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GAO Reports – HHS and Programs related to mental illness, Violation of Anti-Lobbying Provision and the Antideficiency Act

  • HHS Leadership Needed to Coordinate Federal Efforts Related to Serious Mental Illness, GAO-15-113, Published Dec 18, 2014. Publicly Released: Feb 5, 2015: ““Agencies identified 112 federal programs that generally supported individuals with serious mental illness in fiscal year 2013. The majority of these programs addressed broad issues, such as homelessness, that can include individuals with serious mental illness. The programs were spread across eight federal agencies: Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Labor, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Social Security Administration. Thirty of the 112 programs were identified by the agencies as specifically targeting individuals with serious mental illness. Four agencies—DOD, HHS, DOJ, and VA—reported that they obligated about $5.7 billion for programs that specifically targeted individuals with serious mental illness in fiscal year 2013. Agencies had difficulty identifying all programs supporting individuals with serious mental illness because they did not always track whether or not such individuals were among those served by the program. Agencies also varied in which programs they identified because they had different definitions of what such a program might be. Such inconsistency limits the potential comparability across programs.”

  • Department of Housing and Urban Development: Violation of Anti-Lobbying Provision and the Antideficiency Act, GAO-15-360T: Published: Feb 4, 2015. Publicly Released: Feb 4, 2015: “This testimony discusses our September 9, 2014, opinion concerning the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) use of appropriations to prepare and transmit an e‑mail encouraging members of the public to contact specific senators regarding pending legislation. In the opinion, we determined that HUD violated an appropriations provision prohibiting the use of appropriated funds for indirect or grassroots lobbying in support of or in opposition to pending legislation.  Because no funds were available for such purpose, HUD’s actions also violated the Antideficiency Act, a fiscal statute central to Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.”

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