A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As a group, Asian American and Pacific Islanders represent about 5 percent of the U.S. population and hold about 8 percent of the college degrees. To better understand the educational attainment and average incomes of the subgroups that comprise this population, the Committee asked: 1) What are Asian American and Pacific Islander subgroups' educational attainment and household income levels? (2) What challenges, if any, Asian American and Pacific Islander students face in pursuing and completing their post-secondary education? and (3) What federal and institutional resources do institutions with large Asian American and Pacific Islander student enrollment use to address the particular needs of these students? GAO analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Education (Education) and spoke with officials and Asian American and Pacific Islander students at eight postsecondary institutions."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Perchlorate has been used for decades by the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the defense industry in manufacturing, testing, and firing missiles and rockets. Other uses include fireworks, fertilizers, and explosives. Perchlorate is readily dissolved and transported in water and has been found in groundwater, surface water, and soil across the country. Perchlorate emerged as a contaminant of concern because health studies have shown that it can affect the thyroid gland, which helps regulate the body's metabolism, and may cause developmental impairment in fetuses of pregnant women. In 2005, EPA set a reference dose of 24.5 parts per billion (ppb)--the exposure level not expected to cause adverse effect in humans. Today's testimony updates GAO's May 2005 report, Perchlorate: A System to Track Sampling and Cleanup Results is Needed, GAO-05-462. It summarizes GAO's (1) compilation of the extent of perchlorate contamination in the U.S. and (2) review of peer-reviewed studies about perchlorate's health risks. GAO's 2005 report recommended that EPA work to track and monitor perchlorate detections and cleanup efforts. In December 2006, EPA reiterated its disagreement with this recommendation. GAO continues to believe …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Space Shuttle Program is currently supported by over 1,500 active suppliers, some of whom are the only known or certified source of a particular material, part or service. The retirement of the Shuttle and transition to planned exploration activities, as called for in the President's Vision for Space Exploration, creates the need for NASA to begin making decisions today about its supplier base needs for the future. GAO was asked to (1) describe NASA's plans and processes for managing its supplier base through the Shuttle's retirement and the transition to the Constellation's exploration activities; (2) address factors that could impact the effectiveness of those plans and processes; and (3) identify any other issues that NASA will likely encounter as the agency transitions to and implements the Constellation Program."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Supplementing our December 2006 report entitled Compacts of Free Association: Micronesia and the Marshall Islands Face Challenges in Planning for Sustainability, Measuring Progress, and Ensuring Accountability, this report provides information on the uses of economic assistance provided under the amended U.S. compacts with the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) from 2004 through 2006."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) established the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) program to replace and supplement existing cargo processing technology. According to the fiscal year 2007 DHS appropriations act, DHS is to develop and submit an expenditure plan for ACE that satisfies certain conditions, including being reviewed by GAO. GAO reviewed the plan to (1) determine whether the expenditure plan satisfies the legislative conditions, (2) determine the status of 15 open GAO recommendations, and (3) provide observations about the expenditure plan and DHS's management of the program. To address the mandate, GAO assessed plans and related documentation against federal guidelines and industry standards and interviewed the appropriate DHS officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2005, Hurricane Katrina's impact on the Gulf Coast included damage to the environment from chemical and hazardous materials releases. Also, the widespread demolition and renovation activities still under way in New Orleans may release asbestos fibers into the air, posing a potential additional health risk. This report, conducted at the Comptroller General's initiative, addresses (1) the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) actions to assess and mitigate Katrina's environmental impacts, (2) the extent to which EPA has assurance that public health is protected from asbestos inhalation risks in New Orleans, (3) the extent to which EPA's environmental health risk communications provided useful information to the public, and (4) challenges EPA faces in addressing environmental impacts."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Hospitals submit data in electronic form on a series of quality measures to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and receive scores on their performance. Increasingly, the clinical information from which hospitals derive the quality data for CMS is stored in information technology (IT) systems. GAO was asked to examine (1) hospital processes to collect and submit quality data, (2) the extent to which IT facilitates hospitals' collection and submission of quality data, and (3) whether CMS has taken steps to promote the use of IT systems to facilitate the collection and submission of hospital quality data. GAO addressed these issues by conducting case studies of eight hospitals with varying levels of IT development and interviewing relevant officials at CMS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For years, GAO and others have reported that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) does not maintain effective control over the $35 billion of property, plant, and equipment (PP&E) and materials that it reports on its financial statements. GAO's report, the first in a planned series, addresses whether NASA's control environment and internal controls over NASA-held equipment provide reasonable assurance that (1) these assets are not vulnerable to loss, theft, and misuse and (2) all equipment costs are appropriately recorded in the agency's financial statements. GAO evaluated the design of NASA's property management controls by reviewing agencywide and local policies, obtaining equipment loss reports for all NASA centers, and evaluating actions taken to hold employees accountable. To confirm its understanding of the design of NASA's property controls, GAO conducted on-site visits at two NASA centers and interviewed property management officials at the remaining seven NASA centers."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The alleged August 2006 terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives onboard multiple commercial aircraft bound for the United States from the United Kingdom has highlighted both the continued importance of securing the civil aviation system and the potential that improvised explosive devices (IED) may be smuggled onboard passenger aircraft. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has primary responsibility for ensuring the security of civil aviation, which includes the safety of passengers and flight crew. One measure TSA uses to protect the aviation system is prohibiting individuals from carrying items that it determines to be a threat to the aircraft and its passengers into an airport sterile area or onboard an aircraft either in their carry-on bag or on their person. To implement this measure, TSA maintains a prohibited items list that informs both the Transportation Security Officers (TSO) who conduct passenger screening and the traveling public of items that will not be allowed into an airport sterile area or onboard an aircraft. In December 2005, TSA revised its prohibited items list to allow passengers to carry: (1) metal scissors with pointed tips and a blade 4 inches or less …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In June 2006, the Navy completed a feasibility assessment of both the Marine Corps Total Force System (MCTFS)--the Marine Corps' integrated personnel and payroll system--and the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System DIMHRS. Based on the results of this assessment, the Navy expressed a preference to deploy MCTFS instead of DIMHRS. In August 2006, the Defense Business Systems Management Committee (DBSMC) made a business decision to accept the Navy's plan to proceed with the development and implementation of MCTFS. However, the Department of Defense (DOD) had already committed to deploy DIMHRS to provide a joint, integrated, standardized military personnel and pay system across all military components. According to the department, as of September 2006, it had spent over $668 million on the program. The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, Pub. L. No. 109-364, 324 (2006) directed the Secretary of the Navy to prepare a report about MCTFS, including (1) an analysis of alternatives to MCTFS, including a comparison between the costs of deploying and operating MCTFS within the Navy and the cost of including the Navy in DIMHRS; (2) a business case analysis …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Three U.S. national strategies, developed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, directed U.S. law enforcement agencies (LEA) to focus on the prevention of terrorist attacks. The strategies called for LEAs to intensify their efforts to help foreign nations identify, disrupt, and prosecute terrorists. GAO was asked to assess (1) the guidance for LEAs to assist foreign nations to identify, disrupt, and prosecute terrorists and (2) the extent to which LEAs have implemented this guidance."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The congressionally established unified carrier fee system was not implemented before its predecessor, the Single State Registration System, expired thereby preventing states from collecting fees from for-hire motor carriers and other related entities. The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) mandated that a new unified carrier fee system replace the Single State Registration System, which expired on January 1, 2007. The Single State Registration System annually provided 38 states with about $100 million in total fees collected from for-hire interstate motor carriers. States used revenue collected from this system to supplement general funds and conduct safety-related services. Unlike the Single State Registration System, the new system broadened the base of those expected to pay fees to include exempt for-hire motor carriers, private motor carriers, brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing companies. To develop and administer this new fee system, Congress established a Board of Directors. This board is also tasked with administering a federal-interstate Unified Carrier Registration Agreement (UCRA), and issuing rules and regulations to govern this agreement. GAO was asked to examine the progress that the board and the Department of Transportation …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As of April 2007, about 26,000 service members had been injured as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), according to the Department of Defense (DOD). Those service members injured in the line of duty are eligible for military disability compensation. When they leave the military, they may also be eligible for compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In fiscal year 2005 alone, the Army, Navy, and Air Force evaluated over 23,000 military disability retirement cases and, in fiscal year 2004, over $1 billion in permanent and temporary military disability retirement benefits were paid to over 90,000 service members. Through the VA disability compensation and pension claims programs, about $34.5 billion in VA cash disability benefits went to more than 3.5 million veterans and their survivors in fiscal year 2006. On April 23, 2007, we briefed the Commission on the results of our recent studies of DOD and VA disability systems. This report presents the information we provided during that briefing."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Because of concerns about changes in Earth's climate due to greenhouse gas emissions and the potential economic and environmental consequences of these changes, GAO (1) inventoried greenhouse gas emissions generated by legislative branch operations in fiscal year 2006, as well as identified trends in emissions starting from a base year of the average annual amount emitted in fiscal years 1998 through 2001, and (2) identified a strategy for reducing emissions. To perform this work, GAO followed the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and additional guidance from the Environmental Protection Agency, using data provided by officials responsible for legislative branch operations and the General Services Administration."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the agency responsible for ensuring the safety and effectiveness of medical devices--such as catheters and artificial hearts--marketed in the United States. As part of its regulatory responsibilities, FDA reviews applications submitted by medical device companies for devices they wish to market, including devices that are new or those that include modifications to already approved devices. The Medical Device User Fee and Modernization Act of 2002 (MDUFMA) authorized FDA, beginning in fiscal year 2003, to charge user fees for various types of device applications. User fees were intended to provide resources to FDA, to increase staffing for medical device reviews and speed the timeliness of reviews, in addition to resources otherwise provided through the annual appropriations process. Under MDUFMA, FDA is required to report to the congressional committees of jurisdiction annually on the implementation of the user fee program. FDA submitted financial reports that include information such as amounts collected from user fees, the costs of reviewing device applications, and staffing levels FDA dedicated to the review of medical device applications for each fiscal year from 2003 through 2005. In response to …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony relates to the broader question: How should we deal with our nation's long-term fiscal challenge in order to help ensure that our future is better than our past? This testimony will start with our longer-term fiscal challenge. Then it will turn to the process question you present at this hearing: the reimposition of a statutory PAYGO rule(s) as a step toward dealing with this challenge. Finally it will talk about moving beyond caps and PAYGO to some ideas on how improved transparency and process changes can help in the effort to put us on a more prudent and sustainable long-term fiscal path. As widely reported earlier this month, the Administration now expects the deficit for fiscal year 2007 to be $205 billion, down from its February estimate of $244 billion and last year's deficit of $248 billion. However, because these numbers include the Social Security surpluses, they mask what GAO likes to call the "operating deficit" now estimated to be $385 billion for fiscal year 2007. Clearly lower short-term deficits are better than higher short-term deficits. However, our real challenge is not short-term deficits, rather it's …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A 1994 Executive Order sought to ensure that minority and low-income populations are not subjected to disproportionately high levels of environmental risk. Studies have shown that these groups are indeed disproportionately exposed to air pollution and other environmental and health problems. The Order sought to address the problem by requiring EPA and other federal agencies to make achieving environmental justice part of their missions. In July 2005, GAO issued a report entitled, Environmental Justice: EPA Should Devote More Attention to Environmental Justice When Developing Clean Air Rules (GAO-05-289). Focusing on three specific rules for detailed study, the report identified a number of weaknesses in EPA's approach to ensuring that environmental justice is considered from the early stages of rule development through their issuance. The report made several recommendations, to which EPA replied in an August 24, 2006 letter. GAO also met recently with cognizant EPA staff to obtain updated information on the agency's responses to these recommendations. In this testimony, GAO (1) summarizes the key findings of its 2005 report, (2) outlines its recommendations to EPA and EPA's August 2006 responses, and (3) provides updated information on subsequent …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress established two key programs to help support air service to small communities--the Essential Air Service (EAS) providing about $100 million in subsidies per year and the Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCASDP) that provides about $20 million per year in grants. As part of its reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Congress is examining the status and outcomes of these programs. This testimony discusses (1) the history and challenges of the EAS program, (2) the implementation and outcomes of the SCASDP and (3) options for reforming EAS and SCASDP. The testimony is based on previous GAO reports, interviews with Department of Transportation officials and industry representatives as well as program updates."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the July 31, 2007, Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) hearing, the project's construction has progressed, and Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is now anticipating a November 2008, opening date. In addition, AOC and the sequence 2 contractor have signed a contract modification that extends the date for completing the majority of the sequence 2 work from September 15, 2006 to November 15, 2007. However, because delays have occurred on a number of near-critical paths, and risks to the project's schedule remain, we agree with the November 2008 opening date. AOC has increased its estimate of the cost to complete the CVC project's construction to about $621 million to cover the costs associated with extending the sequence 2 schedule and to provide for delays, change orders, and remaining uncertainties. We believe this estimate is reasonable, provided there are no unusual delays. To date, about $556.2 million has been approved for CVC construction, and AOC has $18.6 million more that it has not yet received approval to obligate. Of this amount, AOC plans to use about $6 million for construction and the remainder for operations. For fiscal year 2008, AOC …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The overall goal of the U.S. National Drug Control Strategy, which is prepared by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), is to reduce illicit drug use in the United States. One of the strategy's priorities is to disrupt the illicit drug marketplace. To this end, since fiscal year 2000, the United States has provided about $397 million to support Mexican counternarcotics efforts. According to the Department of State (State), much of the illicit drugs consumed in the United States flows through or is produced in Mexico. GAO examined (1) trends in Mexican drug production and trafficking since calendar year 2000 and (2) U.S. counternarcotics support for Mexico since fiscal year 2000. This testimony is based on a recently issued report (GAO-07-1018) that addresses these issues."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 largely deregulated the freight railroad industry, giving the railroads freedom to price their services according to market conditions and encouraging greater reliance on competition to set rates. The act recognized the need for railroads to recover costs by setting higher rates for shippers with fewer transportation alternatives. The act also recognized that some shippers might not have access to competitive alternatives and might be subject to unreasonably high rates. It established a threshold for rate relief and granted the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Surface Transportation Board (STB) the authority to develop a rate relief process for those "captive" shippers. GAO's reported on rates, competition, and other industry trends in reports issued in October 2006 and August 2007. This statement is based on those reports and discusses (1) the changes that have occurred in the railroad industry since the enactment of the Staggers Rail Act, including changes in rail rates since 1985, (2) the extent of captivity in the industry and STB's efforts to protect captive shippers, and (3) STB's actions to address GAO's recent recommendations."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2003, the U.S. government extended its economic assistance to the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) through an Amended Compact of Free Association. From 2004 to 2023, the United States will provide an estimated $1.5 billion to the RMI, with annually decreasing grants as well as increasing contributions to a trust fund. The assistance, targeting six sectors, is aimed at assisting the country's efforts to promote economic advancement and budgetary self-reliance. The trust fund is to be invested and provide income for the RMI after compact grants end. The Department of the Interior (Interior) administers and oversees this assistance. Drawing on prior GAO reports (GAO-05-633, GAO-06-590, GAO-07-163, GAO-07-513, GAO-07-514R), this testimony discusses (1) the RMI's economic prospects, (2) implementation of the amended compact to meet long-term goals, and (3) potential trust fund earnings. In conducting its prior work, GAO visited the RMI, reviewed reports, interviewed officials and experts, and used a simulation model to project the trust fund's income. Prior GAO reports recommended, among other things, that Interior work with the RMI to address lack of progress in implementing reforms; plan for declining grants; reliably measure progress; …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal government grants to state and local governments have risen substantially, from $7 billion in 1960 to almost $450 billion budgeted in 2007. The single audit is an important mechanism of accountability for the use of federal grants by nonprofit organizations as well as state and local governments. However, the quality of single audits conducted under the Single Audit Act, as amended, has been a longstanding area of concern since the passage of the act in 1984. The President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) recently issued its Report on National Single Audit Sampling Project, which raises concerns about the quality of single audits and makes recommendations aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of those audits. This testimony provides (1) GAO's perspective on the history and importance of the Single Audit Act and the principles behind the act, (2) a preliminary analysis of the recommendations made by the PCIE for improving audit quality, and (3) additional considerations for improving the quality of single audits."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Small Business Administration (SBA) helps individuals and businesses recover from disasters such as hurricanes through its Disaster Loan Program. SBA faced an unprecedented demand for disaster loan assistance following the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes (Katrina, Rita, and Wilma), which resulted in extensive property damage and loss of life. In the aftermath of these disasters, concerns were expressed regarding the timeliness of SBA's disaster assistance. GAO initiated work and completed two reports under the Comptroller General's authority to conduct evaluations and determine how well SBA provided victims of the Gulf Coast hurricanes with timely assistance. This testimony, which is based on these two reports, discusses (1) challenges SBA experienced in providing victims of the Gulf Coast hurricanes with timely assistance, (2) factors that contributed to these challenges, and (3) steps SBA has taken since the Gulf Coast hurricanes to enhance its disaster preparedness. GAO visited the Gulf Coast region, reviewed SBA planning documents, and interviewed SBA officials."