Changes to the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) for Firms program mandated by the Trade and Globalization Adjustment Assistance Act led to program improvements and increased participation, but participation declined when the legislative changes lapsed and the program faced funding uncertainty. The changes resulted in reduced time to certify firms, new performance reporting, and increased partici

The Agreement would provide steadily decreasing assistance, totaling approximately $215 million, for fiscal years 2011 through 2024. The proposed assistance includes the following: (1) direct economic assistance ($107.5 million) for Palau government operations; (2) infrastructure project grants ($40 million) to build mutually agreed projects; (3) infrastructure maintenance fund ($28 million) for

Small businesses located in four Gulf Coast states (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas) received about $2.7 billion (13.3 percent) of the $20.5 billion federal agencies directly awarded nationwide in contracts for hurricane recovery between fiscal years 2005 and 2011. Small businesses in the rest of the United States received about $2.6 billion (12.9 percent). The Corps and the rest of DOD--t

Louisiana and Mississippi received the largest shares of CDBG disaster funds and targeted the majority toward homeowner assistance, allocating the rest to economic development, infrastructure, and other projects. Between 2006 and 2008, Louisiana's total allocation devoted to housing increased from 77 to 86 percent while Mississippi's decreased from 63 to 52 percent as the state focused on economi

About 90 percent of the estimated $49 billion in Recovery Act funding to be provided to states and localities in FY2009 will be through health, transportation and education programs. Within these categories, the three largest programs are increased Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) grant awards, funds for highway infrastructure investment, and the State Fiscal Stabilization Fu

The leverage measures (such as ratios) HUD and Treasury reported for the selected programs in performance, budget, and other documents lacked transparency because the agencies generally did not disclose the limitations of the data or the methods used to calculate them. Based on its review of available leveraging data and interviews with HUD and Treasury officials, GAO found that the leverage meas

GAO identified 17 large federal economic development programs that offer financial assistance and services that state and local governments can use as incentives to attract and retain jobs. While academic studies indicate that it is difficult to quantify the funds used as incentives, particularly given differing definitions of incentives, the use of federal funds for such purposes appears to be m

Leveraging can be a useful tool for financing affordable housing and community and economic development and generally is regarded favorably by public and private sector officials; however, its use may have unintended consequences, and commonly used measures of leveraging have certain limitations. Leveraging can occur at an institutional level (to fund multiple initiatives) and at a project level

GAO's analysis of available data indicates that Alaska Native villages and regional Native nonprofits--including Native associations, and regional health and housing nonprofits--received over $3 billion in federal assistance from fiscal years 1998 through 2003. Specifically, total federal funding included approximately $483 million to 216 Alaska Native villages and about $3 billion to 33 regional

CED lenders rely on multiple federal programs that offer grants, loans, guarantees, and other support to help fund lending activities. Some of these lenders have expressed an interest in finding alternative sources of funding, including securitizing the loans that they make. However, the volume of CED loans potentially available for securitization is not known. In addition, the community economic