CBO

Report
An Analysis of Certain Proposals in the President’s 2022 Budget
July 30, 2021
CBO analyzed the Administration’s request for discretionary funding and some proposals that affect mandatory spending. The need for CBO to support ongoing legislative activity prevented the agency from completing a comprehensive analysis.

Cost Estimate
H.R. 3948, Greater Supervision In Banking Act of 2021
July 30, 2021
As ordered reported by the House Committee on Financial Services on June 23, 2021

Cost Estimate
CBO’s Estimate for Senate Amendment 2123, an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 3237, the Emergency Security Supplemental Appropriations Act
July 29, 2021
As amended

Working Paper
Fair-Value Budgeting: Practical Issues: Working Paper 2021-08
July 29, 2021
This paper explores the practical questions raised by fair-value budgeting: Which government activities would benefit from it? How might it be used? How can agencies estimate fair value without observing market prices for government risks?

Cost Estimate
S. 1491, Rural Maternal and Obstetric Modernization of Services Act
July 29, 2021
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on May 25, 2021

Report
Additional Information About CBO’s Estimates of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill and the Effects of the Hyde Amendment
July 28, 2021
CBO provides additional information about estimates of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill and the Effects of the Hyde Amendment.

Cost Estimate
H.R. 2043, PLUM Act
July 28, 2021
As ordered reported by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on June 29, 2021

Cost Estimate
H.R. 3787, District of Columbia Local Juror Non-Discrimination Act of 2021
July 28, 2021
As ordered reported by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on June 29, 2021

Blog Post
CBO Mourns the Passing of Senator Enzi
July 27, 2021
CBO is saddened by the untimely death of Sen. Mike Enzi. We had the privilege of working closely with him when he served as the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. We appreciated the support and thoughtful guidance that he gave us.

Cost Estimate
H.R. 1734, Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act Amendments of 2021
July 27, 2021
As ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on May 26, 2021

Cost Estimate
S. 1037, Manufacturing.gov Act
July 27, 2021
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on May 12, 2021

Cost Estimate
S. 1471, Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act of 2021
July 27, 2021
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on May 26, 2021

Blog Post
CBO to Publish Estimates for Some of the President’s Budget Proposals on July 30
July 26, 2021
The Congressional Budget Office will publish estimates of the budgetary effects of some of the proposals in the President’s budget (which was released on May 28, 2021) on Friday, July 30, at 11:00 a.m.

Cost Estimate
H.R. 2641, Pacific Northwest Pumped Storage Hydropower Development Act of 2021
July 26, 2021
As ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on May 26, 2021

Cost Estimate
H.R. 3119, Energy Emergency Leadership Act
July 26, 2021
As passed by the House of Representatives on July 19, 2021

Cost Estimate
Legislation considered under suspension of the Rules of the House of Representatives during the week of July 26, 2021
July 26, 2021
The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives announces bills that will be considered under suspension of the rules in that chamber. CBO estimates the effects of those bills on direct spending and revenues.

Cost Estimate
S. 15, Protecting Seniors from Emergency Scams Act
July 26, 2021
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on April 28, 2021

Cost Estimate
S. 1658, PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act
July 26, 2021
As reported by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on May 27, 2021

Cost Estimate
S. 516, Advanced Air Mobility Coordination and Leadership Act
July 26, 2021
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on May 12, 2021

Cost Estimate
S. 576, Great Lakes Winter Commerce Act of 2021
July 26, 2021
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on April 28, 2021

GAO

Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program
Additional Actions Needed to Improve Communication with Applicants and Address Fraud Risks
GAO-21-589
Published: Jul 30, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 30, 2021. 
What GAO Found Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applicants and recipients varied in terms of business size, years in operation, and industry, based on GAO's analysis of Small Business Administration (SBA) data from March 2020 through February 2021: Business size 

Economic Development:
Opportunities Exist for Further Collaboration among EDA, HUD, and USDA
GAO-21-579
Published: Jul 30, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 30, 2021.
What GAO Found Federal economic development programs and state business incentives approach economic development in different ways. In GAO's review of six large state business incentive packages ($50 million or more) in four states, federal economic development program funds were not directly used.

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National Flood Insurance Program
Congress Should Consider Updating the Mandatory Purchase Requirement
GAO-21-578
Published: Jul 30, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 30, 2021.
What GAO Found The mandatory purchase requirement mandates flood insurance for certain high-risk properties and was established to increase the number of households with flood insurance. Lenders must verify that certain properties have flood insurance.

Comment Letter
July 29, 2021, letter commenting on AICPA's February 2021 Exposure Draft, "Proposed Statements on Quality Management Standards – Quality Management"
Published: Jul 29, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 30, 2021.
This letter provides GAO's response to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Auditing Standards Board's (ASB) Proposed Statement on Quality Management Standards – Quality Management: A Firm's System of Quality Management (SQMS No.
Released on Jul. 29, 2021

 Private Security Contractors

 DOD Needs to Better Identify and Monitor Personnel and Contracts
GAO-21-255
Published: Jul 29, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 29, 2021.
What GAO Found The Department of Defense (DOD) has been unable to comprehensively identify private security contractor (PSC) contracts and personnel supporting contingency, humanitarian, peace-keeping, or other similar operations, limiting DOD's ability to readily and accurately identify the use of PSCs....

Military Installations 
DOD Should Consider Various Support Services when Designating Sites as Remote or Isolated
GAO-21-276
Published: Jul 29, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 29, 2021.
What GAO Found Between 2011 and 2020, the Department of Defense (DOD) designated three installations as remote or isolated in the United States for morale, welfare, and recreation (MWR) services (e.g., fitness centers and child care centers).

Bureau of Prisons
BOP Could Further Enhance its COVID-19 Response by Capturing and Incorporating Lessons Learned
GAO-21-502
Published: Jul 29, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 29, 2021.
What GAO Found The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has developed COVID-19 guidance, with input in part from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and periodically updates this guidance, but some BOP staff reported to GAO confusion in how to implement BOP's guidance.

COVID-19 Contracting
Opportunities to Improve Practices to Assess Prospective Vendors and Capture Lessons Learned
GAO-21-528
Published: Jul 29, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 29, 2021.
What GAO Found As of May 31, 2021, agencies obligated $61.4 billion for contracts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Agencies cancelled $4 billion in obligations, in some cases due to contract terminations.

Paycheck Protection Program
SBA Added Program Safeguards, but Additional Actions Are Needed
GAO-21-577
Published: Jul 29, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 29, 2021.
What GAO Found The Small Business Administration (SBA) quickly implemented the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in April 2020 to assist small businesses adversely affected by COVID-19. But SBA's initial limited program safeguards resulted in improper payments and fraud risks.

Child Welfare
Pandemic Posed Challenges, but also Created Opportunities for Agencies to Enhance Future Operations
GAO-21-483
Published: Jul 29, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 29, 2021.
What GAO Found Child welfare officials GAO interviewed in five selected states reported challenges affecting both child protective and foster care services during the pandemic in 2020-2021.

Military Installations
DOD Should Consider Various Support Services when Designating Sites as Remote or Isolated
GAO-21-276
Published: Jul 29, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 29, 2021.
What GAO Found Between 2011 and 2020, the Department of Defense (DOD) designated three installations as remote or isolated in the United States for morale, welfare, and recreation (MWR) services (e.g., fitness centers and child care centers).

Bureau of Prisons
BOP Could Further Enhance its COVID-19 Response by Capturing and Incorporating Lessons Learned
GAO-21-502
Published: Jul 29, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 29, 2021.
What GAO Found The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has developed COVID-19 guidance, with input in part from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and periodically updates this guidance, but some BOP staff reported to GAO confusion in how to implement BOP's guidance.

Medicare Advantage
Beneficiary Disenrollments to Fee-for-Service in Last Year of Life Increase Medicare Spending
GAO-21-482
Published: Jun 28, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 28, 2021.
What GAO Found Under Medicare Advantage (MA), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contracts with private MA plans to provide health care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries.

U.S.-China Trade
USTR Should Fully Document Internal Procedures for Making Tariff Exclusion and Extension Decisions
GAO-21-506
Published: Jul 28, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 28, 2021.
What GAO Found The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) developed a process in July 2018 to review tariff exclusion requests for some imported products from China and later developed a process to extend these exclusions. From 2018 to 2020, U.S.

Veterans with Disabilities
VA Could Better Inform Veterans with Disabilities about Their Education Benefit Options
GAO-21-450
Published: Jul 28, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 28, 2021.
What GAO Found Most school and veteran service organization (VSO) officials GAO interviewed stated that when given the choice between the Post 9/11 GI Bill (GI Bill) and the Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) program, veterans with disabilities will base their choice on which program best suits...

COVID-19
VA Should Assess Its Oversight of Infection Prevention and Control in Community Living Centers
GAO-21-559
Published: Jul 28, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 28, 2021.
What GAO Found The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) took steps—such as issuing guidance and trainings—to support the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Community Living Centers (CLC), which are VA-owned and -operated nursing homes.

COVID-19 Contracting
Contractor Paid Leave Reimbursements Could Provide Lessons Learned for Future Emergency Responses
GAO-21-475
Published: Jul 28, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 28, 2021.
What GAO Found To help government contractors keep their workforce in a ready state during the COVID-19 pandemic, section 3610 of the CARES Act generally authorized government agencies to reimburse contractors for paid leave provided to contractor personnel and subcontractors during the national emergency....

Cybersecurity and Information Technology
Federal Agencies Need to Strengthen Efforts to Address High-Risk Areas
GAO-21-105325
Published: Jul 28, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 28, 2021.
What GAO Found In March 2021, GAO issued its high-risk series update and emphasized that federal agencies' needed to implement numerous critical actions to strengthen the nation's cybersecurity and information technology (IT) management efforts.

2020 Census

Office Managers' Perspectives on Recent Operations Would Strengthen Planning for 2030
GAO-21-104071
Published: Jul 27, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 27, 2021.
What GAO Found The Census Bureau executed its most labor-intensive field data-collection activity through 248 area census offices, relying on managers of these offices (ACOM) to oversee field work and ensure its timely completion. 

Supplement Material
2020 Federal Managers Survey
GAO-21-537SP
Supplemental Material To: GAO-21-536
Published: Jul 27, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 27, 2021.
Background Since 1997, we have periodically surveyed federal managers on various organizational performance and management issues. This product presents results from GAO’s survey of nearly 4000 managers from July to December 2020.

Critical Infrastructure Protection
TSA Is Taking Steps to Address Some Pipeline Security Program Weaknesses
GAO-21-105263
Published: Jul 27, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 27, 2021.
What GAO Found Protecting the nation's pipeline systems from security threats is a responsibility shared by both the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and private industry stakeholders.

Supplement Material2020 Federal Managers Survey
GAO-21-537SP
Supplemental Material To: GAO-21-536
Published: Jul 27, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 27, 2021.
Background Since 1997, we have periodically surveyed federal managers on various organizational performance and management issues. This product presents results from GAO’s survey of nearly 4000 managers from July to December 2020.

Aviation Services
Information on Airports Exercising Their Right as the Sole Provider of Fuel
GAO-21-397
Published: Jul 27, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 27, 2021.
What GAO Found Based on GAO's survey, 588 of the nearly 2,000 airports responding to the survey reported exercising their proprietary exclusive right (the right to be the sole service provider) for aviation fuel services.

Federal Contracting
Senior Leaders Should Use Leading Companies' Key Practices to Improve Performance
GAO-21-491
Published: Jul 27, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 27, 2021.
What GAO Found Each year, federal agencies spend over $500 billion to buy a wide variety of products and services, ranging from cutting-edge military aircraft to common office supplies.

Evidence-Based Policymaking
Survey Data Identify Opportunities to Strengthen Capacity across Federal Agencies
GAO-21-536
Published: Jul 27, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 27, 2021.
What GAO Found The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act) recognizes that federal decision makers need evidence about whether federal programs achieve intended results.

Hardrock Mining Management
Selected Countries, U.S. States, and Tribes Have Different Governance Structures but Primarily Use Leasing
GAO-21-298
Published: Jun 30, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 26, 2021.
What GAO Found Australia, Canada, and Chile—three top mineral-producing countries as of 2018—generally own the minerals on private and government lands and manage hardrock mining at the national or regional (state, provincial, or territorial) government levels.

Federal Land Management
Key Differences and Stakeholder Views of the Federal Systems Used to Manage Hardrock Mining
GAO-21-299
Published: Jul 21, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 26, 2021.
What GAO Found Stakeholders GAO interviewed provided their views on the two systems used to manage hardrock mining on federal lands (see figure).

COVID-19 Contracting
Actions Needed to Enhance Transparency and Oversight of Selected Awards
GAO-21-501
Published: Jul 26, 2021.
Publicly Released: Jul 26, 2021.
What GAO Found In response to COVID-19, as of March 2021, the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security obligated at least $12.5 billion using a contracting mechanism that gave them the flexibility to quickly respond to urgent pandemic needs.

IASB

July 2021 monthly news summary now available
2 August 2021
News summary

Update: IFRS Foundation Trustees continue to seek nominations for Chair and Vice-Chair of proposed International Sustainability Standards Board
30 July 2021
Appointment 

July 2021 IASB podcast available now
30 July 2021
Podcast

Trustees publish summary of 26 July 2021 meeting
28 July 2021
Meeting

IASB proposes minor amendment to transition requirements for insurers applying IFRS 17 and IFRS 9 for the first time
28 July 2021
Consultation

 IASB proposes reduced disclosure requirements for subsidiaries
26 July 2021
Consultation

IRS

IRS announces 2021 Supplemental Application Low Income Taxpayer Clinic grant recipient
IR-2021-162, July 30, 2021 — The Internal Revenue Service announced today that West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law has been selected for its 2021 Supplemental Application Low Income Taxpayer Clinic matching grant. 

IRS: Businesses, charities, others with Employer Identification Numbers must update responsible party information within 60 days of any change
IR-2021-161, July 30, 2021 — Calling it a key security issue, the Internal Revenue Service today urged those entities with Employer Identification Numbers (EINs) to update their applications if there has been a change in the responsible party or contact information. 

Paid leave credit available for providing leave to employees caring for individuals obtaining or recovering from a COVID-19 immunization
IR-2021-160, July 29, 2021 — The IRS today updated frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the paid sick and family leave tax credits under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP). 

IRS continues unemployment compensation adjustments, prepares another 1.5 million refunds
IR-2021-159, July 28, 2021 — The Internal Revenue Service reported today that another 1.5 million taxpayers will receive refunds averaging more than $1,600 as it continues to adjust unemployment compensation from previously filed income tax returns.

Security Summit: Tax pros should encourage clients to obtain IP PINs to protect against tax-related identity theft
IR-2021-158, July 27, 2021 — Internal Revenue Service Security Summit partners today called on tax professionals to increase efforts to inform clients about the Identity Protection PIN Opt-In Program that can protect against tax-related identity theft.

 NYS

Superintendent Lacewell Announces New DFS Initiative to Promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Depository and Non-Depository Institutions
July 29, 2021

Superintendent Lacewell Announces New DFS Report on New York Domestic Insurers’ Management of the Financial Risks from Climate Change
July 28, 2021

SEC

SEC Issues Whistleblower Awards Totaling More Than $4 Million
2021-143, Aug. 2, 2021 —
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced awards of more than $4 million to four whistleblowers who provided information and assistance in two separate enforcement proceedings.

SEC Charges Real Estate CEO With Defrauding Investors
2021-142., July 30, 2021 —The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced securities fraud charges against recidivist Michael Shustek, the CEO of several Las Vegas real estate investment trusts (REITs), and his wholly owned investment advisory firm, Vestin Mortgage LLC.

Statement on Investor Protection Related to Recent Developments in China
July 30, 2021

SEC Charges Founder of Nikola Corp. With Fraud
2021-141, July 29, 2021 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Trevor R. Milton, the founder, former CEO and former executive chairman of Nikola Corporation, for repeatedly disseminating false and misleading information – typically by speaking directly to investors through social media – about Nikola’s products and technological accomplishments.

SEC Charges Unlicensed Broker With Defrauding Investors
2021-140, July 28, 2021 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Joshua L. Rupp of Michigan for engaging in securities fraud and for acting as an unregistered broker-dealer. 

TIGTA

Review of the Internal Revenue Service’s Purchase Card Violations Report
July 27, 2021