Individuals who apply for and are denied Social Security Administration disability benefits can appeal the decision. Most applicants who appeal wait more than a year to receive a final disability benefits determination. We found that: about 48,000 individuals, or 1.3% of applicants, filed for bankruptcy while awaiting a final decision about their disability appeals from FYs 2014 through 2019109,72...

Commercial fishing landed more than $1 billion worth of seafood from the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico in 2016, and recreational anglers made about 127 million fishing trips. To help manage fisheries, the National Marine Fisheries Service and regional councils may allocate fishing privileges to the commercial and recreational sectors for red snapper, wahoo, red grouper, and other fish. Stake...

Noncitizens apprehended by DHS may be removed from the U.S. without an immigration hearing unless they express an intent to apply for asylum or a fear of persecution or torture. Such “fear claims”—108,780 in FY2018—are referred to DHS’s immigration services agency, which determines whether there is a credible fear of persecution or torture, also known as a “positive determination.” ...

The Judicial Conference, the federal judiciary's principle policy-making body, developed an electronic filing system, guidance, and a compliance process to help ensure judicial officials file financial disclosure reports that adhere to applicable laws and regulations, and data provided by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC) show that more than 4,000 reports were required to be fil...

Entities facing lawsuits for infringing on a certain type of patent can challenge the validity of the patent through a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office program. This can be done for a fraction of the time and money that would be spent in court. Under the program, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board decides whether patents are valid. In the report on which this testimony is based, we recommended tha...

Entities facing lawsuits for infringing a certain type of patent (e.g., for online shopping) can challenge the validity of that patent through a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office program for a fraction of the time and money that would be spent in federal courts. Under the program, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board decides whether these patents are valid. We recommended that the Patent Office devel...

Three federal agencies—the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC), the U.S. Marshals Service (Marshals Service), and the Federal Protective Service (FPS)—collect information about security concerns at federal courthouses related to the agencies' respective missions. However, only AOUSC develops information that can be used to understand security concerns across the courthouse portfol...

Various judicial policies, such as those in the U.S. Courts Design Guide, help guide appellate space use decisions. Other key policies include the judiciary's national 3 percent space-reduction target and the No Net New policy, which requires regional judicial circuits—including each circuit's court of appeals—to offset space increases with equivalent reductions. In practice, space use decis...

How can we better protect federal whistleblowers? The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 seeks to strengthen the rights of and protections for federal whistleblowers. We found that the Merit Systems Protection Board—which rules on whistleblower appeals—received more of these appeals after the act was enacted. We also found weaknesses in their recording and reporting of these ap...

In June 2015 and April 2016, GAO reported on CMS's implementation of enrollment-screening procedures that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) uses to prevent and detect ineligible or potentially fraudulent providers and suppliers from enrolling into its Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS). GAO identified weaknesses in CMS's verification of provider practice locat...