In March, CBO released its report analyzing the President’s policies. CBO’s estimates of the President’s budget, a recasting of the policies using CBO assumptions and budget estimating methods, raise the expected deficit for FY2004 to $338 billion from the OMB estimated $307 billion. The report also included an update to CBO’s January baseline that pushed the deficit for FY2004 to $200 billion from $145 billion. The revisions delay the return-to-a-surplus from FY2007 to FY2008 and reduce the cumulative FY2004-FY2013 surplus from $1,336 billion (January) to $891 billion (March).

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This report discusses the developments in Iranian foreign policy, including their assistance the U.S. in ousting Saddam Hussein, their involvement with terrorist organizations, the developments made with respect to weapons of mass destruction, and human rights concerns. It also details the Bush Administration's efforts to maintain the sanctions put in place by the Clinton Administration.

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A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1996, federal land management agencies have collected over $900 million in recreation fees from the public under an experimental initiative called the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program. Under the trial program, the Congress authorized the four federal land management agencies, including the Forest Service, to charge fees to visitors and to retain the revenues for use in addition to other appropriated funds. The Congress originally authorized the program for 3 years and has extended it several times. As Congress considers whether to extend the program or to make it permanent, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health asked GAO to address several questions about the Forest Service's administration of the program: (1) How are spending priorities determined for the revenues generated by the program? (2) How has the agency spent its fee demonstration program revenues? (3) What, if anything, is the agency doing to measure the impact of the recreation fee revenues on reducing the agency's deferred maintenance backlog? (4) How does the agency account for its fee demonstration program revenues?"

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Today's workers will rely to a large extent on Social Security, private pensions, and personal wealth for their retirement income. But some analysts question whether these sources will provide sufficient retirement income to maintain workers' standards of living once they leave the labor force. Indeed, the Social Security trust funds are projected to become exhausted in 2042, at which time, unless action is taken, Social Security will not be able to pay scheduled benefits in full. To gain an understanding of what today's workers might expect to receive in terms of retirement income, GAO was asked to examine (1) how the personal wealth of Baby Boom (born between 1946 and 1964) and Generation X (born between 1965 and 1976) workers compare with what current retirees had at similar ages, (2) how workers from the Baby Boom and Generation X compare in terms of the pension and Social Security benefits they can expect to receive, and (3) the likely distribution of pension and Social Security benefits across workers within the Baby Boom and Generation X."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 required states to streamline employment and training services and established three separate funding streams for serving youth, adults, and dislocated workers, for which about $3.3 billion was appropriated for fiscal year 2003. The formulas for distributing these funds to the states were left largely unchanged from those used to distribute funds under the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982, which served a different set of target populations. In anticipation of the upcoming debates on WIA's reauthorization, Congress asked us to review the formulas in the context of current program goals. Specifically, we assessed the formulas used to distribute funds to the states, identifying any mismatches that might exist between the formulas and WIA's program goals and populations served and identifying where the formulas are most vulnerable to wide fluctuations in funding levels from year to year. To identify issues associated with the current formulas, we: (1) summarized relevant provisions of the WIA statute and compared formula factors with target populations for each program, (2) analyzed the U.S. Department of Labor's formula calculations and states' historical allocations to identify factors …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Given the magnitude of its reported spending on information technology (IT) services--more than $6.2 billion in fiscal year 2001--it is critical that the Department of Defense (DOD) adopt effective practices for acquiring IT services. GAO researched leading commercial practices for the outsourcing of IT services, and, in November 2001, published a framework consisting of seven phases that span the full range of activities that are performed during the outsourcing of those services (this is an acquisition in which a client organization transfers responsibility for performing services to an external provider). GAO was asked to determine (1) the extent to which selected DOD projects for outsourcing IT services use leading commercial practices as specified in GAO's framework and (2) whether DOD is sharing lessons learned from its IT outsourcing projects across the department."

OAK B204 We have been pursuing a multi-year project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, to study neutron scattering interactions in iron. The principal objective of this work is to investigate the well-known deficiency that exists for reactor pressure vessel neutron fluence determinations. Specifically, we are using the spherical-shell transmission method, employing iron shells with different thicknesses, and neutron time-of-flight (TOF) measurements of the scattered neutrons, in an effort to precisely determine specific energy regions over which deficiencies in the non-elastic scattering cross section for neutron scattering in iron appear to exist.

This is the tenth Quarterly Technical Report for DOE Cooperative Agreement No: DE-FC26-00NT41047. The goal of the project is to develop and demonstrate a computational workbench for simulating the performance of Vision 21 Power Plant Systems. Within the last quarter, good progress has been made on all aspects of the project. Calculations for a full Vision 21 plant configuration have been performed for two gasifier types. An improved process model for simulating entrained flow gasifiers has been implemented into the workbench. Model development has focused on: a pre-processor module to compute global gasification parameters from standard fuel properties and intrinsic rate information; a membrane based water gas shift; and reactors to oxidize fuel cell exhaust gas. The data visualization capabilities of the workbench have been extended by implementing the VTK visualization software that supports advanced visualization methods, including inexpensive Virtual Reality techniques. The ease-of-use, functionality and plug-and-play features of the workbench were highlighted through demonstrations of the workbench at a DOE sponsored coal utilization conference. A white paper has been completed that contains recommendations on the use of component architectures, model interface protocols and software frameworks for developing a Vision 21 plant simulator.

A multi-grid part-in-cell algorithm for a shearless slab drift wave model with kinetic electrons is presented. The algorithm, which is based on an exact separation of adiabatic and nonadiabatic electron responses, is used to investigate the presence of strange attractors in drift wave turbulence. Although the simulation model has a large number of degrees of freedom, it is found that the strange attractor is low-dimensional and that it is strongly affected by dissipative (collisional) effects.

The overall objective of this project is the three phase development of an Early Entrance Coproduction Plant (EECP) which produces at least one product from at least two of the following three categories: (1) electric power (or heat), (2) fuels, and (3) chemicals using petroleum coke and ChevronTexaco's proprietary gasification technology. The objective of Phase I was to determine the feasibility and define the concept for the EECP located at a specific site; develop a Research, Development, and Testing (RD&T) Plan to mitigate technical risks and barriers; and prepare a Preliminary Project Financing Plan. The objective of Phase II is to implement the work as outlined in the Phase I RD&T Plan to enhance the development and commercial acceptance of coproduction technology. The objective of Phase III is to develop an engineering design package and a financing and testing plan for an EECP located at a specific site. The project's intended result is to provide the necessary technical, economic, and environmental information needed by industry to move the EECP forward to detailed design, construction, and operation. The partners in this project are Texaco Energy Systems LLC. (a subsidiary of ChevronTexaco), General Electric (GE), Praxair, and Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) …

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One new groundwater monitoring well was constructed at the 200-ZP-1 Operable Unit in November 2002. This document provides the information on drilling and construction of this well. One new groundwater monitoring well was constructed in the 200-ZP-1 Operable Unit in November 2002. The purpose of the well is to monitor carbon tetrachloride concentrations in response to the 200-ZP-1 carbon tetrachloride pump-and-treat operations. The well name is 299-W15-43 and the corresponding well number is C3955. Well 299-W15-43 is located about 8 meters west of the 216-T-25 trench. The location of the well is shown on Figure 1. Well 299-W15-43 was drilled in response to the recommendations of a Data Quality Objectives process that indicated a need for additional monitoring wells in the area (BHI-01576). The new well was constructed to the specifications and requirements described in Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 173-160 and WAC 173-303, the Data Quality Objectives document (BHI-01576), and the description of work for well drilling and construction. This document compiles information on the drilling and construction, geophysical logging, and sediment and groundwater sampling applicable to the installation of well 299-W15-43. The information on drilling and construction, well development, and pump installation is summarized from CP-14265. Appendix A contains …