This report covers the dispute between the U.S with its neighbors Canada and Mexico, who say that the recent country-of-origin labeling (COOL) system implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture is unfair and does not meet its original objectives. This dispute was brought before the WTO dispute panel and found to be valid. The report ends with a discussion of options for the U.S. in regards to modifying COOL to follow WTO rulings.

This report discusses the creation of the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) Program, which was created to alleviate the difficulties that many individuals with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) have finding affordable, stable housing. It also looks at distributions of HOPWA funds, including eligibility and eligible uses for such funding.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

This report begins by describing the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund's (Fund's) history, current appropriations, and each of its programs. The next section of the report analyzes four policy considerations of congressional interest, regarding the Fund and the effective use of federal resources to promote economic development. Lastly, this report examines the Fund's programs and management to see if they represent an effective and efficient government effort to promote economic development in low-income and distressed communities.

This report looks at past gun control legislation and also how recent events (such as the shooting in Tucson, Arizona on January 8, 2011 which notably wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords) have influenced current legislation. This report concludes with discussion of other salient and recurring gun control issues that have generated past congressional interest.

This report examines the funding for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Congressional skepticism and pressures to balance the federal budget have effected NIST and its programs to such an extent that NIST is "currently taking the necessary actions for an orderly shutdown." Presidential promises call for an increase in funding, and the report questions how this funding will affect programs within NIST.

This report provides a brief overview of The Hollings Manufacturing Partnership (MEP), which is a program of regional centers set up to assist small and medium-sized manufacturing companies use knowledge and technologies developed under the auspices of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

This report provides an overview of the Essential Air Service (EAS) program and the legislative issues surrounding it.

Report regarding the ways the United States Congress has explored to stimulate technological advancement in the private sector.

Report that looks at the workings, and pros and cons, of a system established by Congress to facilitate the transfer of technology research and development (R&D) funding to the private sector and state and local governments.

Report that covers legislative activity in the past and present regarding private-sector technological development. It also looks at the future of Congressional action towards mandated specific technology development.

Report that provides an overview of the Court's holding with respect to the individual mandate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) under the Commerce Clause and the Taxing Power. It also addresses possible implications of the decision on existing federal law and future legislation.

Report that examines the current status of state fiscal conditions and the role of federal assistance in state budgets. It begins with a brief overview of state budgeting procedures and then provides budgetary data comparing state fiscal conditions in FY2008 to FY2010.

This report provides a detailed introduction to the federal budget process, including both the presidential and congressional budget process, sequestration, and numerous forms of budgetary legislation.

Report that discusses the rationale behind the passage of P.L. 96-517, its provisions, and implementation of the law.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO identified 56 contracts and task orders that were active during fiscal year 2010 and the first three quarters of fiscal year 2011 under which contracting offices obligated roughly $35.2 million on Arlington’s behalf. These contracts supported cemetery operations, construction and facility maintenance, and new efforts to enhance information-technology systems for the automation of burial operations. The Army has taken a number of steps since June 2010 at different levels to provide for more effective management and oversight of contracts, establishing new support relationships, formalizing policies and procedures, and increasing the use of dedicated contracting staff to manage and improve its acquisition processes. However, GAO found that ANCP does not maintain complete data on its contracts, responsibilities for contracting support are not yet fully defined, and dedicated contract staffing arrangements still need to be determined. The success of Arlington’s acquisition outcomes will depend on continued management focus from ANCP and its contracting partners to ensure sustained attention to contract management and institutionalize progress made to date. GAO made three recommendations to continue improvements in contract management. The Department of Defense (DOD) partially concurred and noted actions in progress …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From 2003 through 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) made more than $46 billion in direct payments to farmers and other producers. These producers planted varying percentages of acres that qualified for payments based on their historical planting yields and designated payment rates (qualifying acres). Cumulatively, USDA paid $10.6 billion—almost one-fourth of total direct payments made from 2003 through 2011—to producers who did not, in a given year, grow the crop associated with their qualifying acres, which they are allowed to do. About 2,300 farms (0.15 percent of farms receiving direct payments) reported all their land as “fallow,” and producers did not plant any crops on this land for each year for the last 5 years, from 2007 through 2011; in 2011, these producers received almost $3 million in direct payments."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) set two goals—reducing on-order and on-hand excess inventory—with percentage targets for each based on the best available data in fiscal year 2009 as part of its Comprehensive Inventory Management Improvement Plan (Plan). Sustained management oversight led to reductions in on-order and on-hand excess inventory in fiscal year 2010 prior to the Plan’s implementation, and thus DOD may find the current targets are not meaningful in guiding improvement. Specifically, at the end of fiscal year 2010, DOD had reduced its percentage of on-order excess inventory to 5.5 percent, thereby achieving its 2014 target 4 years early. It also revised the definition and calculation of on-hand excess inventory, which resulted in DOD being below the fiscal year 2012 target of 10 percent. It is DOD policy to conduct periodic evaluations of its inventory management, and results-oriented management practices emphasize validating performance measures to ensure they remain appropriate. Without challenging, yet achievable targets, DOD’s Plan will not be effective in guiding further improvement."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Out-of-pocket costs for military families who use DOD-subsidized child care are largely driven by policies that vary by service. DOD establishes income-based fee ranges for on-installation child care, but each service sets its own fees and discounts within these parameters. As a result, in school year 2010 the per-child costs that families from the same income categories paid for on-installation care varied by service and installation. For example, the monthly per-child cost for a family with an income of $50,000 could have ranged from $335 to $518. Families’ costs for off-installation child care through private providers are also affected by policy differences among the services. All services offer subsidies for off-installation care that are intended to make families’ costs comparable to those for on-installation care. In an effort to offer benefits to more families, some services use a fixed cap to limit the subsidy amount. In school year 2010, the Air Force and Navy capped their subsidies at $200 per child per month, and families in these services had higher average monthly costs for off-installation care than Army and Marine Corps families, and also had higher …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The number of Regulation A offerings filed and qualified (that is, cleared) by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has declined significantly after peaking in fiscal years 1997 and 1998, respectively. In particular, offerings filed since 1997 decreased from 116 in 1997 to 19 in 2011. Similarly, the number of qualified offerings dropped from 57 in 1998 to 1 in 2011. Securities attorneys GAO interviewed suggested that the decrease in filings after 1997 could be attributed to a number of factors, including the increased attractiveness of Regulation D. The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996 preempted state registration requirements for other categories of securities including certain Regulation D offerings, which are also exempt from SEC registration. In contrast, Regulation A offerings are generally subject to state securities laws and must go through a federal filing and review process. In recent years, businesses have used Regulation D and registered public offerings to a greater extent than Regulation A."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "DOD incorporated results-oriented management practices into the planning and development of the four ongoing DSO improvement efforts. Additionally, it appears that DOD is incorporating those practices into its planning for the fifth effort—strategic network optimization—which is still under development. On the basis of our assessment of DOD’s key planning documents and other information for the process improvement, surface optimization, air optimization, and supply alignment efforts, we found that DOD addressed the six characteristics found in the framework. For example, DOD identified the main purpose of the improvement efforts, their scope, and the resources needed to execute individual efforts. Preliminary observations of DOD's planning for strategic network optimization indicate that agency officials are also incorporating results-oriented management practices for this effort. For example, DOD has developed a mission statement and established mechanisms to coordinate with stakeholders. However, because planning is still underway for strategic network optimization, we were unable to fully assess the extent to which DOD has used result-oriented management practices to develop and implement this improvement effort. For example, DOD has not yet decided how to implement the effort nor developed specific performance measures to assess progress."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken some relatively recent steps to enhance strategic workforce planning across the department. These steps are generally consistent with leading principles, but the department has not yet implemented an effective oversight approach for monitoring and evaluating components' progress. Specifically, recent steps DHS has taken to develop and implement strategic workforce planning efforts are consistent with the leading principles GAO has reported that include involving management and stakeholders, identifying skills and competencies, developing strategies to fill gaps, and building capability through training. For example, the department demonstrated stakeholder involvement by including component-level stakeholders in the development of the DHS Workforce Strategy. Though DHS has taken steps to implement strategic workforce planning, recent internal audits, as well as GAO's previous work, identified challenges related to workforce planning at the component level that could impair the continued implementation of recently initiated strategic workforce planning efforts. For example, GAO reported in July 2009 that the Federal Protective Service's (FPS) workforce planning was limited because FPS headquarters did not collect data on its workforce's knowledge, skills, and abilities and subsequently could not determine optimal …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has taken some steps to improve its approach to managing and implementing Item Unique Identification (IUID) technology, but has yet to incorporate some key elements of best management practices into its evolving framework for management of IUID implementation. These include internal controls and analysis of return on investment. DOD has included certain internal controls, such as defining key areas of authority for IUID implementation, and it is revising policy to incorporate IUID. However, DOD does not have performance measures, such as reliable schedules for predicting when its enterprise information systems will be able to manage items using IUID data, or a full estimate of IUID’s cost and benefits. Without a management framework that includes such key practices, DOD has faced challenges in implementing IUID technology and may not be well positioned to achieve potential financial and nonfinancial benefits."