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Mortgage Financing: Additional Action Needed to Manage Risks of FHA-Insured Loans with Down Payment Assistance

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) permits borrowers to obtain down payment assistance from third parties; but, research has raised concerns about the performance of loans with such assistance. Due to these concerns, GAO examined the (1) trends in the use of down payment assistance with FHA-insured loans, (2) the impact that the presence of such assistance has on purchase transactions and house pr… more
Date: November 9, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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D.C. Charter Schools: Strengthening Monitoring and Process When Schools Close Could Improve Accountability and Ease Student Transitions

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "D.C. has a larger percentage of students in charter schools than any state. To help oversee D.C. charter schools, Congress established two authorizers--the Board of Education (BOE), which has an Office of Charter Schools responsible for oversight, and the independent Public Charter School Board (PCSB). Congress required the GAO to conduct a study of the authorizers. This report--which completes GAO's Ma… more
Date: November 17, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Financial Audit: IRS's Fiscal Years 2005 and 2004 Financial Statements

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Because of the significance of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collections to federal receipts and, in turn, to the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government, which GAO is required to audit, and Congress's interest in financial management at IRS, GAO audits IRS's financial statements annually to determine whether (1) the financial statements IRS prepares are reliable and (2) IRS management… more
Date: November 10, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Immigration Benefits: Improvements Needed to Address Backlogs and Ensure Quality of Adjudications

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Long-standing backlogs of immigration benefit applications result in delays for immigrants, their families, and prospective employers who participate in the legal immigration process. In response to a statutory mandate to eliminate the backlog, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) set a goal of September 30, 2006, to eliminate the backlog and adjudicate all applications within 6 months.… more
Date: November 21, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Stand-Down of Los Alamos National Laboratory: Total Costs Uncertain; Almost All Mission-Critical Programs Were Affected but Have Recovered

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On July 16, 2004, the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) declared a suspension, or stand-down, of laboratory operations to address safety and security concerns. LANL is one of three laboratories that conduct nuclear weapons research for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) within the Department of Energy (DOE). In deciding to stand down operations, LANL's director consu… more
Date: November 18, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Financial Product Sales: Actions Needed to Better Protect Military Members

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2004, a series of press articles alleged that financial firms were marketing expensive and potentially unnecessary insurance or other financial products to members of the military. To assess whether military service members were adequately protected from inappropriate product sales, GAO examined (1) features and marketing of certain insurance products being sold to military members, (2) features and … more
Date: November 2, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Tax Administration: IRS Improved Some Filing Season Services, but Long-term Goals Would Help Manage Strategic Trade-offs

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During the filing season, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) processes about 130 million individual tax returns, issues refunds, and responds to millions of inquiries. Budget cuts combined with IRS's strategy of shifting resources from taxpayer service to enforcement make providing quality service a challenge. GAO was asked to assess IRS's 2005 filing season performance compared to past years and 2005 g… more
Date: November 14, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Drug Control: Agencies Need to Plan for Likely Declines in Drug Interdiction Assets, and Develop Better Performance Measures for Transit Zone Operations

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "One of the U.S. National Drug Control Strategy's priorities is to disrupt the illicit drug market. To this end, the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security provide ships and aircraft to disrupt the flow of illicit drugs, primarily cocaine, shipped from South America through the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean--an area known as the transit zone. The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ON… more
Date: November 15, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Electronic Waste: Strengthening the Role of the Federal Government in Encouraging Recycling and Reuse

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Advances in technology have led to rapidly increasing sales of new electronic devices. With this increase comes the dilemma of managing these products at the end of their useful lives. Some research suggests that the disposal of used electronics could cause a number of environmental problems. Research also suggests that such problems are often exacerbated by the export of used electronics to countries w… more
Date: November 10, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Financial Audit: Congressional Award Foundation's Fiscal Years 2004 and 2003 Financial Statements

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report presents our opinion on the financial statements of the Congressional Award Foundation for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2004, and 2003. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Congressional Award Foundation. This report also presents (1) our opinion on the effectiveness of the Foundation's related internal control as of September 30, 2004, and (2) our conclusion on t… more
Date: November 4, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Military Personnel: DOD Needs Action Plan to Address Enlisted Personnel Recruitment and Retention Challenges

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) must recruit and retain hundreds of thousands of servicemembers each year to carry out its missions, including providing support in connection with events such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In addition to meeting legislatively mandated aggregate personnel levels, each military component must also meet its authorized personnel requirements for each occupational specialty… more
Date: November 17, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Environmental Protection: More Complete Data and Continued Emphasis on Leak Prevention Could Improve EPA's Underground Storage Tank Program

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Leaking underground storage tanks that contain hazardous products, primarily gasoline, can contaminate soil and groundwater. To address this problem, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under its Underground Storage Tank (UST) Program, required tank owners to install leak detection equipment and take measures to prevent leaks. In 1986, the Congress created a federal trust fund to assist states wi… more
Date: November 30, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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DOD Business Systems Modernization: Important Progress Made in Establishing Foundational Architecture Products and Investment Management Practices, but Much Work Remains

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For many years, the Department of Defense (DOD) has been attempting to modernize its business systems, and GAO has made numerous recommendations to help it do so. To further assist DOD, Congress included provisions in the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 aimed at ensuring that DOD develop a well-defined business enterprise architecture and transition plan by Septe… more
Date: November 23, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Internet Management: Prevalence of False Contact Information for Registered Domain Names

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Individuals or organizations seeking to register the names of their Web sites may provide inaccurate contact information to registrars in order to hide their identities or to prevent members of the public from contacting them. Contact information is made publicly available on the Internet through a service known as Whois. Data accuracy in the Whois service can help law enforcement officials to investiga… more
Date: November 4, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Valles Caldera: Trust Has Made Some Progress, but Needs to Do More to Meet Statutory Goals

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2000, Congress authorized the purchase of the Valles Caldera (the Caldera) in north-central New Mexico. The Valles Caldera Trust (Trust), a wholly owned government corporation, is to become financially self-sustaining and to manage the Caldera for multiple purposes while sustaining the land's valuable natural resources. GAO was mandated to assess the progress the Trust is making in meeting its statut… more
Date: November 16, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Defense Management: Actions Are Needed to Improve the Management and Oversight of the National Guard Youth Challenge Program

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The fiscal year 1993 National Defense Authorization Act established the National Guard Youth Challenge Program as a pilot program to evaluate the effectiveness of providing military based training to improve the life skills of high school dropouts. The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, under the authority of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, is responsible for… more
Date: November 29, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Depot Maintenance: Persistent Deficiencies Limit Accuracy and Usefulness of DOD's Funding Allocation Data Reported to Congress

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Under 10 U.S.C. 2466, the military departments and defense agencies can use no more than 50 percent of annual depot maintenance funding for work performed by private-sector contractors. The Department of Defense (DOD) must submit a report to Congress annually on the division of depot maintenance funding between the public and private sectors during the preceding fiscal year and projected distribution fo… more
Date: November 18, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Financial Audit: Bureau of the Public Debt's Fiscal Years 2005 and 2004 Schedules of Federal Debt

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO is required to audit the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government. Due to the significance of the federal debt held by the public to the governmentwide financial statements, GAO has also been auditing the Bureau of the Public Debt's (BPD) Schedules of Federal Debt annually. The audit of these schedules is done to determine whether, in all material respects, (1) the schedules are reli… more
Date: November 7, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Medicare: Little Progress Made in Targeting Outpatient Therapy Payments to Beneficiaries' Needs

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For years, Congress has wrestled with rising Medicare costs and improper payments for outpatient therapy services--physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology. In 1997 Congress established per-person spending limits, or "therapy caps," for nonhospital outpatient therapy but, responding to concerns that some beneficiaries need extensive services, has since placed temporary morat… more
Date: November 10, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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No Child Left Behind Act: Improved Accessibility to Education's Information Could Help States Further Implement Teacher Qualification Requirements

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) of 2001 established qualification requirements that teachers of core academic subjects must meet by the end of the 2005-2006 school year. Congress has appropriated approximately $3 billion a year through the Title II, Part A (Title II), of NCLBA for teacher improvement programs since the law was passed. With the deadline approaching for all teachers to meet the requi… more
Date: November 21, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Private Pensions: Information on Cash Balance Pension Plans

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The nation's private defined benefit (DB) pension system, a key contributor to the financial security of millions of Americans, is in long-term decline. Since 1980, the number of active participants in Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) insured single employer DB plans has dropped from 27.3 percent of all national private wage and salary workers in 1980, to about 15 percent in 2002, and more re… more
Date: November 3, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: Early Experience with a Consumer-Directed Health Plan

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2003, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) has offered "consumer-directed" health plans (CDHP) to federal employees. A CDHP is a high-deductible health plan coupled with a savings account enrollees use to pay for health care. Unused balances may accumulate for future use, providing enrollees the incentive to purchase health care prudently. However, some have expressed concern that… more
Date: November 21, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Aviation Security: Federal Air Marshal Service Could Benefit from Improved Planning and Controls

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) has undergone a number of changes in recent years, including a 2003 transfer from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau (ICE), and a 2005 transfer from ICE back to TSA. A key aspect of federal air marshals' operating procedures is the discreet movement through airports as they check in for their… more
Date: November 28, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Defense Management: Additional Actions Needed to Enhance DOD's Risk-Based Approach for Making Resource Decisions

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) is simultaneously conducting costly military operations and transforming its forces and business practices while it is also competing for resources in an increasingly constrained fiscal environment. As a result, GAO has advocated that DOD adopt a comprehensive threat or risk management approach as a framework for decision making. In its 2001 strategic plan, the Quadrennia… more
Date: November 15, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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