New GAO Reports and Testimonies (PDFs)
Source: Government Accountability Office
17 March 2010
+ Reports
1. Environmental Health: High-level Strategy and Leadership Needed to Continue Progress toward Protecting Children from Environmental Threats
2. Media Programming: Factors Influencing the Availability of Independent Programming in Television and Programming Decisions in Radio
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+ Testimonies
1. Environmental Health: Opportunities for Greater Focus, Direction, and Top-Level Commitment to Children’s Health at EPA, by John B. Stephenson, director, natural resources and environment, before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
2. Environmental Contamination: Information on the Funding and Cleanup Status of Defense Sites, by Anu Mittal, director, natural resources and environment, before the Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans’ Affairs, and Related Agencies, House Committee on Appropriations
3. Homeland Security: Ongoing Challenges Impact the Federal Protective Service’s Ability to Protect Federal Facilities, by Mark L. Goldstein, director, physical infrastructure issues, before the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
4. Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Request: U.S. Government Accountability Office, by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, before the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch, House Committee on Appropriations
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New From the GAO
March 17th, 2010Non-Medical Marijuana III: Rite of Passage or Russian Roulette
March 17th, 2010Non-Medical Marijuana III: Rite of Passage or Russian Roulette (PDF; 796 KB)
Source: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
Despite reported declines in teen marijuana use, in 2007 almost 11 million teens report having used marijuana. For those using the drug, four alarming trends are of grave concern for parents and teens, according to Non-Medical Marijuana III: Rite of Passage or Russian Roulette.
The Detection and Deterrence of Mortgage Fraud Against Financial Institutions: A White Paper
March 17th, 2010The Detection and Deterrence of Mortgage Fraud Against Financial Institutions: A White Paper (PDF; 802 KB)
Source: Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council
Financial institutions have experienced an increase in the number, volume, and types of mortgage fraud schemes resulting in significant losses. The 2009 white paper updates mortgage fraud trends and schemes currently impacting financial institutions. This White Paper is divided into three parts, followed by appendices that include a glossary, mortgage transaction flow charts, listing of application criminal statutes, and reference materials.
The U.S. Census: From enumeration to intrusion
March 17th, 2010The U.S. Census: From enumeration to intrusion
Source: Citizens Council on Health Care
Today, as Americans begin to receive their U.S. Census forms, the Citizens’ Council on Health Care (CCHC) releases a new report: The “The U.S. CENSUS: From Enumeration to Intrusion.”
“The U.S. Census has become an intrusive data collection tool for the federal government. The change from constitutional enumeration to federal intrusion has turned led to higher costs, public resistance, and lower compliance. The Census Bureau’s plans to count everyone, not just citizens, may also deny American citizens their constitutional right to equal representation,” says Twila Brase, president of CCHC.
Sections of the 9-page report, which also includes information on the American Community Survey and the Economic Survey, have the following titles:
- Purpose of the U.S. Census
- From Enumeration to Intrusion
- Serious Concerns
- Privacy and Power
- Authorized Access
- CBO “Census Agents”
- Future Access by HHS
- Imperfect Data
- Tainted History
- Penalties for Opting Out
- Rising Costs
- A Better Way
- Unconstitutional Count
- Conclusion
+ Full Report (PDF; 289 KB)
Without Reform, Family Health Care Spending To Skyrocket; 34% Increase By 2015, 79% By 2020
March 17th, 2010Without Reform, Family Health Care Spending To Skyrocket; 34% Increase By 2015, 79% By 2020
Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Without significant reform to the current health care system, the number of uninsured Americans could grow by 10 million people in just five years, and spending on government health care programs for the poor could more than double by 2020, according to a new report released today by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).
The report projects that by 2015, there could be as many as 59.7 million people uninsured—and further estimates that the number could swell to 67.6 million by 2020. An estimated 49.4 million individuals were without health coverage in 2010.
Analysts at the Urban Institute used their Health Insurance Policy Simulation Model to assess the changes in coverage patterns and health care costs that will occur nationally from 2010 to 2020 in the event that major reforms are not enacted. The study examined three alternative scenarios:
1. Worst case—continuing high levels of unemployment; slow growth in incomes; high growth rates for health care costs;
2. Intermediate case—somewhat faster growth in incomes, but a lower growth rate for health care costs; and
3. Best case—full employment; faster income growth; even slower growth in health care costs.Under all three economic scenarios, the analysis shows that the middle-class would suffer most without reform. For employers who continued to offer health insurance benefits, an increasing amount of the costs would likely be passed on to workers. At the same time, individuals and families would face higher out-of-pocket costs for premiums and health care services.
New Study Details Chinese Government Policies to Promote Domestic Renewable Energy Sector & Implications for Foreign Firms
March 17th, 2010New Study Details Chinese Government Policies to Promote Domestic Renewable Energy Sector & Implications for Foreign Firms
Source: National Foreign Trade Council
The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) today released a new study, titled China’s Promotion of the Renewable Electric Power Equipment Industry: Hydro, Wind, Solar and Biomass, which examines policies put in place by the Chinese government to promote the development of its renewable energy sector. The study, authored by members of the International Trade Group of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, details a series of Chinese government measures that have stimulated demand for Chinese-made renewable energy equipment. These measures include preferential financing; VAT rebates; tax incentives; procurement preferences for Chinese-owned and controlled companies; local content preferences; and R&D subsidies for renewable energy equipment producers. The study also highlights foreign producers’ responses to these measures.
+ Full Report (PDF; 703 KB)
Budgetary Impact of the President’s Proposal to Alter Federal Student Loan Programs
March 17th, 2010Budgetary Impact of the President’s Proposal to Alter Federal Student Loan Programs (PDF; 453 KB)
Source: Congressional Budget Office
From CBO Director’s Blog:
The Federal Family Education Loan Program (guaranteed loan program) provides federal guarantees on loans for higher education that are administered and funded by private lenders. The guarantee ensures that lenders will receive almost all of the principal and accrued interest owed to them if borrowers default. The William D. Ford Direct Loan Program offers eligible borrowers nearly identical loans that are administered by the Department of Education and funded through the U.S. Treasury. Under the President’s proposal, all federal student loans originated after July 1, 2010, would be made by the direct loan program.
CBO constructed two estimates of the budgetary impact of that proposal. One estimate follows the methodology delineated by the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (FCRA), which CBO is required to use in cost estimates for most credit programs including student loans. The other estimate was done on a so-called “fair value basis” that provides a more comprehensive measure of cost by including administrative costs and the cost of market risk (the risk that losses from defaults will be higher during periods of market stress, when resources are scarce and hence most valuable). The idea of a fair value estimate is to represent what a private entity would need to be paid to assume the costs and risks to the government from providing loans or guarantees.
Taking into account administrative costs and the cost of risk increases the estimated costs of both the guaranteed and direct loan programs: Using the fair-value methodology, CBO estimates that under current law, the net budgetary costs of new direct and guaranteed student loans during the 2010-2020 period would total about $158 billion, as compared to total net receipts for the government of $25 billion using the FCRA methodology.
Obama Administration’s Education Reform Plan Emphasizes Flexibility, Resources and Accountability for Results
March 17th, 2010Obama Administration’s Education Reform Plan Emphasizes Flexibility, Resources and Accountability for Results
Source: U.S. Department of Education
The Obama administration’s blueprint to overhaul the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) will support state and local efforts to help ensure that all students graduate prepared for college and a career.
Following the lead of the nation’s governors and state education leaders, the plan will ask states to ensure that their academic standards prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace, and to create accountability systems that recognize student growth and school progress toward meeting that goal. This will be a key priority in the reform of NCLB, which was signed into law in 2002 and is the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).
…
NCLB highlighted the achievement gap and created a national conversation about student achievement. But it also created incentives for states to lower their standards; emphasized punishing failure over rewarding success; focused on absolute scores, rather than recognizing growth and progress; and prescribed a pass-fail, one-size-fits-all series of interventions for schools that miss their goals. The administration’s proposal addresses these challenges, while continuing to shine a bright light on closing the achievement gap.
+ Blueprint, President’s remarks, Secretary’s call with reporters
State of the News Media Finds Declines in News Audience, Revenue, Reporting – and a Grim Picture for Economic Models for Online News
March 17th, 2010State of the News Media Finds Declines in News Audience, Revenue, Reporting – and a Grim Picture for Economic Models for Online News
Source: Project for Excellence in Journalism (Pew Research Center)
The losses suffered in traditional news gathering in the last year were so severe that by any accounting they overwhelm the innovations in the world of news and journalism, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ).
There is tremendous energy in efforts around the country to do journalism in the digital age, PEJ’s State of the News Media 2010 finds, and many of these efforts are bringing a renewed sense of public mission to the news.
But the cutbacks in traditional media dominate. Newspapers now spend $1.6 billion less annually on reporting and editing than they did a decade ago, the report estimates. Network TV is down by hundreds of millions since their peak in the 1980s. Local TV newsrooms are cutting too, down 6% in the last two years, some 1,600 jobs. Only cable news, among the commercial news sectors, did not suffer declining revenue and layoffs last year.
By comparison, the non-profit contributions flowing to these new media efforts since 2006 amount to about $141 million, according to estimates by the group J-Lab. While that number does not include the many efforts that are operating without grants or are coming from legacy media, it offers some sense of scale.
March 2010 — MetroMonitor: Tracking Economic Recession and Recovery in America’s 100 Largest Metropolitan Areas
March 17th, 2010March 2010 — MetroMonitor: Tracking Economic Recession and Recovery in America’s 100 Largest Metropolitan Areas
Source: Brookings Institution
More than two years after the Great Recession began, the nation is in the midst of a slow and fragile — but jobless — economic recovery. Some economic indicators seem to suggest that robust economic growth will soon resume, while others point toward a “double-dip” recession and still others indicate little change in the economic situation.
+ Full Report (PDF; 559 KB)
+ MetroMonitor charts page
Increasing Evidence That Recession Has Caused Number of Unauthorized Immigrants in US to Drop
March 17th, 2010Increasing Evidence That Recession Has Caused Number of Unauthorized Immigrants in US to Drop
Source: Migration Information Source (Migration Policy Institute)
In another indication that the recession has affected the size of the unauthorized immigrant population, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) now estimates that the number of unauthorized immigrants residing in the United States fell by about 1 million between January 2007 and January 2009. According to a new DHS report, 11.8 million unauthorized immigrants lived in the United States as of January 2007. By January 2009, that number had fallen to 10.8 million.
Though estimates of illegal immigration are subject to wide margins of error, the new report is consistent with an earlier study that also found a decline in the unauthorized population beginning in 2007. In April 2009, the Pew Hispanic Center estimated that between March 2007 and March 2008, the size of the unauthorized immigrant population decreased by 500,000 people. Pew has not published more recent estimates.
CRS — Arms Control and Nonproliferation: A Catalog of Treaties and Agreements
March 16th, 2010Arms Control and Nonproliferation: A Catalog of Treaties and Agreements (PDF; 600 KB)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via OpenCRS)
Arms control and nonproliferation efforts are two of the tools that have occasionally been used to implement U.S. national security strategy. Although some believe these tools do little to restrain the behavior of U.S. adversaries, while doing too much to restrain U.S. military forces and operations, many other analysts see them as an effective means to promote transparency, ease military planning, limit forces, and protect against uncertainty and surprise. Arms control and nonproliferation efforts have produced formal treaties and agreements, informal arrangements, and cooperative threat reduction and monitoring mechanisms. The pace of implementation slowed, however, in the 1990s, and the Bush Administration usually preferred unilateral or ad hoc measures to formal treaties and agreements to address U.S. security concerns. But the Obama Administration has resumed bilateral negotiations with Russia and pledged its support for a number of multilateral arms control and nonproliferation efforts.
The United States and Soviet Union began to sign agreements limiting their strategic offensive nuclear weapons in the early 1970s. Progress in negotiating and implementing these agreements was often slow, and subject to the tenor of the broader U.S.-Soviet relationship. As the Cold War drew to a close in the late 1980s, the pace of negotiations quickened, with the two sides signing treaties limiting intermediate range and long-range weapons. But progress again slowed in the 1990s, as U.S. missile defense plans and a range of other policy conflicts intervened in the U.S.- Russian relationship. At the same time, however, the two sides began to cooperate on securing and eliminating Soviet-era nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. Through these cooperative efforts, the United States now allocates more than $1 billion each year to threat reduction programs in the former Soviet Union.
The United States is also a prominent actor in an international regime that attempts to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. This regime, although suffering from some setbacks in recent years in Iran and North Korea, includes formal treaties, export control coordination and enforcement, U.N. resolutions, and organizational controls. The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) serves as the cornerstone of this regime, with all but four nations participating in it. The International Atomic Energy Agency not only monitors nuclear programs to make sure they remain peaceful, but also helps nations develop and advance those programs. Other measures, such as sanctions, interdiction efforts, and informal cooperative endeavors, also seek to slow or stop the spread of nuclear materials and weapons.
The international community has also adopted a number of agreements that address non-nuclear weapons. The CFE Treaty and Open Skies Treaty sought to stabilize the conventional balance in Europe in the waning years of the Cold War. Other arrangements seek to slow the spread of technologies that nations could use to develop advanced conventional weapons. The Chemical Weapons and Biological Weapons Conventions sought to eliminate both of these types of weapons completely. This report will be updated annually, or as needed.
New From the GAO
March 16th, 2010New GAO Report (PDFs)
Source: Government Accountability Office
1. U.S. Insular Areas: Opportunities Exist to Improve Interior’s Grant Oversight and Reduce the Potential for Mismanagement
Highlights ||| Full Report
CRS — The Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program: Funding Issues and Activities
March 16th, 2010The Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program: Funding Issues and Activities (PDF; 295 KB)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via OpenCRS)
In the early 1990s, Congress recognized that several federal agencies had ongoing high-performance computing programs, but no central coordinating body existed to ensure long-term coordination and planning. To provide such a framework, Congress passed the High-Performance Computing and Communications Program Act of 1991 (P.L. 102-194) to enhance the effectiveness of the various programs. In conjunction with the passage of the act, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released Grand Challenges: High-Performance Computing and Communications. That document outlined a research and development (R&D) strategy for high-performance computing and a framework for a multiagency program, the High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) Program. The HPCC Program has evolved over time and is now called the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program, to better reflect its expanded mission.
Proponents assert that federal support of information technology (IT) R&D has produced positive outcomes for the country and played a crucial role in supporting long-term research into fundamental aspects of computing. Such fundamentals provide broad practical benefits, but generally take years to realize. Additionally, the unanticipated results of research are often as important as the anticipated results. Another aspect of government-funded IT research is that it often leads to open standards, something that many perceive as beneficial, encouraging deployment and further investment. Industry, on the other hand, is more inclined to invest in proprietary products and will diverge from a common standard when there is a potential competitive or financial advantage to do so. Finally, proponents of government support believe that the outcomes achieved through the various funding programs create a synergistic environment in which both fundamental and application-driven research are conducted, benefitting government, industry, academia, and the public. Supporters also believe that such outcomes justify government’s role in funding IT R&D, as well as the growing budget for the NITRD Program.
Critics assert that the government, through its funding mechanisms, may be picking “winners and losers” in technological development, a role more properly residing with the private sector. For example, the size of the NITRD Program may encourage industry to follow the government’s lead on research directions rather than selecting those directions itself.
The President’s FY2010 budget request calls for $3.926 billion for the NITRD Program, an increase of $3.925 billion, or approximately 1%, over the 2009 estimate. The FY2009 budget estimate is $3.882 billion for the NITRD Program, an increase of $0.334 billion, or approximately 9%, over the President’s request. On November 18, the House Committee on Science and Technology passed H.R. 4061, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2009, to improve the security of cyberspace by ensuring federal investments in cybersecurity are better focused, more effective, and that research into innovative, transformative technologies is supported.
The bill addresses recommendations from the Administration’s Cyberspace Policy Review and includes input from four hearings held on cybersecurity during the first session. H.R. 4061 would reauthorize and expand the Cyber Security Research and Development Act (P.L. 107-305). In addition to promoting cybersecurity R&D by the member agencies of the NITRD, the legislation addresses cybersecurity workforce concerns and advances the development of technical standards. H.R. 4061 is a combination of two Committee discussion drafts: the Cybersecurity Research and Development Amendments Act of 2009 and the Cybersecurity Coordination and Awareness Act of 2009. The full House is expected to take action on this legislation in the near future.
CRS — Morocco: Current Issues
March 16th, 2010Morocco: Current Issues (PDF; 208 KB)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via OpenCRS)
The United States government views Morocco as a moderate Arab regime, an ally against terrorism, and a free trade partner. King Mohammed VI retains supreme power but has taken incremental liberalizing steps. Since 9/11, Moroccan expatriates have been implicated in international terrorism, and Morocco has suffered terror attacks. Morocco takes a proactive approach to countering terror, but some of its measures may be setting back progress in human rights. Morocco’s foreign policy focuses largely on Europe, particularly France and Spain, and the United States. In the Middle East, it supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has severed diplomatic relations with Iran for bilateral reasons. See also CRS Report RS21464, Morocco-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, by Raymond J. Ahearn and CRS Report RS20962, Western Sahara: Status of Settlement Efforts, by Carol Migdalovitz.
CRS — Implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for Disaster Response, Recovery, and Mitigation Projects
March 16th, 2010Implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for Disaster Response, Recovery, and Mitigation Projects (PDF; 198 KB)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via OpenCRS)
In the aftermath of a major disaster, communities may need to rebuild, replace, or possibly even relocate a multitude of structures. When recovery activities take place on such a potentially large scale, compliance with any of a number of local, state, and federal laws or regulations may apply. For example, when older buildings must be repaired or demolished, provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) may need to be considered. If rebuilding will take place in a floodplain, provisions of Executive Order 11988 on Floodplain Management may apply. When federal agencies make decisions, such as funding applicant-proposed actions, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq.) applies.
For example, when federal funding is provided for disaster-related activities, applicants for those funds may be required to assess the environmental impacts of their proposed action. As commonly implemented, NEPA’s environmental review requirements are used as a vehicle to identify any other environmental requirements that may apply to a project as well. This use of NEPA as an “umbrella” statute can lead to confusion. For example, before an applicant can commit or expend funds under the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, the applicant must complete an environmental review of the project. A required element of that review is the applicant’s certification that compliance criteria applicable to historic preservation, floodplain management, endangered species, air quality, and farmland protection have been considered. This review is required not only to meet NEPA obligations, but also to ensure that the project being funded does not violate applicable environmental law. From the applicant’s perspective, this may blur the distinction between what is required under NEPA and what is required under separate compliance requirements identified within the context of the NEPA process.
For many federal actions undertaken in response to emergencies or major disasters, NEPA’s environmental review requirements are exempted under provisions of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (the Stafford Act). (The Stafford Act does not, however, exempt such projects from other applicable environmental requirements.) In the past, some Members of Congress have been interested in the NEPA process as it applies to disaster- related projects. This interest has been driven, in part, by federal grant applicants who have been confused about both their role in the NEPA process and what the law requires.
To address issues associated with the NEPA process, this report discusses NEPA as it applies to projects for which federal funding to recover from or prepare for a disaster has been requested by local, tribal, or state grant applicants. Specifically, the report provides an overview of the NEPA process as it applies to such projects, identifies the types of projects (categorized by federal funding source) likely to require environmental review, and delineates the types of projects for which no or minimal environmental review is required (i.e., those for which statutory or regulatory exemptions apply) and those likely to require more in-depth review.
