Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The devastation experienced throughout the Gulf Coast region in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita has called into question the government's ability to effectively respond to such disasters. The government needs to understand what went right and what went wrong, and to apply these lessons to strengthen its disaster response and recovery operations. The federal government relies on partnerships across the public and private sectors to achieve critical results in preparing for and responding to natural disasters, with an increasing reliance on contractors to carry out specific aspects of its missions. This testimony discusses how three agencies--the General Services Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps)--conducted oversight of 13 key contracts awarded to 12 contractors for hurricane response, as well as public and private sector practices GAO identified that provide examples of how the federal government could better manage its disaster-related procurements."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) administers the annual Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), which gave more than 22,000 charities access to the federal workplace, helping those in need by collecting more than $250 million in donations during the 2005 campaign. The success of the campaign is predicated on each donor's confidence in a system that ensures donations reach charitable organizations that have met the CFC's specific eligibility requirements and are legitimate charities. For example, to be eligible, each charity must have formally received from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax-exemption designation under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Subcommittee on Oversight is reviewing tax-exempt status entities and asked GAO to determine whether charitable organizations participating in the CFC were remitting their payroll and other taxes to the IRS as required by law. Specifically, GAO was asked to investigate and determine whether and to what extent (1) charities listed in the 2005 CFC have unpaid payroll and other taxes; (2) selected charities, their directors or senior officers are abusing the federal tax system; and (3) OPM screens charities for federal tax problems before allowing them to be listed …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Today's hearing focuses on Medicare Part D, the program's new outpatient prescription drug benefit. On January 1, 2006, Medicare began providing this benefit, and beneficiaries have until May 15, 2006, to enroll without the risk of penalties. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which administers the Part D benefit, has undertaken outreach and education efforts to inform beneficiaries and their advisers. GAO was asked to discuss how CMS can better ensure that Medicare beneficiaries are informed about the Part D benefit. This testimony is based on Medicare: CMS Communications to Beneficiaries on the Prescription Drug Benefit Could Be Improved, GAO-06-654 (May 3, 2006)."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To ensure that essential government services are available in emergencies, federal agencies are required to develop continuity of operations (COOP) plans. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is responsible for providing guidance to agencies on developing such plans. Its guidance states that in their continuity planning, agencies should consider the use of telework--that is, work performed at an employee's home or at a work location other than a traditional office. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently reported that 43 agencies have identified staff eligible to telework, and that more than 140,000 federal employees used telework in 2004. OPM also reported that many government operations can be carried out in emergencies using telework. For example, telework appears to be an effective strategy for responding to a pandemic--a global outbreak of disease that spreads easily from person to person and causes serious illness and death worldwide. In previous work, GAO identified steps that agencies should take to effectively use telework during an emergency. GAO was asked to testify on how agencies are addressing the use of telework in their continuity planning, which …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Many U.S. communities face difficulties attracting physicians to meet their health care needs. To address this problem, states and federal agencies have turned to foreign physicians who have just completed their graduate medical education in the United States under J-1 visas. Ordinarily, these physicians are required to return home after completing their education, but this requirement can be waived at the request of a state or federal agency if the physician agrees to practice in, or work at a facility that treats residents of, an underserved area. In 1996, GAO reported that J-1 visa waivers had become a major means of providing physicians for underserved areas, with over 1,300 requested in 1995. Since 2002, each state has been allotted 30 J-1 visa waivers per year, but some states have expressed interest in more. GAO was asked to report on its preliminary findings from ongoing work on (1) the number of J-1 visa waivers requested by states and federal agencies and (2) states' views on the 30-waiver limit and on their willingness to have unused waiver allotments redistributed. Such redistribution would require legislative action. GAO surveyed the 50 states, …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Trilogy project--initiated in 2001--is the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) largest information technology (IT) upgrade to date. While ultimately successful in providing updated IT infrastructure and systems, Trilogy was not a success with regard to upgrading FBI's investigative applications. Further, the project was plagued with missed milestones and escalating costs, which eventually totaled nearly $537 million. This testimony focuses on (1) the internal controls over payments to contractors, (2) payments of questionable contractor costs, and (3) FBI's accountability for assets purchased with Trilogy project funds."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Hurricane Katrina struck near the Louisiana-Mississippi border and became one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, affecting a large geographic area and necessitating the evacuation of people from parts of the area, including vulnerable populations, such as hospital patients, nursing home residents and transportation-disadvantaged populations who were not in such facilities. The disaster highlighted the challenges involved in evacuating vulnerable populations due to hurricanes. GAO was asked to discuss efforts to plan and prepare for the needs of seniors in the event of a national emergency. GAO describes its ongoing work on evacuation in the event of emergencies, such as hurricanes, and provides preliminary observations on (1) challenges faced by hospital and nursing home administrators that are related to hurricane evacuations; (2) the federal program that supports the evacuation of patients needing hospital care and nursing home residents; and (3) challenges states and localities face in preparing for and carrying out the evacuation of transportation-disadvantaged populations and efforts to address evacuation needs. This testimony is based in part on a prior GAO report, Disaster Preparedness: Preliminary Observations on the Evacuation of Hospitals and Nursing Homes Due …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has done many studies over the past 7 years on anthrax vaccine safety and anthrax detection methods. GAO has reported the lack of validated methods for detecting anthrax contamination and has recommended a coordinated approach to improving the overall process for detecting anthrax that included a probability-based sampling strategy. GAO also reported that the vaccine has not been adequately tested on humans; no studies have been done to determine the optimum number of doses; the long-term safety has not been studied and data on short-term reactions are limited; however, women report higher rates of reactions than do men. Given these problems, GAO recommended the development, of a better, alternative vaccine."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The size and strength of hurricane Katrina resulted in one of the largest natural disasters in our nation's history and raised major questions about our nation's readiness and ability to respond to catastrophic disasters. GAO has a large body of completed and ongoing work on a range of issues relating to all phases of the preparation, response, recovery, and rebuilding efforts related to hurricane Katrina as well as a wealth of historical experience in reviewing the federal government's response to disasters and catastrophic events. A great deal of attention has been focused on lessons learned from the 2005 hurricane season and many recommendations have been advanced on how to improve the nation's preparedness and ability to effectively respond to catastrophic disasters. GAO's testimony today describes some factors for success and other issues that Congress may wish to consider as it determines what changes to make, including those of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) organizational placement, to improve the nation's readiness and ability to respond effectively to major disasters, including catastrophic disasters, regardless of cause."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report presents an analysis of information on the members of the 51 state advisory committees of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (Commission). These state advisory committees exist to provide information on state and local civil rights issues to the Commission. This analysis contains information on state and advisory committee member demographics and the members' occupations. Information on the members was obtained from the Commission from the most recent charter for each advisory committee at the time of our analysis. We obtained our state demographic information from U.S. census data except for data on religion and politics. Religion data was obtained from The American Religious Identification Survey 2001.1 The political data was obtained from The 2004 Political Landscape by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. We are providing this information so that readers may see how the advisory committees' membership reflects various criteria. For more detailed information on the old and new membership criteria, please see our report entitled U. S. Commission on Civil Rights: The Commission Should Strengthen Its Quality Assurance Policies and Make Better Use of Its State Advisory …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States is a world leader in scientific and technological innovation. To help maintain this advantage, the federal government has spent billions of dollars on education programs in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields for many years. However, concerns have been raised about the nation's ability to maintain its global technological competitive advantage in the future. This testimony is based on our October 2005 report and presents information on (1) trends in degree attainment in STEM- and non-STEM-related fields and factors that may influence these trends, (2) trends in the levels of employment in STEM- and non-STEM- related fields and factors that may influence these trends, and (3) federal education programs intended to support the study of and employment in STEM-related fields. For this report, we analyzed survey responses from 13 civilian federal departments and agencies; analyzed data from the Departments of Education and Labor; interviewed educators, federal agency officials, and representatives from education associations and organizations; and interviewed students."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Record high crude oil and natural gas prices have generated significant concerns by the public and members of Congress that the high and relatively volatile prices may be the result of factors other than market forces. Several members of the House and the Senate have expressed concerns over the upward trending prices and factors that may be causing the perceived increases in volatility of several energy commodities, including crude oil, gasoline, natural gas, and heating oil. As a result, we initiated this study under the authority of the Comptroller General. This testimony focuses on our ongoing study of (1) changes in energy futures markets and volatility since 2000 and (2) Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) surveillance and enforcement activities in the oversight of energy futures trading."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This document is a guide to GAO Protective Orders."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Unemployment Insurance (UI) has been a key component in ensuring the financial security of America's workforce for over 70 years. In fiscal year 2004, UI covered about 129 million wage and salary workers and paid about $41 billion in benefits to nearly 9 million workers who lost their jobs. The Department of Labor (Labor) and states have a shared responsibility to enhance UI program performance by ensuring that only eligible individuals receive benefits while on the UI rolls and fostering reemployment. Labor's Office of Inspector General and others have found that aspects of UI may be vulnerable to fraud and improper payments, and despite the size and scope of UI, there has been little national information to fully assess states' efforts to foster reemployment. This testimony draws upon results of several GAO reports on (1) Labor's efforts to identify, estimate, and prevent improper benefit payments and (2) federal and state efforts to help speed UI claimants' return to work. We are not making new recommendations at this time. Labor generally agreed with the UI findings in our referenced reports, but took issue with our recommendation that the Secretary …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) is responsible for about 2 million active personnel security clearances. About one-third of the clearances are for industry personnel working on contracts for DOD and more than 20 other executive agencies. Delays in determining eligibility for a clearance can heighten the risk that classified information will be disclosed to unauthorized sources and increase contract costs and problems attracting and retaining qualified personnel. Long-standing delays in completing hundreds of thousands of clearance requests and numerous impediments that hinder DOD's ability to accurately estimate and eliminate its clearance backlog led GAO to declare DOD's personnel security clearance program a high-risk area in January 2005. This testimony presents GAO's (1) preliminary observations from its ongoing review of the timeliness and completeness of clearances, (2) concerns about the upcoming expiration of an executive order that has resulted in high level commitment to improving the governmentwide clearance process, and (3) views on factors underlying DOD's decision to stop accepting clearance requests for industry personnel."

A chapter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal possessions tax credit, which was designed to encourage U.S. corporate investment in Puerto Rico and other insular areas, expires this year. Proponents of continued federal economic assistance to Puerto Rico have presented a variety of proposals for congressional consideration. In response to a request from the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, this study compares trends in Puerto Rico's principal economic indicators with those for the United States; reports on changes in the activities and tax status of the corporations that have claimed the possessions tax credit; explains how fiscal relations between the federal government and Puerto Rico differs from the federal government's relations with the states and other insular areas; and compares the taxes paid to all levels of government by residents of Puerto Rico, the states, and other insular areas. GAO used the latest data available from multiple federal and Puerto Rican government agencies. Data limitations are noted where relevant. Key findings are based on multiple measures from different sources. GAO is not making any recommendations in this report. In comments on this report the Governor of Puerto Rico said the report will …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Public opinion polls have shown continued negative sentiments toward the United States in the Muslim world. Public diplomacy activities--led by the State Department (State)--are designed to counter such sentiments by explaining U.S. foreign policy actions, countering misinformation, and advancing mutual understanding between nations. Since 2003, we have issued three reports on U.S. public diplomacy efforts that examined (1) changes in public diplomacy resources since September 11, 2001; (2) strategic planning and coordination of public diplomacy efforts; and (3) the challenges facing these efforts. We have made several recommendations in the last 3 years to the Secretary of State to address strategic planning issues, private sector engagement, and staffing challenges related to public diplomacy. For example, today's report recommends that the Secretary develop written guidance detailing how the department intends to implement its public diplomacy goals as they apply to the Muslim world. State has consistently concurred with our findings and recommendations for improving public diplomacy, and the department, in several cases, is taking appropriate actions. However, the department has not established a timetable for many of these actions."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The nation's long-term fiscal outlook is daunting. While the budget process has not caused the problems we face, the absence of meaningful budget controls and other mechanisms has served to compound our fiscal challenge. Conversely, a process that illuminates the looming fiscal pressures and provides appropriate incentives can at least help decision makers focus on the right questions. Meaningful budget controls and other mechanisms can also help to assure that difficult but necessary choices are made. The budget process needs to provide incentives and signals to address commitments the government has already made and better transparency for and controls on the long-term fiscal exposures being considered. Improvements would include the restoration of realistic discretionary caps; application of pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) discipline to both mandatory spending and revenue legislation; the use of "triggers" for some mandatory programs; and better reporting of fiscal exposures."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For federal fiscal year 2004, state and local child protective services staff determined that an estimated 872,000 children have been victims of abuse or neglect. Title IV-B subparts 1 and 2 authorize a wide array of child welfare services with some restrictions on states' use of funds. This testimony discusses: (1) how states used Title IV-B dollars to serve families under subparts 1 and 2; (2) the extent that federal oversight ensured state compliance with spending requirements under subpart 1; and (3) what the research said about the effectiveness of service states have provided to families using Title IV-B funds. This testimony was primarily based on a 2003 report (GAO-03-956)."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 1996, the United Nations (UN) and Iraq began the Oil for Food program after sanctions were imposed in 1990. The program was intended to allow the Iraqi government to sell oil to pay for humanitarian goods and prevent it from obtaining goods for military purposes. More than $67 billion in oil revenue was obtained through the program, with $31 billion in assistance delivered to Iraq. Internal controls serve as the first line of defense in preventing fraud, waste, and abuse and in helping agencies achieve desired outcomes. GAO assesses (1) the control environment the UN established for managing the sanctions and Oil for Food program and (2) other key internal control elements. In addition, we provide observations on the lessons learned from the program."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is a relatively small agency that plays a vital role in transportation safety and has a worldwide reputation for investigating accidents. With a staff of about 400 and a budget of $76.7 million in fiscal year 2006, NTSB investigates all civil aviation accidents in the United States, and significant accidents in railroad, highway, marine, and pipeline; and issues safety recommendations to address issues identified during accident investigations. To support its mission, NTSB built a training academy, which opened in 2003 and provides training to NTSB investigators and others. It is important that NTSB use its resources efficiently to carry out its mission and maintain its preeminence. This testimony, based on ongoing work for this committee, addresses the extent to which NTSB follows leading practices in selected management areas, addresses challenges in completing accident investigations and closing safety recommendations, and generates sufficient revenues to cover costs at its academy."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony focuses on the Architect of the Capitol's progress in achieving selected project milestones and in managing the Capitol Visit Center project's schedule since Congress's April 27, 2006, hearing on the project. As part of this discussion, we will address a number of key challenges and risks that continue to face the project, as well as actions AOC has taken or plans to take to address these risks. In addition, we will discuss the status of the project's costs and funding."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Advances in information technology make it easier than ever for the federal government to obtain and process personal information about citizens and residents in many ways and for many purposes. To ensure that the privacy rights of individuals are respected, this information must be properly protected in accordance with current law, particularly the Privacy Act and the E-Government Act of 2002. These laws prescribe specific activities that agencies must perform to protect privacy, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has developed guidance on how and in what circumstances agencies are to carry out these activities. Many agencies designate officials as focal points for privacy-related matters, and increasingly, many have created senior positions, such as chief privacy officer, to assume primary responsibility for privacy policy, as well as dedicated privacy offices. GAO was asked to testify on key challenges facing agency privacy officers. To address this issue, GAO identified and summarized issues raised in its previous reports on privacy."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has faced challenges for many years in managing its grants, which constitute over one-half of the agency's budget, or about $4 billion annually. EPA awards grants through 93 programs to such recipients as state and local governments, tribes, universities, and nonprofit organizations. In response to concerns about its ability to manage grants effectively, EPA issued its 5-year Grants Management Plan in 2003, with performance measures and targets. This testimony is based on GAO's May 2006 report, Grants Management: EPA Has Made Progress in Grant Reforms but Needs to Address Weaknesses in Implementation and Accountability (GAO-06-625). GAO examined EPA's progress in implementing its grant reforms in four key areas: (1) awarding grants, (2) monitoring grantees, (3) obtaining results from grants, and (4) managing grant staff and resources."