GAO

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on GAO Report on the Accuracy of Workplace Injury and Illness Data

November 16, 2009 -- The GAO report released today confirms that employer policies and practices that discourage the reporting of workplace injuries and illnesses are widespread and undermining the safety and health of America's workers.    » read more »

Requests GAO Audit on Reducing Illnesses and Death Due to Contaminated Raw Oysters; Audit Would Determine Effectiveness of ISSC Risk Management Plan in Reducing Deaths Due to Raw Oysters Contaminated with Vibrio Vulnificus

November 17, 2009 -- Washington, DC -- Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT) today sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting an audit of the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference’s (ISSC) risk management plan for Vibrio vulnificus (Vv).

The audit would determine whether the risk management plan being used by the oyster industry, and promoted by the ISSC, is effective in reducing illnesses and death due to oysters contaminated with the Vv bacteria.    » read more »

New Report Documents Unparalleled Employer Abuse In Underreporting Of Workplace Injury And Illness

November 16, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – America’s workers suffer more workplace injury and illness than employers report, and medical professionals are under pressure from employers to misdiagnose and under-treat work-related health conditions, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The report confirms what workers and worker advocacy organizations have known for a long time—Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) statistics do not reflect the real risk workers face from workplace hazards.    » read more »

October 19, 2009 -- Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY-28), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Rules, issued the following statement following the release of a Government Accountability Office report raising new questions about the Pentagon’s troubled testing program for soldier’s body armor.

Slaughter was the first lawmaker to raise questions about the reliability of the military’s testing system for armor plates, which are worn by some members of the military deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.    » read more »

October 14, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) issued the following statement in response to the release of a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study that shows mercury control technologies at coal-fired power plants are achieving substantial emissions reductions at low costs.

Sen. Carper has carefully monitored mercury pollution issues as chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee, and he requested this GAO report to examine costs and reductions achieved by power plant mercury control technologies.

Sen. Carper said:    » read more »

GAO Report Provides Suggestions For Strengthening Job Corps Programs; Report finds that while Job Corps provides critical career skills, more can be done to help retain and recruit young women

June 22, 2009 -- (Washington, D.C.) – The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Job Corps training program, while meeting its goals for young, disadvantaged males, is struggling to meet its goals for young women according to Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released today. The report found that Job Corps has taken some steps to improve the recruitment of young women but that more can be done, including providing more appealing career training options and additional support services for young women.    » read more »

June 9, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health, released the following statements regarding a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO)

Biomonitoring involves assessing chemical levels in blood and tissue samples to study levels of human exposure to toxic chemicals in our workplaces, homes, and environment. showing that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should increase its ability to protect public health by expanding its assessment of toxic chemical exposures through the use of biomonitoring.    » read more »

Levin, Grassley, Specter Release GAO Report on SEC Actions to Curb Stock Failures to Deliver and Manipulative Naked Short Selling

June 3, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations; Senator Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Ranking Member of the Finance Committee; and Senator Arlen Specter, D-Penn., Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, released a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report analyzing recent actions taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to curb failures to deliver securities and manipulative naked short selling.    » read more »

June 2, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) joined six members of the House Committee on Homeland Security in releasing a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) entitled "Nuclear Forensics: Comprehensive Interagency Plan Needed to Address Human Capital Issues (GAO-09-527R)."    » read more »

Income Data Provided by IRS Will be Used by USDA to Validate Payment Eligibility

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2009 - In response to the discovery of nearly $50 million in payments to ineligible farmers, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have begun efforts to ensure that high-income individuals and entities who request USDA payments meet income limits set forth in the 2008 Farm Bill.    » read more »

Bailout estimates for failed projects could range from hundreds of billions to more than a trillion

March 4, 2009 -- The nuclear power industry is pressuring Congress to dramatically expand federal loan guarantees for building new plants, which would put taxpayers and ratepayers at significant financial risk, according to a report released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).    » read more »

August 12, 2008 -- (WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Most corporations doing business in the United States pay no federal income tax to the federal government according to a new GAO (Government Accountability Office) study [PDF] requested by U.S. Senators Byron Dorgan (D-N.D) and Carl Levin (D-MI).

The report says that two thirds of both American companies and foreign companies doing business in the United States end up avoiding all income tax obligations to the federal government despite corporate sales totaling $2.5 trillion.    » read more »

Contractors Allegedly Violated Small-Business Laws

August 12, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC—Following release of a Congressional Budget Office report today showing the massive expenditures and an over-reliance on private contractors in Iraq under the Bush Administration and the revelation of a report by the Small Business Administration Inspector General showing Blackwater was awarded millions of dollars in federal contracts designated for small businesses, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today called on Congress to act on her legislation to reform the contracting system and put in place needed accountability measures and urged the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to launch an investigation into the impact of Blackwater’s violation.    » read more »

August 5, 2008 -- WASHINGTON – Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., and senior Committee Member John Warner, R-Va., today announced the release of a report [PDF] by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) detailing annual Iraqi oil revenues and Iraqi government contributions to security and reconstruction efforts in the country. This report was requested by the Senators in a March 6th letter to the Comptroller General.    » read more »

July 17, 2008 -- At the 1996 World Food Summit (WFS) in Rome, the United States and more than 180 world leaders pledged to halve the total number of undernourished people worldwide from the 1990 level---a commitment that they reaffirmed in 2000 when they established the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which included a target to halve the proportion or the percentage of the world's population that is undernourished by 2015.    » read more »