[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 57 (Wednesday, May 11, 1994)] [Daily Digest] [Page D] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov] Committee Meetings (Committees not listed did not meet) CROP INSURANCE REFORM Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee held hearings on S. 2095, to reform the Federal crop insurance program, receiving testimony from Kenneth D. Ackerman, Manager, Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, and Dallas R. Smith, Deputy Under Secretary for International Affairs and Commodity Programs, both of the Department of Agriculture. Hearings were recessed subject to call. APPROPRIATIONS--PARK SERVICE Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Interior held hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 1995 for the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, receiving testimony from George T. Frampton, Jr., Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, and Roger G. Kennedy, Director, National Park Service, both of the Department of the Interior. Subcommittee will meet again on Wednesday, May 25. APPROPRIATIONS--GSA Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, General Government held hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 1995 for the General Services Administration, focusing on the Federal Buildings Program, receiving testimony from Roger W. Johnson, Administrator, General Services Administration. Subcommittee recessed subject to call. AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Defense Technology, Acquisition, and Industrial Base resumed hearings on proposed legislation authorizing funds for fiscal year 1995 for the Department of Defense and the future years defense program, focusing on the Technology Reinvestment Program, receiving testimony from John M. Deutch, Deputy Secretary of Defense. Subcommittee recessed subject to call. AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Nuclear Deterrence, Arms Control and Defense Intelligence resumed hearings on proposed legislation authorizing funds for fiscal year 1995 for the Department of Defense and the future years defense program, focusing on the ballistic missile defense program, receiving testimony from Lt. Gen. Malcolm R. O'Neill, USA, Director, Ballistic Missile Defense Organization; Brooks E. Shelton, Deputy Director, Non-Nuclear Arms Control Policy; and Rear Adm. J. Tim Hood, USN, Program Executive Officer for Theater Air Defense, all of the Department of Defense. Subcommittee recessed subject to call. HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE DISCRIMINATION Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee held hearings to examine the extent of discrimination in the homeowners insurance industry, and Federal efforts to ensure fair housing enforcement, receiving testimony from Representatives Kennedy and Cardiss Collins; Deval L. Patrick, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice; Roberta Achtenberg, Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity; Texas State Insurance Commissioner Robert Hunter, Austin; William Tisdale, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on behalf of the National Fair Housing Alliance; and Lynn M. Schubert, American Insurance Association, and Charles Kamasaki, National Council of La Raza, both of Washington, D.C. Hearings were recessed subject to call. TELECOMMUNICATIONS Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee resumed hearings on S. 1822, to safeguard and protect the public interest while permitting the growth and development of new communications technologies, focusing on provisions that permit the electric, gas, water and steam utilities to provide telecommunications services, receiving testimony from Lawrence M. Gressette, Jr., SCANA Corporation, Columbia, South Carolina; William Ray, Glasgow Electric Plant Board, Glasgow, Kentucky; Paul DeNicola, Southern Company Services, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia; and Martha Hogerty, Missouri Office of Public Counsel, Jefferson City, on behalf of the National Association of State Utilities Consumer Advocates. Hearings continue tomorrow. BUSINESS MEETING Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably reported the following business items: S. 150, to provide technical and financial assistance for the protection, preservation, and interpretation of Taliesin in Wisconsin, the home and workshop of the late architect Frank Lloyd Wright, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute; S. 761, to revise certain provisions of the Federal Payment in Lieu of Taxes Act of 1976 to include unorganized boroughs in Alaska within the definition of ``unit of general local government,''with an amendment; H.R. 1183, to validate conveyance of certain lands in the State of California that form part of the right-of-way granted by the United States to the Central Pacific Railway Company; H.R. 2815, to designate a portion of the Farmington River in Connecticut as a component of the Wild and Scenic Rivers System, with amendments; S. 316, to expand the boundaries of the Saguaro National Monument in Arizona, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute; S. 472, to improve the administration and management of public lands, National Forests, units of the National Park System, and related areas by improving the availability of affordable, quality housing for certain agency employees, with amendments; S. 1703, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire land to expand the boundaries of the Piscataway National Park in Maryland, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute; S. 1170, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to lease Naval oil shale reserve lands in Garfield County, Colorado, for oil and gas exploration, development, and production, with amendments; and H.R. 2921, to authorize funds for the preservation and restoration of historic buildings at historically black colleges and universities, with amendments. EFFECTS OF SECOND-HAND SMOKE Committee on Environment and Public Works: Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Regulation concluded hearings to examine the possible health effects from the exposure to environmental tobacco smoke to non- smokers, and a related measure S. 1680, proposed Smoke Free Environment Act, after receiving testimony from Carl M. Browner, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency; M. Joycelyn Elders, Surgeon General, Public Health Service; and William Blott, Chief, Bio Statistics Branch, Division of Cancer Etiology, National Cancer Institute, both of the Department of Health and Human Services; Jane Gravelle, Senior Specialist in Economic Policy, and Dennis Zimmerman, Specialist in Public Finance, both of the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress; Christopher Coggins, R.J. Reynolds, Winston Salem, North Carolina; and Aubrey Taylor, University of Southern Alabama School of Medicine, Mobile, on behalf of the American Lung Association. INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded hearings on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination signed on behalf of the United States on September 28, 1966 (Ex. C. 95th Congress, 2nd Session), after receiving testimony from John Shattuck, Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and Conrad K. Harper, Legal Adviser, both of the Department of State; Deval L. Patrick, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice; Robert F. Drinan, Georgetown University Law Center, on behalf of the American Bar Association; William T. Lake, Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering, on behalf of the International Human Rights Law Group; and Wade Henderson, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, all of Washington, D.C.; and Robert C. Henderson, Wilmette, Illinois, on behalf of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States. BUSINESS MEETING Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Committee ordered favorably reported the following business items: S. 1981, authorizing funds for fiscal years 1995, 1996, and 1997 for programs of the Orphan Drug Act; S. 784, to strengthen Federal standards with respect to dietary supplements, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute; and The nominations of Marca Bristo, of Illinois, and Kate Pew Wolters, of Michigan, each to be a Member of the National Council on Disability, and Patricia Ann Brown, of New York, Ira Ronald Feldman, of New York, Barbara Wallace Grossman, of Massachusetts, and Leo J. O'Donovan, of the District of Columbia, each to be a Member of the National Council on the Arts, and Fred W. Garcia, of Colorado, to be Deputy Director for Demand Reduction, Office of National Drug Control Policy.