Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The future of intercity passenger rail service in the United States has come to a critical juncture. The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) continues to rely heavily on federal subsidies--over $1 billion annually in recent years--and operating losses have remained high. In addition, Amtrak will require billions of dollars to address deferred maintenance and achieve a "state of good repair." These needs for Amtrak come at a time when the nation faces long-term fiscal challenges. As we reported in February 2005, the federal government's financial condition and long-term fiscal outlook present enormous challenges to the nation's ability to respond to emerging forces reshaping American society, the United States' place in the world, and the future role of the federal government. Addressing the projected fiscal gaps will require policy makers to examine the affordability and sustainability of all existing programs, policies, functions, and activities throughout the federal budget. Reexamining the federal role and expenditures on intercity passenger rail service will be particularly difficult because opinions differ about what this service should be. Some advocate a greatly expanded federal role and the expansion of intercity passenger rail to relieve growing …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Oil and gas production from federal lands and waters is vital to meeting the nation's energy needs. As such, oil and gas companies lease federal lands and waters and pay royalties to the federal government based on a percentage of the oil and gas that they produce. The Minerals Management Service (MMS), an agency in the Department of the Interior, is responsible for collecting royalties from these leases. In order to promote oil and gas production, the federal government at times and in specific cases has provided "royalty relief," waiving or reducing the royalties that companies must pay. However, as production from these leases grows and oil and gas prices have risen since a major 1995 royalty relief act, questions have emerged about the financial impacts of royalty relief. Based on our work to date, GAO's statement addresses (1) the likely fiscal impacts of royalty relief on leases issued under the Outer Continental Shelf Deep Water Royalty Relief Act of 1995 and (2) other authority for granting royalty relief that could further impact future royalty revenue. To address these issues our ongoing work has included, among other things, …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The July 2005 London subway bombings and July 2006 rail attacks in Mumbai, India dramatically revealed the vulnerability of passenger rail and other surface transportation systems worldwide to terrorist attack and demonstrated the need for increased focus on the security of these systems. This testimony, which is based primarily on GAO's September 2005 report on passenger rail security (GAO-05-851) and selected program updates obtained in January 2007 provides information on (1) how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has assessed the risks posed by terrorism to the U.S. passenger rail system; (2) actions TSA and other federal agencies have taken to enhance the security of U.S. rail systems; and (3) rail security practices implemented by domestic and selected foreign passenger rail operators."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided a strategic overview of GAO's work related to securing, stabilizing, and rebuilding Iraq. In our statement today, as requested, GAO highlighted (1) GAO's scope, authority, and coordination; (2) some of the insights stemming from our work in Iraq; and (3) the rigorous quality assurance framework that GAO uses to ensure relevant, reliable, and consistent results in all of our work. This testimony is based upon extensive work spanning several years. Since 2003, we have issued 67 Iraq-related reports and testimonies. For example, GAO sent a report to the Congress last week on a range of key issues for congressional oversight of efforts to secure, stabilize, and rebuild Iraq. Although many of our sources are classified, we strive to report information to the Congress in a public format to promote greater transparency and accountability of U.S. government policies, programs, and activities. As provided for in our congressional protocols, most of our work in Iraq has been performed under my authority to conduct evaluations on my own initiative since it is a matter of broad interest to the entire Congress and numerous committees in both chambers. Our work …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U. S. Coast Guard is a multimission agency responsible for maritime safety, security, and stewardship. It performs these missions, relating to homeland security and non-homeland security in U.S. ports and inland waterways, along the coasts, and on international waters. The President's budget request, including the request for the Coast Guard, was transmitted to Congress on February 5, 2007. This testimony, which is based on current and past GAO work, synthesizes the results of this work as it pertains to the following: budget requests and performance goals, organizational changes and related management initiatives, current acquisition efforts and challenges, and challenges related to performing traditional legacy missions."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the 2000 national elections, concerns have been raised by various groups regarding the election process, including voting technologies. Beginning in 2001, GAO published a series of reports examining virtually every aspect of the elections process. GAO's complement of reports was used by Congress in framing the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which, among other things, provided for replacement of older voting equipment with more modern electronic voting systems and established the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to lead the nation's election reform efforts. GAO's later reports have raised concerns about the security and reliability of these electronic voting systems, examined the EAC's efforts to address these concerns, and surveyed state and local officials about practices used during the 2004 election, as well as plans for their systems for the 2006 election. Using its published work on electronic voting systems, GAO was asked to testify on (1) the contextual role and characteristics of electronic voting systems, (2) the range of security and reliability concerns that have been reported about these systems, (3) the experiences and management practices of states and local jurisdictions regarding these systems, and (4) the …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) requires districts with schools that receive Title I funds and that have not met state performance goals for 3 consecutive years to offer low-income students supplemental educational services (SES), such as tutoring. This testimony discusses early implementation of SES, including how (1) SES participation changed in recent years; (2) providers work with districts to deliver services; (3) states monitor and evaluate SES; and (4) the U.S. Department of Education (Education) monitors and supports SES implementation. This testimony is based on an August 2006 report (GAO-06-758) and also provides information on actions Education has taken that respond to our recommendations. For the report, GAO surveyed all states and a nationally representative sample of districts with schools required to offer SES, visited four school districts, and interviewed SES providers."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In August 2006, we reported to Congress on the results of our review, which Congress requested, of factors affecting Hispanic representation in the federal workforce and efforts being taken by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and other agencies related to Hispanic representation. We reported that EEOC and OPM require agencies to analyze their workforces to help ensure equal employment opportunity and that EEOC requires agencies to analyze subsets of their workforce to determine whether barriers to such opportunities may exist. As indicated in that report, and as discussed with Congress, this report contains additional data on Hispanic representation in various subsets of the federal workforce with some comparisons to Hispanic representation in the Civilian Labor Force (CLF). The data in this report provide a foundation for further analyses by agency officials and policymakers as they consider a broad spectrum of issues related to Hispanic representation in the federal workforce. These data include analyses by agency, selected occupation, occupational category, grade, and among new hires. For purposes of these analyses, the federal workforce governmentwide includes civilian employees of all cabinet-level departments, independent agencies, …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Average health insurance premiums for plans participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) have risen each year since 1997. These growing premiums result in higher costs to the federal government and plan enrollees. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) oversees FEHBP, negotiating benefits and premiums and administering reserve accounts that may be used to cover plans' unanticipated spending increases. GAO was asked to discuss its December 22, 2006 report, entitled Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: Premium Growth Has Recently Slowed, and Varies Among Participating Plans (GAO-07-141). In this report, GAO reviewed (1) FEHBP premium trends compared with those of other purchasers, (2) factors contributing to average premium growth across all FEHBP plans, and (3) factors contributing to differing trends among selected FEHBP plans. GAO reviewed data provided by OPM relating to FEHBP premiums and factors contributing to premium growth. For comparison purposes, GAO examined premium data from the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and surveys of other public and private employers. GAO also interviewed officials from OPM and eight FEHBP plans with premium growth that was higher than average and six FEHBP plans with premium …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2001, Congress has provided the Department of Defense (DOD) with hundreds of billions of dollars in supplemental and annual appropriations for military operations in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). DOD's reported annual costs for GWOT have shown a steady increase from about $0.2 billion in fiscal year 2001 to about $98.4 billion in fiscal year 2006. So far in fiscal year 2007, Congress has provided DOD with $70 billion in annual appropriations for GWOT. To continue its GWOT operations, DOD has requested an additional $93.4 billion in supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2007 and $141.7 billion in appropriations for fiscal year 2008. The United States' commitments to GWOT will likely involve the continued investment of significant resources, requiring decision makers to consider difficult trade-offs as the nation faces an increasing long-range fiscal challenge. The magnitude of future costs will depend on several direct and indirect cost variables and, in some cases, decisions that have not yet been made. DOD's future costs will likely be affected by the pace and duration of operations, the types of facilities needed to support troops overseas, redeployment plans, and …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter summarizes our review of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) implementation of the requirements of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) revised Circular No. A-123, Management's Responsibility for Internal Control (A-123) during fiscal year 2006. These requirements are applicable to the 24 Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Act agencies, including the Department of the Treasury (Treasury), of which IRS is a significant component. The objectives of our review, which was conducted as part of our audit of IRS's fiscal year 2006 financial statements, were to determine whether (1) IRS appropriately planned and implemented its assessment of internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with the requirements of OMB Circular No. A-123, (2) IRS performed sufficient work to support its related assurance statement to Treasury, and (3) IRS's assurance statement appropriately represented the status of IRS's internal control over financial reporting."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) insures the pensions of nearly 44 million private sector workers in over 30,000 employer-sponsored defined benefit pension plans. Established in 1974 as a self-financing government corporation, PBGC's primary responsibility is to insure, under statutory limits, the pension benefits of participants in covered private defined benefit plans. PBGC collects premiums from the sponsors of defined benefit pension plans and administers plans that are terminated for reasons such as plan insolvency or bankruptcy. In the event of a termination, PBGC assumes control of plan assets, determines plan benefit liabilities, and pays benefits as guaranteed by statute. In fiscal year 2006, about 612,000 plan participants and beneficiaries received $4.1 billion in benefit payments from PBGC. An additional 659,000 participants in plans already trusteed by the corporation will receive benefits from PBGC when they become eligible to retire. An increase in underfunded plan terminations in recent years increased the number of plan participants receiving and eligible for benefit payments. In 2005, PBGC reorganized, creating an additional legal department called the Office of the Chief Counsel, and placed this new office under the Chief Insurance Program Officer. …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government is the largest single buyer in the world, obligating over $400 billion in fiscal year 2006 for a wide variety of goods and services. Because contracting is so important to how many agencies accomplish their missions, it is critical that agencies focus on buying the right things the right way. This includes ensuring that contracts are awarded only to responsible contractors, and that contractors are held accountable for their performance. Use of contractor performance information is a key factor in doing so. This testimony covers three main areas concerning the use of contractor performance information: (1) the various ways in which a contractor's performance may be considered in the contracting process; (2) how information on past performance is to be used in selecting contractors, as well as the various mechanisms for how that occurs; and (3) some of the key issues that have arisen in considering past performance in source selection, as seen through the prism of GAO's bid protest decisions. GAO has previously made recommendations for improving the use of contractor performance information, but is not making any new recommendations in this testimony."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Fewer borrowers are using the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) single-family and manufactured housing insurance programs. To help counter this trend, proposed changes to the single-family program would raise loan limits, allow risk-based pricing of premiums, and reduce down payments. Changes such as higher loan limits also were proposed for the manufactured housing program. To assist Congress in considering the impact of these changes, this testimony provides information from recently issued GAO reports and preliminary views from ongoing work. Specifically, GAO discusses (1) trends in FHA's share of the mortgage market, (2) likely impacts of proposed changes to the single-family program, (3) practices important to implementing the changes to the single-family program, if passed, and (4) preliminary observations from our work on the manufactured housing program. To conduct this work, GAO analyzed agency, Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, and Census data and interviewed agency and lending industry officials and other stakeholders."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) are engaged in ongoing efforts to share medical information, which is important in helping to ensure high-quality health care for active-duty military personnel and veterans. These efforts include a long-term program to develop modernized health information systems based on computable data: that is, data in a format that a computer application can act on--for example, to provide alerts to clinicians of drug allergies. In addition, the departments are engaged in short-term initiatives involving existing systems. GAO was asked to summarize its recent testimony on the history and current status of these long- and short-term efforts to share health information. To develop that testimony, GAO reviewed its previous work, analyzed documents, and interviewed VA and DOD officials about current status and future plans."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Rebuilding Iraq's oil sector is crucial to rebuilding Iraq's economy. For example, oil export revenues account for over half of Iraq's gross domestic product and over 90 percent of government revenues. This testimony addresses (1) the U.S. goals for Iraq's oil sector and progress in achieving these goals, (2) key challenges the U.S. government faces in helping Iraq restore its oil sector, and (3) efforts to enact and implement hydrocarbon legislation. This statement is based on our May 2007 report and updated data, where appropriate."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For over a decade GAO has run long-term simulations showing that absent a change in policy, the combined effects of demographic changes and growing health care costs drive ever-increasing federal deficits and debt levels. The Comptroller General has repeatedly warned that the current fiscal path of the federal government is "imprudent and unsustainable". State and local governments provide an array of services to their residents, and the federal government relies on these governments to assist in the realization of national goals. State and local governments also rely on federal grants to varying extents. These subnational governments may also face fiscal stress. To provide Congress and the public with a broader national context, GAO has developed a fiscal model of the state and local sector. The GAO state and local model projects the level of receipts and expenditures of the sector in future years based on current and historical spending and revenue patterns. In the "base case" model we assume that the current set of policies in place across federal, state, and local governments remains constant. The primary data source for the model is the National Income …

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: Residency requirements for election to Del Mar College District Board of Regents (RQ-0562-GA)

Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus 2006 through 2008 Executive Committee list of contact information, club information, and website links.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) is responsible for addressing the threat of nuclear smuggling. Radiation detection portal monitors are key elements in our national defenses against such threats. DHS has sponsored testing to develop new monitors, known as advanced spectroscopic portal (ASP) monitors. In March 2006, GAO recommended that DNDO conduct a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether the new portal monitors were worth the additional cost. In June 2006, DNDO issued its analysis. In October 2006, GAO concluded that DNDO did not provide a sound analytical basis for its decision to purchase and deploy ASP technology and recommended further testing of ASPs. DNDO conducted this ASP testing at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) between February and March 2007. GAO's statement addresses the test methods DNDO used to demonstrate the performance capabilities of the ASPs and whether the NTS test results should be relied upon to make a full-scale production decision."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) recent 4-year anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on the progress DHS has made. The creation of DHS was one of the largest federal reorganizations in the last several decades, and GAO has reported that it was an enormous management challenge and that the size, complexity, and importance of the effort made the challenge especially daunting and critical to the nation's security. Our prior work on mergers and acquisitions has found that successful transformations of large organizations, even those faced with less strenuous reorganizations than DHS, can take at least 5 to 7 years to achieve. This testimony is based on our August 2007 report evaluating DHS's progress since March 2003. Specifically, it addresses DHS's progress across 14 mission and management areas and key themes that have affected DHS's implementation efforts."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As the Department of Defense (DOD) has expanded its involvement in overseas military operations, it has grown increasingly reliant on its federal civilian workforce to support contingency operations. GAO was asked to discuss DOD's (1) force health protection and surveillance policies, (2) medical treatment policies that cover federal civilians while they are deployed to support contingency operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and (3) differences in special pays and benefits provided to DOD's deployed federal civilian and military personnel. For this statement, GAO primarily drew on its September 2006 report that addressed these objectives. For its report, GAO analyzed over 3,400 deployment-related records at eight component locations for deployed federal civilians and policies related to defense health care, reviewed claims filed under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA); and examined major provisions of special pays and disability and death benefits provided to DOD's deployed federal civilians and military personnel."

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Wharton County Courthouse, in Wharton, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, narrative and photographs.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Six years after the attack on the World Trade Center (WTC), concerns persist about health effects experienced by WTC responders and the availability of health care services for those affected. Several federally funded programs provide screening, monitoring, or treatment services to responders. GAO has previously reported on the progress made and implementation problems faced by these WTC health programs. This testimony is based on and updates GAO's report, September 11: HHS Needs to Ensure the Availability of Health Screening and Monitoring for All Responders (GAO-07-892, July 23, 2007). In this testimony, GAO discusses the status of (1) services provided by the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) WTC Federal Responder Screening Program, (2) efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to provide services for nonfederal responders residing outside the New York City (NYC) area, and (3) NIOSH's awards to WTC health program grantees for treatment services."