110th Congress (2007 - 2008)
January 4 - December 31, 2007
Senate Committee Meetings by Date
Compiled from the Congressional Record's Daily Digests via Thomas at
thomas.loc.gov
You may search all Digest meeting records, from 1985 to the present, using
NCSU's U.S. Congressional Committee Meetings Index.
This database of committee hearings from the "Daily Digest" is not exhaustive, particularly so for field hearings.
2007/01/04
Daily Digest - Thursday, January 4, 2007; pages D1 - D10
Committee Meetings
No committee meetings were held.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/05
Daily Digest - Friday, January 5, 2007; pages D12 - D14
[Committee Meetings
No committee meetings were held.]
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/08
Daily Digest - Monday, January 8, 2007; pages D15 - D16
Committee Meetings
No committee meetings were held.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/09
Daily Digest - Tuesday, January 9, 2007; pages D18 - D24
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
IRAQ
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee met in closed session to receive a
briefing to examine issues relating to Iraq from members of the intelligence
community.
9/11 COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS IMPLEMENTATION
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine ensuring full implementation of the 9/11 Commission's
recommendations, after receiving testimony from former Senator Slade Gorton,
former Representatives Lee H. Hamilton and Timothy J. Roemer, all former
Commissioners, National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United
States; Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, and Carie Lemack, Families of September
11, both of New York, New York; James M. Thomas, Connecticut Department of
Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Hartford; Joseph C. Carter,
International Association of Chiefs of Police, Alexandria, Virginia; and Mary
A. Fetchet, and Carol Ashley, both of the Voices of September 11th, New
Canaan, Connecticut.
[Page: D22]
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/10
Daily Digest - Wednesday, January 10, 2007; pages D25 - D30
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NATIONAL ENERGY SECURITY
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine agriculture and rural America's role in enhancing national
energy security, after receiving testimony from Keith Collins, Chief
Economist, Department of Agriculture; Philip Sharp, Resources for the Future,
Washington, D.C.; J. Read Smith, 25x'25 Renewable Energy Alliance, St. John,
Washington; Michael Pacheco, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden,
Colorado; Ron Miller, Aventine Renewable Energy, LLC, Pekin, Illinois, on
behalf of the Renewable Fuels Association; Roger P. Webb, Georgia Institute of
Technology, Atlanta; Gene Gourley, on behalf of the National Pork Producers
Council and the Iowa Pork Producers Association, Webster City; Loni Kemp,
Minnesota Project, Canton; and John Sellers, Iowa State Soil Conservation
Committee, Corydon.
SOMALIA
Committee on Armed Services: Committee met in closed session to receive a
briefing regarding United States military action in Somalia from Theresa
Whelan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense; Janila Howard, Analyst, East
Africa Counter-Terrorism, Defense Intelligence Agency; and Brigadier General
Otis G. Mannon, USAF, Deputy Director for Special Operations, J-3 Operations
Directorate, Joint Chiefs of Staff.
GEOPOLITICS OF OIL
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee held a hearing to examine
global oil supplies and what it means for United States economic and national
security, focusing on U.S. dependence on imported oil, the rapid growth in oil
consumption in emerging economies such as China and India and the impact on
U.S. energy security, how political stability in the Middle East could affect
future oil supplies, and the implications of recent developments in the
Russian energy sector for U.S. and global energy security, receiving testimony
from General Charles F. Wald, USAF (Ret.), former Deputy Commander, United
States European Command, Member, Energy Security Leadership Council, Linda G.
Stuntz, Stuntz, Davis, and Staffier, on behalf of the Council on Foreign
Relations Independent Task Force, Flynt Leverett, New America Foundation, all
of Washington, D.C.; Robert D. Hormats, Goldman Sachs (International), New
York, New York; and Fatih Birol, International Energy Agency, Paris, France.
Hearing recessed subject to the call.
BUSINESS TAX INCENTIVES
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine tax incentives
for businesses in response to a minimum wage increase, after receiving
testimony from Jared Bernstein, Economic Policy Institute, Washington, D.C.;
Joseph J. Sabia, University of Georgia Department of Housing and Consumer
Economics, Athens; Matthew F. Kadish, Small Business Council of America,
Cleveland, Ohio; Dave Ratner, Dave's Soda and Pet City, Agawam, Massachusetts,
on behalf of the National Retail Federation; and Bruce G. Obenour, Akwen, LTD,
Akron, Ohio.
[Page: D27]
IRAQ
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to examine
securing America's interests and the current situation in Iraq, after
receiving testimony from Michael O'Hanlon, Brookings Institution, Paul R.
Pillar, Georgetown University, and Phebe Marr, all of Washington, D.C.; and
Yahia Khairi Said, London School of Economics, London, United Kingdom.
HEALTH CARE COVERAGE
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine challenges and opportunities relating to health care for
all Americans, after receiving testimony from Peter Meade, Blue Cross Blue
Shield of Massachusetts, and John McDonough, Health Care for All, both of
Boston, Massachusetts; Karen Davis, Commonwealth Fund, New York, New York;
Debra Ness, National Partnership for Women and Families, Andy Stern, Service
Employees International Union, Larry Burton, Business Roundtable, Peter
Harbage, New America Foundation, Joseph R. Antos, American Enterprise
Institute, and John C. Goodman, National Center for Policy Analysis, all of
Washington, D.C.; and Pat Vredevoogd Combs, National Association of Realtors,
Grand Rapids, Michigan.
GOVERNMENT DATA MINING PROGRAMS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine balancing
privacy and security, focusing on the privacy implications of government data
mining programs, including proposed legislation to prevent and mitigate
identity theft, to ensure privacy, to provide notice of security breaches, and
to enhance criminal penalties, law enforcement assistance, and other
protections against security breaches, fraudulent access, and misuse of
personally identifiable information, after receiving testimony from former
Representative Barr; Jim Harper, CATO Institute, Leslie Harris, Center for
Democracy and Technology, and James Jay Carafano, Heritage Foundation, all of
Washington, DC; and Kim A. Taipale, Center for Advanced Studies in Science and
Technology Policy, New York, New York.
BUSINESS MEETING
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to consider
pending intelligence matters.
Committee recessed subject to the call.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/11
Daily Digest - Thursday, January 11, 2007; pages D32 - D36
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
LONG-TERM BUDGET OUTLOOK
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
long-term budget outlook and the challenges it presents, after receiving
testimony from David M. Walker, Comptroller General, Government Accountability
Office.
MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine an overview and
economic perspectives for the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, focusing on
prescription drug pricing and negotiation by governments and other countries,
by U.S. private payers, such as employer-based health plans, and by Federal
programs other than Medicare Part D, after receiving testimony from John E.
Dicken, Director, Health Care, Government Accountability Office; Gerard F.
Anderson, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health,
Baltimore, Maryland; Edmund F. Haislmaier, Heritage Foundation, Washington,
DC; Richard G. Frank, Harvard University Department of Health Care Policy,
Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Fiona M. Scott Morton, Yale University School of
Management, New Haven, Connecticut.
[Page: D34]
IRAQ
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee held hearings to examine the
remaining options relating to securing America's interests in Iraq, focusing
on troop surge, partition, withdrawal, or strengthening the center, receiving
testimony from Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State; and Peter W. Galbraith,
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Frederick W. Kagan, American
Enterprise Institute, and Ted Galen Carpenter, CATO Institute, all of
Washington, DC.
Hearing recessed subject to the call.
ANNUAL THREAT ASSESSMENT
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee concluded a hearing to examine
current and projected national security threats, after receiving testimony
from John D. Negroponte, Director of National Intelligence, General Michael V.
Hayden, Director, Central Intelligence Agency; Lieutenant General Michael D.
Maples, U.S. Army, Director, Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of
Defense; Robert S. Mueller, III, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation,
Department of Justice; and Randall M. Fort, Assistant Secretary of State,
Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/12
Daily Digest - Friday, January 12, 2007; pages D37 - D42
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
IRAQ
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
current situation in Iraq, after receiving testimony from Robert M. Gates,
Secretary of Defense; and General Peter Pace, USMC, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of
Staff.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/16
Daily Digest - Tuesday, January 16, 2007; pages D44 - D50
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
WORKING FAMILIES
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine economic opportunity and security for working families and
America's middle-class, after receiving testimony from Eileen Appelbaum,
Rutgers, State University of New Jersey Center for Women and Work, New
Brunswick; Jacob S. Hacker, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut; James A.
Forbes, Jr., Riverside Church, New York, New York; and Anna R. Cablik, Anatek,
Inc., Marietta, Georgia.
IRAQI REFUGEES
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
plight of Iraqi refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and non-Iraqi
refugees inside Iraq, after receiving testimony from Ellen Sauerbrey,
Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration;
Captain Zachary J. Iscol, USMC, Foreign Military Training Unit, Marine Forces
Special Operations Command; Lisa Ramaci-Vincent, Steven Vincent Foundation,
New York, New York; Kenneth H. Bacon, Refugees International, and Michel
Gabaudan, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, both of
Washington, D.C.; and certain protected witnesses.
[Page: D47]
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/17
Daily Digest - Wednesday, January 17, 2007; pages D52 - D58
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
LAND CONSERVATION
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine Conservation Security Program and Environmental Quality
Incentives Program relating to working land conservation, focusing on the
Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS) process for allocating
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funds to the states to
optimize environmental benefits, NRCS's measures to monitor EQIP's
performance, and the legislative and regulatory measures available to prevent
duplication between CSP and other conservation programs, such as EQIP, after
receiving testimony from Arlen Lancaster, Chief, Natural Resources
Conservation Service, Department of Agriculture; Lisa Shames, Acting Director,
Natural Resources and Environment, Government Accountability Office; Craig
Cox, Soil and Water Conservation Society, Ankeny, Iowa; Kathleen A. Merrigan,
Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Winchester,
Massachusetts; Duane Hovorka, National Wildlife Federation, Elmwood, Nebraska,
on behalf of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and the Izaak Walton League
of America; and James Ham, Monroe County Commission, Smarr, Georgia, on behalf
of the National Association of Conservation Districts and Georgia Association
of Conservation District Supervisors.
DOD CONTRACTING
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support
concluded a hearing to examine practices in Department of Defense contracting
for services and inter-agency contracting, focusing on increasing reliance on
contractors, failure to follow business practices when acquiring services, and
opportunities for DOD to improve its management of services, after receiving
testimony from Thomas F. Gimble, Acting Inspector General, Department of
Defense; and Katherine V. Schinasi, Managing Director, Acquisition and
Sourcing Management, Government Accountability Office.
AVIATION SECURITY
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine the progress of the Department of Homeland Security
regarding the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission related to aviation
security, after receiving testimony from Kip Hawley, Assistant Secretary of
Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee adopted its rules of
procedure for the 110th Congress.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Finance: Committee ordered favorably reported an original bill
entitled "Small Business and Work Opportunity Act".
Also, committee adopted its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress.
Also, Committee appointed the following Members to the Joint Committee on
Taxation, the Congressional Trade Advisors on Trade Policy and Negotiations,
and the Congressional Oversight Group: Senators Baucus, Rockefeller, Conrad,
Grassley, and Hatch.
IRAQ
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
remaining options and regional diplomatic strategy relating to securing
America's interests in Iraq, focusing on sectarian violence, its expansion
within the region, and the challenges facing U.S. policy in the Middle East,
after receiving testimony from Vali R. Nasr, Professor Naval Postgraduate
School, and Richard N. Haass, New York, New York, both of the Council on
Foreign Relations; and Dennis Ross, Washington Institute for Near East Policy,
Washington, DC.
[Page: D55]
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine paying
off generics to prevent competition with brand name drugs, including S. 316,
to prohibit brand name drug companies from compensating generic drug companies
to delay the entry of a generic drug into the market, after receiving
testimony from former Representative Billy Tauzin, on behalf of the
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Merril Hirsh, Ross,
Dixon and Bell, LLP, and Bruce L. Downey, Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc., all of
Washington, DC.; Jon Leibowitz, Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission; and
Michael Wroblewski, Consumers Union, Yonkers, New York.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the intelligence
community.
Committee recessed subject to call.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/18
Daily Digest - Thursday, January 18, 2007; pages D59 - D66
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
IRAQ
Committee on Armed Services: Committee met in closed session to receive a
briefing on intelligence assessments on the situation in Iraq from David F.
Gordon, Vice Chairman, National Intelligence Council; Lieutenant General
Michael D. Maples, USA, Director, Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of
Defense; Randall M. Fort, Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and
Research; and Peter A. Clement, Deputy Director of Intelligence for Strategic
Plans, Central Intelligence Agency.
TRANSIT SECURITY
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine the state of transit security, focusing on safeguarding
America's bus, rail, and ferry systems, after receiving testimony from Mayor
Dannel P. Malloy, Stamford, Connecticut, on behalf of the U.S. Conference of
Mayors; William W. Millar, American Public Transportation Association, and
Warren S. George, Amalgamated Transit Union, both of Washington, D.C.;
Auerilio Rojo Garrido, Metro Madrid and Secretary General, Madrid, Spain, on
behalf of the Association of Latin American Metros and Subways; and Tim
O'Toole, London Underground, London, United Kingdom.
FEDERAL BUDGET CHALLENGES
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine long-term
economic and federal budget challenges, focusing on entitlement spending,
after receiving testimony from Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman, Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System.
[Page: D62]
TRANSPORTATION SECURITY
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded an
oversight hearing to examine Federal efforts for rail and surface
transportation security, focusing on prioritizing and guiding security
measures, after receiving testimony from Edmund Hawley, Assistant Secretary of
Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration; Joseph H. Boardman,
Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration, John H. Hill, Administrator,
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and Vice Admiral Thomas J.
Barrett, USCG (Ret.), Administrator, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration, all of the Department of Transportation; Cathleen A. Berrick,
Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues, Government Accountability
Office; and Richard L. Canas, New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and
Preparedness, Trenton.
OIL AND GAS ROYALTY MANAGEMENT
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee held an oversight hearing
to examine issues relating to oil and gas royalty management at the Department
of the Interior, focusing on the Minerals Management Service (MMS), receiving
testimony from Earl E. Devaney, Inspector General, and C. Stephen Allred,
Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, both of the Department
of the Interior; and Mark E. Gaffigan, Acting Director, Natural Resources and
Environment, Government Accountability Office.
Hearing recessed subject to the call.
IRAQ
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
military and security strategy relating to securing America's interests in
Iraq, after receiving testimony from General Barry R. McCaffrey, USA (Ret.),
United States Military Academy, Arlington, Virginia; General Jack Keane, USA
(Ret.), former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, and Lieutenant
General William E. Odom, USA (Ret.), former Director, National Security
Agency, Hudson Institute, both of Washington, D.C.; and General Joseph P.
Hoar, USMC (Ret.), former Commander-in-Chief, United States Central Command,
Del Mar, California.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee met and elected Senator Dorgan as
Chairman and Senator Thomas as Vice Chairman.
Also, Committee adopted its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress.
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded an oversight hearing to
examine the Department of Justice, focusing on immigration reform, combating
terrorism, violent crime and drugs, Internet crime, and preventing identity
theft, fraud, and intellectual property crimes, after receiving testimony from
Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General, Department of Justice.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Committee ordered favorably
reported an original resolution (S. Res. 32) authorizing expenditures by the
Committee.
Also, committee adopted its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the intelligence
community.
Committee recessed subject to the call.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/19
Daily Digest - Friday, January 19, 2007; pages D67 - D70
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
STEM CELL RESEARCH
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee concluded joint
hearings with the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health
and Human Services, Education, and Related Services to examine stem cell
research, focusing on ongoing Federal support of both embryonic and
non-embryonic stem cell research and scientific progress, including recent
findings on amniotic fluid stem cells, after receiving testimony from Story C.
Landis, Director, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke,
National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services; George
Q. Daley, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; John E. Wagner,
University of Minnesota Stem Cell Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota; and
Lauren Stanford, Plymouth, Massachusetts.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/22
Daily Digest - Monday, January 22, 2007; pages D71 - D74
Committee Meetings
No committee meetings were held.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/23
Daily Digest - Tuesday, January 23, 2007; pages D75 - D80
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NOMINATION
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
nomination of Lieutenant General David H. Petraeus, USA, to be General and
Commander, Multi-National Forces--Iraq, after the nominee testified and
answered questions in his own behalf.
TAX GAP
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the growing
tax gap--the difference between the tax amounts taxpayers pay voluntarily and
on time and what they should pay under the law, and strategies for reducing
it, after receiving testimony from Michael Brostek, Director, Tax Issues,
Strategic Issues Team, Government Accountability Office; and Robert S.
McIntyre, Citizens for Tax Justice; and John S. Satagaj, Small Business
Legislative Council, on behalf of the Coalition for Fairness in Tax Compliance
(CFTC), both of Washington, DC.
IRAQ
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee held a hearing to examine the
remaining options relating to securing America's interests in Iraq, focusing
on Federalism, strategic redeployment or negotiation, receiving testimony from
Leslie H. Gelb, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, New York; and Edward
N. Luttwak, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Lawrence J. Korb,
Center for American Progress; and Robert Malley, International Crisis Group,
all of Washington, DC.
Hearing recessed subject to the call.
IRAQ: ALTERNATIVE PLANS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee held a hearing to examine the
remaining options relating to securing America's interests in Iraq, receiving
testimony from Representative Murtha; and former Representative Newt Gingrich,
American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC.
Hearing recessed subject to the call.
SERVICE MEMBERS
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded an oversight hearing to
examine Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs collaboration and
cooperation to meet the needs of returning military service members, focusing
on the delivery of health care and benefits to veterans, after receiving
testimony from Gordon H. Mansfield, Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs; and
David S.C. Chu, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.
INTELLIGENCE REFORM
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee concluded a hearing to examine
intelligence reform, focusing on the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism
Prevention Act (Public Law 108-458), including structural changes within the
intelligence community, the collection and analysis of intelligence, science
and technology, and information sharing and enterprise architecture in the
intelligence community, after receiving testimony from Mary Margaret Graham,
Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Collection; Thomas Fingar, Deputy
Director of National Intelligence for Analysis; Patrick Kennedy, Deputy
Director of National Intelligence for Management; Dale Meyerrose, Chief
Information Officer; Mark Ewing, Deputy to the Deputy Director of National
Intelligence for Requirements, and Susan Reingold, Deputy Program Manager,
Information Sharing Environment, all of the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence.
[Page: D77]
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/24
Daily Digest - Wednesday, January 24, 2007; pages D81 - D86
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
PANDEMIC FLU
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services,
Education, and Related Agencies concluded a hearing to examine progress made
and challenges ahead relating to pandemic flu, focusing on vaccines, antiviral
therapies, and diagnostics, after receiving testimony from Anthony S. Fauci,
Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National
Institutes of Health, Julie L. Gerberding, Director, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, and Gerald W. Parker, Principal Deputy Assistant
Secretary, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response,
all of the Department of Health and Human Services.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported the
nomination of Lieutenant General David H. Petraeus, USA, to be General and
Commander, Multi-National Forces--Iraq, and 1,125 military nominations in the
Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.
[Page: D83]
AIRLINE INDUSTRY
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine the potential impact of airline mergers and industry
consolidation relating to the state of the airline industry, focusing on the
role of the Federal government in the industry's ongoing restructuring, and
the prospect of consolidation, after receiving testimony from Senator Isakson;
Andrew B. Steinberg, Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Aviation and
International Affairs; Gerald Grinstein, Delta Air Lines, Atlanta, Georgia; W.
Douglas Parker, US Airways Group, Phoenix, Arizona; Robert Roach, Jr.,
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Upper Marlboro,
Maryland; and Mark Cooper, Consumer Federation of America, Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee adopted its
rules of procedure for the 110th Congress.
CAP AND TRADE SYSTEM PROPOSAL
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee held a hearing to examine
an analysis completed by the Energy Information Administration entitled
"Energy Market and Economic Impacts of a Proposal to Reduce Greenhouse Gas
Intensity with a Cap and Trade System", receiving testimony from Howard
Gruenspecht, Deputy Administrator, Energy Information Administration,
Department of Energy; Jason S. Grumet, National Commission on Energy Policy,
Daniel A. Lashof, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Anne E. Smith, CRA
International, all of Washington, D.C.; and Jeffry E. Sterba, PNM Resources,
Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Hearing recessed subject to the call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably
reported an original (S. Res. 38) resolution authorizing expenditures by the
Committee.
Also, committee adopted its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress and
announced the following subcommittee assignments:
Subcommittee on Energy: Senators Dorgan (Chairman), Akaka, Wyden, Johnson,
Landrieu, Cantwell, Menendez, Sanders, Tester, Murkowski, Craig, Burr, DeMint,
Corker, Sessions, Bunning, and Martinez.
Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests: Senators Wyden (Chairman), Akaka,
Johnson, Landrieu, Cantwell, Salazar, Menendez, Lincoln, Sanders, Burr, Craig,
Thomas, Murkowski, DeMint, Sessions, Smith, and Bunning.
Subcommittee on National Parks: Senators Akaka (Chairman), Dorgan, Landrieu,
Salazar, Menendez, Lincoln, Sanders, Tester, Thomas, Murkowski, Burr, Corker,
Sessions, Smith, and Martinez.
Subcommittee on Water and Power: Senators Johnson (Chairman), Dorgan, Wyden,
Cantwell, Salazar, Lincoln, Tester, Corker, Craig, Thomas, DeMint, Smith, and
Bunning.
Senators Bingaman and Domenici are ex officio members of each of the
Subcommittees.
NOMINATION
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the nomination
of Michael J. Astrue, of Massachusetts, to be Commissioner of Social Security,
after the nominee, who was introduced by Senator Kerry, testified and answered
questions in his own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported S. Con.
Res. 2, expressing the bipartisan resolution on Iraq.
Also, Senate committee announced the following subcommittee assignments:
Subcommittee on African Affairs: Senators Feingold (Chair), Nelson (FL),
Obama, Cardin, Webb, Sununu, Coleman, Vitter, and Hagel.
Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs: Senators Boxer (Chair), Kerry,
Feingold, Obama, Webb, Murkowski, Isakson, Vitter, and Hagel.
Subcommittee on European Affairs: Senators Obama (Chair), Dodd, Menendez,
Cardin, Casey, DeMint, Voinovich, Corker, and Murkowski.
Subcommittee on Near East and South and Central Asian Affairs: Senators Kerry
(Chair), Dodd, Feingold, Boxer, Cardin, Coleman, Hagel, Sununu, and Voinovich.
Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Narcotics Affairs:
Senators Dodd (Chair), Kerry, Nelson (FL), Menendez, Webb, Corker, Isakson,
Coleman, and Sununu.
Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic
Affairs and International Environmental Protection: Senators Menendez (Chair),
Kerry, Boxer, Obama, Casey, Hagel, Corker, Murkowski, and DeMint.
Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Democracy and
Human Rights: Senators Nelson (FL) (Chair), Feingold, Menendez, Casey, Webb,
Vitter, Voinovich, DeMint, and Isakson.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee ordered
favorably reported an original resolution authorizing expenditures by the
Committee.
Also, committee adopted its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress.
[Page: D84]
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/25
Daily Digest - Thursday, January 25, 2007; pages D87 - D92
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
IRAQ
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
current situation in Iraq and on the Administration's recently announced
strategy for continued United States assistance to the Iraqi government and
for an increased United States military presence in Iraq, after receiving
testimony from William J. Perry, former Secretary of Defense, Hoover
Institution, Stanford, California; General John M. Keane, former Vice Chief of
Staff, United States Army; and Dennis B. Ross, Washington Institute for Near
East Policy, Washington, D.C.
CREDIT CARD INDUSTRY
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine the billing, marketing, and disclosure practices of the
credit card industry, and the impact of those practices on consumers, after
receiving testimony from Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Law School, Cambridge,
Massachusetts; Robert D. Manning, Rochester Institute of Technology E. Philip
Saunders College of Business, Rochester, New York; Michael D. Donovan, Donovan
Searles, LLC, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on behalf of the National Consumer
Law Center and the National Association of Consumer Advocates; John G.
Finneran, Jr., Capital One Financial Corporation, McLean, Virginia; Richard
Vague, Barclays Bank Delaware, and Carter Franke, Chase Bank U.S.A., N.A.,
both of Wilmington, Delaware; Tamara Draut, Demos, London, United Kingdom; and
Travis B. Plunkett, Consumer Federation of America, Washington, D.C., on
behalf of Consumer Action.
BUDGET AND ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
Congressional Budget Office budget and economic outlook for fiscal years 2008
through 2017, focusing on the projected growth of the economy of the United
States and federal spending for major mandatory programs, after receiving
testimony from Peter R. Orszag, Director, Congressional Budget Office.
[Page: D90]
OIL AND GAS RESOURCES
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded an oversight
hearing to examine oil and gas resources on the Outer Continental Shelf and
areas available for leasing in the Gulf of Mexico, after receiving testimony
from C. Stephen Allred, Assistant Secretary of the Interior; Marjorie A.
McKeithen, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Office of Mineral
Resources, Baton Rouge; Lisa P. Jackson, New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection, Trenton; J. Larry Nichols, Devon Energy Corporation,
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Athan Manuel, Sierra Club, Washington, D.C.; and Paul
K. Siegele, Chevron Corporation, San Ramon, California.
IRAQ: RECONSTRUCTION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee continued hearings to examine the
remaining options relating to securing America's interests in Iraq, focusing
on reconstruction strategy, receiving testimony from David M. Satterfield,
Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State and Coordinator for Iraq, Department
of State; and Brigadier General Michael D. Jones, USA, J-5 Deputy Director for
Political-Military Affairs-Middle East, Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Hearings to continue.
IRAQ: POLITICAL STRATEGY
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee continued hearings to examine the
remaining options relating to securing America's interests in Iraq focusing on
political strategy, receiving testimony from Laith Kubba, National Endowment
for Democracy, Qubad Talabani, Kurdistan Regional Government, and Rend
Al-Rahim, all of Washington, D.C.; and Toby Dodge, International Institute for
Strategic Studies, London, United Kingdom.
Hearings to continue.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE STRATEGY
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee on
Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of
Columbia concluded a hearing to examine the Federal government's efforts to
develop a foreign language strategy, focusing on the government's efforts to
increase foreign language education to meet the Federal workforce, national
security, and economic competitiveness needs, after receiving testimony from
Michael L. Dominguez, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for
Personnel and Readiness; Holly Kuzmich, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and
Programs, Department of Education; Everette E. Jordan, Director, National
Virtual Translation Center, on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
Department of Justice; Rita Oleksak, American Council on the Teaching of
Foreign Languages, Alexandria, Virginia; Michael Petro, Committee for Economic
Development, Washington, D.C.; and Diane W. Birckbichler, The Ohio State
University, Columbus.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported an original
resolution (S. Res. 40) authorizing expenditures by the Committee and adopted
its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the following
business items:
S. Res. 21, recognizing the uncommon valor of Wesley Autrey of New York, New
York;
S. Res. 24, designating January 2007 as "National Stalking Awareness Month";
S. Res. 29, expressing the sense of the Senate regarding Martin Luther King,
Jr. Day and the many lessons still to be learned from Dr. King's example of
nonviolence, courage, compassion, dignity, and public service; and
The nominations of Lisa Godbey Wood, to be United States District Judge for
the Southern District of Georgia, Philip S. Gutierrez, and Valerie L. Baker,
each to be United States District Judge for the Central District of
California, Lawrence Joseph O'Neill, to be United States District Judge for
the Eastern District of California, and Gregory Kent Frizzell, to be United
States District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
Committee ordered favorably reported an original resolution (S. Res. 42)
authorizing expenditures by the Committee.
Also, committee adopted its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress and
announced the following subcommittee assignments:
Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts: Senators Schumer
(Chair), Feinstein, Feingold, Whitehouse, Sessions, Grassley, and Graham.
Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights: Senators
Kohl (Chair), Leahy, Biden, Feingold, Schumer, Cardin, Hatch, Specter,
Grassley, Brownback, and Coburn.
Subcommittee on the Constitution: Senators Feingold (Chair), Kennedy,
Feinstein, Durbin, Cardin, Brownback, Specter, Graham, and Cornyn.
[Page: D91]
Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs: Senators Biden (Chair), Kennedy, Kohl,
Feinstein, Feingold, Schumer, Durbin, Graham, Specter, Hatch, Grassley,
Sessions, and Coburn.
Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law: Senators Durbin (Chair), Kennedy,
Biden, Feingold, Cardin, Whitehouse, Coburn, Kyl, Graham, Cornyn, and
Brownback.
Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees: Senators Kennedy
(Chair), Biden, Feinstein, Schumer, Durbin, Cornyn, Grassley, Kyl, and
Sessions.
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security: Senators
Feinstein (Chair), Kennedy, Biden, Kohl, Schumer, Durbin, Cardin, Kyl, Hatch,
Sessions, Cornyn, Brownback, and Coburn.
INTELLIGENCE REFORM
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee concluded a hearing to examine
intelligence reform, focusing on strengthened intelligence capabilities, the
national intelligence workforce, and budget authority, after receiving
testimony from John S. Pistole, Deputy Director, Federal Bureau of
Investigation, Department of Justice; Charles E. Allen, Assistant Secretary of
Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis, Chief Intelligence Officer;
James W. Spears, West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public
Safety, Charleston; Cathy L. Lanier, Metropolitan Police Department,
Washington, D.C.; and John C. Gannon, former Staff Director, House of
Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, Alexandria, Virginia.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/26
Daily Digest - Friday, January 26, 2007; pages D94 - D100
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
ANTI-SATELLITE TESTING
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Strategic Forces met in closed
session to receive a briefing regarding recent Chinese anti-satellite testing,
from Ronald M. Sega, Under Secretary of the Air Force; Robert G. Joseph, Under
Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security; Mary Margaret
Graham, Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Collection; Brian R.
Green, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategic Capabilities; and
General James E. Cartwright, Commander, United States Strategic Command.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/29
Daily Digest - Monday, January 29, 2007; pages D102 - D106
Committee Meetings
No committee meetings were held.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/30
Daily Digest - Tuesday, January 30, 2007; pages D108 - D116
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NOMINATION
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
nomination of Admiral William J. Fallon, USN, for reappointment to the grade
of admiral and to be Commander, United States Central Command, after the
nominee testified and answered questions in his own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported an original
resolution (S. Res. 48) authorizing expenditures by the Committee.
Also, committee adopted its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress and
announced the following subcommittee assignments:
Subcommittee on Airland: Senators Lieberman, (Chairman), Akaka, Bayh, Clinton,
Pryor, Webb, McCaskill, Cornyn, Warner, Inhofe, Sessions, Ensign, and
Chambliss.
Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities: Reed (Chairman), Kennedy,
Byrd, Nelson (FL), Nelson (NE), Bayh, Clinton, Dole, Warner, Collins, Graham,
Cornyn, and Martinez.
Subcommittee on Personnel: Nelson (NE) (Chairman), Kennedy, Lieberman, Webb,
McCaskill, Graham, Collins, Chambliss, and Dole.
Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support: Akaka (Chairman), Byrd,
Bayh, Clinton, Pryor, McCaskill, Ensign, Inhofe, Sessions, Chambliss, and
Dole.
Subcommittee on Seapower: Kennedy (Chairman), Lieberman, Reed, Akaka, Nelson
(FL), Webb, Thune, Warner, Collins, Ensign, and Martinez.
Subcommittee on Strategic Forces: Nelson (FL) (Chairman), Byrd, Reed, Nelson
(NE), Pryor, Sessions, Inhofe, Graham, and Thune.
Senators Levin and McCain are ex officio members of each of the Subcommittees.
FISCAL CHALLENGES
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine long-term
fiscal challenges, focusing on the current budget situation and outlook, and
long-run imbalance and related solutions, after receiving testimony from
Robert D. Reischauer, and C. Eugene Steuerle, both of the Urban Institute, and
Robert Greenstein, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, all of Washington,
D.C.
WILDLIFE SUPPRESSION ACTIVITIES COSTS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee held a hearing to examine
the status of Federal land management agencies' efforts to contain the costs
of their wildlife suppression activities and to consider recent independent
reviews of and recommendations for those efforts, receiving testimony from
Mark Rey, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment, and
Phyllis K. Fong, Inspector General, both of the Department of Agriculture;
Nina Rose Hatfield, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Business
Management and Wildland Fire; Robin M. Nazzaro, Director, Natural Resources
and Environment, Government Accountability Office; James Caswell, Idaho Office
of Species Conservation, Boise, on behalf of the Strategic Issues Panel on
Fire Suppression Costs of the Wildland Fire Leadership Council; Kirk
Rowdabaugh, Arizona State Forester, Phoenix, on behalf of sundry
organizations; and Bruce D. McDowell, National Academy of Public
Administration, Washington, D.C.
Hearing recessed subject to the call.
FUEL EFFICIENCY
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee held a hearing to examine
transportation sector fuel efficiency, focusing on challenges to and
incentives for increased oil savings through technological innovation
including plug-in hybrid vehicles, receiving testimony from Senator Stabenow;
Elizabeth Lowery, General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Michigan; John German,
American Honda Motor Company, Inc., and Walter S. McManus, University of
Michigan Transportation Research Institute, both of Ann Arbor; Menahem
Anderman, Advanced Automotive Batteries, Oregon House, California; William J.
Logue, FedEx Express, Memphis, Tennessee; and David L. Greene, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, Knoxville, Tennessee.
Hearing recessed subject to the call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably
reported an original resolution (S. Res. 46) authorizing expenditures by the
Committee.
GLOBAL WARMING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded a hearing to
examine Senators' perspectives on global warming, focusing on Senators' views
on global warming and what each Senator believes the Nation's response should
be to the issue, after receiving testimony from Senators Bingaman, Feinstein,
Kerry, McCain, Obama, Levin, Murkowski, Akaka, Lincoln, Durbin, and Nelson
(FL).
[Page: D111]
NOMINATION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
nomination of John D. Negroponte, of New York, to be Deputy Secretary of
State, after the nominee, who was introduced by Senators Lieberman and
Stevens, testified and answered questions in his own behalf.
IRAQ
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee resumed hearings to examine securing
America's interests in Iraq, focusing on the remaining options, alternative
plans and the Iraq Study Group, receiving testimony from James A. Baker, III,
and Lee H. Hamilton, both a Co-Chair, Iraq Study Group.
Hearings to continue on Wednesday, January 31.
CONSTITUTIONAL POWER
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine
exercising Congress' constitutional power to end a war, after receiving
testimony from Louis Fisher, Specialist in Constitutional Law, Library of
Congress Law Library; David J. Barron, Harvard Law School, Cambridge,
Massachusetts; Robert F. Turner, University of Virginia School of Law Center
for National Security Law, Charlottesville; Bradford A. Berenson, Sidley
Austin LLP, Washington, D.C.; and Walter Dellinger, Duke University School of
Law, Durham, North Carolina, former Acting Solicitor General of the United
States.
BUSINESS MEETING
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to consider
pending intelligence matters and ordered favorably reported the following
business items:
S. Res. 50, an original resolution amending Senate Resolution 400 (94th
Congress) to make amendments arising from the enactment of the Intelligence
Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 and to make other amendments; and
S. Res. 51, an original resolution authorizing expenditures by the Committee.
Prior to this action, Committee held closed hearings on intelligence matters,
receiving testimony from officials of the intelligence community.
Committee recessed subject to the call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Special Committee on Aging: On Monday, January 29, 2007, Committee approved
for reporting an original resolution (S. Res. 45) authorizing expenditures by
the Committee and adopted its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/01/31
Daily Digest - Wednesday, January 31, 2007; pages D117 - D126
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
FEDERAL FOOD ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine the roles of Federal food assistance programs in family
economic security and nutrition, focusing on payment errors and trafficking
that have declined despite increased program participation, after receiving
testimony from Sigurd R. Nilsen, Director, Education, Workforce, and Income
Security Issues, Government Accountability Office; Robert Greenstein, Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, D.C.; Robert Dostis, Vermont
Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, Burlington; Bill Bolling, Atlanta Community
Food Bank, Atlanta, Georgia; Luanne Francis, Kingsley House, New Orleans,
Louisiana; Melinda Newport, Chickasaw Nation, Ada, Oklahoma; Frank Kubik,
Focus: Hope, Detroit, Michigan; and Rhonda Stewart, Hamilton, Ohio.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee ordered favorably
reported an original resolution (S. Res. 57) authorizing expenditures by the
Committee and adopted its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress.
[Page: D120]
IRAQ
Committee on Armed Services: Committee met in closed session to receive a
briefing regarding the Iraq "surge" plan from Eric S. Edelman, Under Secretary
of Defense for Policy; Barbara J. Stephenson, Deputy Senior Advisor to the
Secretary and Deputy Coordinator for Iraq, Department of State; and Lieutenant
General Douglas E. Lute, USA, Director for Operations, J-3, and Rear Admiral
David J. Dorsett, USN, Director for Intelligence, J-2, both of The Joint
Staff.
CONTRACTING
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support
concluded hearings to examine abusive practices in Department of Defense
contracting for services and inter-agency contracting, after receiving
testimony from Marcia G. Madsen, Chair, Jonathan L. Etherton, and James A.
(Ty) Hughes, both a Member, all of the Acquisition Advisory Panel; Paul A.
Denett, Administrator, Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Office of
Management and Budget; and Shay Assad, Director, Defense Procurement and
Acquisition Policy, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition,
Technology and Logistics.
U.S.-CHINA
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine the Department of the Treasury's report to Congress on
International Economic and Exchange Rate Policy (IEERP) and the U.S.-China
strategic economic dialogue, after receiving testimony from Henry M. Paulson,
Secretary of the Treasury; and Richard L. Trumka, American Federation of Labor
and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), Michael Campbell, Arch
Chemicals, Inc., National Association of Manufacturers, Albert Keidel,
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and C. Fred Bergsten, Peterson
Institute for International Economics, all of Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered favorably
reported an original resolution (S. Res. 56) authorizing expenditures by the
Committee.
Also, committee adopted its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress and
announced the following subcommittee assignments:
Subcommittee on Financial Institutions: Senators Johnson (Chairman), Tester,
Menendez, Akaka, Reed, Schumer, Bayh, Carper, Hagel, Bennett, Allard, Sununu,
Bunning, Crapo, and Dole.
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development: Senators
Schumer (Chairman), Akaka, Casey, Reed, Carper, Brown, Tester, Menendez,
Crapo, Dole, Martinez, Allard, Enzi, Hagel, and Sununu.
Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment: Senators Reed
(Chairman), Menendez, Johnson, Schumer, Bayh, Casey, Akaka, Tester, Allard,
Enzi, Sununu, Bennett, Hagel, Bunning, and Crapo.
Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance: Senators Bayh
(Chairman), Brown, Johnson, Casey, Dodd, Martinez, Enzi, Dole, and Bennett.
Subcommittee on Economic Policy: Senators Carper (Chairman), Brown, and
Bunning.
FISCAL CHALLENGES
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine solutions to
long-term fiscal challenges, after receiving testimony from Robert L. Bixby,
The Concord Coalition, Arlington, Virginia; and Joseph J. Minarik, The
Committee for Economic Development, Jason Furman, The Brookings Institution,
and Stuart M. Butler, The Heritage Foundation, all of Washington, D.C.
PROMOTING TRAVEL TO THE UNITED STATES
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine economic and security concerns relating to promoting travel
to America, after receiving testimony from Stevan Porter, InterContinental
Hotels Group, Atlanta, Georgia, on behalf of the Discover America Partnership;
Jay Rasulo, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Burbank, California, on behalf of
the Travel Industry Association and the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory
Board; Jonathan M. Tisch, Loews Hotels, New York, New York, on behalf of the
Travel Business Roundtable and the Travel Industry Association; and James C.
May, Air Transport Association, Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably
reported the following bills:
S. 202, to provide for the conveyance of certain Forest Service land to the
city of Coffman Cove, Alaska;
S. 216, to provide for the exchange of certain Federal land in the Santa Fe
National Forest and certain non-Federal land in the Pecos National Historical
Park in the State of New Mexico;
S. 220, to authorize early repayment of obligations to the Bureau of
Reclamation within the A & B Irrigation District in the State of Idaho;
S. 232, to make permanent the authorization for watershed restoration and
enhancement agreements;
S. 235, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain buildings
and lands of the Yakima Project, Washington, to the Yakima-Tieton Irrigation
District;
[Page: D121]
S. 240, to reauthorize and amend the National Geologic Mapping Act of 1992;
S. 241, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to enter into cooperative
agreements to protect natural resources of units of the National Park System
through collaborative efforts on land inside and outside of units of the
National Park System;
S. 245, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to designate the President
William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home in Hope, Arkansas, as a National
Historic Site and unit of the National Park System;
S. 255, to provide assistance to the State of New Mexico for the development
of comprehensive State water plans;
S. 260, to establish the Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave National Conservation
Area, with an amendment;
S. 262, to rename the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in
the State of Idaho as the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National
Conservation Area in honor of the late Morley Nelson, an international
authority on birds of prey, who was instrumental in the establishment of this
National Conservation Area;
S. 263, to amend the Oregon Resource Conservation Act of 1996 to reauthorize
the participation of the Bureau of Reclamation in the Deschutes River
Conservancy;
S. 264, to authorize the Bureau of Reclamation to participate in the
rehabilitation of the Wallowa Lake Dam in Oregon, with an amendment in the
nature of a substitute;
S. 265, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau
of Reclamation, to conduct a water resource feasibility study for the Little
Butte/Bear Creek Subbasins in Oregon;
S. 266, to provide for the modification of an amendatory repayment contract
between the Secretary of the Interior and the North Unit Irrigation District;
S. 268, to designate the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail;
S. 275, to establish the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument in the State
of New Mexico, with amendments;
S. 277, to modify the boundaries of Grand Teton National Park to include
certain land within the GT Park Subdivision;
S. 283, to amend the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2003;
S. 320, to provide for the protection of paleontological resources on Federal
lands;
H.R. 57, to repeal certain sections of the Act of May 26, 1936, pertaining to
the Virgin Islands; and
S. 200, to require the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of
Reclamation and the United States Geological Survey, to conduct a study on
groundwater resources in the State of Alaska.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: On January 17, 2007, Committee
announced the following subcommittee assignments:
Subcommittee on Public Sector Solutions to Global Warming, Oversight, and
Children's Health Protection: Senators Boxer (Chairman), Lieberman, Carper,
Klobuchar, Whitehouse, Alexander, Craig, Bond, and Thomas.
Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure: Senators Baucus (Chairman),
Carper, Clinton, Cardin, Sanders, Isakson, Warner, Voinovich, and Vitter.
Subcommittee on Private Sector and Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and
Wildlife Protection: Senators Lieberman (Chairman), Baucus, Lautenberg,
Sanders, Warner, Thomas, and Isakson.
Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety: Senators Carpers (Chairman),
Lieberman, Clinton, Sanders, Voinovich, Isakson, and Alexander.
Subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health: Senators Clinton
(Chairman), Baucus, Lautenberg, Cardin, Craig, Vitter, and Bond.
Subcommittee on Transportation Safety, Infrastructure Security, and Water
Quality: Senators Lautenberg (Chairman), Cardin, Klobuchar, Whitehouse,
Vitter, Bond, and Voinovich.
Senators Boxer and Inhofe are ex officio members of each of the Subcommittees.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Finance: Committee ordered favorably reported an original
resolution (S. Res. 59) authorizing expenditures by the Committee.
Also, committee ordered favorably reported the nominations of Michael J.
Astrue, of Massachusetts, to be Commissioner of Social Security, and Dean A.
Pinkert, of Virginia, and Irving A. Williamson, of New York, each to be a
Member of the United States International Trade Commission.
IRAQ
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee continued hearings to examine
securing America's interests in Iraq, focusing on the remaining options in
Iraq in the strategic context, receiving testimony from Henry A. Kissinger,
Kissinger McLarty Associates, New York, New York, and Madeleine K. Albright,
The Albright Group LLC, Washington, D.C., both a former Secretary of State.
Hearings to continue on Thursday, February 1.
[Page: D122]
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee ordered
favorably reported the following business items:
S. 358, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of genetic information with
respect to health insurance and employment, with an amendment in the nature of
a substitute; and
An original resolution (S. Res. 54) authorizing expenditures by the Committee.
Also, committee adopted its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress and
announced the following subcommittee assignments:
Subcommittee on Children and Families: Senators Dodd (Chairman), Bingaman,
Murray, Reed, Clinton, Obama, Sanders, Alexander, Gregg, Murkowski, Hatch,
Roberts, and Allard.
Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety: Senators Murray (Chairman),
Dodd, Harkin, Mikulski, Clinton, Obama, Brown, Isakson, Burr, Murkowski,
Roberts, Allard, and Coburn.
Subcommittee on Retirement and Aging: Mikulski (Chairman), Harkin, Bingaman,
Reed, Sanders, Brown, Burr, Gregg, Alexander, Isakson, and Hatch.
Senators Kennedy and Enzi are ex officio members of each of the Subcommittees.
IRAQ STUDY GROUP REPORT
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the Iraq
Study Group report, focusing on recommendations for improvements to Iraq's
police and criminal justice system, including S. 119, to prohibit profiteering
and fraud relating to military action, relief, and reconstruction efforts,
after receiving testimony from former Representative Lee H. Hamilton,
Co-Chair, and Edwin Meese III, Member, both of the Iraq Study Group.
US-VISIT PROGRAM
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland
Security concluded a hearing to examine challenges and strategies for securing
the border of the United States, focusing on the United States Visitor and
Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program, and strategic,
operational, and technological challenges at land ports of entry, after
receiving testimony from Richard C. Barth, Assistant Secretary for Policy
Development, and Robert A. Mocny, Acting Director, US-VISIT, both of the
Department of Homeland Security; Richard M. Stana, Director, Homeland Security
and Justice Issues, Government Accountability Office; Phillip J. Bond,
Information Technology Association of America, Arlington, Virginia; and C.
Stewart Verdery, Jr., Monument Policy Group, LLC, Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Rules and Administration: Committee ordered favorably reported an
original resolution (S. Res. 63) authorizing expenditures by the Committee and
adopted its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress.
SERVICE-DISABLED VETERANS FEDERAL PROCUREMENT AND ASSISTANCE
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Committee concluded an
oversight hearing to examine Federal small business assistance programs for
veterans and reservists, after receiving testimony from Linda Bithell Oliver,
Acting Director, Office of Small Business Programs, Office of the Under
Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics; Scott F.
Denniston, Director, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization
and the Center for Veterans Enterprise, Department of Veterans Affairs;
William D. Elmore, Associate Administrator for Veterans Business Development,
U.S. Small Business Administration; Louis J. Celli, Jr., Northeast Veteran's
Business Resource Center, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts; Captain Ann S. Yahner,
USN (Ret.), Penobscot Bay Media, LLC, Camden, Maine; Bob Hesser, HI Tech
Services, Inc., and Allied Technical Services Group, LLC, Herndon, Virginia;
and Ted Daywalt, VetJobs, Marietta, Georgia.
MEDICARE PART D
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded a hearing to examine if
Medicare Part D is working for Low Income Subsidy (LIS) eligible
beneficiaries, after receiving testimony from S. Lawrence Kocot, Senior
Advisor to the Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,
Department of Health and Human Services; Beatrice Disman, New York Regional
Commissioner of Social Security, Social Security Administration; and Howard
Bedlin, National Council on Aging, and Ellen Leitzer, Health Assistance
Partnership, both of Washington, D.C.
[Page: D123]
Joint Meetings
MIDDLE-CLASS PROSPERITY
Joint Economic Committee: Committee concluded a hearing to examine ensuring
the economic future by promoting middle-class prosperity, after receiving
testimony from Robert E. Rubin, Citigroup, New York, New York, and Lawrence H.
Summers, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, both a former Secretary
of the Treasury; Alan S. Blinder, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey;
and Richard Vedder, Ohio University, Athens, American Enterprise Institute.
2007/02/01
Daily Digest - Thursday, February 1, 2007; pages D127 - D134
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NOMINATION
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
nomination of Gen. George W. Casey Jr., USA, for reappointment to the grade of
general and to be Chief of Staff, United States Army, after the nominee
testified and answered questions in his own behalf.
DEFICIT AND FOREIGN DEBT
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the current
account deficit and the foreign debt of the United States, after receiving
testimony from C. Fred Bergsten, and William R. Cline, both of Peterson
Institute for International Economics, Washington, D.C.; and David R. Malpass,
New York, New York.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Budget: On January 31, 2007, Committee ordered favorably
reported an original resolution (S. Res. 52) authorizing expenditures by the
Committee and adopted its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress.
COMMUNICATIONS MARKETPLACE
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine a view from the Federal Communications Commission relating
to assessing the communications marketplace, focusing on telecommunications,
media, consumer protection, and enhancing public safety, after receiving
testimony from Kevin J. Martin, Chairman, and Michael J. Copps, Jonathan S.
Adelstein, Deborah Taylor Tate, and Robert M. McDowell, each a Commissioner,
all of the Federal Communications Commission.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: On January 31, 2007,
Committee ordered favorably reported an original resolution (S. Res. 58)
authorizing expenditures by the Committee.
TRANSPORTATION BIOFUELS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a hearing to
examine accelerated biofuels diversity, focusing on ways home-grown
biologically derived fuels can blend into the nation's transportation fuel
mix, after receiving testimony from sundry public witnesses.
[Page: D129]
CHIP
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine improving the
health of America's children relating to the future of the Children's Health
Insurance Program (CHIP), focusing on State experiences in implementing CHIP
and issues to consider before its reauthorization, after receiving testimony
from Kathryn G. Allen, Director, Health Care, Government Accountability
Office; Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, Atlanta, on behalf of the Southern
Governors' Association; Anita Smith, Iowa Department of Human Services, Des
Moines; Cindy Mann, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Center for
Children and Families, Washington, D.C.; and Craig Bedford, Kim Lee Bedford,
and Job Timothy Bedford, all of Baltimore, Maryland.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported an
original resolution (S. Res. 64) authorizing expenditures by the Committee
during the 110th Congress.
IRAQ: STRATEGIC CONTEXT
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to examine
securing America's interests in Iraq, focusing on the remaining options in
Iraq in the strategic context, after receiving testimony from Lieutenant
General Brent Scowcroft, USAF (Ret.), Scowcroft Group, and Zbigniew
Brzezinski, Center for Strategic and International Studies, both of
Washington, D.C., both a former National Security Advisor.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: On January 31, 2007,
Committee ordered favorably reported an original resolution (S. Res. 60)
authorizing expenditures by the Committee.
PRIVATE HEALTH RECORDS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee on
Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of
Columbia concluded an oversight hearing to examine privacy implications of the
Federal government's health information technology initiative relating to
private health records, focusing on the efforts of Department of Health and
Human Services to integrate privacy into the Health Information Technology
national infrastructure and Office of Personnel Management's efforts to expand
the use of Health Information Technology through the Federal Employees Health
Benefits Program and the impact such actions have on Federal employees' health
information privacy, after receiving testimony from Robert Kolodner, Interim
National Coordinator, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT,
Department of Health and Human Services; Daniel A. Green, Deputy Associate
Director, Center for Employee and Family Support Policy, Office of Personnel
Management; David A. Powner, Director, Information Technology Management
Issues, Government Accountability Office; Mark A. Rothstein, University of
Louisville School of Medicine Institute for Bioethics, Health Policy and Law,
Louisville, Kentucky; and Carol C. Diamond, Markle Foundation, New York, New
York.
NOMINATION
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported the
nomination of Carl Joseph Artman, of Colorado, to be Assistant Secretary of
the Interior for Indian Affairs.
Prior to this action, committee concluded a hearing to examine the nomination
of Carl Joseph Artman, of Colorado, to be Assistant Secretary of the Interior
for Indian Affairs, after the nominee testified and answered questions in his
own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Veterans Affairs: On January 31, 2007, Committee approved for
reporting an original resolution (S. Res. 55) authorizing expenditures by the
Committee and adopted its rules of procedure for the 110th Congress.
NOMINATION
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
nomination of J. Michael McConnell, of Virginia, to be Director of National
Intelligence, after the nominee, who was introduced by Senator Warner,
testified and answered questions in his own behalf.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/02/05
Daily Digest - Monday, February 5, 2007; pages D136 - D140
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
GENOCIDE
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law concluded
a hearing to examine genocide and the rule of law, focusing on ongoing efforts
against the perpetrators of genocide and other human rights violators, after
receiving testimony from Sigal P. Mandelker, Deputy Assistant Attorney
General, Criminal Division, Department of Justice; Lieutenant General Romeo A.
Dallaire, Parliament of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; Diane F. Orentlicher,
American University Washington College of Law, Washington, D.C.; and Don
Cheadle, Los Angeles, California.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/02/06
Daily Digest - Tuesday, February 6, 2007; pages D141 - D146
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BUDGET
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2008 and the fiscal years
2007 and 2008 war supplemental requests in review of the Defense Authorization
Request for Fiscal Year 2008 and the Future Years Defense Program, after
receiving testimony from Robert M. Gates, Secretary, and Tina W. Jonas, Under
Secretary (Comptroller), both of the Department of Defense; and General Peter
Pace, USMC, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported the
nominations of General George W. Casey Jr., USA, for reappointment to the
grade of general and to be Chief of Staff, United States Army; Admiral William
J. Fallon, USN, for reappointment to the grade of admiral and to be Commander,
United States Central Command; and 37 nominations in the Army and Air Force.
WAR COSTS
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine war costs,
focusing on the costs of operations in the Iraq theater and issues associated
with estimating those costs, while considering the costs of the continuing
global war on terror, after receiving testimony from J. Michael Gilmore,
Assistant Director for National Security, Congressional Budget Office; and
Steven M. Kosiak, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, and Gordon
Adams, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, both of Washington,
D.C.
EPA DECISIONS
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded an oversight
hearing to examine recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decisions,
focusing on EPA actions and documents, including monitoring regulations
related to perchlorate, the process for setting National Ambient Air Quality
Standards (NAAQS), the lead NAAQS process, air toxics control (the "once in,
always in" policy), the Toxic Release Inventory, and EPA library closures,
after receiving testimony from Stephen L. Johnson, Administrator,
Environmental Protection Agency; John B. Stephenson, Director, Natural
Resources and Environment, Government Accountability Office; Thomas M.
Sullivan, Chief Counsel for Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration; John
R. Balmes, University of California, San Francisco at San Francisco General
Hospital, on behalf of the American Lung Association and the American Thoracic
Society, and Gina M. Solomon, Natural Resources Defense Council, both of San
Francisco, California; Leslie Burger, Princeton Public Library, Princeton, New
Jersey, on behalf of the American Library Association; Robert T. Connery,
Holland and Hart, Denver, Colorado; and Nancy Klinefelter, Baltimore Glassware
Decorators, Baltimore, Maryland.
[Page: D142]
BUDGET PROPOSAL
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the President's
Fiscal Year 2008 budget proposal, after receiving testimony from Henry M.
Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury.
SOMALIA
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on African Affairs concluded a
hearing to examine a comprehensive stabilization, reconstruction and
counter-terrorism strategy for Somalia, after receiving testimony from Jendayi
E. Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; Michael E. Hess,
Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian
Assistance, United States Agency for International Development; David H.
Shinn, George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs,
former Ambassador to Ethiopia, and J. Stephen Morrison, Center for Strategic
and International Studies, both of Washington, D.C.; and Ken Menkhaus,
Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina.
U.S. ATTORNEYS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine if the
Department of Justice is politicizing the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys
relating to preserving prosecutorial independence, including S. 214, to amend
chapter 35 of title 28, United States Code, to preserve the independence of
United States attorneys, after receiving testimony from Senator Pryor; Paul J.
McNulty, Deputy Attorney General, Department of Justice; Mary Jo White,
Debevoise and Plimpton, LLP, New York, New York, former United States
Attorney; Laurie L. Levenson, Loyola Law School Center for Ethical Advocacy,
Los Angeles, California; and Stuart M. Gerson, Epstein, Becker and Green,
Washington, D.C.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
nominations of John Preston Bailey, to be United States District Judge for the
Northern District of West Virginia, who was introduced by Senator Byrd and
Representative Capito, and Otis D. Wright II, and George H. Wu, each to be
United States District Judge for the Central District of California, after the
nominees testified and answered questions in their own behalf.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the intelligence
community.
Committee recessed subject to the call.
NOMINATION
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee ordered favorably reported the
nomination of J. Michael McConnell, of Virginia, to be Director of National
Intelligence.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/02/07
Daily Digest - Wednesday, February 7, 2007; pages D148 - D154
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
FARM BILL PROPOSAL
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine the Department of Agriculture farm bill proposal, after
receiving testimony from Michael Johanns, Secretary of Agriculture.
LENDING PRACTICES AND HOME FORECLOSURES
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine predatory lending practices and home foreclosures, after
receiving testimony from Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and
Delores King, both of Chicago, Illinois; Harry Dinham, National Association of
Mortgage Brokers, McLean, Virginia; Jean Constantine-Davis, AARP Foundation,
Hilary Shelton, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP), and Douglas G. Duncan, Mortgage Bankers Association, all of
Washington, D.C.; Martin Eakes, Center for Responsible Lending and Center for
Community Self-Help, Durham, North Carolina; and Amy Womble, Pittsboro, North
Carolina.
[Page: D149]
BUDGET: FISCAL YEAR 2008
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
President's Fiscal Year 2008 budget proposal, after receiving testimony from
Robert J. Portman, Director, Office of Management and Budget.
CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine climate change research and scientific integrity, after
receiving testimony from William Brennan, Acting Director, U.S. Climate Change
Science Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department
of Commerce; Richard A. Anthes, University Corporation for Atmospheric
Research, Boulder, Colorado, on behalf of the National Academies; Rick Piltz,
Government Accountability Project, Washington, D.C.; F. Sherwood Rowland,
University of California, Irvine, Departments of Chemistry and Earth System
Science; Thomas R. Knutson, Princeton, New Jersey; and James R. Mahoney,
Ashburn, Virginia.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a hearing to
examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2008 for the
Department of Energy, after receiving testimony from Samuel W. Bodman,
Secretary of Energy.
GLOBAL WARMING AND WILDLIFE PROTECTION
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Subcommittee on Private Sector and
Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and Wildlife Protection concluded a
hearing to examine global warming and wildlife, focusing on informing the
Committee and the United States Senate on issues related to these issues,
after receiving testimony from Roger Mann, College of William and Mary
Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point; David H. Stalling,
Trout Unlimited, Missoula, Montana; A. Lee Foote, University of Alberta,
Alberta, Canada; Brendan P. Kelly, University of Alaska, Fairbanks; Thomas E.
Lovejoy, H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment,
Washington, D.C.
BUDGET
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the President's
Fiscal Year 2008 budget proposal for the Department of Health and Human
Services, after receiving testimony from Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of
Health and Human Services.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: On January 24, 2007,
Committee announced the following subcommittee assignments for the 110th
Congress:
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations: Senators Levin (Chairman), Carper,
Pryor, Obama, McCaskill, Tester, Coleman, Coburn, Domenici, Warner, and
Sununu.
Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and
the District of Columbia: Senators Akaka (Chairman), Levin, Carper, Pryor,
Landrieu, Voinovich, Stevens, Coburn, and Warner.
Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal
Services, and International Security: Senators Carper (Chairman), Levin,
Akaka, Obama, McCaskill, Tester, Coburn, Stevens, Voinovich, Domenici, and
Sununu.
Ad Hoc Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and
Integration: Senators Pryor (Chairman), Akaka, Landrieu, Obama, McCaskill,
Tester, Sununu, Voinovich, Coleman, Domenici, and Warner.
Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery: Senators Landrieu (Chairman),
Carper, Pryor, Stevens, and Domenici.
Senators Lieberman and Collins are ex officio members of each of the
Subcommittees.
ELECTRONIC VOTING
Committee on Rules and Administration: Committee concluded a hearing to
examine the hazards of electronic voting systems, focusing on the accuracy,
reliability, and security of voting machines and technology, including
proposals for a voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT), after receiving
testimony from Senator Nelson (FL); Representative Holt; Conny B. McCormack,
Los Angeles County, Norwalk, California; David J. Becker, People for the
American Way, and Warren Stewart, VoteTrustUSA, both of Washington, D.C.;
Britain J. Williams, Kennesaw State University, Tucker, Georgia; Dan S.
Wallach, Rice University, Houston, Texas; Connie Schmidt, Election Consulting
Services, Spring Hill, Kansas; and Michael Waldman, New York University School
of Law Brennan Center for Justice, New York, New York.
[Page: D150]
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the intelligence
community.
Committee recessed subject to the call.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/02/08
Daily Digest - Thursday, February 8, 2007; pages D156 - D166
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION BUDGET
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, the
Judiciary, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies concluded a
hearing to examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal year
2008 for the Department of Transportation, after receiving testimony from Mary
E. Peters, Secretary of Transportation.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported S. 372, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2007 for the intelligence and
intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, the
Intelligence Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency
Retirement and Disability System.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered favorably
reported an original bill to provide the resources to protect public
transportation from terrorism.
BUDGET: FISCAL YEAR 2008
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
President's budget and revenue proposals for fiscal year 2008, after receiving
testimony from Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury.
PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine the present and future of public safety communications,
focusing on a need for broadband technology for America's fire and emergency
services, after receiving testimony from Charles L. Werner, Charlottesville
Fire Department, Fairfax, Virginia, on behalf of International Association of
Fire Chiefs; Harlin R. McEwen, International Association of Chiefs of Police,
Alexandria, Virginia, on behalf of Major Cities Chiefs Association, National
Sheriffs' Association, and Major County Sheriffs' Association; Morgan O'Brien,
Cyren Call Communications, McLean, Virginia; Steve Largent, CTIA--The Wireless
Association, Washington, D.C.; David Billstrom, National Interop, Inc.,
Seattle, Washington; and Matthew J. Desch, Iridium Satellite LLC, Bethesda,
Maryland.
OIL AND GAS ROYALTY MANAGEMENT
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a hearing to
examine issues relating to labor, immigration, law enforcement, and economic
conditions in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, after
receiving testimony from David B. Cohen, Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Insular Affairs, and James Benedetto, Labor Ombudsman, both of the Department
of the Interior; Jeanette Franzel, Director, Financial Management and
Assurance, Government Accountability Office; Lieutenant Government Timothy P.
Villagomez, Lauri Bennett Ogumoro, Karidat, and Juan T. Guerrero, Saipan
Chamber of Commerce, Mary Stella Mangona, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, and
Kayleen Entena, all of Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands;
Pedro A. Tenorio, Resident Representative to the United States, Washington,
D.C.; and F. Haydn Williams, San Francisco, California.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS BUDGET
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2008 for foreign affairs,
including the Department of State and the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID), after receiving testimony from Condoleezza
Rice, Secretary of State.
NOMINATION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported the
nomination of John D. Negroponte, of New York, to be Deputy Secretary of
State.
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine the No Child Left Behind Act reauthorization, focusing on
strategies that promote school improvement, after receiving testimony from
Michael P. Flanagan, Michigan Superintendent of Public Instruction, Lansing;
Alana Dale Turner, Easton High School, Easton, Maryland; Richard Coleman, Sr.,
An Achievable Dream Academy, Newport News, Virginia; Kimberly Johnson, Briggs
Chaney Middle School, Silver Spring, Maryland; Yvonne W. Brandon, Richmond
Public Schools, Richmond, Virginia; Martha S. Barber, Alabama Reading
Initiative Regional Principal Coach, Birmingham, Alabama; Hosanna
Mahaley-Johnson, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago, Illinois; and Paul Reville,
Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
[Page: D158]
SPECIAL DIABETES PROGRAM
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded an oversight hearing on
diabetes in Indian Country, focusing on the Special Diabetes Program for
Indians, after receiving testimony from Charles W. Grim, Director, and Kelly
Moore, Clinical Specialty Consultant, Division of Diabetes Treatment and
Prevention, both of the Indian Health Service, William C. Knowler, Chief,
Diabetes Epidemiology and Clinical Research Section, Division of Intramural
Research, and Judith Fradkin, Director, Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology,
and Metabolic Diseases, both of the National Institute of Diabetes and
Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, all of the
Department of Health and Human Services; Buford Rolin, Poarch Band of Creek
Indians, Washington, D.C., on behalf of the Tribal Leaders Diabetes Committee,
and the National Indian Health Board; James D. Brosseau, Altru Health System,
Grand Forks, North Dakota; Biron Baker, Medcenter One, Bismarck, North Dakota;
Sam McCracken, Nike, Beaverton, Oregon; and Donna Vandall, Winnebago Tribal
Whirling Thunder Wellness Programs, Winnebago, Nebraska.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported the
following bills:
S. 322, to establish an Indian youth telemental health demonstration project;
S. 375, to waive application of the Indian Self-Determination and Education
Assistance Act to a specific parcel of real property transferred by the United
States to 2 Indian tribes in the State of Oregon;
S. 398, to amend the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention
Act to identify and remove barriers to reducing child abuse, to provide for
examinations of certain children; and
S. 481, to recruit and retain more qualified individuals to teach in Tribal
Colleges or Universities.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the following
business items:
S. 188, to revise the short title of the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and
Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of
2006, with amendments;
S. 214, to amend chapter 35 of title 28, United States Code, to preserve the
independence of United States attorneys, with an amendment in the nature of a
substitute;
S. Res. 36, honoring women's health advocate Cynthia Boles Dailard;
S. Res. 37, designating March 26, 2007 as "National Support the Troops Day"
and encouraging the people of the United States to participate in a moment of
silence to reflect upon the service and sacrifice of members of the Armed
Forces both at home and abroad; and
The nominations of Marcia Morales Howard, to be United States District Judge
for the Middle District of Florida, Nora Barry Fischer, to be United States
District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Norman Randy Smith,
of Idaho, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit, John Alfred
Jarvey, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Iowa,
and Sara Elizabeth Lioi, to be United States District Judge for the Northern
District of Ohio.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the intelligence
community.
Committee recessed subject to the call.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/02/09
Daily Digest - Friday, February 9, 2007; pages D168 - D170
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
IRAQ
Committee on Armed Services: Committee met in open and closed session to
receive a briefing on the Department of Defense Inspector General's report on
the activities of the Office of Special Plans prior to the war in Iraq from
Thomas F. Gimble, Acting Inspector General, Department of Defense; and
Commander Tamara Herstad, United States Navy.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/02/12
Daily Digest - Monday, February 12, 2007; pages D172 - D178
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee approved for
reporting the following subcommittee assignments for the 110th Congress:
Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security: Senators
Rockefeller (Chair), Kerry, Dorgan, Boxer, Nelson (FL), Cantwell, Lautenberg,
Pryor, Carper, McCaskill, Klobuchar, Lott, McCain, Hutchison, Snowe, Smith,
Ensign, Sununu, DeMint, Vitter, and Thune.
Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Innovation: Senators Kerry (Chair),
Rockefeller, Dorgan, Boxer, Cantwell, Pryor, McCaskill, Klobuchar, Ensign,
McCain, Hutchison, Smith, Sununu, DeMint, and Thune.
Subcommittee on Interstate Commerce, Trade, and Tourism: Senators Dorgan
(Chair), Rockefeller, Kerry, Boxer, Cantwell, Pryor, McCaskill, DeMint,
McCain, Snowe, Smith, Ensign, and Sununu.
Subcommittee on Space, Aeronautics, and Related Science: Senators Nelson (FL)
(Chair), Kerry, Dorgan, Pryor, Hutchison, Lott, and Sununu.
Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard: Senators
Cantwell (Chair), Kerry, Boxer, Nelson (FL), Lautenberg, Carper, Klobuchar,
Snowe, Lott, Smith, Sununu, DeMint, and Vitter.
Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure,
Safety, and Security: Senators Lautenberg (Chair), Rockefeller, Kerry, Dorgan,
Cantwell, Pryor, Carper, McCaskill, Klobuchar, Smith, McCain, Lott, Hutchison,
Snowe, DeMint, Vitter, and Thune.
Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Insurance, and Automotive Safety: Senators
Pryor (Chair), Rockefeller, Nelson (FL), Cantwell, Lautenberg, Carper,
McCaskill, Klobuchar, Sununu, McCain, Lott, Snowe, Smith, Vitter, and Thune.
Senators Inouye and Stevens are ex officio members of each of the
Subcommittees.
[Page: D174]
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Energy concluded a
hearing to examine recommendations on policies and programs to improve the
energy efficiency of buildings and to expand the role of electric and gas
utilities in energy efficiency programs, after receiving testimony from Kim
Christianson, North Dakota Department of Commerce, Bismarck, on behalf of the
National Association of State Energy Officials; R. K. Stewart, American
Institute of Architects, and Kateri Callahan, Alliance to Save Energy, both of
Washington, D.C.; Charles R. Zimmerman, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Bentonville,
Arkansas; Jack Hebert, Cold Climate Housing Research Center, Fairbanks,
Alaska; and James E. Rogers, Duke Energy, Charlotte, North Carolina, on behalf
of the Edison Electric Institute.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/02/13
Daily Digest - Tuesday, February 13, 2007; pages D179 - D186
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine challenges and opportunities relating to rural development,
after receiving testimony from Charles W. Fluharty, University of
Missouri-Columbia Truman School of Public Affairs, and Rural Policy Research
Institute; Chuck Hassebrook, Center for Rural Affairs, Lyons, Nebraska; Vernon
R. Kelley, Three Rivers Planning and Development District, Pontotoc,
Mississippi; Mary Holz-Clause, Iowa State University Agriculture Marketing
Resource Center, Ames; and Joseph M. Sertich, Jr., Northeast Minnesota Higher
Education District, Chisholm, on behalf of the Rural Community College
Alliance.
[Page: D180]
OIL AND NATURAL GAS ROYALTY MANAGEMENT
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies
concluded an oversight hearing to examine Outer Continental Shelf oil and
natural gas royalty management by the Department of the Interior, focusing on
energy production on the Outer Continental Shelf and revenue from Federal and
Indian mineral leases, after receiving testimony from C. Stephen Allred,
Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES BUDGET
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2008 for the Department of
Health and Human Services, after receiving testimony from Michael O. Leavitt,
Secretary of Health and Human Services.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered
favorably reported the following business items:
S. 184, to provide improved rail and surface transportation security, with an
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
S. 509, to provide improved aviation security, with amendments;
S. 385, to improve the interoperability of emergency communications equipment,
with amendments;
S. 93, to authorize NTIA to borrow against anticipated receipts of the Digital
Television and Public Safety Fund to initiate migration to a national
IP-enabled emergency network capable of receiving and responding to all
citizen activated emergency communications;
S. 84, to establish a United States Boxing Commission to administer the Act;
S. 39, to establish a coordinated national ocean exploration program within
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with an amendment in the
nature of a substitute; and
A promotion list in the United States Coast Guard.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee held a hearing to examine
"Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change" which analyzes the economic
impacts of climate change and stabilizing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,
receiving testimony from Nicholas Stern, Adviser to Her Majesty's Government
on the Economics of Climate Change, London, United Kingdom; Henry D. Jacoby,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; and Gary W. Yohe, Wesleyan
University, Middletown, Connecticut.
Hearings recessed subject to the call.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded a hearing to
review and report the recommendations of the United States Climate Action
Partnership Report, after receiving testimony from Chad Holliday, E.I. DuPont
de Nemours and Company, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware; Fred L. Smith, Jr.,
Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Jonathan Lash, World Resources
Institute, both of Washington, DC; Peter A. Darbee, PG&E Corporation, San
Francisco, California, on behalf of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership;
Harold G. Hamm, Continental Resources, Inc., Enid, Oklahoma; Stephen A.
Elbert, BP America Inc., Warrenville, Illinois; and Kevin Book, Arlington,
Virginia.
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND BUDGET
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal year
2008 for the Department of Homeland Security, after receiving testimony from
Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security.
HEALTHY FAMILIES ACT
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine The Healthy Families Act, focusing on safeguarding
Americans' livelihood, families and health with paid sick days, after
receiving testimony from Rajiv Bhatia, University of California at San
Francisco, and San Francisco Department of Public Health; Debra L. Ness,
National Partnership for Women and Families, and Heidi I. Hartmann, George
Washington University Institute for Women's Policy Research, both of
Washington, D.C.; Jody Heymann, McGill University Institute for Health and
Social Policy, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and G. Roger King, Jones Day,
Columbus, Ohio.
SMALL BUSINESS HEALTH CARE
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine alternatives for easing small business health care costs,
after receiving testimony from Jon M. Kingsdale, Commonwealth of
Massachusetts' Health Insurance Connector Authority, Boston; Mary Beth
Senkewicz, MBS Consulting, Ann Sullivan, Women Impacting Public Policy, and
William F. Sweetnam, Jr., Groom Law Group, former Benefits Tax Counsel, Office
of Tax Policy, Department of the Treasury, all of Washington, D.C.; and Tarren
Bragdon, Maine Heritage Policy Center, Portland.
[Page: D181]
VETERANS PROGRAMS BUDGET
Committee on Veterans Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2008 for veterans
programs, after receiving testimony from R. James Nicholson, Secretary of
Veterans Affairs; Carl Blake, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Dennis M.
Cullinan, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, and Steve Robertson,
American Legion, all of Washington, D.C.; Joseph A. Violante, Disabled
American Veterans, Cold Spring, Kentucky; David G. Greineder, AMVETS, Lanham,
Maryland; and John Rowan, Vietnam Veterans of America, Silver Spring,
Maryland.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the intelligence
community.
Committee recessed subject to call.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/02/14
Daily Digest - Wednesday, February 14, 2007; pages D188 - D194
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
IRANIAN ACTIVITIES
Committee on Armed Services: Committee met in closed session to receive a
briefing regarding Iranian activities in Iraq from Eric S. Edelman, Under
Secretary of Defense for Policy; Lieutenant General Douglas E. Lute, USA,
Director for Operations, J-3, The Joint Staff; Lieutenant General Michael D.
Maples, USA, Director, Defense Intelligence Agency; and David Satterfield,
Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State, Coordinator for Iraq, Department of
State.
[Page: D189]
MONETARY POLICY REPORT
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine the semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress,
after receiving testimony from Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman, Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System.
TAX COMPLIANCE
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
President's fiscal year 2008 budget proposals on tax compliance, after
receiving testimony from Mark W. Everson, Commissioner, Internal Revenue
Service, Department of the Treasury.
OVERSEAS SWEATSHOP ABUSES
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on Interstate
Commerce, Trade, and Tourism concluded a hearing to examine overseas sweatshop
abuses, focusing on their impact on U.S. workers and the need for
anti-sweatshop legislation, including S. 367, to amend the Tariff Act of 1930
to prohibit the import, export, and sale of goods made with sweatshop labor,
after receiving testimony from David J. Socolow, New Jersey Department of
Labor and Workforce Development, Trenton; Betty Fuentes, International Labor
Rights Fund, and Daniel T. Griswold, Cato Institute, both of Washington, D.C.;
Sheikh Nazma, and Charles Kernaghan, both of the National Labor Committee, New
York, New York; James D. English, United Steelworkers, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania; and Steven A. Jesseph, Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production,
Arlington, Virginia.
DEEPWATER PROGRAM
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on Oceans,
Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard concluded an oversight hearing to
examine recent setbacks to the Coast Guard Deepwater Program, focusing on
efforts to improve management and address certain operations challenges, after
receiving testimony from Admiral Thad W. Allen, Commandant, and Captain Kevin
P. Jarvis, (Ret.), both of the U.S. Coast Guard, and Richard L. Skinner,
Inspector General, all of the Department of Homeland Security; Stephen L.
Caldwell, Acting Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues, Government
Accountability Office; Leo S. Mackay, Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and
Sensors, Arlington, Virginia; and Philip A. Teel, Northrop Grumman Ship
Systems, Pascagoula, Mississippi.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee ordered
favorably reported the following business items:
S. 558, to provide parity between health insurance coverage of mental health
benefits and benefits for medical and surgical services, with an amendment;
S. 556, to reauthorize the Head Start Act; and
The nomination of Leon R. Sequeira, of Virginia, to be Assistant Secretary of
Labor.
JUDICIAL SECURITY AND INDEPENDENCE
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine judicial
security and independence, including S. 378, to amend title 18, United States
Code, to protect judges, prosecutors, witnesses, victims, and their family
members, S. 197, to authorize salary adjustments for justices and judges of
the United States for fiscal year 2007, S. 344, to permit the televising of
Supreme Court proceedings, and S. 352, to provide for media coverage of
Federal court proceedings, after receiving testimony from Associate Justice
Anthony M. Kennedy, United States Supreme Court.
COMMITTEE FUNDING RESOLUTIONS
Committee on Rules and Administration: Committee concluded a hearing on
proposed legislation authorizing expenditures by the Select Committee on
Intelligence, the Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Committee on
Finance, after receiving testimony from Senators Rockefeller, Bond, Lugar, and
Grassley.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the intelligence
community.
Committee recessed subject to the call.
[Page: D190]
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/02/15
Daily Digest - Thursday, February 15, 2007; pages D195 - D202
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
FUTURE READINESS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded open and closed hearings to
examine the current and future readiness of the Army and Marine Corps, after
receiving testimony from General Peter J. Schoomaker, USA, Chief of Staff, and
Lieutenant General Stephen M. Speakes, USA, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8, both
of the United States Army; and General James T. Conway, USMC, Commandant,
United States Marine Corps.
FAA REAUTHORIZATION
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on Aviation
Operations, Safety, and Security concluded a hearing to examine the
Administration's proposal to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration
(Part 1), after receiving testimony from Marion C. Blakey, Administrator,
Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUDGET
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a hearing to
examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2008 for the
Department of the Interior, after receiving testimony from Dirk Kempthorne,
Secretary of the Interior.
TRADE AGENDA
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
Administration's trade agenda for 2007, after receiving testimony from Susan
C. Schwab, United States Trade Representative.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
nominations of Ryan C. Crocker, of Washington, to be Ambassador to the
Republic of Iraq, and William B. Wood, of New York, to be Ambassador to the
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, after the nominees testified and answered
questions in their own behalf.
[Page: D197]
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee ordered
favorably reported the following bills:
S. 4, to make the United States more secure by implementing unfinished
recommendations of the 9/11 Commission to fight the war on terror more
effectively, to improve homeland security, with an amendment in the nature of
a substitute;
S. 343, to extend the District of Columbia College Access Act of 1999;
S. 457, to extend the date on which the National Security Personnel System
will first apply to certain defense laboratories, a proposed bill to preserve
existing judgeships on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia;
S. 550, to preserve existing judgeships on the Superior Court of the District
of Columbia,
S. 171, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located
at 301 Commerce Street in Commerce, Oklahoma, as the "Mickey Mantle Post
Office Building";
S. 194 and H.R. 49, bills to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 1300 North Frontage Road West in Vail, Colorado, as
the "Gerald R. Ford, Jr. Post Office Building";
S. 219 and H.R. 335, bills to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 152 North 5th Street in Laramie, Wyoming, as the
"Gale W. McGee Post Office";
S. 412 and H.R. 521, bills to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 2633 11th Street in Rock Island, Illinois, as the
"Lane Evans Post Office Building";
H.R. 433, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service
located at 1700 Main Street in Little Rock, Arkansas, as the "Scipio A. Jones
Post Office Building";
H.R. 514, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service
located at 16150 Aviation Loop Drive in Brooksville, Florida, as the "Sergeant
Lea Robert Mills Brooksville Aviation Branch Post Office"; and
H.R. 577, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service
located at 3903 South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, as the "Sergeant Henry
Ybarra III Post Office Building".
TRIBAL PROGRAMS
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded an oversight hearing to
examine the President's budget request for fiscal year 2008 for tribal
programs, after receiving testimony from James Cason, Associate Deputy
Secretary of the Department of the Interior; Charles W. Grim, Assistant
Surgeon General, Director, Indian Health Service, Department of Health and
Human Services; Catherine Freeman, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Elementary
and Secondary Education, and Thomas M. Corwin, Director, Division of
Elementary, Secondary and Vocational Analysis, Budget Service, both of the
Department of Education; Orlando J. Cabrera, Assistant Secretary of Housing
and Urban Development for Public and Indian Housing; Regina B. Schofield,
Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs, Department of Justice;
Ivan D. Posey, Eastern Shoshone Business Council, Fort Washakie, Wyoming;
Jefferson Keel, Chickasaw Nation, Ada, Oklahoma, on behalf of the National
Congress of American Indians; and H. Sally Smith, National Indian Health
Board, Verlie Ann Malina Wright, National Indian Education Association, and
Marty Shuravloff, National American Indian Housing Council, all of Washington,
D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the following
business items:
S. Res. 41, honoring and the life and recognizing the accomplishments of Tom
Mooney, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers;
S. Res. 47, honoring the life and achievements of George C. Springer, Sr., the
Northeast regional director and a former vice president of the American
Federation of Teachers;
S. Res. 49, recognizing and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the entry of
Alaska into the Union as the 49th State;
S. Res. 69, recognizing the African-American spiritual as a national treasure;
and
The nominations of Beryl A. Howell, of the District of Columbia, and Dabney
Langhorne Friedrich, of Virginia, both to be a Member of the United States
Sentencing Commission.
Also, Committee approved for reporting S. 316, to prohibit brand name drug
companies from compensating generic drug companies to delay the entry of a
generic drug into the market.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the intelligence
community.
Committee recessed subject to the call.
BABY BOOMERS
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
retirement of those Americans born between 1946 and 1964 (baby boomers),
focusing on the federal budget and senior citizens, and Social Security
benefits, after receiving testimony from Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner,
Social Security Administration; Leslie V. Norwalk, Acting Administrator,
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Josefina Carbonell, Assistant
Secretary for Aging, both of the Department of Health and Human Services; and
Brian D. Montgomery, Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for
Housing.
[Page: D198]
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/02/16
Daily Digest - Friday, February 16, 2007; pages D204 - D208
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
PAYING FOR COLLEGE
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine college affordability, focusing on higher education, higher
costs and higher student debt, and the Higher Education Act and its
amendments, after receiving testimony from Jon H. Oberg, former researcher,
Department of Education, Rockville, Maryland; Suze Orman, CNBC, and Tamara
Draut, Demos Institute, both of New York, New York; and Sandy Baum, Skidmore
College, Washington, D.C., on behalf of the College Board.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/02/17
Daily Digest - Friday, February 17, 2007; pages D209 - D212
Committee Meetings
No committee meetings were held.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/02/26
Daily Digest - Monday, February 26, 2007; pages D214 - D218
Committee Meetings
No committee meetings were held.
No Joint hearings noted.
2007/02/27
Daily Digest - Tuesday, February 27, 2007; pages D219 - D226
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: On Tuesday, February 13,
2007 committee approved for reporting the following subcommittee assignments
for the 110th Congress:
Subcommittee on Nutrition and Food Assistance, Sustainable and Organic
Agriculture, and General Legislation: Senators Leahy (Chairman), Lincoln,
Stabenow, Brown, Casey, Klobuchar, Coleman, Lugar, Cochran, McConnell, and
Crapo.
Subcommittee on Energy, Science and Technology: Senators Conrad (Chairman),
Nelson (NE), Salazar, Brown, Casey, Klobuchar, Thune, Lugar, Graham, Coleman,
and Grassley.
Subcommittee on Domestic and Foreign Marketing, Inspection, and Plant and
Animal Health: Senators Baucus (Chairman), Conrad, Stabenow, Nelson (NE),
Salazar, Casey, Graham, McConnell, Roberts, Crapo, and Thune.
[Page: D220]
Subcommittee on Production, Income Protection and Price Support: Senators
Lincoln (Chairman), Leahy, Conrad, Baucus, Brown, Klobuchar, Roberts, Cochran,
Coleman, Thune, and Grassley.
Subcommittee on Rural Revitalization, Conservation, Forestry and Credit:
Senators Stabenow (Chairman), Leahy, Baucus, Lincoln, Nelson (NE), Salazar,
Crapo, Lugar, Cochran, McConnell, and Graham.
AGRICULTURE PROGRAMS BUDGET
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development,
and Related Agencies concluded a hearing to examine the President's proposed
budget request for fiscal year 2008 for agriculture programs, after receiving
testimony from Mike Johanns, Secretary of Agriculture; and Andrew von
Eschenbach, Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health
and Human Services.
SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET REQUEST
Committee on Appropriations: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
Supplemental Request for fiscal year 2007, after receiving testimony from
Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State; Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense; and
General Peter Pace, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.
WORLDWIDE THREATS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded open and closed hearings to
examine the current and future worldwide threats to the national security of
the United States, after receiving testimony from General Michael D. Maples,
USA, Director, Defense Intelligence Agency; Thomas Fingar, Deputy Director of
National Intelligence for Analysis, and Chairman, and Joseph DeTrani, North
Korea Mission Manager, both of the National Intelligence Council; and Vice
Admiral John M. McConnell, USN (Ret.), Director, National Intelligence.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported 1,281
military nominations in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.
PASSENGER RAIL INVESTMENT AND IMPROVEMENT ACT
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on Surface
Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security
concluded a hearing to examine S. 294, to reauthorize Amtrak, after receiving
testimony from Senator Casey; Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell,
Harrisburg; Joseph H. Boardman, Administrator, Federal Railroad
Administration, Department of Transportation; Frank J. Busalacchi, Wisconsin
Department of Transportation, Madison, on behalf of the States for Passenger
Rail Coalition; Kelly Taylor, Oregon Department of Transportation Rail
Division, Salem; and Alex Kummant, Amtrak, Washington, D.C.
ENERGY
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine America's
energy future, focusing on bold ideas and practical solutions, including the
Air Force Energy Strategy for the 21st Century, after receiving testimony from
Michael A. Aimone, Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics,
Installations, and Mission Support, United States Air Force; Montana Governor,
Brian Schweitzer, Helena; Dan E. Arvizu, National Renewable Energy Laboratory,
Golden, Colorado; Robert Socolow, Princeton University Carbon Mitigation
Initiative, Princeton, New Jersey; and Dan W. Reicher, Google Corporation
Energy and Climate Initiatives, Mountain View, California.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the
nominations Stanley Davis Phillips, of North Carolina, to be Ambassador to the
Republic of Estonia, who was introduced by Senators Dole, Burr, and Lieberman,
and Sam Fox, of Missouri, to be Ambassador to Belgium, who was introduced by
former Senator Danforth and Senators Bond, McCaskill, and Specter, after the
nominees testified and answered questions in their own behalf.
TOBACCO REGULATION
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine S. 625, to protect the public health by providing the Food
and Drug Administration with certain authority to regulate tobacco products,
after receiving testimony from Lisa Shames, Acting Director, Natural Resources
and Environment, Government Accountability Office; Matthew Myers, Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids, and Elmer Huerta, American Cancer Society, both of
Washington, D.C.; Richard Land, Southern Baptist Convention, Nashville,
Tennessee; Jack E. Henningfield, Pinney and Associates, and Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; Gregory N. Connolly,
Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Alan Blum,
University of Alabama Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society, Tuscaloosa.
PROSECUTORS AND DEFENDERS INCENTIVE ACT
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine S. 442,
to provide for loan repayment for prosecutors and public defenders, after
receiving testimony from Paul A. Logli, Winnebago County State's Attorney,
Rockford, Illinois, on behalf of the National District Attorneys Association;
Jessica A. Bergeman, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney, Chicago,
Illinois; and George B. Shepherd, Emory University School of Law, Atlanta,
Georgia.
[Page: D221]
Joint Meetings
DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded joint hearings with the
House Committee on Veterans' Affairs to examine the legislative presentation
of the Disabled American Veterans, after receiving testimony from Bradley S.
Barton, Disabled American Veterans, Cold Spring, Kentucky.
2007/02/28
Daily Digest - Wednesday, February 28, 2007; pages D228 - D238
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Defense concluded a hearing to
provide an overview of the President's proposed budget for fiscal year 2008
for defense-related matters, after receiving testimony from Gordon England,
Deputy Secretary, and Tina W. Jonas, Under Secretary (Comptroller) and Chief
Financial Officer, both of the Department of Defense; and Admiral Edmund P.
Giambastiani, Jr., Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.
AMTRAK: 2008
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban
Development, and Related Agencies concluded a hearing to examine Amtrak 2008,
after receiving testimony from Joseph H. Boardman, Administrator, Federal
Railroad Administration, and David Tornquist, Assistant Inspector General,
Competition and Economic Analysis, both of the Department of Transportation;
Alex Kummant, National Railroad Passenger Corporation-Amtrak, and Edward
Wytkind, AFL-CIO, both of Washington, D.C.; and Robert Serlin, RIM Services,
LLC, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
MINE SAFETY
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services,
Education and Related Agencies concluded a hearing to examine improving mine
safety, one year after the Sago and Alma coalmining disasters, after receiving
testimony from Richard E. Stickler, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine
Safety and Health; John Howard, Director, and Jeffery L. Kohler, Director,
Office of Mine Safety and Health, both of the National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health, Department of Health and Human Services; J.
Davitt McAteer, Wheeling Jesuit University, Shepherdstown, West Virginia;
Chris R. Hamilton, West Virginia Coal Association, Charleston; Cecil Roberts,
United Mine Workers of America, Fairfax, Virginia; and Bruce Watzman, National
Mining Association, Washington, D.C.
SUBCOMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
Committee on Appropriations: On Monday, February 26, 2007, Committee adopted
it rules of procedure and approved for reporting the following subcommittee
assignments for the 110th Congress:
Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration,
and Related Agencies: Senators Kohl (Chairman), Harkin, Dorgan, Feinstein,
Durbin, Johnson, Nelson (NE), Reed, Bennett, Cochran, Specter, Bond,
McConnell, Craig, and Brownback.
[Page: D230]
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies: Senators
Mikulski (Chairman), Inouye, Leahy, Kohl, Harkin, Dorgan, Feinstein, Reed,
Lautenberg, Shelby, Gregg, Stevens, Domenici, McConnell, Hutchison, Brownback,
and Alexander.
Subcommittee on Defense: Senators Inouye (Chairman), Byrd, Leahy, Harkin,
Dorgan, Durbin, Feinstein, Mikulski, Kohl, Murray, Stevens, Cochran, Specter,
Domenici, Bond, McConnell, Shelby, Gregg, and Hutchison.
Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development: Senators Dorgan (Chairman),
Byrd, Murray, Feinstein, Johnson, Landrieu, Inouye, Reed, Lautenberg,
Domenici, Cochran, McConnell, Bennett, Craig, Bond, Hutchison, and Allard.
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government: Senators Durbin
(Chairman), Murray, Landrieu, Lautenberg, Nelson (NE), Brownback, Bond,
Shelby, and Allard.
Subcommittee on Homeland Security: Senators Byrd (Chairman), Inouye, Leahy,
Mikulski, Kohl, Murray, Landrieu, Lautenberg, Nelson (NE), Cochran, Gregg,
Stevens, Specter, Domenici, Shelby, Craig, and Alexander.
Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies: Senators
Feinstein (Chairman), Byrd, Leahy, Dorgan, Mikulski, Kohl, Johnson, Reed,
Nelson (NE), Craig, Stevens, Cochran, Domenici, Bennett, Gregg, Allard, and
Alexander.
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related
Agencies: Senators Harkin (Chairman), Inouye, Kohl, Murray, Landrieu, Durbin,
Reed, Lautenberg, Specter, Cochran, Gregg, Craig, Hutchison, Stevens, and
Shelby.
Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch: Senators Landrieu (Chairman), Durbin,
Nelson (NE), Allard, and Alexander.
Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans' Affairs, and Related
Agencies: Senators Johnson (Chairman), Inouye, Landrieu, Byrd, Murray, Reed,
Nelson (NE), Hutchison, Craig, Brownback, Allard, McConnell, and Bennett.
Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: Senators
Leahy (Chairman), Inouye, Harkin, Mikulski, Durbin, Johnson, Landrieu, Reed,
Gregg, McConnell, Specter, Bennett, Bond, Brownback, and Alexander.
Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related
Agencies: Senators Murray (Chairman), Byrd, Mikulski, Kohl, Durbin, Dorgan,
Leahy, Harkin, Feinstein, Johnson, Lautenberg, Bond, Shelby, Specter, Bennett,
Hutchison, Brownback, Stevens, Domenici, Alexander, and Allard.
Senators Byrd and Cochran are ex officio members of each of the subcommittees.
TERRORISM RISK INSURANCE PROGRAM
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a
hearing to examine the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program, after receiving
testimony from Michael McRaith, Illinois Department of Financial and
Professional Regulation, Chicago, on behalf of National Association of
Insurance Commissioners; Charles Clarke, The Travelers Companies, Inc.,
Hartford, Connecticut, on behalf of American Insurance Association; Thomas
Minkler, Clark-Mortenson Agency, Keane, New Hampshire, on behalf of
Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America; Michael J. Peninger,
Assurant Employee Benefits, Inc., Kansas City, Missouri, on behalf of American
Council of Life Insurers; James H. Veghte, XL Reinsurance America, Inc.,
Stamford, Connecticut, on behalf of Reinsurance Association of America; Arthur
M. Coppola, Macerich Company, Santa Monica, California, on behalf of Coalition
to Insure Against Terrorism; Janno N. Lieber, World Trade Center Properties,
on behalf of Silverstein Properties, and Don Bailey, Willis North America, on
behalf of Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, both of New York, New York;
and Travis B. Plunkett, Consumer Federation of America, Washington, D.C.
VEHICLE SAFETY
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on Consumer
Affairs, Insurance, and Automotive Safety concluded a hearing to examine
vehicle safety for children, after receiving testimony from Ronald Medford,
Senior Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety, National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration, Department of Transportation; former New Hampshire
State Representative W. Packy Campbell, Farmington; David McCurdy, Alliance of
Automobile Manufacturers, and Joan Claybrook, Public Citizen, both of
Washington, D.C.; and Greg Gulbransen, Syosset, New York.
NASA BUDGET
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on Space,
Aeronautics, and Related Sciences concluded a hearing to examine the
President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2008 for the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), after receiving testimony from
Michael D. Griffin, Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
USDA FOREST SERVICE BUDGET
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a hearing to
examine the President's budg |
