GAO Releases This Week

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is often called the investigative arm of Congress. This week they investigated a variety of issues, such as oil and gas royalties, Check 21 Act, and export controls with China. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports

• 2010 Census: Census Bureau Needs Procedures for Estimating the Response Rate and Selecting for Testing Methods to Increase Response Rate. GAO-08-1012, September 30.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-1012
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d081012high.pdf
• Check 21 Act: Most Consumers Have Accepted and Banks Are Progressing Toward Full Adoption of Check Truncation. GAO-09-8, October 28.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-8
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d098high.pdf
• Combating Nuclear Smuggling: DHS's Phase 3 Test Report on Advanced Portal Monitors Does Not Fully Disclose the Limitations of the Test Results. GAO-08-979, September 30.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-979
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08979high.pdf
• Defense Critical Infrastructure: Developing Training Standards and an Awareness of Existing Expertise Would Help DOD Assure the Availability of Critical Infrastructure. GAO-09-42, October 30.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-42
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d0942high.pdf
• Defense Health Care: Additional Efforts Needed to Ensure Compliance with Personality Disorder Separation Requirements. GAO-09-31, October 31.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-31
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d0931high.pdf
• Export Controls: Challenges with Commerce's Validated End-User Program May Limit Its Ability to Ensure That Semiconductor Equipment Exported to China Is Used as Intended. GAO-08-1095, September 25.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-1095
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d081095high.pdf
• Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Initiative: Further Progress Is Needed in Developing a Risk-Based Monitoring Approach to Help HHS Improve Program Oversight. GAO-08-1002, September 26.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-1002
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d081002high.pdf
• USA Patriot Act: Better Interagency Coordination and Implementing Guidance for Section 311 Could Improve U.S. Anti-Money Laundering Efforts. GAO-08-1058, September 30.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-1058
  Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d081058high.pdf

Related Products

• Check 21 Act: Questions for Consumers about Check 21 Act (GAO-09-9SP, October 2008), an E-supplement to GAO-09-8, October 28. [Internet only]
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-9SP

Correspondence

• Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Coverage: Federal Oversight of Reported Price Concessions Data. GAO-08-1074R, September 30.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-1074R
• Oil and Gas Royalties: MMS's Oversight of Its Royalty-in-Kind Program Can Be Improved through Additional Use of Production Verification Data and Enhanced Reporting of Financial Benefits and Costs. GAO-08-942R, September 26.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-942R
  
• Status of GSA's Implementation of Selected Green Building Provisions of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. GAO-09-111R, October 31.
  http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-111R

Bush Administration Makes Last Attempts to Deregulate

In its waning months in office, the Bush Administration is making attempts to finalize deregulations that could weaken consumer protections and the environment. In today's Washington Post you can read about these final regulatory changes.

The Post reports that the "new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo." About 90 new regulations are under consideration, and the article states that nine of them could impact the economy "because they impose costs or promote societal benefits that exceed $100 million annually." The Post also notes that this large number of last-minute regulations would still be fewer than the number of regulations Bill Clinton approved at the end of his presidency.

You can keep track of the status of federal regulations through the Federal Register, which is keyword-searchable and freely available online via GPO Access. You can also check the latest press releases of specific federal agencies mentioned in the article, such as the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Environmental Protection Agency.

If you'd like to learn more about the process through which federal regulations are proposed, published, and made available to the public, see our guide to Regulations.

Health Insurers Discriminate Among Sexes

Yesterday the New York Times reported that new findings reveal a large gender disparity in health insurance costs. The article reports that according to new data from insurance companies and online brokers, women pay much more than men of the same age for individual insurance policies that offer identical coverage. Women still pay more than men for insurance even when their policy doesn't cover maternity costs. Some insurers justify this extra expense by explaining that women tend to visit medical offices more regularly than men.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission prohibits employers from charging higher premiums to women than to men for the same benefits, even if women as a class are more expensive. A handful of states, such Maine, Montana and New York, have also prohibited sex-based rates in the individual insurance market. This page from the EEOC discusses sex-based discrimination as it pertains to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

For more government resources on this topic, see our guide to Health and Medical Information.

CRS reports, a day late

Sorry about the delay in posting. Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a research agency of Congress and writes reports at Congress's request. These short reports (usually 10-40 pages long) cover recent topics of concern. This week only brings us a number of CRS reports on influenza, Iraq, the Navy, and much more. While these reports are in the public domain there is no central database available to the public. To get a copy of a CRS report you can request it from your Senator or Representative. This list is compiled from CRS reports discovered by OpenCRS and Secrecy News:

• Status of a Senator Who Has Been Indicted for or Convicted of a Felony
• Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation: Background and Analysis
• Would an Influenza Pandemic Qualify as a Major Disaster Under the Stafford Act?
• The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11
• The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act: Implementation and Proposed Amendments
• Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 2000-2007
• Child Welfare: The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008
• China's Space Program: Options for U.S.-China Cooperation
• Coast Guard Deepwater Program: Background, Oversight Issues, and Options for Congress
• Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization: Background, Issues, and Options for Congress
• DOD Leases of Foreign-Built Ships: Background for Congress
• Energy Tax Policy: History and Current Issues
• EPA's Final Health and Safety Standard for Yucca Mountain
• Extending NASA's Exemption from the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act
• Federal Research and Development Funding at Historically Black Colleges and Universities
• Financial Turmoil: Comparing the Troubled Asset Relief Program to the Federal Reserve's Response
• FY2009 National Defense Authorization Act: Selected Military Personnel Policy Issues
• Haiti: Legislative Responses to the Food Crisis and Related Development Challenges
• Iraq: U.S. Regime Change Efforts and Post-War Governance
• Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Import Terminals: Siting, Safety and Regulation
• Maritime Security: Potential Terrorist Attacks and Protection Priorities
• Measuring and Monitoring Carbon in the Agricultural and Forestry Sectors
• Military Aircraft, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Program: Background and Issues for Congress
• Millennium Challenge Account: Implementation of a New U.S. Foreign Aid Initiative
• Minerals Price Increases and Volatility: Causes and Consequences
• Moldova: Background and U.S. Policy
• NATO Enlargement: Albania, Croatia, and Possible Future Candidates
• The 2008 Farm Bill: Major Provisions and Legislative Action
• The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act's Insurance for Troubled Assets
• The Environmental Protection Agency's Brownfields Program: Scope, Authorities, and Implementation
• The National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility: Issues for Congress
• The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: History, Funding, and Current Issues
• The U.S. Secret Service: An Examination and Analysis of Its Evolving Missions
• U. S. Nuclear Cooperation With India: Issues for Congress
• United States Fire Administration: An Overview
• Zimbabwe: 2008 Elections and Implications for U.S. Policy
• U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians
• U.S.-China Counter-Terrorism Cooperation: Issues for U.S. Policy
• Unauthorized Alien Students, Higher Education, and In-State Tuition Rates: A Legal Analysis
• Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act: Background and Issues
• Navy Nuclear-Powered Surface Ships: Background, Issues, and Options for Congress
• Navy CVNX Aircraft Carrier Program: Background and Issues for Congress
• Social Security: The Cost-of-Living Adjustment in January 2002

Interested in historical CRS reports? If you are here at the Boulder campus, check out the LexisNexis Congressional database, which has reports back to 1916.

Not on campus, but still want access to additional reports? The library has a guide linking to various additional sources of CRS reports.

Government Websites Adopt Social Networking

We already knew that presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama had Twitter sites where they were keeping supporters updated on their campaigns. But it was recently brought to our attention that numerous U.S. government agencies and departments are maintaining Twitter pages featuring "tweets" with the latest news on their governmental goings-on.

In fact, there's actually a U.S. Government Twitter Fan Wiki that contains an alphabetical list of government agencies as well as links to their Twitter sites. Via Twitter, you can now keep up with the latest happenings at such disparate government departments as the U.S. Army, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Our Congress is even using Twitter to keep Web 2.0-savvy Americans apprised of the latest votes in the Senate.

And government agencies have embraced other online social networking tools. NASA EDGE now has Facebook and MySpace pages as well as a blog. Argonne National Laboratory offers a NEOS Wiki, which it describes as "the ubiquitous online source for optimization."

Are you hoping that we've created a research guide on the government's use of social networking technology? Well, to be honest, this phenomenon is so novel that we haven't even thought to create subject guides about government blogs, wikis, and "tweets." But perhaps this is the new, hip, user-friendly form of government intelligence. Or an alternative to telecommunications. Let us know what you think.