CABI U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found The Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) conducts immigration court proceedings both in-person and using remote technology, such as WebEx—an internet-based video teleconferencing platform, or telephone. Per EOIR policy, immigration judges may use discretion to decide which, if any, remote medium is used by participants in a hearing. EOIR collects data on the medium used for each hearing, which reflects the location of only the judge and respondent. According to GAO’s analysis of this data, of the nearly 6 million hearings held from fiscal year 2022 through 2025, about 63 percent or 3.8 million hearings were in-person. Of the approximately 2.2.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found In July 2024, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) released an internal Integrated Science, Technology, and Engineering (ST&E) Plan documenting investments needed for ST&E capabilities over the next 20 years. NNSA’s plan identified and prioritized 46 ST&E facility investments across the nuclear security enterprise that support stewardship of the nuclear weapons stockpile and other NNSA missions. The investments were prioritized by mission importance and mission need time frame. They included sustainment and enhancement of existing facilities and construction of new facilities. NNSA also collected initial estimates of related ST&E workforce and programmatic inve.
CABI U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found The Department of Transportation (DOT) and its component agencies are underutilizing their office space department-wide based on the Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies (USE IT) Act benchmark of 60 percent utilization. Specifically, GAO found that 89 percent of DOT’s 189 office buildings, including the DOT and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) headquarters complexes, were underutilized in August and September 2025 based on the USE IT benchmark. This was largely consistent with DOT’s USE IT Act reporting in March 2026. DOT’s underutilized office space costs hundreds of millions of dollars annually to lease, operate, and maintain. In August 2025, DOT..
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
Why This matters Across the globe, over 24 million tons of plastic (as much weight as 12 million cars) enter the environment each year. Larger plastics gradually break down into smaller microplastics, which can move into the organs, blood, and cells of humans and other animals. Key Takeaways Major sources of microplastics include vehicle tires, synthetic fabrics, plastic bottles, and paint. Exposure to microplastics is associated with health problems in humans and other organisms, but scientists have not determined the extent to which microplastics cause such problems. Federal agencies have announced actions to measure and remove microplastics in the human body, consider potential regulatio.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found Through the Moab Cleanup Project, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) has removed over 16 million tons of uranium mill tailings and other materials at the Moab Mill Site in Utah, as of 2026. Tailings are leftover waste after uranium has been removed from rock. EM has sent the tailings and contaminated material to a nearby disposal site. EM is also working to remediate contaminated groundwater, which threatens the nearby Colorado River. Moab Mill Site and Surrounding Area The Moab Cleanup Project has cost approximately $970 million through fiscal year 2025 and is expected to reach around $1.16 billion. The federal government pays 100 percen.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) provide necessary working capital to help small businesses affected by a disaster meet financial obligations until normal operations resume. Relatively low snowfall and warm winters are not included in the statutory definition for “major disaster” contained in the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act) or the definition of “disaster” in the Small Business Act. The Stafford Act establishes the programs and processes through which the federal government, led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, provides major disaster assistance, and the Small Business..
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found The Space Force is the smallest military service, with about 15,400 total personnel in fiscal year 2025. The Space Force largely inherited its workforce from other services and has completed some assessments as it seeks to right-size its force to meet growing missions. However, it determines personnel requirements based on a mix of analyses that are not consistent across Space Force units. Further, some units operate under personnel requirements that are outdated and do not reflect mission growth. The Space Force has not established a process or guidance to consistently and accurately determine its personnel needs to accomplish its missions. Relatedly, although it has estimat.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found Border Patrol—a component of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)— established a program in 2017 to help rescue individuals in distress and reduce deaths along the border. The program includes various efforts such as placing rescue beacons and 911 placards in remote areas. Border Patrol Sectors Operating Programs to Reduce Deaths and Rescue Individuals Attempting to Illegally Enter the U.S., as of April 2026 CBP used data in its fiscal year 2025 report to Congress that Border Patrol recorded using practices and systems that have not changed since our April 2025 report on these activities. However, CBP’s fiscal year 2025 report did not include all required information abou.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found Certain types of waste are particularly pervasive or difficult to clean up with existing technologies. Microbes (e.g., bacteria, fungi) can be engineered to break down pollutants more effectively. For example, researchers have inserted genes into bacteria that allow the bacteria to break down contaminants, such as phenol or hydrocarbons, in water and soil. At present, there are no examples of commercially available engineered microbes for waste cleanup. Example areas where engineered microbes could be deployed for waste cleanup Through expert interviews and document reviews, GAO identified two policy goals related to this biotechnology—demonstrating safety and effectiveness a.
CABI U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found As of September 2025, the Coast Guard reported about $448 million in environmental liabilities related to its shore infrastructure. This includes about $228 million for structures, like housing, presumed to be contaminated with asbestos-containing material or lead-based paint based on their age. It also includes about $220 million in cleanup projects at sites with a known or suspected release of contaminants. Several factors create uncertainty that could potentially lead to hundreds of millions of dollars of additional cleanup costs that the Coast Guard has not communicated to Congress. For example, the Coast Guard has identified properties which may be contaminated with “for.
FEDE Office of the Federal Register / National Archives and Records Administration · Rulemaking audits
Veterans Affairs Department | Notice | The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is announcing that it will make no change in regulation to adjust for inflation the amount of civil monetary penalties that are allowed within VA's authorities. This notice is in accordance with the requirement in the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, to make annual adjustments to the penalties, based on the prior year's October Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and as interpreted and determined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in Memorandum M-.
FEDE Office of the Federal Register / National Archives and Records Administration · Rulemaking audits
Management and Budget Office | Notice | The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) seeks public comment on the advisability of adopting the proposed North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) updates for 2027 recommended by its Economic Classification Policy Committee (ECPC). The ECPC recommends an update of NAICS to clarify existing industry definitions and content, recognize new and emerging industries, and combine industries. There are two parts in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Part I summarizes the background for the proposed 2027 revisions to NAICS 2022. Part II contains a summary of the public comments regarding priorities for changes to NAICS for 2027 and rat.
