Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed states' efforts to implement welfare reform, focusing on: (1) what is known about the effectiveness of various approaches for moving welfare recipients into jobs; (2) how states are implementing welfare reform; (3) the status of those leaving welfare; and (4) the challenges that lie ahead as welfare reform continues to evolve."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the wildfire hazards faced by communities located adjacent to national forests in the dry, inland portion of the Western United States, focusing on: (1) the extent and seriousness of threats posed by national forest wildfires to nearby communities in the interior West; (2) agency efforts to address them; and (3) barriers to successfully implementing these efforts."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the progress being made in addressing the year 2000 computing challenge, focusing on: (1) the federal government's progress and the 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 its prior work and observations on federal efforts to combat terrorism, focusing on: (1) the foreign- and domestic-origin terrorism threats, as GAO understands them from intelligence analyses; (2) the growth in federal programs to provide training and equipment to local first responders--police, fire, and emergency medical services--and the expansion of the federal response elements and teams to deal with a possible chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) terrorist attack; and (3) steps the executive branch has taken to better manage federal efforts to combat terrorism and some opportunities GAO sees for additional focus and direction."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the activities of the U.S. Export Assistance Centers (USEAC), focusing on: (1) USEAC agencies' efforts to improve coordination among federal agencies and nonfederal export service providers; and (2) the challenges USEAC agencies face in their efforts to better meet the needs of the business community--particularly firms that export services and firms that are not yet ready to export."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed on the impact of payment reforms in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) on the Medicare Choice program."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) efforts to monitor the activities of Medicare fee-for-service claims administration contractors, focusing on: (1) how deceptive activities became a way of doing business at some of HCFA's Medicare fee-for-service contractors; (2) why HCFA did not detect these activities through its oversight; and (3) weaknesses in HCFA's monitoring process that could allow these types of activities to recur without detection."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed budget accounting and budget enforcement as they relate to trust funds and other special funds in the budget, focusing on: (1) the structure of the federal budget--especially categorizations within the unified budget; (2) the budget outlook, discretionary caps, and enforcement situation as the nation enters a projected era of unified budget surpluses; and (3) potential implications of changes in the treatment of the aviation programs."

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 ways to combat fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program, focusing on: (1) an overview of the problem; (2) key components of fraud control; and (3) the importance of federal and state cooperation."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) oversight of and the funding for capital development at general aviation airports, focusing on: (1) the adequacy of FAA's oversight and enforcement of general aviation airports' compliance with federal requirements related to the use of their land; and (2) how general aviation airports' planned capital development costs compare with funding levels."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the President's proposal for Social Security financing, focusing on: (1) the extent to which the proposal achieves sustainable solvency and how the proposal would affect the economy and the federal budget; (2) whether the proposal balances individual equity and income adequacy; and (3) how readily changes could be implemented, administered, and explained to the public."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) efforts to address the year 2000 computing problem, focusing on: (1) FAA's progress to date; (2) challenges FAA faces in ensuring that its internal systems will work; (3) risks associated with external organizations--airports, airlines, and international entities; and (4) the critical need for business continuity and contingency plans that identify how aviation operations will continue should systems fail."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new rule on reducing interstate ozone transport of nitrogen oxides. GAO noted that: (1) in accordance with section 126 of the Clean Air Act, the rule contains EPA's final action on petitions filed by eight northeastern states seeking to mitigate significant transport of nitrogen oxides, one of the main precursors of ground-level ozone, across state lines; (2) in the rule, EPA determines that portions of six of the petitions are technically meritorious; (3) those portions will be automatically deemed granted or denied at certain later dates pending actions by the states and EPA regarding state submittals in response to the final nitrogen oxides state implementation plan call; and (4) EPA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO examined the type and extent of consumer education that occurred since the revised children's sleepwear safety standard went into effect in January 1997, focusing on three voluntary point-of-sale practices that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and others recognize as important for informing consumers about the new standard."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Transportation's (DOT) new rule on credit assistance for surface transportation projects. GAO noted that: (1) the final rule would implement the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 1998 to provide credit assistance to surface transportation projects; (2) the Act authorizes DOT to provide secured loans, lines of credit, and loan guarantees to public and private project sponsors of eligible surface transportation projects; and (3) DOT complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed research on the effectiveness of various welfare-to-work approaches, focusing on: (1) the effectiveness of a rapid employment approach, an education-based approach, and a combination of these two approaches in improving employment-related outcomes for welfare recipients and other low-income women with children; and (2) the effect of welfare recipients' educational attainment, including postsecondary education, on the educational attainment of their children."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO determined the potential cost of equipping and maintaining the capability of cities to respond to a terrorist incident involving a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear device (CBRN), focusing on the: (1) views of federal, state, and local officials on equipment they believed would provide various levels of capability to respond to a CBRN incident; and (2) potential procurement and sustainment costs of these items."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the level of enrollment in the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) program and the Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary (SLMB) program, focusing on: (1) the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of: (a) Medicare beneficiaries who enroll as a QMB or SLMB; and (b) Medicare beneficiaries who qualify for QMB or SLMB but do not enroll; (2) reasons why eligible beneficiaries are not enrolled; and (3) strategies to increase enrollment."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO followed up on its report on the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) fiscal year (FY) 1998 financial statements."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the District of Columbia's compliance with Public Law 105-100, focusing on whether: (1) any District employees were authorized, as of September 1998, to take home official vehicles; and (2) these employees were aware of the statutory restriction on using District government vehicles for other than official business, including home-to-work transportation."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new rule on the lowering of reporting thresholds for certain persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) chemicals. GAO noted that: (1) the rule would lower the reporting thresholds for certain PBTs that are subject to reporting under section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA) and section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990; (2) among other actions, the final rule adds other chemicals to the EPCRA section 313 list of toxic chemicals; and (3) EPA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Postal Service's acceptance controls for business mail, focusing on whether the Service had made the changes GAO recommended previously and whether those changes were working."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Acquisition Internet Service (NAIS), focusing on: (1) whether NAIS is an effective mechanism for disseminating procurement information to industry, including small businesses; and (2) the status of efforts to develop a governmentwide electronic procurement information system similar to NAIS."