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Influenza Pandemic: Lessons from the H1N1 Pandemic Should Be Incorporated into Future Planning

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic was the first human pandemic in over four decades, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that there were as many as 89 million U.S. cases. Over $6 billion was available for the response, led by the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Homeland Security (DHS), with coordination provided by the Homeland Security Council (HSC) throu… more
Date: June 27, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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H-1B Visa Program: Reforms Are Needed to Minimize the Risks and Costs of Current Program

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress created the H-1B program in 1990 to enable U.S. employers to hire temporary, foreign workers in specialty occupations. The law capped the number of H-1B visas issued per fiscal year at 65,000. Since then, the cap has fluctuated with legislative changes. Congress asked GAO to assess the impact of the cap on the ability of domestic companies to innovate, while ensuring that U.S. workers are not d… more
Date: January 14, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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TANF and Child Welfare Programs: Increased Data Sharing Could Improve Access to Benefits and Services

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2010, over 40 percent of families receiving cash assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program were "child-only," meaning the adults in the household were not included in the benefit calculation, and aid was provided only for the children. TANF and child welfare programs provide cash assistance and other services that support children living with nonparent caregivers. … more
Date: October 7, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Tax Administration: Information on Selected Foreign Practices That May Provide Useful Insights

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and foreign tax administrators face similar issues regardless of the particular provisions of their laws. These issues include, for example, helping taxpayers prepare and file returns, and assuring tax compliance. Understanding how other tax administrators have used certain practices to address common issues can provide insights to help inform deliberations about tax r… more
Date: May 24, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Tax Whistleblowers: Incomplete Data Hinders IRS's Ability to Manage Claim Processing Time and Enhance External Communication

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 expanded the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) whistleblower program, increasing rewards for submitting information on others' tax underpayments to up to 30 percent of collected proceeds. The expanded program targets tax underpayments over $2 million and could reduce the gap between taxes owed and taxes paid. IRS's Whistleblower Office has received over 1,300 su… more
Date: August 10, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Securities Fraud Liability of Secondary Actors

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to the mandate in section 929Z of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act directing GAO to study the impact of authorizing a private legal right of action against any person who aids or abets another in violation of the securities laws. The report includes a description of the legal and factual background of such "secondary actor" liability, as well as a summar… more
Date: July 21, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Refugee Assistance: Little Is Known about the Effectiveness of Different Approaches for Improving Refugees' Employment Outcomes

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2009, the United States resettled close to 70,000 refugees fleeing persecution in their homelands. To assist in their transition to the United States and help them attain employment, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) provides temporary cash, medical, and other assistance through four different assistance programs. The economic downturn and an… more
Date: March 31, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Burma: UN and U.S. Agencies Assisted Cyclone Victims in Difficult Environment, but Improved U.S. Monitoring Needed

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Cyclone Nargis hit Burma's impoverished Irrawaddy Delta on May 2, 2008, leaving nearly 140,000 people dead or missing and severely affecting about 2.4 million others, according to the UN. The Burmese military government initially blocked most access to the affected region; however, amid international pressure, it slowly began allowing international aid workers entry into the region. Since 1997, the Unit… more
Date: July 26, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Electronic Government: National Archives and Records Administration's Fiscal Year 2011 Expenditure Plan

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2001, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has been working to develop an Electronic Records Archive (ERA) to preserve and provide access to massive volumes of all types of electronic records. NARA originally planned to complete the system in 2012, but has repeatedly revised the program schedule and estimated cost and is now planning to deploy an ERA system with reduced function… more
Date: March 4, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Courthouses: Improved Collaboration Needed to Meet Demands of a Complex Security Environment

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Safe and accessible federal courthouses are critical to the U.S. judicial process. The Federal Protective Service (FPS), within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Marshals Service (Marshals Service), within the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC), and the General Services Administration (GSA) are the federal stakeholders with roles related t… more
Date: September 28, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Reserve System: Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Policies and Processes for Managing Emergency Assistance

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act directed GAO to conduct a one-time audit of the emergency loan programs and other assistance authorized by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve Board) during the recent financial crisis. This report examines the emergency actions taken by the Federal Reserve Board from December 1, 2007, through July 21, 2010. … more
Date: July 21, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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DOD Weapon Systems: Missed Trade-off Opportunities During Requirements Reviews

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009 (WSARA) directed the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) to ensure trade-offs among cost, schedule, and performance objectives are considered as part of its requirements review process. WSARA also directed GAO to assess the implementation of these requirements. This report addresses (1) the extent to which the JROC has considered trade-offs withi… more
Date: June 16, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Financial Audit: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Funds' 2010 and 2009 Financial Statements

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Created in 1933 to insure bank deposits and promote sound banking practices, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) plays an important role in maintaining public confidence in the nation's financial system. FDIC administers the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF), which protects bank and savings deposits, and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) Resolution Fund (FRF), which was … more
Date: March 18, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Medicaid: Prototype Formula Would Provide Automatic, Targeted Assistance to States during Economic Downturns

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In response to the recession of 2007, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). Recovery Act funds provided states with fiscal relief and helped to maintain state Medicaid programs through a temporary increase to the federal share of Medicaid funding-the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP)-from October 2008 through December 2010. In March 2011, GAO repor… more
Date: November 10, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Information Technology: Critical Factors Underlying Successful Major Acquisitions

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Planned federal information technology (IT) spending has now risen to at least $81 billion for fiscal year 2012. As GAO has previously reported, although a variety of best practices exists to guide their successful acquisition, federal IT projects too frequently incur cost overruns and schedule slippages while contributing little to mission-related outcomes. Recognizing these problems, the Office of Man… more
Date: October 21, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Medicare Integrity Program: CMS Used Increased Funding for New Activities but Could Improve Measurement of Program Effectiveness

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Medicare program makes about $500 billion in payments per year and continues to have a significant amount of improper payments--almost $48 billion in fiscal year 2010. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Medicare Integrity Program (MIP) is designed to identify and address fraud, waste, and abuse, which are all causes of improper payments. MIP's authorizing legislation provided fundin… more
Date: July 29, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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ACORN: Federal Funding and Monitoring [Reissued on June 17, 2011]

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was established in 1970 to advocate for low-income families. Allegations of voter registration fraud and videotapes of questionable behavior by ACORN employees raised concerns about ACORN, and Congress passed fiscal year 2010 laws prohibiting federal funds from being awarded to ACORN and ACORN related organizations. GAO was asked to repor… more
Date: June 14, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Border Security: Additional Steps Needed to Ensure That Officers Are Fully Trained

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "CBP revised its training program for newly hired CBP officers in accordance with its own training development standards. Consistent with these standards, CBP convened a team of subject-matter experts to identify and rank the tasks that new CBP officers are expected to perform. As a result, the new curriculum was designed to produce a professional law enforcement officer capable of protecting the homelan… more
Date: December 22, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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E-Filing Tax Returns: Penalty Authority and Digitizing More Paper Return Data Could Increase Benefits

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) goal is to receive 80 percent of all major types of tax returns electronically by 2012. Legislation passed in November 2009 supports the 80 percent goal for individual income tax returns by requiring tax return preparers who file more than 10 individual returns per year to file them electronically, or e-file. GAO was asked to review IRS's implementation of this e-fil… more
Date: October 5, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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For-Profit Schools: Experiences of Undercover Students Enrolled in Online Classes at Selected Colleges

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Once comprised of local, sole-proprietor ownership, the nation's for-profit institutions now range from small, privately owned schools to publicly traded corporations. Enrollment in such colleges has grown far faster than in traditional higher-education institutions. Moreover, during the 2009-2010 school year, for-profit colleges received almost $32 billion in grants and loans provided to students under… more
Date: October 31, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Surface Freight Transportation: A Comparison of the Costs of Road, Rail, and Waterways Freight Shipments That Are Not Passed on to Consumers

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Road, rail, and waterway freight transportation is vital to the nation's economy. Government tax, regulatory, and infrastructure investment policies can affect the costs that shippers pass on to their customers. If government policy gives one mode a cost advantage over another, by, for example, not recouping all the costs of that mode's use of infrastructure, then shipping prices and customers' use of f… more
Date: January 26, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Department of Commerce: Office of Manufacturing and Services Could Better Measure and Communicate Its Contributions to Trade Policy

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Declining U.S. manufacturing has been an issue of continuing concern for policymakers; this was reflected in the Obama Administration's (Administration) 2010 announcement of the National Export Initiative. The Administration has also shown interest in improving the efficiency of the federal support of trade operations. In 2004, the Office of Manufacturing and Services (MAS) was established within the De… more
Date: June 7, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Financial Audit: American Battle Monuments Commission's Financial Statements for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2009

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Created in 1923, the American Battle Monuments Commission (the Commission) operates and maintains 24 American military cemeteries on foreign soil; 25 federal memorials, monuments, and markers; and 7 nonfederal memorials. For fiscal year 2010, the Commission incurred program costs of $69.6 million to maintain its cemeteries and federal memorials. In accordance with 36 U.S.C. 2103, GAO is responsible for … more
Date: March 1, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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