Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Defense's (DOD) Medicare subvention demonstration program, focusing on: (1) the early phases of implementing the DOD demonstration; (2) issues raised by that experience for DOD subvention; and (3) lessons from the DOD demonstration for a possible Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) demonstration."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO discusses the progress the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has made in implementing title 32 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000. Title 32 established NNSA as a semiautonomous agency within the Department of Energy (DOE) with responsibility for the nation's nuclear weapons, nonproliferation, and naval reactors programs. GAO found that the agency is making progress in implementing changes to its organization; planning, programming, and budgeting functions; and use of personnel authority. However, it will be several months before real, tangible evidence of these changes will be seen. And it may be several years before these changes are fully implemented and can be definitively assessed. Important work remains to be done in (1) establishing an organization that clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of headquarters and field staff, moves program management officials as close to the action as possible, and establishes clear lines of authority between NNSA and its contractors; (2) implementing an integrated planning, programming, and budgeting system that can deliver information to decision makers and Congress in time for the 2003 budget deliberations; and (3) overcoming obstacles to using NNSA's Expected Service …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in conjunction with the states, ensures the cost-effectiveness of projects funded under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed matters related to deceptive mail marketing practices, focusing on the extent and nature of consumers' problems with deceptive mail and the initiatives various federal agencies and other organizations have made to address deceptive mail problems and educate consumers."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "People are at the heart of an organization's ability to perform its mission. Yet a key challenge for the Department of Defense (DOD), as for many federal agencies, is to strategically manage its human capital. DOD's proposed National Security Personnel System would provide for wide-ranging changes in DOD's civilian personnel pay and performance management and other human capital areas. Given the massive size of DOD, the proposal has important precedent-setting implications for federal human capital management. This testimony provides GAO's observations on DOD human capital reform proposals and the need for governmentwide reform."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the recreational fee demonstration program, focusing on: (1) ensuring that future revenues can be applied to the agencies' highest priority unmet needs; (2) coordinating fees between agencies at demonstration sites that are close to each other; (3) being more innovative in setting fees; and (4) assessing the effect of fees on specific segments of the population."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the management reform efforts conducted by the National Partnership for Reinventing Government, formerly known as the National Performance Review (NPR)."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed its observations on the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) efforts to carry out its responsibilities to set policy and oversee the management of the executive branch, focusing on: (1) OMB's wide-ranging management responsibilities and the question of whether to integrate or separate management and budget functions; (2) the effectiveness of OMB's management leadership; and (3) the factors that appear to contribute to progress in sustaining improvements in federal management."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the counternarcotics efforts of the United States and Mexico, focusing on: (1) Mexico's efforts in addressing the drug threat; and (2) the status of U.S. counternarcotics assistance provided to Mexico."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the major management challenges and program risks facing the Department of State."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Although the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) has taken actions to improve many of its information technology (IT) management processes, it continues to face substantive challenges that, if left incomplete, could disrupt existing progress and threaten the viability of its existing and future IT spending. VA has yet to fill its full-time department chief information officer vacancy since the position's creation three years ago. In addition, sustained leadership and commitment are necessary to improve VA's departmentwide computer security program, especially as VA begins to move some of its information and services to veterans onto the Internet. And although VA has done a good job of posting privacy and security notices on its websites, it should focus more attention on complying with Office of Management and Budget policies prohibiting the use of persistent cookies. Furthermore, until VA defines and begins to implement a departmentwide, enterprise architecture, it will continue to encounter costly difficulties in achieving its "One VA" vision. Finally, VA faces important decisions on making greater use of the Decision Support System and on the continued development and wide-scale implementation of the compensation and pension replacement project. Continued …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the status of financial management at the Department of Defense (DOD), focusing on: (1) DOD's most serious financial management weaknesses; (2) the resulting impact on DOD's ability to effectively carry out its programs and operations; and (3) DOD's efforts to address these deficiencies."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Automated Land and Mineral Record System project, also known as the ALMRS/Modernization, focusing on: (1) the history of the project; (2) the results of GAO's reviews, including the key reasons for problems; and (3) where GAO believes BLM should go from here."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Often suffering from multiple physical and mental impairments, the 1.5 million elderly and disabled Americans living in nursing homes are a highly vulnerable population. These individuals typically require extensive help with daily living, such as such as dressing, feeding, and bathing. Many require skilled nursing or rehabilitative care. In recent years, reports of inadequate care, including malnutrition, dehydration, and other forms of neglect, have led to mounting scrutiny from state and federal authorities. Concerns have also been growing that some residents are abused--pushed, slapped, or beaten--by the very individuals to whom their care has been entrusted. GAO found that allegations of physical and sexual abuse of nursing home residents are not reported promptly. Local law enforcement officials said that they are seldom summoned to nursing homes to immediately investigate allegations of abuse and that few allegations are ever prosecuted. Some agencies use different policies when deciding whether to refer allegations of abuse to law enforcement. As a result, law enforcement agencies were never told of some incidents or were notified only after lengthy delays. GAO found that federal and state safeguards intended to protect nursing home residents from …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the year 2000 technology problem, focusing on: (1) the federal government's progress and challenges that remain in correcting its systems; (2) state and local government year 2000 issues; and (3) the readiness of key public infrastructure and economic sectors."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the actions the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has taken to move from its traditional regulatory approach to an approach that considers risk in conjunction with engineering analyses and operating experience-termed risk-informed regulation, focusing on the: (1) issues that NRC needs to resolve to implement a risk-informed regulatory approach; (2) status of NRC's efforts to make two of its oversight programs--overall plant safety assessments and enforcement-risk-informed; and (3) major management challenges that NRC faces."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Bonneville Power Administration produces a large portion of the Pacific Northwest's electric power, largely from hydroelectric projects in the Federal Columbia River Power System. Bonneville also has obligations to protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife populations affected by these hydroelectric projects. In the past several years, Bonneville has experienced financial difficulties, in part because of rising costs of providing power, lower-than-projected revenue from selling surplus power, and drought conditions. Bonneville's financial situation may adversely affect fish and wildlife. Stakeholders have expressed concern that Bonneville has effectively reduced spending on fish and wildlife programs. This testimony addresses (1) Bonneville's statutory and other obligations to support fish and wildlife programs, (2) Bonneville's historical spending and other efforts in support of fish and wildlife, (3) Bonneville's current financial condition, (4) Bonneville's recent actions that affect fish and wildlife programs, and (5) challenges Bonneville faces in supplying electricity to the region while simultaneously protecting, mitigating and enhancing fish and wildlife."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed its preliminary findings and observations pertaining to pilot shortages, focusing on: (1) the validity of pilot requirements; (2) the extent of the reported shortages and where they exist; (3) the key factors contributing to pilot shortages; (4) the services' plans for correcting such shortfalls; and (5) other steps that could be taken to address the problem."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Workforce Investment Act was passed in 1998 to unify a fragmented employment and training system. The act sought to change the workforce development system by streamlining the delivery of employment and training services, enabling job seekers to make informed choices among training providers and course offerings and enhancing the private-sector role. During the early stages of the act's implementation, state and local implementers were challenged by the significant changes to the workforce system. Mandatory partners have concerns about how to participate in one-stops without adversely affecting their respective target populations, violating their own programs' rules, or straining their financial resources. Training providers have struggled to find ways to effectively meet the act's data collection and reporting requirements that they believe are burdensome and, as a result, have reduced the courses offered to job seekers."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) faces complex financial and management problems that are deeply rooted in DOD's business operations and management culture. During the past 12 years, DOD has begun several broad-based departmentwide reform efforts to overhaul its financial operations and other key business areas. These efforts have been unsuccessful. GAO identified several key elements that are essential to the success of any DOD financial management reform effort. These include (1) addressing the department's financial management challenges as part of a comprehensive, integrated, DOD-wide business reform; (2) providing for sustained leadership and resource control to implement needed reforms; (3) establishing clear lines of responsibility, authority, and accountability for such reform; (4) incorporating results-oriented performance measures and monitoring tied to the reforms; (5) providing appropriate incentives or consequences for action or inaction; (6) establishing and implementing an enterprise architecture to guide and direct financial management and modernization investments, and (7) ensuring effective oversight and monitoring."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United States spent $50 billion (2002 dollars) on food aid between 1979 and 2003. Notwithstanding these sizable donations and donations by other countries, the need for food aid in the developing world far exceeds available supply. U.S. food aid is provided through six programs administered by the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). These programs use various methods for providing resources and have different ways of delivering aid to the recipient nations. USAID manages the largest program--P.L. 480, Title II--using annual appropriations to purchase commodities that are then donated to recipient nations principally through private voluntary organizations and the World Food Program. The large fluctuations in U.S. food aid since 1990 are the result of three key factors: U.S. food aid policies, agricultural surpluses, and international events. The success of food aid programs in meeting their objectives is hampered by the competing objectives of the programs and by management weaknesses such as a lack of management attention to monitoring and accountability in food aid programs."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the challenges facing the U.S. Postal Service. Overall the Service faces major challenges that collectively call for a structural transformation if it is to remain viable in the 21st century. The Service's financial outlook has worsened, and it is not clear how the Service will address its mounting financial difficulties and other challenges. These challenges include (1) reduced net income, (2) increased debt, (3) increased competition, (3) management-labor relations problems, and (4) statutory restrictions. Because of the Service's rapidly deteriorating financial situation, GAO is placing the Service on its high-risk list. GAO believes that several actions need to be taken to address the Service's continued problems. Such actions include (1) developing a comprehensive plan to address the financial, operational, and human capital challenges; (2) providing quarterly financial reports to Congress and the public; and (3) identifying, in conjunction with GAO and other stakeholders, improvement options that will cut costs and improve productivity."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia inherited the world's largest arsenal of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. The Soviets' extensive military resources and autocratic rule allowed it to maintain and secure this vast arsenal. As Russia adopted economic reforms and moved toward an open society, its economy and central controls deteriorated, making it difficult to maintain security at these weapons sites. Recognizing these difficulties, the Congress authorized funds for programs to help destroy Russian weapons and improve WMD security. The events of September 11th have increased U.S. concerns that terrorists might obtain nuclear materials or weapons at poorly secured sites. GAO has reviewed U.S. threat reduction and nonproliferation efforts in Russia since 1993."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the need to revamp the federal food safety system, focusing on: (1) an overview of GAO's work on the problems resulting from the fragmented food safety system; and (2) where in the federal government food safety inspection responsibilities should reside."