Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the budgetary implications of selected program reforms discussed in its past work but not yet implemented or enacted.

GAO noted that: (1) Congress has many available options for cutting spending or raising revenue; (2) GAO discusses the conventions used to estimate savings and revenue gains; (3) GAO provides for congressional consideration an analytical framework in which to consider cost savings or revenue increases; (4) this framework provides one set of criteria that may be used to assess goals, scope, and approaches for delivering federal programs; (5) it is organized around the following three themes: (a) reassessing objectives; (b) redefining beneficiaries; and (c) improving efficiency; (6) GAO presents narrative descriptions of the options including available estimates of budgetary savings as determined by the Congressional Budget Office or the Joint Committee on Taxation; (7) GAO lists options from its previous report that were not updated for this year's volume based on its review of congressional and agency actions; (8) 16 options from GAO's April 1999 report are not included in this report because: (a) the option was fully or substantially acted upon by Congress or cognizant agency; (b) the option was no longer appropriate due to environmental changes or the aging of GAO's work; or (c) Congress or the cognizant agency chose a different approach to address the issues discussed in the option; and (9) GAO will continue to monitor many of these options to assess whether underlying issues are ultimately resolved based on the actions taken.