though the g.a.o. indicated there may be more than $50 million in excess funds for the lightweight torpedo program, the navy is in gaucheuations to precure at least 30 more torpedo upgrade kits with part of this money. in addition, they're moving to a full and open competition for the upgrade kits starting in 2010. the reduction is more than a third of the request and would substantially limit the navy's ability to complete this pam and continue to buy more upgrade kits. the navy is using the pressure of the future computation is get the best price possible on upgrade kits this year. the upgrade kits are necessary to provide -- to upgrade grade the torpedos against quiet submarines. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from new jersey. >> i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentlady from illinois, ms. schakowsky. the chair: the gentleman is -- the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. schakowsky: i'm pleased that mr. skelton included one of my amendments in en bloc number two and one i

the g.a.o. report noted that from 1997 to the year 2007 the international atomic energy agency's technical cooperation program provided over $55 million to these state sponsors of terrorism, supposedly for peaceful purposes, but as the g.a.o. report notes, nuclear equipment, technology, and expertise can be dual-use, meaning capable of serving a peaful purpose but also useful in contributing to nuclear weapons development. the g.a.o. report criticizes offices at the state department for having little or no idea what these programs actually consist of, much less working to stop the most harmful among them. . unfortunately the bill contains no language that addresses this problem despite the administration's full request for over $100 million to be given to the iaea. the bill before us does not mandate that the state department take immediate action to implement the recommendations of the g.a.o. it does not require our representatives at this agency to do anything to prevent additional nuclear assi

just 11 months later the g.a.o. ncluded that the existing inner city passenger rail system is in poor financial condition and the current structure does not effectively target federal funds to where they provide the greatest public benefit, such as transportation congestion relief. corridor routes generally less than 500 miles in length have higher ridership, perform better financially and appear to offer greater potential for public benefit. we also recommended to congress that our nation invest in at least $8 billion per year over the next 50 years in passenger rail systems. president obama and senator reid and this congress realesed that that investment in passenger rail is needed now, not over the next 50 years. so $8 billion was put into the stimulus bill to not only create jobs but to kick-start the program to begin a valiant new vision for america's transportation modes. i think this president and senator reid and this congress have a vision for transportation in our nation and is much like that of president e

i'm well aware of that because the g.a.o. year after year puts the irs's information system on its high risk list. i would like to start with the tax gap issue. and ask what you think should be done. >> one is a would say the tax numbers are imperfect. a lot of them are extrapolated numbers. the only way is to do randomized audits. it would be a burden on people, et cetera. with that said, we take it very seriously. i think there's three important things that can be done with the tax gap. one is simplification. as long as the tax code is this complex, people will make mistakes and have opportunities to use the complexity of the system for evasion. second is information reporting. all of the statistics show if we get a w-2 from an employer and it's withhold at the source, we have 99% compliance where people operate cash businesses and there's no information propertied to us, it's all voluntary, the compliance rate is much lower. congress passed a couple of very important information reporting provisions last year. credit card r

because i know that some of the reports issued by the g.a.o. and members of congress have brought to our attention and to the public that the department of labor has not kept up to pace with respect to investigations that should be done by osha and also by wage and hour. and i do believe that now is the time to make that shift. and we did get some additional help to do that in this recovery program. and i hope in the following year we'll be able to do that as well. i think that's what our role is. our goal is to help people find employment, but also provide safety and protection in the workplace. so if you go into your job in the morning, you should be able to go home to your family at night. >> what about the staffing levels and also any changes in role making because there was some last minute role making. >> i would just say that we are taking a review, examination of many of the what they call midnight rules that were passed by the previous administration. we have suspended some of those and are taking a look and will go out again and talk t

it appears that the g.a.o. from the little knowledge i have, would be within the confines of this bill very clearly. let's see what else. the c.v.c., the capitol visitors center, looking at senator nelson, the capitol visitors center would be with keeping in this bill. without going into detail at this time, everything that is not something that is subject to a rule 16 or some other problem because it's an appropriation bill, we're happy to work with you. we have no problem. but as far as guaranteeing votes on this stuff, i can't do that. mr. demint: i appreciate the leader's position. and i will just object and agree to work with you. and if in the next few hours or some we can get general agreement or compromise, if that's possible, we certainly don't want to hold this up. but we would like to participate in the debate with a few amendments. mr. reid: mr. president, i understand that the senator is going to object. i do say he can't have -- we -- we want to go to the bill. we want to play by the rules. as it s

finally it provides $4.8 million for the g.a.o. they have tremendously increase responsibility, that's a 5.2% increase. we need to make sure they can conduct the accountability responsibilities they have and they do such a good job doing. beyond the core funding for the day-to-day operations, we've largely focused on two long-term priorities as well. we are first taking a more aggressive approach to dealing with the backlog of deferred maintenance needs of our aging capitol complex. as we have said and i risk saying this on the house floor, this is not the sexiest of committees in the -- of the 12 appropriations committees, but it's one that's incredibly important for us to be able to preserb the institution and the facilities in the institution we serve in. the bill includes funding for 23 high priority projects requested by the architect of the capitol. beyond the immediate needs, the bill includes, and this is something that's a great source of pride to the members of the committee and we want to thank chairman obey for his leade

and the g.a.o. were predicted the success of columbus' venture if they were advising queen isabel lark we'd all be speaking italian. i garne tee you. you hit it right on the head, senator. some of this we've got to do because a we know it works in other parts of the world, and some of this we've got to do on faith. when i invested $7 million dollars in commonwealth, that's not a lot of money down here we spend that sum of money before breakfast in washington but for the commonwealth that's a nice hunk of change. i wasn't sure. there wasn't a study that said we'd jump up ridership that much. but i knew we had to try. this was our best shot. if you look at the topography of pennsylvania, this was our best shot to prove there was a market for high speed rail and it work. it worked. so times -- so sometimes as mr. skancke said, you have to do it. >> senator, in the texas-new mexico connection there, it's not just about the train system. we spent a lot of time talking about moving passengers, but it's abo

earlier this year the g.a.o. released a report showing how little competition there is and what a tough time small businesses have to find health insurance. the median market share of the small care market was 24%, raising from 21% in arizona to 96% in alabama. this leaves american small businesses with few choices. we want to change that. those who come to the floor of the senate defending the health insurance companies and saying they want no change in the health care system have to defend the indefensible. how do you explain what small businesses and families are facing across america now when they're trying to find affordable quality health insurance? if my colleague from arizona really wants to help small businesses, let him join us in the bipartisan bill that senator lincoln, senator snowe and klobuchar and i are offering, the shop act. by doing so, he'll be working with us on the committees to really make a positive change. i also want to clarify one thing, time and again senator mcconnell on the republican

it's the g.a.o. review of the activities of those titles. >> if i can -- we now have -- is that right? do we have 10 or 12 here? we only have 10. i'm sorry. we still have to go forward. i apologize. we're still missing people. >> i can talk about it if you don't mind. >> go ahead. >> mr. chairman, as we all know, in the -- >> the house is coming back in. members approved a spending bill earlier today for the commerce and egypt and the house is coming back in now to file a rule on a spending bill for the legislative branch. statement that the emergency declared in section 13159 of june 25, 2000, that the risk of knew rear proliferation due to the large amount of fiss isle material is to continue beyond 2009. it remains a national security goal that fiss isle material removed from russia's nuclear weapons pursuant to various arms controls is dedicated to peaceful uses, subject to transparency measures. the accumulation of large volume of weapons, usable fiss isle material in the ter -- fiss ill material

reform subcommittee on government management held a hearing on this bill where it had the support of the g.a.o. at the hearing, the agency inspectors general made some suggestions on improving the bill which has been incorporated in an amendment adopted at the committee markup. the amendment specifically clarifies that the npor general and the inspector general staff retain their existing pay and personnel structure. it also clarifies and strengthens the subpoena authority of these inspectors' general and it requires that the heads of the agencies to report to congress on actions they have taken in response to inspector general recommendations. inspector generals have the unique responsibility of reporting both to the president and to congress. congress has to make sure that the inspectors general have the legal authority and tools they need to continue their roles as nonpartisan, professional brokers, and this bill, i believe, does that. i urge all members to support h.r. 885, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the ch

some of these were the result of recommendations made by the g.a.o. and the inspector general. in total, we recommend program reductions or terminations of over $320 million from the 2009 level and $300 million from the budget request. the bill before us today provides historic increases and focused funding to protect the environment. clean water received $3.9 billion, enough to provide assistance to more than 1,500 communities. we included authorities to subsidized assistance to these cities and towns which cannot afford conventional loans. these funds will provide drinking water and clean water to restore important ecosystems. the bill invests $667 million to restore major lakes and bays. it fully funds the president's request of $475 million for the great lakes restoration initiative and makes significant investments to protect other great water bodies such as puget sound, long island sound, gulf of mexico and chesapeake bay. this bill provides $420 million for climate change adaptation and scientific study. this includes $178 million for research, planning and conservation

during a recent house armed services committee hearing, the g.a.o. witness highlighted the importance of empowering women, but noted her agency had not focused on the advancement of women in afghanistan and she went on to state that, quote, investment in women is often a pivotal investment focus for returns on economic growth and economic dwoment in country, unquote. and i believe that and i also believe that this is true for political growth as well. in education, some say if you don't test it, you won't teach it. well, without these metrics, we can't know how our aid is impacting these women. we are reshaping our commitment to the afghan people in a way that fosters trust, promotes justice, and protects human rights. the protection of the rights of women and girls in afghanistan and their full and equal participation in afghan civil society is essential to afghan national security as well as ours. i urge my colleagues to reach out to the women of afghanistan when they're traveling there because we know then you include them in your delegation and co

in addition, the g.a.o. and inspector general will report to congress on automotive companies receiving financial assistance so the federal government may complete divestiture without delay. this is not a partisan issue. our deep economic crisis has cost millions of americans their jobs and the added collapse of auto industry, it would take roars to recover. we have had presidents of both political parties recognize the need to address the current downfall of the auto industry and recognize the need to remove government involvement as quickly as possible. on december 19, 2008, president bush stated -- and i quote -- "the actions i'm announcing today represent a state that we wish were not necessary but given the situation it is the most effective and responsible way to address this challenge facing our nation. by giving the auto companies a chance to restructure rewill shield the american people from a harsh economic blow and give american workers an opportunity to show the world once again they can meet the

what i take from the g.a.o.'s testimony is ridership and cost. the concern is that overly optimistic project proponents is going to overstatement ridership and understatement cost. if the federal government makes investment decisions based upon faulty forecasts we're going to fund the projects that won't be successful. so i guess the question and maybe i'll direct this to mr. szabo is how are you going to evaluate scutch projections for proposed projects -- such projections for proposed projects and are you going to rely on the project sponsor for those? >> well, first off, one of the key components that we will be ranking the applications on will be their proposed management plan and their management of risk which includes covering all of the operating costs and any cost overruns. those responsibilities belong to the applicant, not the federal government. so clearly it's in their best interest to protect themselves to ensure that those forecasts are accurate. one of the things that we plan to do is to use a temp late where essentially -- template

if you include the $25 million that g.a.o. received in the stimulus bill, then this is only a 2.4% increase over current year funding levels. the fiscal year 2010 bill provided $934 million for the senate which is an increase of 4.3% over the current year. this funding will provide for annual salary and operating increases for senate offices, the senate sergeant at arms, the secretary of the senate, and other agencies that support the operation of the senate. the bill includes $331 million for the ca capitol police, an 8% increase over current year including $15.4 million to fully implement the merger of the library of congress police with the capitol police providing seamless security throughout the entire capitol complex. the bill also provides for ten additional civilian positions to help resolve management issues including the constant increase in the demand for overtime. the committee did not provide the 76 new officers requested in fiscal year 2010 but does direct g.a.o. to work with the watch toll police to ensure they'r

>> my concern about the legislation is if the g.a.o. is auditing not only the operational aspects of our programs and details of the programs but making judgments about policy decisions, that would effectively be a takeover of monetary policy by congress, a recomputer yaition of the independence of the federal reserve which would be highly destructive to the stability of the system, the dollar and our national economic situation.. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. now i yield five minutes to the gentle woman from ohio. >> thank you thank you, mr. chairman. chairman bernanke, welcome to this committee. i am very concerned about those who create money in our society and how we hold them accountable in those who counterfeit, if we find them, they go to jail for a long time but to those who credit wrait money in sophisticated what's through our system and then do great damage, sometimes they are more difficult to apprehend and prosecute. today i would like to explore the relationship between the bank of america, merrill lynch, and a firm

in an august, 2008, report on grants management, the g.a.o. recommended that the office of management and budget report annually on expired, undispursed grant accounts but unfortunately no action has been taken on this recommendation and taxpayer dollars are siting unused in these accounts. my amendment is similar to what was required in the american recovery and reinvestment act. my amendment ensures there is clear oversight of taxpayer dollars. the amendment requires oversight and accountability of expired, undispursed grant accounts. the amendment would instruct all executive departments and independent agencies to track undispursed balances in expired grant accounts and report the results to the office of management and budget. this will help lower the management -- the national deficit because my amendment also requires the reports to identify which accounts could be returned to the united states treasury. now, the group citizens against government waste has advocated similar policies. most recently they advocated rescinding funds earmarke

the report by the g.a.o. back in 1993 cited 19 other drug intelligence centers that already existed. whose functions the ndic duplicates. it's not just the previous administration. long before that, we've recognized that this is money that should and could be saved if we closed down the center. as reported in "the hill" on may 14, a review of o.m.b. agreed. they concluded the ndi crmbing's efforts were duplicative of other intelligence agencies. a spokesman for d.o.j. said the resources for ndic should be realigned to support priority counterterrorism and national security initiatives. mr. chairman, this is a center begging to be shut down. i don't need trow mind anybody here of the problems we're having fiscally. we're running the biggest deficit we've ever run. we have public debt that's just astounding. we have unfunded liabilities that should make us all shudder and we simply can't keep a center like this open for tens of millions of dollars a year that's been called duplicative and ineffective. i think th

portion of the private sector voluntarily provides paid leave, and in a study by harvard and by the g.a.o., we found that we are ranked 168th in the world, 168 countries provide some form of paid leave. we are tied wit papua, new gun nee, swaziland, and lesotho, as countries that do not provide paid leave. this is an opportunity for this body that constantly talks about family values to show they truly do value families and provide paid leave, four week, building on the 12 weeks of unpaid leave, that families can have support in this critical time of the birth, adoption, or fostering of a child. i believe my time has expired. i urge a yes vote on the rule and i urge a yes vote on the underlying bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from texas. mr. sessions: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker we had two wonderful speakers on the majority said tell us, i think they were contradicting each other, one said, it only costs $100 million a year. another speaker said, there's no cost. as a matter of fact, pay-go says there's nothing to it. well, maybe the pa

just to point out we do have $2.5 million that we have carry nerd last two fiscal years in the g.a.o. for technology assessment, but we recognize that the gentleman and many other members believe it would be far better and more effective if we conduct those assessments with a staffed agency of experts and bring in the expertise the congress currently lacks. thank you, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from north carolina. ms. foxx: i yield four minutes to our colleague from arizona, mr. flake. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. flake: i thank gentlelady for yielding. i, too, went to the rules committee to testify last night, to try to have an amendment ruled in order. an amendment that was germane, there was no problem with its relevance to the bill. it was not dilatory. it wasn't seeking to delay anything. it was to address a very real problem that we have. the problem that we have, mr. speaker, is that we have -- that we know of -- a number of investigations from the justice department going on right now examining the rela

turns out that the g.a.o. does a regular scoring of the federal government -- excuse moshings it is o.m.b. that does a regular scoring of the federal government, of the effectiveness of federal government programs. then they assign a percentage out of 100 on it. i put the grade equivalent on it. you can see programs that were reviewed in here. state department has got the highest score that i've got up here of a c + for effectiveness that the o.m.b. scored for that. the education department, which i don't know what that really says here, but scores below 50% gets an "f" the education department on its scorecard. you can look through this and so these are the programs that were reviewed. 51 in state department, 91 in the education department. what i'm saying is you would have this carfa commission go through and do a similar type of review for effectiveness. those programs that failed then would be put in an overall bill and say, okay, congress, vote on either keeping this entire package or eliminating this enti

the g.a.o. did a study in which it was asked whether, in fact, the federal government bargains for lower interchange fees because the volume of business that we do. it turns out there's virtually no bargaining allowed, not even with the federal government. if merchants want to accept credit cards, those merchants simply have to abide by the rates, just like the federal government, that the card networks set, even when the rates are increased. in fact, card companies regularly increase their interchange rates. a report by the federal reserve bank in kansas city found that between 1996 and 2006, visa and mastercard average interchange rates increased from approximately $1.30 per $100 transaction to $1.80. that's about a 40% increase over that ten-year period of time. and the rates have gone up even further for dhardz have rewards -- cards that have rewards programs. the total amount of interchange fees collected last year was $48 billion, according to estimates of the national retail federation. th

the amendment by the gentleman from new york, mr. bishop, requires a g.a.o. report on the effects that waivers of the buy america act for the purchase of h.i.v. test kits under the president's emergency plan for aids relief, pepfar, have had on american manufacturers. pepfar, as we know, is one of the largest and most successful foreign assistance programs of our country. and it was re-authorized just last year for an astounding $48 billion over the next five years. expanding access for testing is a vital and core component of pepfar, both in terms of prevention and treatment. and in some cases the purchase of test kits manufactured outside of the outside has been deemed a more cost-effective and efficient means by which to expand testing and access to testing. still some have expressed concern about the impact that those waivers may be having on united states-based manufacturers and questioned whether the purchase of these test kits manufactured abroad really has increased access to testing. thus, an evaluation of this nature may be an appropriate exercise, p

the program has a history of waste, of fraud, abuse. listen to a recent g.a.o. report of last year. quote, expenditures were insufficient in supporting documentation. out of seven of 14 grantees we visitted we identified systemic issues in payments that lacked sufficient supporting documentation that made it impossible to determine whether the expenditures were accurate, allowable, or reportable. one grantee was using funds to provide interest-free pounds -- loans to employees. lobbying fees, taxpayer money used for lobbying fees. this isn't me saying this, it's the general accountability office. again, a program of history of waste, fraud, and abuse. now i believe the line item in this budget, mr. chairman, is $440 million. we've got a choice. one, it's a program that's been unauthorized since 1980's. reported instances of waste, fraud, and abuse, and should we actually be taxing taxpayers to force them to subsidize their neighbors to turn around and sue them? i don't think so. i don't think so, mr. chairman. dollars have alternative uses. we can use $440 million to save our childr

g.a.o. report on d.o.d.'s approach to balancing the dwelling requirements of troops. it includes a one-year extension of premium pay for federal civilian employees deployed to iraq and afghanistan. and it provides $4.7 billion for training opportunities for the army. this bill also does many good things for south texas. it provides space for the army reserve to warehouse equipment in a controlled humidity environment in texas. the bill also authorizes a project that would reduce carbon emissions and provide a renewable source of free electricity. i support this bill, h.r. 2647, and am proud of what this bill does to restore strength for our military. my friended, this is a good bill that reflects -- my friends, this is a good bill that reflects our bipartisan desire to balance the many priorities of our armed forces. i ask my colleagues and friends to vote for this bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from california. mr. mckeon: i yield now to the gentleman from virginia, the subcommittee ranking member on readiness committee, mr. forbe

for example, last year the government accountability office, the g.a.o., as it's referred to, received over 1,200 congressional requests and testified at over 300 congressional hearings. their work produced hundreds of improvements in government operations and produced significant financial savings for the american taxpayer. the congressional budget office, the c.b.o., also funded this bill, actually received emergency funding in the supplemental that passed recently -- last week -- to further strengthen their workforce, allowing for timelyer production of analyses for congressional offices. i don't know how these can be proposed to an agency that desperately needed this kind of help to do their job here so that we can do our jobs here in congress. it doesn't make sense. i know for a fact that my colleagues depend on the c.b.o., that office now more than perhaps ever before for analyses related to health care costs, energy, and the current financial crisis. madam president, the agencies funded this legislative branch worked for congress. quite simply, if you reduce their funding, you'l