This report provides a brief overview of the existing statutory authority and implementing regulation. It describes several policy issues raised in previous debates regarding chemical facility security and identifies policy options for congressional consideration.

Report discussing the Presidential Records Act (PRA) and examines policy options related to the capture, maintenance, and use of presidential records.

This report discusses the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) proposals for electric generating units (EGU) Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

This report focuses on selected legal issues related to the use of hydraulic fracturing. It examines some of the requirements for hydraulic fracturing contained in major federal environmental laws. It also provides an overview of issues involving state preemption of local zoning authority, as well as state tort law.

This report discusses the strategic significance of Guam for defense buildup and the force relocation and deployments from the U.S. mainland. It also discusses the concerns and issues for Congress, such as allies and partner, China, and legislation.

This report covers the recent 2011 Nigerian elections, development challenges, reform initiatives, social issues, security concerns, and international relations in Nigeria. It ends with some concerns for Congress, including U.S.-Nigerian trade issues, Nigerian counter-terrorism efforts, and U.S. assistance to Nigeria.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had made considerable progress toward obtaining a clean opinion on its financial statements. For example, DHS reduced the number of audit qualifications from 11 in 2005 to 1 in 2010. DHS is working to resolve the deficiencies in the U.S. Coast Guard's (USCG) ability to complete certain reconciliations and provide evidence supporting certain components of general property, plant, and equipment and heritage and stewardship assets that caused DHS's auditors to issue a qualified opinion on its fiscal year 2012 financial statements. DHS has a goal of achieving a clean opinion for fiscal year 2013. However, the DHS auditors' report for fiscal year 2012, the most recently completed audit, indicated that DHS continues to rely on compensating controls and complex manual work-arounds to support its financial reporting, rather than sound internal control and effective financial management systems."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the central human resources agency for the federal government and, as such, is tasked with ensuring the government has an effective civilian workforce. As part of its mission, OPM defines recruiting and hiring processes and procedures; provides federal employees with various benefits, such as health benefits; and administers the retirement program for federal employees. The use of information technology (IT) is crucial in helping OPM to carry out its responsibilities, and in fiscal year 2011 the agency invested $79 million in IT systems and services. For over 2 decades, OPM has been attempting to modernize its federal employee retirement process by automating paper-based processes and replacing antiquated information systems. However, these efforts have been unsuccessful, and OPM canceled its most recent retirement modernization effort in February 2011. GAO was asked to provide a statement summarizing its work on challenges OPM has faced in managing its efforts to modernize federal employee retirement processing. To do this, GAO relied on previously published work as well as a limited review of more recent documentation on OPM's retirement modernization activities."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) created the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and gave it responsibility for, among other things, the supervision and oversight of the housing-related government-sponsored enterprises (GSE): Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the 12 federal home loan banks. Specifically, FHFA was assigned responsibility for ensuring that each of the regulated entities operates in a fiscally safe and sound manner, including maintenance of adequate capital and internal controls, and carries out its housing and community development finance mission. HERA also requires FHFA to annually prepare financial statements, and further requires GAO to audit these statements. Pursuant to HERA's requirement, GAO audited FHFA's fiscal years 2010 and 2009 financial statements to determine whether (1) the financial statements were fairly stated, and (2) FHFA management maintained effective internal control over financial reporting. GAO also tested FHFA's compliance with selected laws and regulations. GAO is not making any recommendations in this report. In commenting on a draft of this report, FHFA stated that it was pleased with the results of the audit, and it would continue to work to enhance its internal controls …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Air Force plans to upgrade and extend the service life of 300 F-16 aircraft and the Navy 150 F/A-18 aircraft, at a combined cost estimated at almost $5 billion in fiscal year 2013 dollars."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, there were nearly 70 different types of leasable minerals extracted from federal lands and waters in fiscal years 2010 and 2011, but their volume cannot be aggregated because they use different units of measure. For example, the volumes of the four most valuable of these minerals--oil, gas, natural gas liquids, and coal--are measured in barrels, million cubic feet (mcf), gallons, and tons, respectively. According to ONRR data, the total value of all leasable minerals extracted from federal and Indian land and sold in fiscal years 2010 and 2011 was $92.3 billion and $98.6 billion, respectively."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, referred to as the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, created the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB). The act charged it with the responsibility of regulating the offering and provision of consumer financial products or services under the federal consumer financial laws. The act also requires CFPB to annually prepare financial statements, and further requires GAO to audit these statements. The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 also requires that GAO audit CFPB's financial statements. Pursuant to the above-referenced requirements in these two acts, GAO audited CFPB's fiscal year 2011 financial statements to determine whether (1) the financial statements were fairly presented, and (2) CFPB management maintained effective internal control over financial reporting. GAO also tested CFPB's compliance with selected laws and regulations.."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We found that state and local social services, criminal justice, and consumer protection agencies face many challenges as they work to prevent and respond to elder financial exploitation. For example:"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) receives thousands of air passenger screening complaints through five mechanisms, but does not have an agencywide policy or consistent processes to guide receipt and use of such information. For example, from October 2009 through June 2012, TSA received more than 39,000 screening complaints through its TSA Contact Center (TCC). However, the data from the five mechanisms do not reflect the full nature and extent of complaints because local TSA staff have discretion in implementing TSA's complaint processes, including how they receive and document complaints. For example, comment cards are used at four of the six airports GAO contacted, but TSA does not have a policy requiring that complaints submitted using the cards be tracked or reported centrally. A consistent policy to guide all TSA efforts to receive and document complaints would improve TSA's oversight of these activities and help ensure consistent implementation. TSA also uses TCC data to inform the public about air passenger screening complaints, monitor operational effectiveness of airport security checkpoints, and make changes as needed. However, TSA does not use data from its other four mechanisms, in part …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From the time it became operational in November 2010, through March 31, 2012, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center) has focused on implementing 17 new models to test different approaches for delivering or paying for health care in Medicare and Medicaid. The center is still relatively early in the process of implementing these models. Eleven of the models were selected by the Innovation Center under the provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that established the center, while the remaining 6 were specifically required by other PPACA provisions. The Innovation Center projects that a total of $3.7 billion will be required to fund testing and evaluation of the 17 models, with the expected funding for individual models ranging from $30 million to $931 million. As of March 2012, the center's 184 staff were organized into four groups responsible for coordinating the implementation of different models and another five groups responsible for key functions that support model implementation. Officials said that, among other things, the center's initial hiring of staff reflected the need for leadership and for specific types of expertise, …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In GAO’s opinion, FHFA’s fiscal years 2011 and 2010 financial statements are fairly presented in all material respects. GAO also concluded that FHFA had effective internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2011. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance with the laws and regulations it tested."

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

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Presented is GAO's Performance and Accountability Report for fiscal year 2011. In the spirit of the Government Performance and Results Act, this annual report informs the Congress and the American people about what we have achieved on their behalf. The financial information and the data measuring GAO's performance contained in this report are complete and reliable."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Presented is GAO's Performance and Accountability Report for fiscal year 2012. In the spirit of the Government Performance and Results Act, this annual report informs the Congress and the American people about what we have achieved on their behalf. The financial information and the data measuring GAO's performance contained in this report are complete and reliable."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) collects limited information on crashes involving vehicles carrying unsecured loads but plans to make changes to collect better information. Currently, NHTSA collects some data in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the National Automotive Sampling System General Estimates System. However, the systems do not currently have a data category to distinguish between debris resulting from natural sources (such as a tree branch) and debris resulting from human error (such as an unsecured load). As a result, NHTSA cannot currently identify how many crashes involve vehicles carrying unsecured loads. NHTSA intends to make changes to both its systems to better identify crashes involving unsecured loads. These changes will go into effect in 2013. However, NHTSA may still face challenges collecting this data because 1) law enforcement officials face difficulties in determining whether a crash involved an unsecured load and 2) states do not collect uniform data on unsecured loads in their police crash reports. NHTSA officials stated that they would likely recommend changes to the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC)—voluntary guidelines intended to create uniform data in police crash …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On October 3, 2008, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) was signed into law. EESA authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to implement the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and established the Office of Financial Stability (OFS) within the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) to do so. EESA requires the annual preparation of financial statements for TARP, and further requires GAO to audit these statements. GAO audited OFS's fiscal years 2010 and 2009 financial statements for TARP to determine whether, in all material respects, (1) the financial statements were fairly stated, and (2) OFS management maintained effective internal control over financial reporting. GAO also tested OFS's compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations. In commenting on a draft of this report, the Acting Assistant Secretary, Office of Financial Stability, stated OFS concurred with the significant deficiency in its internal control over financial reporting that GAO identified. He also stated that OFS is committed to correcting the deficiency."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Officials in each of the four states GAO contacted identified the need for more safeguards and public awareness activities to help prevent elder financial exploitation. They also noted that it is difficult to prevent exploitation by individuals such as financial services providers, power of attorney agents, guardians, and paid in-home caregivers. Although states have primary responsibility for combating elder financial exploitation, the federal government could disseminate information on model power of attorney legislation, for example, to help states better safeguard against power of attorney abuse--one type of federal activity authorized under the Older Americans Act of 1965. In addition, experts and state and local officials told GAO that many older adults need more information about what constitutes elder financial exploitation in order to report and avoid it. The seven federal agencies GAO reviewed have undertaken activities to increase public awareness of elder financial exploitation. While some experts observed that a nationwide approach to educating the public is needed, federal public awareness activities are not currently conducted as part of a broader coordinated approach, which GAO believes could help ensure the effective use of federal resources. The …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) has not developed or implemented a plan to guide joint bases in achieving cost savings and efficiencies. The Department of Defense (DOD) originally estimated saving $2.3 billion from joint basing over 20 years, but in the absence of a plan to drive savings, that estimate has fallen by almost 90 percent. OSD also does not yet have a fully developed method for accurately collecting information on costs, savings, and efficiencies achieved specifically from joint basing. GAO previously reported that organizational transformations such as merging components and transforming organizational cultures should be driven by top leadership, have implementation goals and a timeline to show progress, and include a communication strategy. Although the joint bases anecdotally reported achieving some savings and efficiencies, without an implementation plan to drive savings and a means to collect reliable information on the specific costs, estimated savings, and efficiencies from joint basing, DOD will not be able to facilitate achievement of the goals of cost savings and efficiencies, track the extent to which these goals have been achieved, or evaluate the continuation or expansion of …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On September 6, 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) placed the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) into conservatorships. FHFA took this step after concern developed that the deteriorating financial condition of the two government-sponsored enterprises (GSE), which had about $5.4 trillion in combined financial obligations, threatened the stability of financial markets. Since then, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) has provided financial support to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the enterprises) to help stabilize their financial condition and help ensure their ability to continue to support housing finance. As of September 2010, Treasury had provided about $150 billion in capital contributions to support the enterprises, and the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the total cost to taxpayers could be nearly $400 billion over a 10-year period. In recent months, Congress and the administration have been considering a variety of proposals to reform the enterprises in order to help ensure their safety and soundness and the effectiveness of the U.S. housing finance system. We issued a report under the Comptroller General's authority on structural reform options for …