A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Post-9/11 GI Bill was signed into law in June 2008 and provides educational assistance for veterans and members of the armed forces who served on or after September 11, 2001. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is responsible for processing claims for these new education benefits. VA concluded that its legacy systems and manual processes were insufficient to support the new benefits and, therefore, began an initiative to modernize its benefits processing capabilities. The long-term solution was to provide a fully automated end-to-end information technology (IT) system to support the delivery of benefits by December 2010. VA chose an incremental development approach, called Agile software development, which is intended to deliver functionality in short increments before the system is fully deployed. GAO was asked to (1) determine the status of VA's development and implementation of its IT system to support the implementation of education benefits identified in the Post-9/11 GI Bill and (2) evaluate the department's effectiveness in managing its IT project for this initiative."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses our key findings and recommendations in our report that we are releasing today on some aspects of personnel security clearance reforms. We conducted our review in response to a congressional request. This is the fourth in a series of hearings, in which Congress has asked GAO to testify; and this Subcommittee's continued oversight has helped focus attention on the need for personnel security reform. Personnel security clearances allow government and industry personnel to gain access to classified information that, through unauthorized disclosure, can in some cases cause exceptionally grave damage to U.S. national security. The July 2010 and subsequent October 2010 recent unauthorized leak of almost 500,000 classified documents posted to the Internet related to the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq provides a cogent example of the inherent risks involved when granting an individual a security clearance. To ameliorate these risks, government agencies rely on a multiphased personnel security clearance process. However, with the increase in demand over the past decade for personnel with security clearances, we and others have identified problems with the security clearance process with respect to delays and incomplete documentation. …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is a self-financing government corporation that insures the pensions of 44 million workers in more than 27,000 private sector defined benefit pension plans. Yet, PBGC faces financial instability that could pose a future threat to this source of protection for Americans' retirement income. As fewer sponsors pay premiums for fewer participants in defined benefit plans, and as the underfunding of large defined benefit plans increases, the risks to PBGC's financial future also increase. As of September 2010, PBGC's net accumulated financial deficit was $23 billion. GAO has designated PBGC and the pension insurance programs it administers as "high risk" areas in need of urgent attention and transformation to address economy, efficiency, or effectiveness changes. In this testimony, GAO discusses its recent work regarding PBGC. Specifically, this statement focuses on needed improvements to PBGC's governance structure and strategic management based on GAO's prior work in these areas. GAO is making no new recommendations in this statement, but continues to believe that Congress should consider expanding PBGC's board of directors and that PBGC should implement recommendations from prior reports that have not yet been …

This report provides an introduction to the legislative process on the House floor, including limitations on debate, calendars and the order of business, modes of floor consideration, senate amendments and conference reports, voting and quorum procedures, and information about a typical day on the House floor.

This report provides a brief introduction to the legislative process on the Senate floor, including filibusters and cloture, restraint and delay, scheduling legislative business, unanimous consent agreements, the daily order of business, the amending process, and quorum calls and rollcall votes.

Entitlements are programs that require payments to persons, state or local governments, or other entities if specific eligibility criteria established in the authorizing law are met. Entitlement payments are legal obligations of the federal government, and eligible beneficiaries may have legal recourse if full payment under the law is not provided. This report briefly discusses entitlements and entitlement procedures in the federal budget process.

This report briefly discusses procedures on the first day of a new Congress, specifically focusing on Senate proceedings.

Supporters of comprehensive immigration reform have urged the President and Congress to pursue reform legislation. While legislative action on comprehensive reform does not appear likely during the remainder of the 111th Congress, there may be an effort to enact a measure, commonly referred to as the "DREAM Act," to enable certain unauthorized alien students to legalize their status. This report discusses the DREAM act and related issues.

This report summarizes points of order under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended, and related points of order established in the budget resolutions adopted by Congress in 2007, 2008, and 2009, as well as the Rules of the House for the 111th Congress, the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, and the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010. In addition, it describes how points of order are applied and the processes used for their waiver in the House and Senate.

Baselines and scorekeeping are an integral part of the federal budget process, providing lawmakers with a framework for making and enforcing budgetary decisions. The baseline serves as a benchmark for federal budget decisions. Scorekeeping is the process by which the budgetary impact of proposed and enacted budget policies is measured; it assists Congress in making and enforcing budgetary decisions. This report provides a brief explanation of baselines and scorekeeping and their uses in the federal budget process.

This report discusses whether the current food safety system has the resources, authority, and structural organization to safeguard the health of American consumers, who spend more than $1 trillion on food each year. Also at issue is whether federal food safety laws, first enacted in the early 1900s, have kept pace with the significant changes that have occurred in the food production, processing, and marketing sectors since then.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Bi-weekly student newspaper from Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

Video of María José Romero Ramos performing Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63 during a concert hosted by the Center for Chamber Music Studies in Voertman Hall.

Photograph of University of North Texas students Samuel Sei-Jin Park (left) and Ekatarina Tarasova (right) playing violin for String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 18, No. 6 during a concert hosted by the Center for Chamber Music Studies in Voertman Hall.

Photograph of University of North Texas students Mihaela Čuljak (cello) and Veronika Vassileva (viola) playing String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 18, No. 6 during a concert hosted by the Center for Chamber Music Studies in Voertman Hall.

Photograph of University of North Texas student Janelle Ott playing bassoon for Quintet for Winds, Op. 45 during a concert hosted by the Center for Chamber Music Studies in Voertman Hall.

Photograph of University of North Texas students Janelle Ott (bassoon), Jennifer Hemken (French horn), and Sheng-Hsin Lin (clarinet) playing Quintet for Winds, Op. 45 during a concert hosted by the Center for Chamber Music Studies in Voertman Hall.

Photograph of University of North Texas student María José Romero Ramos preparing to play violin for Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63 during a concert hosted by the Center for Chamber Music Studies in Voertman Hall. Ramos is adjusting the sheet music stand in front of her while a violin rests on her lap.

Photograph of University of North Texas students Arsentiy Kharitonov (piano) and Babette le Roux (cello) playing Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63 during a concert hosted by the Center for Chamber Music Studies in Voertman Hall.

Photograph of University of North Texas students Arsentiy Kharitonov (piano) and Babette le Roux (cello) playing Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63 during a concert hosted by the Center for Chamber Music Studies in Voertman Hall.

Photograph of University of North Texas student Heather Suchodolski playing French horn for Ingold Dahl's "Music for Brass Instruments" during a concert held by the Center for Chamber Music Studies in Voertman Hall.

Photograph of University of North Texas student Jesse Orth playing tuba for Ingold Dahl's "Music for Brass Instruments" during a concert held by the Center for Chamber Music Studies in Voertman Hall.

Photograph of University of North Texas students Heather Suchodolski (French horn), Lucas Borges (trombone), Jesse Orth (tuba), Rachel Madden (trumpet), and Richard Adams (trumpet) playing Ingolf Dahl's "Music for Brass Instruments" during a concert hosted by the Center for Chamber Music Studies in Voertman Hall.