A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Although recycling can generate environmental and economic benefits, the national recycling rate has increased only slightly since 2000, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). While local governments have the primary role in operating recycling programs, EPA and the Department of Commerce (Commerce) have some legal responsibilities for encouraging recycling. GAO was asked to (1) identify key practices cities are using to increase recycling, (2) describe what EPA and Commerce are doing to encourage recycling, and (3) identify federal policy options that could help increase recycling. GAO interviewed recycling coordinators in 11 large cities about key practices and 13 additional recycling stakeholders about policy options. GAO selected both groups based on geographic representation and recycling expertise, among other factors."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Spending on long-term care services--about $193 billion in 2004--is expected to rise. In 2000, Congress passed the Long-Term Care Security Act, requiring the federal government to offer long-term care insurance. To do so, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) contracted with Long Term Care Partners LLC (Partners) to create the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program. This is the second of two reports required by the act on the competitiveness of the federal program. GAO's March 31, 2006, report, Long-Term Care Insurance: Federal Program Compared Favorably with Other Products, and Analysis of Claims Trend Could Inform Future Decisions (GAO-06-401), found that the federal program's benefits and premiums compared favorably with other plans, but enrollment and claims experience--the amount and number of claims payments--were lower than Partners expected. In this report, GAO compared the federal program's profit structure and marketing efforts with those of other plans and updated its analysis of the program's claims experience. GAO reviewed the contract between OPM and Partners and interviewed OPM, Partners, and insurance carrier officials, as well as actuaries and industry experts. GAO also analyzed data on claim payments for the …