A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Reducing the cap to the President's salary ($400,000) or the Vice President's salary ($230,700) would have substantially increased the number of employees with compensation costs exceeding the cap in 2010-2012."

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Federal regulations stipulate how radioactive materials are transported within the United States. However, the Department of Energy, under Department of Energy Order, has the authority to operate, within the boundaries of their physical site, to other stipulations. In many cases the DOE sites have internal reviews for onsite transfers that rival reviews performed by the regulatory authorities for offsite shipments. Most of the differences are in the level or type of packaging that is required, but in some cases it may be in the amount and type of material that is allowed to be transferred. This paper will describe and discuss those differences and it will discuss ways to effectively align the onsite rules for transferring materials with those for offsite shipment.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Of the $595 million identified by Labor as having been appropriated or allocated specifically for green jobs activities since 2009, approximately $501 million went toward efforts with training and support services as their primary objective, with much of that funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). Because the Recovery Act directed federal agencies to spend funds quickly and prudently, Labor implemented a number of high-investment green jobs efforts simultaneously. As a result, in some cases, Recovery Act training programs were initiated prior to a full assessment of the demand for green jobs, which presented challenges for grantees. While Labor's internal agencies initially communicated with each other and with other federal agencies after the Recovery Act was passed, most Recovery Act grants have ended or are winding down."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

Report that examines human rights issues in the People's Republic of China (PRC), including ongoing rights abuses, legal reforms, and the development of civil society.

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Report that provides a brief overview of The Hollings Manufacturing Partnership (MEP), a program of regional centers set up to assist small and medium-sized manufacturing companies using knowledge and technologies developed under the auspices of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Report that answers several frequently asked questions about military health care, including: how the system is structured, a TRICARE summary, TRICARE eligibility and plan options, cost of military health care to beneficiaries, relationship of TRICARE to MEDICARE, how the Affordable Care Act affects TRICARE, long-term trends of defense health care costs, and a summary of the fund which funds TRICARE.

Report that examines the funding for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Report that contains a review of the role of nuclear arms control in the U.S.-Soviet relationship, bilateral treaties and unilateral steps the United States took to alter its nuclear posture, and the role of arms control in the U.S.- Russian relationship.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will operate a health insurance exchange in the 34 states that will not operate a state-based exchange for 2014. Of these 34 federally facilitated exchanges (FFE), 15 are in states expected to assist CMS in carrying out certain FFE functions. However, the activities that CMS plans to carry out in these 15 exchanges, as well as in the state-based exchanges, have evolved and may continue to change. For example, CMS approved states' exchange arrangements on the condition that they ultimately complete activities necessary for exchange implementation. CMS indicated that it would carry out more exchange functions if any state did not adequately progress towards implementation of all required activities."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) granted conditional approval to 18 states to establish state-based Small Business Health Options Programs, or SHOPs, and to 17 states to operate health insurance exchanges for individuals. CMS is required to operate a federally facilitated SHOP (FF-SHOP) and a federally facilitated exchange for individuals (FFE) in the remaining states. Of the 33 states with FF-SHOPs and 34 states with FFEs, 15 states are expected to assist CMS to carry out certain functions of the exchange. However, the activities that CMS plans to complete in these 15 exchanges have evolved, and CMS activities in these and other exchanges may continue to change. For example, CMS approved state roles in SHOPs and individual exchanges on the condition that they ultimately complete key activities for exchange establishment. CMS indicated that it would assume more responsibilities in these exchanges if any state did not adequately progress towards completion of all required activities."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) primarily monitors railroads' compliance with federal safety regulations through routine inspections by individual inspectors at specific sites on railroads' systems. Thirty states also employ railroad safety inspectors, who participate in a partnership program with FRA to conduct supplemental safety oversight activities based on FRA rail safety regulations and enforce state railroad safety laws. FRA applies a quantitative, risk-based approach, the National Inspection Plan, to inform its rail safety oversight efforts using analyses of past accident and inspection data and other information to target inspections in each region. FRA also uses a planning and evaluation tool, the Staffing Allocation Model (SAM), to distribute its inspection resources across each FRA region. However, according to several FRA regional administrators that GAO spoke with, the staffing decisions based on SAM results do not necessarily align with their perspectives on the inspector needs for their regions."

Report that discusses the economic issues raised by "too big to fail" (TBTF), the historical experience with TBTF before and during the financial crisis of the 2000s, broad policy options, and policy changes made by the relevant Dodd-Frank provisions.

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) uses a multistep process to build overhead costs into projects. At the foundation of this process, Corps policy establishes two categories of costs to calculate overhead--general and administrative overhead expenses associated with district administrative offices, such as resource management, and technical overhead expenses associated with district technical offices, such as engineering. Using these two categories as a starting point, the Corps next calculates overhead rates as part of its annual budget process. Specifically, each district administrative and technical office develops operating budgets with overhead estimates, which are then consolidated and routed through district and division management, resulting in a final division-wide operating budget and overhead rates. The Corps then bills projects for overhead costs based on the number of hours its staff charge to projects. Overhead charges are not applied to hours worked by contracted labor, which represent a substantial amount of work. The Corps reports that it contracts out most of its design work and all of its construction work to private sector entities, such as architectural and engineering firms and construction companies. Finally, the Corps periodically monitors …

Report that discusses the diplomatic relation between United States and Vietnam that was established in 1995. Topics include issues U.S. and Vietnamese interest, economic ties, and human rights.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal years 2008-2012, $52.4 billion was appropriated out of the $62.2 billion authorized under the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act of 2007 (COMPETES 2007) and the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (COMPETES 2010). Almost all of these funds went to the entire budgets of three existing research entities--the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science (Science)--including all of the programs and activities the entities carry out. Appropriations for NSF, NIST, and Science generally increased under the acts but did not reach levels authorized by the acts. In addition to authorizing the budgets of these entities, COMPETES 2007 and COMPETES 2010 specifically authorized funding for 40 individual programs, including some programs within and some outside of these entities. Among those 40 programs, the 12 programs that existed before COMPETES 2007 received appropriations and continue to operate. Six of 28 newly authorized programs were also funded. Of these 6 programs, 1--DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, set up to develop new energy technologies--is continuing operations, …

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In GAO's opinion, the financial statements of the American Battle Monuments Commission (the Commission) as of September 30, 2012 and 2011, and for the fiscal years then ended, are presented fairly, in all material respects, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. However, GAO found two material weaknesses that resulted in ineffective internal control over financial reporting. GAO also found one area of noncompliance with laws and regulations it tested."

Report that examines why there is no longer any foreign interest in the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program and how the Army's study to revise overall tactical wheeled vehicle requirements might affect the JLTV program.

Proceedings of the Senate of Texas for the third day of the Second Called session of the 83rd Legislature documenting legislation, reports, discussions, votes, and points-of-order.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The number of Medicare prostate cancer-related intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) services performed by self-referring groups increased rapidly, while declining for non-self-referring groups from 2006 to 2010. Over this period, the number of prostate cancer-related IMRT services performed by self-referring groups increased from about 80,000 to 366,000. Consistent with that growth, expenditures associated with these services and the number of self-referring groups also increased. The growth in services performed by self-referring groups was due entirely to limited-specialty groups--groups comprised of urologists and a small number of other specialties--rather than multispecialty groups."