Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the President's proposal for addressing social security and use of the budget surplus."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Welfare reform significantly changed federal policy for low-income families with children and established a five-year lifetime limit on cash assistance. Welfare reform also extended transitional Medicaid assistance through 2001. States have implemented various initiatives to help families move from cash assistance to the workforce, including some enhancements to transitional Medicaid. These initiatives likely helped to cut cash assistance caseloads by more than half from 1996 through mid-2001. Low-wage or part-time jobs--which are common for newly working individuals--often do not come with affordable health insurance, thus making transitional Medicaid coverage an important option. The implementation of transitional Medicaid assistance varied across the 21 states that GAO reviewed. State practices enhanced beneficiaries' ability to retain Medicaid coverage. However, many families did not receive their full transitional Medicaid assistance benefits because they failed to report their income three times during the 12-month period of coverage. Amending the Medicaid statute to provide states with greater flexibility to ease income-reporting requirements, as has been done for other aspects of the Medicaid program, could facilitate uninterrupted health insurance coverage for families moving from cash assistance to the workforce."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The original anthrax vaccine was developed in the 1950s and was first produced on a large scale by Merck. The BioPort Corporation in Michigan is now the sole facility in the United States capable of producing the vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licenses biological products and their production facilities. The manufacturer is required to comply with current good manufacturing practices, which regulate personnel, buildings, equipment, production controls, records, and other aspects of the vaccine manufacturing process. When there is a major change in the manufacturing process, the manufacturer must submit evidence to FDA showing that the change does not have any adverse effects. The manufacturer must also ensure that the quality of the product is maintained. In the case of the anthrax vaccine, the Michigan facility did not notify FDA of several changes to the manufacturing process in the early 1990s, and no specific studies were done to confirm that vaccine quality was not affected. FDA inspections found several deficiencies, many of which were not corrected in a timely manner."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO: (1) discussed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) budget justification for the Science and Technology account; and (2) presented observations on EPA's budget justifications for fiscal years (FY) 1999, 2000, and 2001."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The challenges posed by homeland security exceed the capacity and authority of any one level of government. Protecting the nation against these threats calls for a truly integrated approach, bringing together the resources of all levels of government. The proposed Department of Homeland Security will clearly have a central role in efforts to enhance homeland security. The proposed consolidation of homeland security programs has the potential to reduce fragmentation, improve coordination, and clarify roles and responsibilities. Realistically, the challenges that the new department faces will clearly require substantial time and effort, and it will take additional resources to make it effective. Moreover, formation of a department should not be considered a replacement for the timely issuance of a national homeland security strategy to guide implementation of the complex mission of the department. Appropriate roles and responsibilities within and between the levels of government and with the private sector are evolving and need to be clarified. New threats are prompting a reassessment and shifting of long-standing roles and responsibilities, but these shifts are being considered on a piecemeal basis without benefit of an overarching framework and criteria to guide …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the year 2000 challenge facing state and local governments, focusing on: (1) the reported year 2000 readiness of state and local governments and actions taken by the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion in this area; (2) the readiness and federal activities associated with state-administered federal programs; and (3) GAO's observations on H.R. 1599, the Year 2000 Compliance Assistance Act."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed its January 1999 report on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) major management challenges and program risks, focusing on: (1) corrective actions that HUD has taken or initiated on its major management challenges; (2) major management challenges that remain and limit HUD's effectiveness in carrying out its mission; and (3) further actions that are needed to resolve these challenges."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In addition to protecting investors and the integrity of the securities market, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), along with the Department of Commerce, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), and the Department of Agriculture, monitors and enforces the nation's trade agreements. Markets have become more complex, global, and technology-driven. At the same time SEC's workload is growing at a rate much faster than staffing. Workload and staffing imbalances have affected most aspects of SEC's regulatory and supervisory activities, from its inhouse technological capabilities to its enforcement actions against market participants. Other agencies that monitor U.S. trade agreements also face human capital challenges. Since the early 1980s, the United States has entered into several hundred trade agreements that have dramatically increased monitoring and enforcement workloads at USTR, Commerce, and Agriculture. This workload has continued to grow during the past two years as a result of major multilateral, regional, and bilateral trade negotiations. These agencies' efforts to monitor and enforce trade agreements are hampered by a lack of sufficient staff with appropriate expertise. Furthermore, they did not receive adequate support from other agencies and had difficulty obtaining …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the President's proposal for addressing social security and use of the budget surplus."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed its recent reports concerning the export controls for high performance computers, focusing on how the executive branch: (1) assesses the national security risks associated with the export of high performance computers going to countries of concern; and (2) determines when the exports of computers at existing performance levels can no longer be controlled."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Postal Service's (USPS) conversion strategy for preparing for the year 2000 crisis, focusing on: (1) year 2000 planning documents and their year 2000 guidance; and (2) internal development standards."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) efforts to increase revenues from alternative sources as a way to supplement its medical care appropriations, focusing on trends in third-party collections."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the factors that complicate small businesses' efforts to comply with the tax laws and the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) efforts to provide better service to small businesses and self-employed taxpayers."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the data that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the states have for making critical water quality decisions required by the Clean Water Act, focusing on: (1) the adequacy of the data for identifying waters for states' 303(d) lists; (2) the adequacy of data for developing total maximum daily loads (TMDL) for those waters; and (3) key factors that affect the states' abilities to develop TMDLs."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the safety of large commercial trucks on the nation's highways, focusing on: (1) trends in crashes involving large trucks; (2) factors that contribute to such crashes; and (3) the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety's (OMCHS) activities to improve the safety of large trucks."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed: (1) the factors contributing to the growth in prescription drug spending for both the general population and Medicare beneficiaries and efforts to control that growth; and (2) benefit design and implementation issues to be considered in deliberations about adding a new prescription drug benefit to the Medicare Program."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (DOE) has been investigating Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as a possible repository for highly radioactive nuclear waste. In February, the Secretary of Energy endorsed the Yucca Mountain site, and the President recommended that Congress approve the site. If the site is approved, DOE must apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for authorization to build a repository. If the site is not approved for a license application, or if NRC denies a construction license, the administration and Congress will have to consider other options. GAO concludes that DOE is unprepared to submit an acceptable license application to NRC within the statutory deadlines if the site is approved. On the basis of a reassessment done by DOE's managing contractor in September 2001, GAO believes that DOE would not have enough time to obtain a license from NRC and build and open the repository by 2010. DOE lacks a reliable estimate of when, and at what cost, a license application can be submitted or a repository can be opened."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In addition to the end of the Cold War and the resulting military force structure downsizing, three events have shaped the depot maintenance environment. First, the base realignment and closure process has reduced DOD's Cold War era infrastructure from 38 military depots to 19. Second, as recommended in various studies, DOD has increasingly relied on defense contractors for depot maintenance and related logistics activities. Third, depot maintenance personnel have been cut by 59 percent, the third highest percent of any category of DOD personnel. DOD has not effectively managed the restructuring of its depot maintenance and related programs. In its earlier and ongoing reviews of defense maintenance and related logistics issues, GAO has identified several management weaknesses in the areas of policy, planning, recapitalization, human capital issues, financial management, performance of maintenance programs, and meeting legislative requirements. As GAO's recent performance accountability report on defense issues notes, logistics activities represent a key management challenge. Maintenance is an important part of those activities, and DOD is at a critical point with respect to the future of its maintenance programs that is linked to its overall logistics strategic plan."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the (1) federal government's role in ensuring a sound public infrastructure and (2) estimates of future investment requirements developed by seven federal agencies: the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, the General Services Administration, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. GAO found that the federal government exerts an important influence on infrastructure investment and development. The seven agencies GAO reviewed each estimate billions of dollars for future investment in infrastructure. The estimates focused on investment in the areas of water resources, hydropower, water supply, wastewater treatment, airports, highways, mass transit, and public buildings. Although these estimates encompass major areas of public infrastructure, they cannot be easily compared or simply "added up" to produce a national estimate of infrastructure investment needs. GAO did not independently verify the seven agencies' investment estimates, but it did rely on past reviews of these data by GAO and others that examined the soundness and completeness of the methodology and data used to develop the estimates. This testimony summarized the July 2001 report (GAO-01-835) and the February 2000 report (RCED/AIMD-00-35)."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the status and management of the Superfund program and the outlook for the program's future, focusing on: (1) progress made toward cleaning up sites in the program; (2) continuing management problems; and (3) factors affecting Superfund's future workload."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Preventive health care services can extend lives and promote the well being of the nation's seniors. Medicare now covers 10 preventive services--three types of immunizations and seven types of screenings--and legislation has been introduced to cover additional services. However, not all beneficiaries avail themselves of Medicare's preventive services. Some may simply choose not to use them, but others may be unaware that these services are covered by Medicare. Although the use of Medicare preventive service is growing, it varies from service to service and by state, ethnic group, income, and level of education. To ensure that preventive services are delivered to those who need them, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sponsors activities to increase their use. CMS now funds interventions to increase the use of three services--breast cancer screening and immunizations against the flu and pneumonia--in each state. CMS also pays for interventions to increase use of services by minorities and low-income beneficiaries with low usage rates. CMS is evaluating the effectiveness of current efforts and expects to have the evaluation results later in 2002."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "At the federal level the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is seeking to better protect human subjects in biomedical research by enhancing the visibility of its human subjects protection activities, improving its monitoring of compliance with relevant regulations by institutions and investigators, and strengthening enforcement of those regulations. HHS has also issued new guidance and is collecting information to improve oversight and monitoring at the institutional level. HHS activities directed at the investigator level consist largely of educational efforts to heighten investigators' awareness of and compliance with ethical policies and practices in conducting research. Overall, HHS' actions appear promising, but GAO has some concerns about the pace and scope of HHS' efforts to ensure the safety and protection of participants in clinical trials."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the substantial gainful activity (SGA) level established for blind beneficiaries of Social Security Disability Insurance (DI), focusing on the: (1) differences in employment circumstances affecting people with blindness compared with those affecting people with other disabilities; and (2) potential impact of changes in SGA levels on the DI program and on the Social Security trust funds."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the potential need to consolidate homeless assistance programs administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), focusing on the: (1) different program requirements for HUD's four Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act programs--the Emergency Shelter Grants Program, the Supportive Housing Program, the Shelter Plus Care Program, and the Section 8 Single-Room Occupancy Program; (2) coordination and administrative challenges that the four programs pose; and (3) actions that HUD has taken to overcome these challenges."