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While Smokey Bear was keeping his eye on fighting forest fires, it would appear nobody at the U.S. Forest Service was paying attention to employee use of government-issued credit cards. In what has become a governmentwide problem, the General Accounting Office (GAO) reports that internal-control weaknesses have left the Forest Service's purchase-card program susceptible to abuse and fraud.

In an August report, the GAO said the weaknesses "likely contributed to approximately $2.7 million in improper, wasteful and questionable purchases" identified in the independent agency's audit. The occurrence of unauthorized purchases, transactions on accounts of former employees and purchases in excess of card limits should have been no surprise considering that the Forest Service's financial management has been identified since 1999 as a "high-risk area" by the GAO.

The Forest Service inspector general (IG) identified some of the weaknesses in an August 2001 report and sought to address lapses in controls and oversight in December 2002 and February 2003. But the GAO concluded "the revised regulations did not fully address the critical issues reported by the IG and confirmed by us as continuing weaknesses during our audit, such as supervisory review, effective monitoring of purchase-card transactions and property accountability."

The Forest Service commented on a draft copy of the GAO report but not the final report. In the draft response, the Forest Service outlined actions it already has taken and others that it plans to take. However, the GAO concluded the actions outlined likely will be insufficient.

Waving a Welcome Goodbye to Welfare?

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson reported Sept. 3 that both the number of individuals and the number of families being served under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program declined between March 2002 and March 2003. The official figures indicate that the number of recipients in March 2003 had declined 4.3 percent since March 2002 and 59.5 percent since August 1996, the inception of the TANF law. Additionally, the number of families receiving TANF declined about 2 percent during the same period, to 2,039,917, in March 2003, according to the HHS. Since August 1996, the number of families receiving TANF has fallen by 53.7 percent.

"We cannot be satisfied until every family has the help it needs to become self-sufficient and move from welfare dependence to work. I urge Congress to pass this legislation as soon as possible," Thompson said in a statement.

However, not all states experienced a dip. More than 15 states saw an increase, and four states (Tennessee, Arizona, Idaho and Maine) reported increases of more than 10 percent.

Encouraged by the overall decline in recipients was Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), whose committee will play a key role in reauthorization. He noted that "simply going off welfare doesn't mean families have achieved significant income and job security." Instead, he said, the reauthorization of the 1996 law should focus on strengthening current policies by increasing state flexibility and options for gaining further or supplemental education.

The 1996 welfare-reform law expired on Oct. 1, 2002, and due to the failure of Congress to reach an agreement on reauthorization it operates under an extension. On Sept. 10, the Senate Finance Committee met to mark up a substitute to HR 4, the House-passed version of the welfare-reform reauthorization.

GAO Report Finds Forest Service Guilty Of Burning Money

On Aug. 29, the White House Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) submitted a draft for "a standardized process by which all significant technical-science documents will be subjected to peer review by qualified specialists in appropriate technical disciplines."

The regulations would require each federal agency to file an annual report with OIRA on the "significant regulatory science documents the agency anticipates issuing" in that upcoming year. OIRA stated it would consult with agencies on the adequacy of their plans.

Peer review as a component of regulatory reform is not a new idea, having been included in the Comprehensive Regulatory Reform Act of 1995, as well as the bipartisan Regulatory Improvement Act of 1999. However, the continued controversies concerning the use of science and, more importantly, the interpretation of science will inspire strong advocates to weigh in on the draft proposals.

According to the OMB, the proposals outlined in the draft bulletin would establish uniform governmentwide standards for peer review, focus on the role of public participation in peer-review actions and require disclosure of the membership of peer-review panels. The comment period is scheduled to remain open until Oct. 28.

Jennifer G. Hickey is a writer for Insight.

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