Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the average and median amount of all homestead exemptions claimed by debtors in the Northern District of Texas and the Southern District of Florida, focusing on: (1) information on debtors' use of the homestead exemption in these two districts; and (2) data on the number of personal chapter 7 bankruptcy cases closed in calendar year 1998 in the remaining five districts in Texas and Florida."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed: (1) the budget structure and current budgetary control regime; (2) the budget outlook, discretionary caps, and enforcement situation as the United States enters an era of projected unified budget surpluses; (3) potential implications of guaranteeing minimum spending levels on the discretionary side of the budget; and (4) the pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) side of the equation: (a) permanent appropriations; (b) mandatory trust funds; and (c) mandatory special funds."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's Chemical Demilitarization Program, focusing on the : (1) extent to which the program retains significant levels of prior years' appropriations in excess of spending plans; (2) amounts of reported unallocated appropriations and unliquidated obligations from prior years' appropriations; (3) extent to which more obligations have been liquidated than previously reported; (4) primary reasons for the reported unliquidated obligations; and (5) actions that have affected or will affect unliquidated obligations."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Climate Change Report, which was submitted to the Senate Committee on Appropriations in April 1999, focusing on the extent to which it: (1) provides a comprehensive explanation of the agency's climate change programs for fiscal year (FY) 2000; (2) justifies requested increases in funding for that fiscal year; (3) explains how the climate change activities are justified independently of the Kyoto Protocol; and (4) includes performance measures and goals and similar elements, as would be required by the Government Performance and Results Act."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO: (1) identified census tracts in medium-sized to large cities that met specific poverty criteria; and (2) provided additional information on each census tract."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Congressional Award Foundation's fiscal year (FY) 1998 financial statements, focusing on: (1) the Foundation's need to establish and document control requirements and appropriate procedures in certain internal control areas identified during prior audits; and (2) internal control matters identified during GAO's FY 1998 audit."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on how the Customs Service's Office of Regulatory Audit is conducting compliance assessment audits in the context of the Customs Service Modernization Act, focusing on: (1) procedures established by the act; and (2) Customs' policies and procedures for conducting the audits to identify any problems that might warrant GAO's further review."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD), General Services Administration's (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) new rule on the federal acquisition regulation concerning affirmative action in federal procurement. GAO noted that: (1) the rule adopts as final the interim rules that were the subject of GAO's major rule report issued on July 16, 1998; (2) the interim rules reformed affirmative action in federal procurement to ensure compliance with the constitutional standards established by the Supreme Court; (3) the only significant change in the interim rules involves the provision allowing contractors acting in good faith to rely upon the self-representations of their subcontractors as to their status as small disadvantaged business concerns; (4) the period of time for subcontractors to become certified under rules issued by the Small Business Administration has been extended by the final rule until September 30, 1999; (5) this change does not affect the factual statements or the conclusions concerning the agencies' compliance with the statutes and executive orders discussed in the July 16, 1998, major rule report; and (6) DOD, GSA, and NASA complied …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed proposals for reorganizing the Department of Energy (DOE), focusing on: (1) longstanding weaknesses in DOE's management that GAO has identified over the past several years; (2) the effect that the proposals to deal with national security weaknesses would have on addressing these weaknesses; and (3) a framework for evaluating DOE's missions and possible reorganization."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO updated its previous report on the Department of Energy's (DOE) fiscal year (FY) 2000 budget request, focusing on: (1) selected projects and activities by the Office of Environmental Management in which part or all of the FY 2000 budget request or budget authority from previous years is not needed; and (2) GAO's analysis of Environmental Management's and Defense Programs' carryover funds from prior years to determine if funds are available that could be used to reduce DOE's FY 2000 budget request."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Energy's (DOE) use, acquisition, and management of its supercomputing resources."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Energy's (DOE) progress toward the external regulation of nuclear and worker safety at its facilities, focusing on: (1) DOE's changing positions on the desirability of external regulation for its facilities; (2) the disagreement between DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on the potential costs and value added of external regulation; and (3) the uncertainties for the future of external regulation in DOE."

The high-level radioactive waste sludge in the underground storage tanks at the Hanford Site contains various chromium solid phases. Dissolution and removal of chromium from tank waste sludges is desirable prior to high-level waste vitrification because increased volume is required to incorporate the residual chromium. Unfortunately, dissolution of chromium from the sludge to form Cr(OH){sub 4}{sup -} through treatment with heated NaOH solution (also used to dissolve aluminum phases and metathesize phosphates to sodium salts) generally has been unsuccessful in tests with both simulated and genuine Hanford waste sludges. Oxidative dissolution of the Cr(III) compounds to form soluble chromate has been proposed as an alternative chromium solid phase dissolution method and results of limited prior testing have been reported. The present systematic tests investigated oxygen gas, hydrogen peroxide, and sodium persulfate oxidants to dissolve Cr(III) under alkaline conditions to form soluble chromate. Permanganate and ozone also were considered for testing but were thought to be of secondary interest because of the insoluble residue (MnO{sub 2} from permanganate) and complex equipment (necessary to generate ozone) implicit with use of these reagents. The oxygen and hydrogen peroxide reagents leave no condensable residue and sodium persulfate only leaves soluble sodium sulfate. Crystalline Cr(OH){sub …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the results of its review of the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) strategies and operations in the 1990s, focusing on: (1) the major enforcement strategies, programs, initiatives, and approaches DEA has implemented in the 1990s to carry out its mission; and (2) whether DEA's strategic goals and objectives, programs and initiatives, and performance measures are consistent with the Office of National Drug Control Policy's National Drug Control Strategy."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the challenges facing emergency services and state and local law enforcement systems in addressing the year 2000 computing problem. This report responds to congressional questions regarding GAO's April 29, 1999, testimony on the year 2000 readiness status of the nation's law enforcement systems."

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 regional haze regulations. GAO noted that: (1) the rule calls for states to establish goals and emission reduction strategies for improving visibility in all 156 mandatory Class I national parks and wilderness areas; (2) specific provisions are included in the rule allowing nine western states to implement the recommendations of the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission within the framework of the national regional haze program; and (3) 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 Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) new rule on the assessment and collection of regulatory fees for fiscal year (FY) 1999. GAO noted that: (1) the final rule would revise the regulatory fee schedule to bring it into compliance with the amount of such fees Congress has required FCC to collect for FY 1999; (2) for FY 1999, the amount to be recovered is $172,523,000 or almost 6 percent more than was required for FY 1998; (3) the purpose of the fees is to recover the costs of regulation in the areas of enforcement, policy and rulemaking, international and user information activities; and (4) FCC complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the planning-related provisions of titles I and II of S. 1320--the Public Lands Planning and Management Improvement Act of 1999, focusing on the: (1) statutory basis for the Forest Service's mission priorities; (2) clarity of the mission statement in S. 1320; and (3) extent to which the bill addresses identified planning deficiencies."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on how the Antiquities Act of 1906 has been used since its passage, focusing on: (1) the monuments that have been established under the act; and (2) a comparison of the requirements, if any, for environmental documentation and public participation, and of the processes, if any, for facilitating congressional oversight found in the act and in three other pieces of legislation--the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), and the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA)."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO responded to congressional questions concerning federal real property management, focusing on: (1) whether GAO would advocate a more uniform management of government-owned real property; (2) whether the dispersion of ownership is a weakness in the effective management of real property; (3) what caused the weaknesses found in the management and maintenance of federal facilities; (4) whether a successful partnership between the government and the private sector can take place without the five factors identified in GAO's previous testimony; (5) what constitutes a successful partnership; (6) how underutilized property is defined; (7) to what extent did community pressure hinder or help the government's management of federal property; (8) identifying the elements of a successful joint partnership business plan; (9) how important a statutory basis is for joint partnerships; and (10) how partnerships affect historic preservation projects."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed S. 1214, the Federalism Act of 1999, focusing on: (1) how often the preambles to covered agencies' final rules issued between April 1, 1996, and December 31, 1998, mentioned the executive order and how often they indicated the agencies had conducted Federalism assessments under the order; (2) what selected agencies have done to implement the requirements of the order; and (3) what Office of Management and Budget has done to oversee Federal agencies' implementation of the order in the rulemaking process."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the management and oversight of the Fish and Wildlife Service's Wildlife Restoration Program, focusing on: (1) how administrative funds are used and monitored; and (2) whether there is adequate oversight of the funds provided to the states."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed its work on the safety of eggs and egg products, focusing on whether: (1) prevention-based safety practices have been applied on egg farms and at processing plants; (2) implementation of a new federal policy on egg refrigeration will effectively reduce the risks associated with contaminated eggs; (3) federal and state policies and practices on serving eggs to vulnerable populations and dating egg cartons are consistent; and (4) federal egg safety resources are used efficiently and policies are coordinated effectively."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO presented a guide on its revised government auditing standards to audit officials and others interested in government auditing standards. The standards require auditors to document in the working papers the basis for assessing control risk at the maximum level of assertions that are significantly dependent on computerized systems."