FEDE Office of the Federal Register / National Archives and Records Administration · Rulemaking audits
Transportation Department, Federal Railroad Administration | Proposed Rule | FRA proposes to amend its regulations governing the qualification and certification of locomotive engineers and conductors to establish English language proficiency as a requirement for a railroad carrier to certify and recertify locomotive engineers and conductors. FRA also proposes that each railroad carrier conducting a triennial examination of skill performance, and an annual operational monitoring observation for locomotive engineers, which are current requirements, conduct those examinations and observations without engaging energy management systems that limit the need for a locomotive engineer to operate th.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found Ten of the 13 B-52 modernizations are experiencing cost, schedule, or performance challenges. The Air Force’s most expensive B-52 modernization effort, the Commercial Engine Replacement Program (CERP) will likely continue to face significant challenges as the Air Force plans to begin production with little to no developmental flight testing. While the Air Force analyzed and accepted increased risks from this approach in 2023, since then CERP costs increased by about $3 billion and initial operational capability was delayed more than 15 months. Department of Defense (DOD) policy states cost estimates should consider risk and include an analysis that identifies and evaluates al.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) provided about $41.5 billion in supplemental appropriations to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for grants and other investments to reduce air pollution and enhance national climate resilience. EPA primarily used the appropriations to create new grant programs and has awarded hundreds of grants. In 2025, EPA terminated grants funded by $30 billion of IRA appropriations and several grant recipients were challenging the terminations in court as of June 2026. Of the roughly $11.5 billion in appropriations unaffected by the terminations and related litigation, Public Law 119-21, commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill A.
CABI U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found Various federal land and water management agencies and Tribes have entered into shared decision-making agreements. Under these agreements, Tribes provide substantive input on federal natural and cultural resource management decisions over many years. The relevant federal agencies are the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, the Interior, and their subcomponents. The subcomponents include the U.S. Forest Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service. GAO identified five lessons learned from the implementation of shared decision-making agreements between federal agencies and Tribes.
FEDE Office of the Federal Register / National Archives and Records Administration · Rulemaking audits
State Department | Proposed Rule | The Department of State's (Department's) Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs administers the Exchange Visitor Program, as set forth at 22 CFR part 62, wherein exchange visitors on educational and cultural exchange programs travel to the United States in the J visa category. The Department tracks the status and geographic location of exchange visitors through the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a database administered by the Department of Homeland Security. This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Proposed Rule) seeks to clarify the conditions under which a sponsor must terminate an exchange visitor's program and authorizes the De.
FEDE Office of the Federal Register / National Archives and Records Administration · Rulemaking audits
Transportation Department, Federal Aviation Administration | Rule | The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Airbus SAS Model A330-200 and A330-300 series airplanes modified by a certain supplemental type certificate (STC). This AD was prompted by a finding that, for airplanes with a flightcrew oxygen system supplied by a single oxygen cylinder, the oxygen supply would not be sufficient under all circumstances for extended operations (ETOPS) with a maximum diversion time of 180 minutes (ETOPS-180) with four flightcrew members. This AD requires revising the existing Airplane Flight Manual Supplement (AFM-S) to limit ETOPS-180 operations to three flightcrew members,..
FEDE Office of the Federal Register / National Archives and Records Administration · Rulemaking audits
Justice Department, Executive Office for Immigration Review | Proposed Rule | This notice of proposed rulemaking ("NPRM") would implement a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA" or "the Act") that authorizes Immigration Judges, under regulations prescribed by the Attorney General, to sanction by civil money penalty any action (or inaction) in contempt of the proper exercise of their authority by certain individuals. The rule would: define the scope of the contempt authority; provide procedures for contempt findings, penalty determinations, and penalty payment; establish an appellate process; and implement oversight of the use of contempt authority. The rule would also make.
FEDE Office of the Federal Register / National Archives and Records Administration · Rulemaking audits
Transportation Department, Federal Aviation Administration | Rule | The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. (Pilatus) Model PC-12/47E airplanes. This AD was prompted by a report that, during an engine start on the ground, the airplane battery voltage dropped to a value that resulted in an avionic system shutdown. This AD requires incorporating a temporary revision (TR) into the existing pilot's operating handbook (POH) for the affected airplanes to provide operators with instructions for an enhanced engine start procedure. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found Emerging infectious diseases are infections that are new (e.g., COVID-19) or have existed but are reappearing in an area (e.g., measles), according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As the federal lead for public health, HHS partners with thousands of entities at all levels of government to conduct surveillance for emerging infectious diseases; doing so through continuous data collection, analysis, and sharing of health data needed to plan for and respond to such threats. Experts on a roundtable GAO convened suggested a range of actions that the federal government could take to improve U.S. emerging infectious disease surveillance. GAO categorized experts’.
CABI U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found In May 2025, GAO identified eight priority recommendations for the Department of Commerce (Commerce). Since then, Commerce has implemented one of those recommendations. In July 2026, GAO added one priority recommendation, bringing the total to eight. GAO is highlighting the following two areas that warrant timely and focused attention: Improving planning for the decennial census, and Protecting personally identifiable information. Addressing GAO's recommendations in these areas could improve census cost and accuracy, particularly for hard-to-enumerate populations, and help Commerce protect personally identifiable information from unauthorized access, tampering, or loss. Takin.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found As of March 31, 2025, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) awarded 57 task orders across nine contracts since implementing the End State Contract Model (ESCM) in fiscal year 2020. The ESCM uses task orders for contractors to achieve a stated outcome, or “end state,” to move sites toward completion, manage cost and schedule performance, and reduce DOE’s environmental liability. About half (29) included defined end states and the remainder were for support work or cleanup work that did not yet have a defined end state. EM has not consistently achieved intended results for selected task orders GAO reviewed. Of the nine selected task orders com.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found Many countries are undertaking efforts to manage, treat, and dispose of nuclear waste. Several have taken actions that accelerated cleanup, reduced risks, and resulted in cost savings—lessons that could inform the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) efforts. For example: The United Kingdom (UK) saved a total of at least £2 billion (equivalent to $2.6 billion as of March 2026) by implementing a risk-informed approach to managing its nuclear waste. This approach helped minimize how much waste would need disposal in a repository for waste low in radioactivity. Canada has prioritized accelerating cleanup activities at key nuclear waste sites. As a..
