consolidating financial information into an agencywide perspective as required by OMB Circular A-127,

implementing the U.S. Government Standard General Ledger in HHS,

modernizing our automated financial management systems and those administrative management functions which provide data to Financial Management, and

further improving compliance with OMB/GAO requirements and the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity

Act (FMFIA).

The HHS plan addresses the need for the timely implementation of actions to address these priorities as they affect automated systems, both wholly within the Phoenix construct (e.g., the Operating Division (OPDIV) Accounting System), and for those which interface with it (e.g., the Personnel Payroll System).

The basic concept for the Phoenix Project derived from the Federal Government's reform '88 initiative which sought to reduce inefficiencies in governmental administrative and financial systems' operations, and to promote improved decisionmaking, accountability, and system integrity controls.

Question. Do your agree with GAO's assessment that managers need more and better training in Financial Integrity Act issues?

Answer. The Department agrees that training is a key element in implementing an effective FMFIA program. In this respect, the Chairman of the Council on Management Oversight has already requested the Assistant Secretary for Personnel Administration to develop a comprehensive departmentwide FMFIA training program. In addition, the Director, Departmental FMFIA Program, has been working with our office for Civil Rights and the Family Support Administration in a separate effort to train their staffs under the auspices of the Office of Personnel Management.

QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY SENATOR DALE BUMPERS

SSI OUTREACH

Question. The FY 1990 appropriation for SSA included $3.5 million for outreach to potential recipients of Supplemental Security Income benefits. I am pleased that SSA has published a notice of its intent to establish priority areas for funding grants for SSI outreach. Please provide the subcommittee with a detailed description of plans to get these funds committed to outreach by the end of the fiscal year.

Answer. After receiving comments from the public in response to the Federal Register notice published on February 2, 1990, SSA plans to publish a formal announcement in the Federal Register in early April requesting applications for grants and cooperative agreements. Applications will be due by early June. Following an

independent review, the applications will be scored and ranked. Successful applicants will be notified by September 30 of their selection and the amount of funding committed to each demonstration project.

Question. Has SSA established a cooperative agreement with the Administration on Aging to operate this outreach program?

Answer. SSA signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Administration on Aging and the Health Care Financing Administration to promote the well-being of older persons. The MOU provides that these agencies will collaborate on activities that will:

Increase public awareness of those programs that promote the well-being of older persons;

Increase program participation;

Improve financial security and employment opportunities for the aged; and

Improve health care for older people.

SSA is working closely with the Administration on Aging on SSI outreach. Because of the importance of the aging network to our outreach efforts, we have mailed copies of the February 2

Federal Register notice to each State and local area agency on aging. In addition, the Administration on Aging is supporting SSI outreach through its annual grant announcement published in the Federal Register on February 9, 1990.

SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

Senator HARKIN. Thank you very much. The subcommittee will stand in recess until 10 a.m., Friday, February 9. We will meet again here in SD-192.

[Whereupon, at 3:05 p.m., Wednesday, February 7, the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene at 10 a.m., Friday, February 9.]

26-182 0-90--13

DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1991

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1990

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS,

Washington, DC.

The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Tom Harkin (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Harkin, Bumpers, Reid, Adams, Specter, and Cochran.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH

STATEMENT OF JAMES O. MASON, M.D., ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH

ACCOMPANIED BY:

FREDERICK K. GOODWIN, M.D., ADMINISTRATOR, ALCOHOL, DRUG ABUSE, AND MENTAL HEALTH ADMINISTRATION

ROBERT HARMON, M.D., ADMINISTRATOR, HEALTH RESOURCES AND SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

WALTER DOWDLE, M.D., ACTING DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL

J. JARRETT CLINTON, M.D., ACTING ADMINISTRATOR, AGENCY FOR HEALTH CARE POLICY AND RESEARCH

JAMES R. ALLEN, M.D., M.P.H., DIRECTOR, NATIONAL AIDS PROGRAM OFFICE

WILFORD J. FORBUSH, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH OPERATIONS AND DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT

J. MICHAEL MCGINNIS, M.D., DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH (DISEASE PREVENTION AND HEALTH PROMOTION)

W. HARELL LITTLE, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF PHS BUDGET

DENNIS P. WILLIAMS, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY, BUDGET, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

BUDGET REQUEST

Senator HARKIN. Good morning. The Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, of the Appropriations Committee will come to order.

The hearing this morning will permit us to hear testimony first from Dr. James Mason concerning the fiscal year 1991 budget request for all the agencies included in the Public Health Service.

The fiscal year 1991 request for the several agencies within the jurisdiction of our subcommittee totals $14,991,157,000. Excluded from this total, but within the Public Health Service, are the budgets for the Food and Drug Administration and the Indian Health Service, which are under the jurisdiction of the Agriculture and Interior Subcommittees, respectively.

The committee is particularly pleased with the leadership that Dr. Mason has devoted to both the health objectives for 1990 and the newly released health objectives for the year 2000.

Collectively as a nation, we met only one-half of our health objectives for 1990. We partially met one-fourth and were uncertain with regard to the final fourth due to the lack of adequate data to evaluate our progress. Hopefully, we can do better in helping to meet the goals for the year 2000.

Because of my concern that we're not doing enough in the Nation to meet broad health prevention objectives, I introduced last week, along with a number of my colleagues, legislation to substantially increase the authorization for the principal health prevention vehicle, the prevention block grant within the Centers for Disease Control.

Another issue we would like to discuss with Dr. Mason this morning is the medical effectiveness research program, which is now included in the new Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. This morning the committee will receive a report from Dr. Mason on the progress to establish the new Agency.

Dr. Mason, we are pleased to have you with us this morning, and I leave the record open at this point for any opening statements which Senator Specter or other Senators might have.

I would also like to welcome Dr. Dowdle from the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Goodwin from ADAMHA, Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration, and Dr. Harmon from HRSA.

What I propose that we do is, rather than questioning each individually, I would like to proceed in the following manner: hear testimony from Dr. Mason; then we will go to Dr. Dowdle, CDC, Dr. Goodwin, ADAMHA, and Dr. Harmon from HRSA.

That is not in any order of priority. That is just the way my book is arranged. [Laughter.]

PREPARED STATEMENT

So if we could do that, we will go on. And then after you have all had a chance to testify, then I think we will come back around for questioning. But I would like to get some idea of how these interrelate and everything, rather than just picking each person out specifically.

So again, Dr. Mason, welcome to the subcommittee. Your entire statement will be made a part of the record, and I would like to