Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the use of the homestead exemption by bankruptcy debtors in Texas and Florida, focusing on statistically valid probability samples of chapter 7 bankruptcy cases that were closed in 1998 in the Northern District of Texas and the Southern District of Florida. GAO used the data from these samples to estimate for each district the (1) the proportion of chapter 7 personal bankruptcy debtors who claimed a homestead exemption; (2) average and median amount of the homestead exemptions claimed; (3) average and median amount of total scheduled debts for those debtors who claimed a homestead exemption; and (4) estimated average and median amount of debts discharged by debtors who claimed a homestead exemption."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the European Union's (EU) and the U.S.' agricultural export subsidy programs, focusing on: (1) EU and U.S. compliance with the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture commitments to reduce agricultural export subsidies; and (2) EU and U.S. plans regarding the future use of agricultural export subsidies."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the District of Columbia's new System of Accounting and Reporting (SOAR), focusing on: (1) the training attendance statistics for SOAR; (2) the reported contract costs and total hours by deliverables for SOAR; (3) which applications of the vendor's financial management package the District of Columbia is implementing; (4) the cost of the implementation of SOAR at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC); (5) which agencies will implement SOAR; and (6) what types of resources are dedicated to transition assistance."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on equal employment opportunity (EEO) issues in the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Midwest District Office."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new rule on reducing interstate ozone transport of nitrogen oxides. GAO noted that: (1) in accordance with section 126 of the Clean Air Act, the rule contains EPA's final action on petitions filed by eight northeastern states seeking to mitigate significant transport of nitrogen oxides, one of the main precursors of ground-level ozone, across state lines; (2) in the rule, EPA determines that portions of six of the petitions are technically meritorious; (3) those portions will be automatically deemed granted or denied at certain later dates pending actions by the states and EPA regarding state submittals in response to the final nitrogen oxides state implementation plan call; and (4) EPA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Social Security Administration's (SSA) new rule on the effective date of application for Supplemental Security Income benefits. GAO noted that: (1) the rule implements section 204 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which changes the date a social security application is effective so that the earliest month for which benefits can be paid is the month following the month in which the application is filed; (2) previously, benefits were prorated for the month in which the application was filed; (3) the rule makes changes concerning emergency advance payments, interim assistance reimbursements, and in the definition of eligible spouse; and (4) SSA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Transportation's (DOT) new rule on credit assistance for surface transportation projects. GAO noted that: (1) the final rule would implement the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 1998 to provide credit assistance to surface transportation projects; (2) the Act authorizes DOT to provide secured loans, lines of credit, and loan guarantees to public and private project sponsors of eligible surface transportation projects; and (3) DOT complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on its recommendations to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for completing key actions necessary to ensure continued delivery of benefits and health care services to veterans beyond January 1, 2000."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO identified: (1) key issues the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must resolve in order to achieve accountability over its property, plant, and equipment (PP&E); and (2) the status of FAA's efforts to resolve these issues."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on additional matters it identified in its audit of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) custodial financial statements for fiscal year (FY) 1998 regarding accounting procedures and internal controls that could be improved."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO responded to concerns regarding its previous recommendations proposing that Department of Defense (DOD) pharmacy programs charge copayments for prescription drugs."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on whether space-station-related commercial activities could generate revenue capable of reducing the station's annual cost of operations, which the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) estimates will average $1.3 billion, or $13 billion over a 10-year mission life after the space station is fully assembled in 2004."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on its audit responsibilities for independent counsels who have completed their investigations or whose offices have been officially terminated."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) spending from its operations account, focusing on: (1) the history of funding FAA's operations activities from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund; (2) whether FAA has data to allow a determination of whether its spending for operations is cost-efficient and cost-effective; and (3) changes that FAA could institute in its various programs, offices, and projects to reduce its spending for operations."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) appropriation for fiscal year (FY) 1999 and its budget request for FY 2000 for selected programs and initiatives."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on the General Services Administration's (GSA) efforts to ensure that the telecommunications systems it manages for the federal government are year 2000 compliant."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the level of federal assistance provided to Suffolk County, New York, as well as data on incomes and the distribution of population within the county."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed five of the Legal Services Corporation's (LSC) largest grantees, focusing on whether the grantee: (1) properly documented the client's eligibility; (2) provided legal services within the past year; and (3) reported duplicate cases."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on: (1) selected characteristics for men's and women's intercollegiate athletics programs, focusing on: (a) the number of athletes; (b) number of teams; (c) sports programs sponsored; (d) average squad size; and (d) the maximum number of athletic scholarships a school may award for each sport; and (2) the number of student athletes and the proportion of undergraduate students at 4-year schools that participated as athletes during academic years 1985-86 and 1996-1997."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO described how the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) and its contractors monitor third-party billing companies' involvement in the submission of claims to Medicare."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the proposed legislation entitled the Government Waste Correction Act of 1999."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program's current financial management initiatives, activities, and practices."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO responded to congressional questions concerning its April 1999 Testimony on the Melissa computer virus and its broader implications, focusing on: (1) how much damage was done by the virus and how many federal agencies were affected; (2) whether there are any safeguards that can detect a computer virus before it has been identified as a virus; and (3) whether Java Applets and Internet cookies could be used as a means of transmitting viral infections."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided a timeline of events and communications related to the District of Columbia (DC) Courts' fiscal year 1998 financial issues."