None

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."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the operations and benefits of the Department of Defense's (DOD) Defense Modernization Account, focusing on: (1) the status of funding and uses of the account; and (2) whether DOD has reported to the six congressional committees on the activities of the account as required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the total acquisition costs of the Air Force's B-2A bomber program through completion of the production program, focusing on the: (1) deficiencies in achieving B-2A operational requirements; and (2) status of acquisition costs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO examined the type and extent of consumer education that occurred since the revised children's sleepwear safety standard went into effect in January 1997, focusing on three voluntary point-of-sale practices that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and others recognize as important for informing consumers about the new standard."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed concerns surrounding the Balanced Budget Act's (BBA) health plan payment changes, focusing on: (1) the extent to which health plans provide additional benefits and whether they could continue to provide additional benefits if payments were reduced; (2) the evidence regarding managed care's effect on Medicare spending; and (3) whether BBA provisions will eliminate excess plan payments."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the licensing of government-owned inventions created under federally funded research projects, focusing on: (1) government-owned inventions licensed by six federal agencies during fiscal years 1996 through 1998, including the royalties received during that period, and the total number of active licenses these agencies had as of October 1, 1998; (2) whether the licenses were exclusive or nonexclusive; (3) whether the licensees were small businesses, individuals, large businesses, or nonprofit organizations; and (4) whether the licensees were foreign or domestic."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on how the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the enlargement of the European Union (EU) may affect U.S. allies' ability to sustain or increase their defense budgets, focusing on: (1) projected defense spending for several European countries; (2) budgetary effects of EMU implementation and EU enlargement; and (3) other significant factors that may affect countries' ability to share in the costs of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) over the long run."

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."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the economy of Vietnam, focusing on the availability, transparency, and quality of published economic and trade data on Vietnam."

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."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program, focusing on: (1) the underlying problems in the program that led to test failures; (2) whether program restructuring efforts address these underlying problems; and (3) how this restructuring will affect THAAD's User Operational Evaluation System."

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."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Forest Service's evolving mission, focusing on the: (1) priorities that Congress set in enacting the National Forest Management Act of 1976, which guides the development of plans for managing national forests; (2) Forest Service's mission and funding priorities and how they have evolved over the past 2 decades; and (3) effect of these priorities on the availability of timber and on the costs of and receipts from timber sales."

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."

A briefing report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on its analysis of federal counterterrorist exercises."

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."