A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For the Spanish translation of the highlights page for this document, see GAO-06-1111. Ley para que ningun nino se quede atras: La ayuda del Departamento de Educacion puede contribuir a que los Estados midan mejor el progreso de los alumnos que no dominan bien el ingles. GAO-06-1111, Julio de 2006. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLBA) focused attention on the academic achievement of more than 5 million students with limited English proficiency. Obtaining valid test results for these students is challenging, given their language barriers. This report describes (1) the extent to which these students are meeting annual academic progress goals, (2) what states have done to ensure the validity of their academic assessments, (3) what states are doing to ensure the validity of their English language proficiency assessments, and (4) how the U.S. Department of Education (Education) is supporting states' efforts to meet NCLBA's assessment requirements for these students. To collect this information, we convened a group of experts and studied five states (California, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, and Texas). We also conducted a state survey and reviewed state and Education …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. rail transit system is a vital component of the nation's transportation infrastructure. Safety and security oversight of rail transit is the responsibility of state-designated oversight agencies following Federal Transit Administration (FTA) requirements. In this report, GAO addressed: (1) how the State Safety Oversight program is designed; (2) what is known about the program's impact; and (3) challenges facing the program. We also provide information about oversight of transit systems that cross state boundaries. To do our work we surveyed state oversight agencies and transit agencies covered by FTA's program."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The CARE Act authorized grants to the states and certain territories for AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) to purchase and provide HIV/AIDS drugs to eligible individuals. An ADAP's coverage--who and what is covered--is determined by each ADAP's eligibility and other program criteria, and ADAPs may establish waiting lists for eligible individuals. ADAPs may purchase their drugs through the 340B federal drug pricing program, which provides discounts on certain drugs to covered entities. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) oversees ADAPs and is responsible for monitoring the prices they pay. GAO was asked to examine (1) coverage differences among ADAPs, (2) how the prices ADAPs reported paying for HIV/AIDS drugs compare to 340B prices, (3) how HRSA monitors the drug prices ADAPs pay, and (4) how the 340B prices compare to other selected federal drug pricing programs."

This report provides a summary of contested election cases from the 73rd Congress through the 109th Congress, 1933 to 2005. The descriptions primarily provide information concerning the nature of the action and the disposition of the case. The summary is limited to only those cases that were considered by the House of Representatives; cases decided at the state level are beyond the scope of this report.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 1995, the Department of Defense (DOD) began an effort to implement a standard departmentwide travel system. The Defense Travel System (DTS) is envisioned as DOD's standard end-to-end travel system. This report is a follow-up to GAO's January 2006, report which highlighted DTS implementation problems. Because of continued congressional interest in DTS, GAO initiated this follow-up audit under the Comptroller General's statutory authority. GAO determined whether (1) two key assumptions made in the September 2003 economic analysis were reasonable, (2) DOD is taking action to ensure full utilization of DTS and gathering the data needed to monitor DTS utilization, and (3) DOD has resolved the previously identified problems with DTS flight information. To address the above objectives, GAO (1) reviewed the September 2003 DTS economic analysis, (2) analyzed DTS utilization data, and (3) analyzed DTS flight information."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The September 11, 2001, attacks significantly affected the financial markets that the U.S. Treasury (Treasury) relies on. To understand how Treasury could obtain funds during a future potential wide-scale financial market disruption GAO examined (1) steps Treasury and others took during the September 11 attacks and after to assure required debt obligations and payments were made on time and ensure liquidity in the markets, (2) major actions Treasury and others have taken since the attacks to increase the resiliency of the auction process, and (3) the opinions of relevant parties on the main design features of any backup funding options. We conducted interviews with Treasury officials and others and reviewed appropriate documents."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In regulating exports of dual-use items, which have both commercial and military applications, the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) seeks to allow U.S. companies to compete globally while minimizing the risk of items falling into the wrong hands. In so doing, BIS faces the challenge of weighing U.S. national security and economic interests, which at times can be divergent or even competing. In light of the September 2001 terror attacks, GAO was asked to examine BIS's dual-use export control system. In response, GAO is reporting on BIS's (1) evaluations of and changes to the system, (2) screening of export license applications against its watchlist, and (3) actions to correct weaknesses previously identified by GAO."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The ability to produce the financial information needed to efficiently and effectively manage the day-today operations of the federal government and provide accountability to taxpayers continues to be a challenge for most federal agencies. To help address this challenge, the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA) requires the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies to implement and maintain financial management systems that comply substantially with (1) federal financial management systems requirements, (2) federal accounting standards, and (3) the U.S. Government Standard General Ledger at the transaction level. FFMIA also requires GAO to report annually on the implementation of the act."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan and Tropical Storm Jeanne passed through the Caribbean, taking lives and causing widespread damage in several countries. After initial U.S. emergency relief, in October 2004 Congress appropriated $100 million in supplemental funding, primarily for Grenada, Jamaica, and Haiti, which were significantly affected. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), leader of the U.S. recovery programs, agreed, in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget, to complete the programs by December 31, 2005, giving the agency a 1-year time frame. GAO was asked to (1) review the nature and status of the programs in Grenada, Jamaica, and Haiti as of December 31, 2005; (2) identify factors that affected the programs' progress; and (3) assess USAID's use of guidance and lessons learned from previous similar programs and efforts to draw lessons from the current programs."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2006, the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program is expected to collect over $37 billion in taxes from employers to pay $34 billion in benefits to unemployed workers. Under state UI programs, employers' tax contributions are experience-rated--that is, they reflect the extent to which they laid off workers who then collected benefits. To examine the equity of this system, we met with officials from five states, reviewed prior studies, and examined state data to determine (1) how states ensure that employers pay UI taxes based on their experience with unemployment, and the aspects of state unemployment insurance systems that limit experience rating; (2) the extent to which employers pay unemployment insurance taxes commensurate with unemployment benefits paid to their former employees; and how this varies by industry; and (3) steps states could take to increase the degree of experience rating. We provided a draft of this report to the Department of Labor (Labor) for its review. Overall, Labor agreed with our findings."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The growth of information resellers--companies that collect and resell publicly available and private information on individuals--has raised privacy and security concerns about this industry. These companies collectively maintain large amounts of detailed personal information on nearly all American consumers, and some have experienced security breaches in recent years. GAO was asked to examine (1) financial institutions' use of resellers; (2) federal privacy and security laws applicable to resellers; (3) federal regulators' oversight of resellers; and (4) regulators' oversight of financial institution compliance with privacy and data security laws. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed documents and interviewed representatives from 10 information resellers, 14 financial institutions, 11 regulators, industry and consumer groups, and others."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. officials often call the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha Development Agenda or "Round" of global trade talks, launched in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001, a "once in a generation opportunity" to expand trade. President Bush has identified their success as his administration's top trade priority. Due to various U.S. notification and consultation requirements, concluding the negotiations in 2006 is essential for a Doha agreement to qualify for congressional consideration under U.S. Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which expires July 1, 2007. A ministerial meeting among the WTO's 149 members was held on December 13-18, 2005, in Hong Kong, China, to make decisions needed to advance the talks. Given the importance of the WTO Doha Round to the United States, GAO was asked to provide an update on the status of the negotiations. In this report, the latest in a series on the negotiations, we (1) provide the status of the Doha negotiations on the eve of the Hong Kong ministerial, (2) review the outcome of the Hong Kong ministerial, and (3) discuss the prospects for concluding the Doha Round before TPA expires in July 2007."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has authority to approve air carrier requests to deploy less-than-lethal weapons, including electric stun devices, onboard commercial aircraft to thwart an attack. Since the terrorist attacks of 2001, one air carrier received approval to deploy electric stun devices. To address concerns regarding reports of injuries after the use of these devices and to ensure that the impacts of these devices onboard aircraft have been fully evaluated, this report answers the following: (1) What analyses has the federal government conducted to assess the safety and effectiveness of these devices onboard commercial aircraft? (2) What controls does TSA have in place to help ensure uniform and timely review of air carrier requests to deploy these devices onboard commercial aircraft?"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The EA-6B has conducted airborne electronic attack for all services since 1996. In 2002, the Department of Defense (DOD) completed an analysis of alternatives for the EA-6B that concluded the inventory would be insufficient to meet the DOD's needs beyond 2009. Since then, the services have embarked on separate acquisition efforts to develop airborne electronic attack assets. In 2003, the Navy started development of the EA-18G aircraft to replace the EA-6B. This report was done under the Comptroller General's authority and assesses if (1) DOD's 2002 conclusion that the EA-6B inventory would be insufficient beyond 2009 remains valid for assessing the Navy's future needs, and (2) the acquisition approach used to develop the EA-18G is knowledge-based and might mitigate future risks."

This report provides facts and statistics about Social Security that are frequently requested by Members of Congress and their staffs. It includes information about Social Security taxes and benefits, the program's impact on its recipients' incomes, federal tax receipts, federal spending and the economy, administrative information, and selected facts about Medicare.

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This report discusses the statutory and regulatory requirements of IDEA, judicial decisions, and the concept of mediation as it applies to special education.

This report discusses Methyl Bromide (MeBr), a widely used pesticide in agriculture, is regulated for its potential ozone-depleting effects in the Earth’s stratosphere.

This report provides a summary of the statutory history of the automated entry and exit data system, which was renamed the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) Program by the Bush Administration. It also discusses other laws that affect the implementation of the system and provides an analysis of the documentary requirements under current law. The report also discusses efforts to implement the program and selected issues associated with its development and implementation.

This report addresses various questions regarding Direct Recording Electronic Voting Machines (DREs). Questions that arise frequently with respect to the controversy surrounding DREs and possible misperceptions in the debate can be classified into three categories: those relating to DREs themselves, those that relate to paper audit trails, and those that relate to recounts and audits.

This report discusses the Bush administration's "Charitable Choice" agenda aimed at expanding the ability of faith-based organizations to provide federally funded social services.

This report provides an overview of seven prominent air issues of interest in the 109th Congress: revision of the particulate standards; multi-pollutant (or Clear Skies) legislation for electric power plants; mercury from power plants; New Source Review; the gasoline additives MTBE and ethanol; ozone nonattainment area deadlines; and the “conformity” of transportation and clean air planning.

This report discusses the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, which was established in Geneva, Switzerland.

This report explains cleanup requirements for the transfer and reuse of base closure properties, discusses the status of property transfer on closed bases, and examines estimates of costs to clean up closed bases to make them safe for civilian reuse.