, dramatically improve service to the American public, strengthen public confidence and trust in the performance and accountability of our national government, and ensure the ability of government to deliver on its promises."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In its March 2004 report, "VA Health Care: Improved Screening of Practitioners Would Reduce Risk to Veterans," GAO-04-566, GAO made recommendations to improve VA's employment screening of practitioners. GAO was asked to testify today on steps VA has taken to improve its employment screening requirements and VA's physician credentialing and privileging processes because of their importance to patient safety. This testimony is based on two GAO reports released today that determined the extent to which (1) VA has taken steps to improve employment screening for practitioners by implementing GAO's 2004 recommendations, (2) VA facilities are in compliance with selected credentialing and privileging requirements for physicians, and (3) VA has internal controls to help ensure the accuracy of privileging information."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has the responsibility to provide oversight to ensure that the nation's 103 commercial nuclear power plants are operated safely. While the safety of these plants has always been important, since radioactive release could harm the public and the environment, NRC's oversight has become even more critical as the Congress and the nation consider the potential resurgence of nuclear power in helping to meet the nation's growing energy needs. Prior to 2000, NRC was criticized for having a safety oversight process that was not always focused on the most important safety issues and in some cases, was overly subjective. To address these and other concerns, NRC implemented a new oversight process--the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP). NRC continues to modify the ROP to incorporate feedback from stakeholders and in response to other external events. This statement summarizes information on (1) how NRC oversees nuclear power plants, (2) the results of the ROP over the past several years, and (3) the aspects of the ROP that need improvement and the status of NRC's efforts to improve them. This statement discusses preliminary results of GAO's work. GAO …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Architect of the Capitol's progress in achieving selected project milestones and in managing the project's schedule since Congress's February 15, 2006, hearing on the project. As part of this discussion, we will address a number of key challenges and risks that continue to face the project, as well as actions AOC has taken or plans to take to address these risks. In addition, we will discuss the status of the project's costs and funding."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We are pleased to assist the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch in monitoring progress on the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) project. Our remarks will focus on (1) the Architect of the Capitol's (AOC) construction progress and problems since the Subcommittee's September 21, 2006, hearing and their impact on the project's schedule; and (2) the project's expected cost at completion and funding situation. As part of this discussion, we will address a number of key challenges and risks that continue to face the project as well as actions AOC has recently taken, and plans or needs to take, to meet its currently scheduled completion date."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In February 2006, we briefed Congress on the results of our review of various contracting issues related to the Gulf Coast hurricanes. We conducted this work under the Comptroller General's statutory authority in order to assess how three agencies--the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and the General Services Administration (GSA)--planned for and conducted oversight of several key contracts in support of Katrina and Rita response and recovery efforts."

This funding was support for student and postdoctoral attendance at the Annual Recomb Conference from 2001 to 2005. The RECOMB Conference series was founded in 1997 to provide a scientific forum for theoretical advances in computational biology and their applications in molecular biology and medicine. The conference series aims at attracting research contributions in all areas of computational molecular biology. Typical, but not exclusive, the topics of interest are: Genomics, Molecular sequence analysis, Recognition of genes and regulatory elements, Molecular evolution, Protein structure, Structural genomics, Gene Expression, Gene Networks, Drug Design, Combinatorial libraries, Computational proteomics, and Structural and functional genomics. The origins of the conference came from the mathematical and computational side of the field, and there remains to be a certain focus on computational advances. However, the effective use of computational techniques to biological innovation is also an important aspect of the conference. The conference had a growing number of attendees, topping 300 in recent years and often exceeding 500. The conference program includes between 30 and 40 contributed papers, that are selected by a international program committee with around 30 experts during a rigorous review process rivaling the editorial procedure for top-rate scientific journals. In previous years papers …

Summary of the 12th Advanced Accelerator Concept (AAC 2006) Workshop help by NIU and ANL on July 10th-15th 2006 in Lake Geneva WI. The proceedings of the workshop have been published as an AIP conference proceedings "12th Advanced Accelerator Concepts Workshop” volume 877.

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the Texas Structural Pest Control Board may require apartment employees to obtain licenses before they may apply pesticides to the apartment landscape (RQ-0398-GA)

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the nepotism statute applies to a junior college district's employment of a person related to a member of the district's board of regents (RQ-0401-GA)

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Maximum salary payable to a district judge under section 659.012 of the Government Code (RQ-0419-GA)

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the Office for the Prevention of Developmental Disabilities is an autonomous state agency or whether it is subject to oversight and control by the Health and Human Services Commission (RQ-0434-GA)