Report that discusses the FY2012 budget for energy and water development as approved by Congress, including how the funding will be used.

Report that provides information about federal and private sector efforts to promote and support global Internet freedom, a description of Internet freedom legislation from the 112th Congress, and suggestions for further reading on this topic. Two appendixes describe censorship and circumvention technologies.

Report that describes the general nature of the biofuels RFS and its implementation, outlines some of the emerging issues related to the sustainability of the continued growth in U.S. biofuels production needed to fulfill the expanding RFS mandate, and the emergence of potential unintended consequences of this rapid expansion.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. agencies engaged in export controls use various compliance activities to prevent the diversion or misuse of exported items against U.S. interests or allies and reduce illicit transshipment risk. Compliance activities include (1) vetting transactions prior to export, (2) analyzing shipping data and monitoring the end use of items, and (3) educating companies and foreign governments about illicit transshipment risks. To vet transactions, agencies review license applications for the export of controlled items, consult multiple lists of entities known or suspected of violating export control laws or regulations, and screen foreign end users to determine their eligibility to receive items without a license. Agencies also review shipping records to identify patterns of abuse and to plan end-use checks—visiting foreign companies to verify the approved use and location of exported items on both licensed items and those eligible for export without a license. From 2008 to 2010, Commerce conducted 56 percent of its end-use checks on unlicensed exports. In the 13 transshipment countries, unlicensed exports accounted for about 94 percent of unfavorable end-use check determinations, which indicates that the end use or end user of an export …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Actual trust-fund revenues fell short of FAA’s revenue forecasts for 9 of the past 11 years, contributing to a decline in the trust fund’s uncommitted balance from over $7 billion in fiscal year 2000 to $770 million in fiscal year 2010. Inaccurate forecasts for the taxes related to domestic passenger tickets, which account for over 70 percent of trust-fund revenues, drove the aggregate overforecast, but inaccurate forecasts for other taxes also had an effect. This inaccuracy is largely attributable to unexpected events affecting aviation, such as the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the recession in 2009; the budget process requiring the forecasts to be developed over a year in advance of the fiscal year; and lags in recognizing structural changes in the airline industry, such as airlines’ increased reliance on ancillary fees for which excise taxes for the trust fund are not collected. Changes in the methodology for forecasting trust-fund revenues and the assumption of forecasting responsibility by Treasury, begun in fiscal year 2011, may also affect the future accuracy of forecasts, but it is too soon to tell what effect the changes will …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Reliance on a global supply chain introduces multiple risks to federal information systems. These risks include threats posed by actors—such as foreign intelligence services or counterfeiters—who may exploit vulnerabilities in the supply chain and thus compromise the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of an end system and the information it contains. This in turn can adversely affect an agency’s ability to effectively carry out its mission. Each of the key threats could create an unacceptable risk to federal agencies."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has trained thousands of personnel on the use of biometrics since 2004, but biometrics training for leaders does not provide detailed instructions on how to effectively use and manage biometrics collection tools. The Office of the Secretary of Defense, the military services, and U.S. Central Command each has emphasized in key documents the importance of training. Additionally, the Army, Marine Corps, and U.S. Special Operations Command have trained personnel prior to deployment to Afghanistan in addition to offering training resources in Afghanistan. DOD’s draft instruction for biometrics emphasizes the importance of training leaders in the effective employment of biometrics collection, but existing training does not instruct military leaders on (1) the effective use of biometrics, (2) selecting the appropriate personnel for biometrics collection training, and (3) tracking personnel who have been trained in biometrics collection to effectively staff biometrics operations. Absent this training, military personnel are limited in their ability to collect high-quality biometrics data to better confirm the identity of enemy combatants."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "CMS developed and implemented the Five-Star System largely during an 8-month period in 2008 with input from long-term care stakeholders, CMS’s Five-Star System contractor, and members of a technical expert panel—a panel composed of nine individuals that CMS identified as experts in long-term care research. CMS made numerous methodological decisions during the development of the Five-Star System, including three key methodological decisions. GAO defines key methodological decisions as those that at least six technical expert panel members—of the nine that GAO contacted—recalled as eliciting the most intense review and discussion during the development of the Five-Star System. One key methodological decision was how to combine the component ratings to create an overall rating. The other two key methodological decisions pertained to how to create ratings that account for variation in the type of care provided across nursing homes."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Isotope Development and Production for Research and Applications program (Isotope Program) provides over 300 different isotopes for commercial and research applications. The Isotope Program is responsible for 243 stable isotopes that are no longer produced in the United States but are sold from the program’s existing inventory and for 55 radioactive isotopes, called radioisotopes, that the program is able to produce at DOE facilities. An additional 10 isotopes sold by the Isotope Program are provided by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a separate agency within DOE, as by-products of its nuclear weapons program."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government spent about $68 million on 15 of the 16 financial literacy programs that were comprehensive in scope or scale in fiscal year 2010; cost data were not available for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which was created that year. In addition, about $137 million in federal funding in four other major programs was directed to housing counseling, which can include elements of financial education. Since fiscal year 2010, at least four of these programs have been defunded and CFPB has received resources to fund its financial literacy activities."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "DISH is cooperating with the Special Master’s examination, which consists of examining DISH’s compliance with the royalty payment and household eligibility requirements of the license under Section 119. Since beginning his examination, the Special Master has been holding regular meetings with representatives of DISH and NAB, which represents the four major networks and their affiliates. The Special Master requested, and DISH provided, information on DISH’s royalty calculations and payments to the Copyright Office. The Special Master told us that he is satisfied with the information provided by DISH to date and is currently in the process of reviewing the methodology DISH used for its royalty payments. To determine whether any problems exist with DISH’s services to eligible subscribers, and whether a more detailed examination of DISH’s records may be needed, DISH and NAB are collaborating on a survey of all major network-affiliated television broadcast stations nationwide. According to the parties, the survey is to be distributed twice: once in February 2012 and again in May 2012, to ensure that affiliated stations are not having issues with DISH’s services. The Special Master has been kept apprised of the development …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal efforts to support entrepreneurs are fragmented--including among 52 programs at the Department of Agriculture (USDA), Commerce, and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Small Business Administration (SBA). All overlap with at least one other program in terms of the type of assistance they are authorized to offer, such as financial (grants and loans) and technical (training and counseling), and the type of entrepreneur they are authorized to serve. Some entrepreneurs struggle to navigate the fragmented programs that provide technical assistance. For example, some entrepreneurs and technical assistance providers GAO spoke with said the system can be confusing and that some entrepreneurs do not know where to go for assistance. Collaboration could reduce some negative effects of overlap and fragmentation, but field staff GAO spoke with did not consistently collaborate to provide training and counseling services to entrepreneurs. The agencies have taken initial steps to improve how they collaborate by entering into formal agreements, but they have not pursued a number of other good collaborative practices GAO has previously identified. For example, USDA and SBA entered into a formal agreement in 2010 to coordinate their …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On August 2, 2011, Congress and the President enacted the Budget Control Act of 2011, which established a process that increased the debt limit to its current level of $16.4 trillion through incremental increases effective on August 2, 2011; after close of business on September 21, 2011; and after close of business on January 27, 2012. Delays in raising the debt limit occurred prior to the August 2011 and January 2012 increases, with the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) deviating from its normal debt management operations and taking a number of actions, referred to by Treasury as extraordinary actions, to avoid exceeding the debt limit."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In May 2012, 194 member states approved components of the World Health Organization's (WHO) reform agenda, encompassing three broad areas--priority-setting, governance, and management reforms--that generally address the challenges identified by stakeholders. According to WHO officials, member state representatives, and other stakeholders, some of the challenges facing WHO include its (1) lack of clear organizational priorities; (2) lack of predictable and flexible financing; and (3) highly decentralized organizational structure. In developing its reform agenda, WHO consulted with member states, employees, and other parties to gather their views and feedback. In addition, WHO has commissioned three ongoing evaluations to provide input into the reform process. The first stage of one of the planned evaluations was conducted by WHO's External Auditor, which concluded in March 2012 that WHO's reform proposals are comprehensive in addressing challenges faced by the organization. WHO continues to consult with member states on priority-setting and governance proposals, which generally require extensive deliberation and consensus from member states. In November 2011, the WHO Executive Board approved WHO's management reform proposals in several areas, and requested further development of proposals in other areas. In May 2012, WHO …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO identified 15 key aerostat and airship efforts that were underway or had been initiated since 2007, and the Department of Defense (DOD) had or has primary responsibility for all of these efforts. None of the civil agency efforts met GAO's criteria for a key effort. Most of the aerostat and airship efforts have been fielded or completed, and are intended to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) support. The estimated total funding of these efforts was almost $7 billion from fiscal years 2007 through 2012. However, funding estimates beyond fiscal year 2012 decline precipitously for aerostat and airship efforts under development, although there is an expectation that investment in the area will continue."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "DOD's rationale for waiving WSARA's competitive prototyping requirement for CAPS covered both bases provided in the statute; however, DOD did not provide complete information about the potential benefits of competitive prototyping or support for its conclusion that prototyping would result in schedule delays. In the waiver, DOD found reasonable the Air Force's conclusion that the additional $49 million cost of producing competing prototypes exceeded the negligible expected life-cycle benefits because minimal opportunities exist to increase CAPS technological and design maturity through competitive prototyping. The Air Force's conclusions about CAPS technical and design risk are supported by its market research, but its cost-benefit analysis was incomplete because neither the waiver nor the business case analysis supporting it provided an estimated dollar value for the expected benefits. Further, the Air Force's cost estimate of competitively prototyping CAPS was based on a program office estimate, which has not been independently reviewed by DOD's Office of Cost Assessment and Performance Evaluation. DOD also did not provide support in the waiver for its conclusion that implementing competitive prototyping will delay EPS's initial operational capability and result in DOD being unable to meet critical …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Case processing times under the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES) process have increased over time, and measures of servicemember satisfaction have shortcomings. Each year, average processing time for IDES cases has climbed, reaching 394 and 420 days for active and reserve component members in fiscal year 2011—well over established goals of 295 and 305 days, respectively. Also in fiscal year 2011, just 19 percent of active duty servicemembers and 18 percent of guard or reserve members completed the IDES process and received benefits within established goals, down from 32 and 37 percent one year prior. Of the four phases comprising IDES, the medical evaluation board phase increasingly fell short of timeliness goals and, within that phase, the time required for the military’s determination of fitness was especially troubling. During site visits to IDES locations, we consistently heard concerns about timeframes and resources for this phase of the process. With respect to servicemember satisfaction with the IDES process, GAO found shortcomings in how these data are collected and reported, such as unduly limiting who is eligible to receive a survey and computing average satisfaction scores in a manner that …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO found a number of weaknesses in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) execution of the planning and early implementation phases of the Dialysis Pilot. These weaknesses involved pilot location selection, cost estimation practices, and cost savings calculations that could collectively limit the achievement of the pilot’s goals. Specifically, VA did not do the following:"

Correspondence 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 ""

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. government (USG), non-USG coalition, and DOD contractor personnel perform various roles in the ANP training program. These roles include: (1) serving as advisors and mentors to build ministerial capacity in areas such as financial and human resource management at the Afghan Ministry of Interior; (2) serving as mentors and trainers to develop Afghan commanders’ abilities to operate training sites and provide training to ANP recruits in areas such as criminal investigation, weapons, survival skills, and physical fitness; and (3) serving as embedded mentors to help deployed ANP units develop civilian policing skills. DOD contractor personnel also provide maintenance, logistics, and security support at training sites.As of November 2011, about 778 USG, non-USG coalition, and DOD contractor personnel provided ANP training and mentoring at 23 NATO-managed sites. Approximately 66 percent of these trainers and mentors were non-USG coalition personnel, 21 percent were USG personnel, and the remaining 13 percent were DOD contractor personnel. In addition, about 2,825 DOD contractor personnel provided maintenance, logistics, and security services at 12 NATO-managed training sites."

This report discusses the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA; P.L. 112-25), which established new budget enforcement mechanisms for reducing the federal deficit by at least $2.1 trillion over the 10-year period FY2012-FY2021. The BCA places statutory limits, or caps, on discretionary spending for each of those 10 fiscal years, which will save an estimated $0.9 trillion during that period. In addition, it creates a Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (Joint Committee), which is instructed to develop legislation to reduce the federal deficit by at least another $1.5 trillion through FY2021.

This report examines formal interagency collaborative arrangements and activities, which are intended to enhance joint efforts and cooperation among independent federal agencies with shared responsibilities and overlapping jurisdictions. This report highlights some of the current challenges posed by HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria, as well as several crosscutting policy issues that the 112th Congress may consider as it determines U.S. global health funding for these three diseases, including: Health Systems Strengthening, Country Ownership, Research and Development, Monitoring and Evaluation; and Bilateral vs. Multilateral Support.

This report covers the question of how the United States should respond to China's military modernization effort, including its naval modernization effort, has emerged as a key issue in U.S. defense planning. The question is of particular importance to the U.S. Navy, because many U.S. military programs for countering improved Chinese military forces would fall within the Navy's budget. Potential oversight issues for Congress include the following: whether the U.S. Navy in coming years will be large enough to adequately counter improved Chinese maritime anti-access forces while also adequately performing other missions of interest to U.S. policymakers around the world; the Navy's ability to counter Chinese ASBMs and submarines; and whether the Navy, in response to China's maritime anti-access capabilities, should shift over time to a more distributed fleet architecture.