[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 46 (Thursday, April 17, 1997)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D353-D355]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
CROP INSURANCE REFORM
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded 
hearings to examine the Federal Crop and Revenue Insurance program of 
the Department of Agriculture, focusing on the adequacy of the 
administrative expense reimbursement paid by the Department of 
Agriculture's Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to participating 
insurance companies for selling and servicing crop insurance and the 
comparative cost to the government of delivering catastrophic crop 
insurance through the Department of Agriculture and the private sector, 
and to discuss alternative means to reimburse companies' administrative 
expenses for delivering crop insurance, after receiving testimony 
Robert A. Robinson, Director, Food and Agriculture Issues, Resources, 
Community, and Economic Development Division, General Accounting 
Office; Kenneth D. Ackerman, Administrator, Risk Management Agency, 
Department of Agriculture; John Joyce, National Crop Insurance 
Services, West Des Moines, Iowa, on behalf of the American Association 
of Crop Insurers; Richard C. Gibson, American Agrisurance, Council 
Bluffs, Iowa; Robert E. Fulwider, West Liberty, Iowa, on behalf of the 
Independent Insurance Agents of America; Alan S. Walter, Agricultural 
Risk Management North America, Inc., Overland Park, Kansas; Frank 
Beurskens, Frank Beurskens Consulting, Inc., Bloomington, Illinois, on 
behalf of the National Grain and Feed Association; and David Lehman, 
Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago, Illinois.
APPROPRIATIONS--SUPREME COURT/JUDICIARY
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, 
and the Judiciary, and Related Agencies held hearings on proposed 
budget estimates for fiscal year 1998 for the Supreme Court of the 
United States and the Judiciary, receiving testimony from Anthony M. 
Kennedy, and David H. Souter, each an Associate Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States; and John G. Heyburn II, United States 
District Judge for the Western District of Kentucky.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Thursday, April 24.
APPROPRIATIONS--FOREIGN ASSISTANCE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Foreign Operations held 
hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 1998 for foreign 
assistance programs, focusing on Korea, Burma, and Hong Kong, receiving 
testimony from Charles Cartman, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for 
East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Tuesday, May 6.
APPROPRIATIONS--FOREST SERVICE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Interior and Related 
Agencies held hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 
1998 for the Forest Service, receiving testimony from James R. Lyons, 
Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, and Michael P. 
Dombeck, Chief, Forest Service, both of the Department of Agriculture.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Thursday, April 24.
APPROPRIATIONS--LAW ENFORCEMENT
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, 
and General Government held hearings on proposed budget estimates for 
fiscal year 1998 for law enforcement programs of the Department of the 
Treasury, receiving testimony from Raymond W. Kelly, Under Secretary 
for Enforcement, George Weise, Commissioner, United States Customs 
Service, John W. Magaw, Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and 
Firearms, Charles F. Rinkevich, Director, Federal Law Enforcement 
Training Center, Stanley E. Morris, Director, Office of Financial 
Crimes Enforcement Network, Eljay B. Bowron, Director, United States 
Secret Service, and Valerie Lau, Inspector General, all of the 
Department of the Treasury.
  Subcommittee recessed subject to call.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Readiness resumed hearings 
on S. 450, authorizing funds for fiscal years 1998 and 1999 for 
military activities of the Department of Defense, and to prescribe 
military personnel strengths for fiscal years 1998 and 1999, focusing 
on the status of operational readiness of United States military 
forces, receiving testimony from Gen. Ronald H. Griffith, USA, Vice 
Chief of the Army; Adm. Harold W. Gehman, Jr., USN, Vice Chief of Naval 
Operations; Gen. Thomas S. Moorman, USAF, Vice Chief of the Air Force; 
Gen. Richard I. Neal, USMC, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps; 
Lt. Gen. Thomas S. Schwartz, USA, Commanding General, III Corps and 
Fort Hood; Vice Adm. Herbert A. Browne, Jr., USN, Commanding Admiral, 
III Fleet; Lt. Gen. Carl E. Franklin, USAF, Commanding General, 9th Air 
Force; and Lt. Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, USMC, Commanding General, II 
Marine Expeditionary Force.
  Subcommittee recessed subject to call.

[[Page D354]]

REVENUE RAISING PROPOSALS
Committee on Finance: Committee held hearings to examine certain 
revenue raising provisions of the Administration's proposed budget 
request for fiscal year 1998, receiving testimony from Donald C. 
Lubick, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy; 
Martin D. Ginsburg, Georgetown University Law Center, Fred T. Goldberg, 
Jr., Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, Gary C. Hufbauer, 
Institute for International Economics, and C. Ellen MacNeil, Arthur 
Andersen, all of Washington, D.C.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded hearings on the 
ratification of the Convention on the Prohibition of Development, 
Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their 
Destruction, opened for signature and signed by the United States at 
Paris on January 13, 1993 (Treaty Doc. 103-21), after receiving 
testimony from Representative Goss; Ronald F. Lehman, former Director, 
United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; Edward J. O'Malley, 
former Assistant Director of Counterintelligence, Federal Bureau of 
Investigation, Department of Justice; and Gen. William Odom, former 
Director, National Security Agency, Department of Defense.
IRAN WEAPONS PROLIFERATION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South 
Asian Affairs held hearings to examine United States policy with regard 
to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and missile 
programs in Iran, receiving testimony from Senator D'Amato; David 
Welch, Acting Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, and Robert 
J. Einhorn, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs, 
both of the Department of State; R. James Woolsey, former Director of 
Central Intelligence; and Leonard S. Spector, Carnegie Endowment for 
International Peace, Washington, D.C.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
CHINESE ARMS PROLIFERATION
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee on International 
Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services concluded hearings in 
closed session to examine China's proliferation of weapons of mass 
destruction and related technologies, missile delivery systems, and 
advanced conventional weapons, after receiving testimony from Gordon 
Oehler, Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence for 
Nonproliferation and Director, DCI's Nonproliferation Center.
D.C. PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee on Oversight of 
Government Management, Restructuring, and the District of Columbia 
concluded hearings to discuss improvement opportunities for public 
education in the District of Columbia, after receiving testimony from 
Julius W. Becton, Jr., Chief Executive Officer/Superintendent, District 
of Columbia Public Schools; Bruce K. MacLaury, Chairman, District of 
Columbia Emergency Transitional Education Board of Trustees; Kevin P. 
Chavous, Chairman/Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation, 
District of Columbia City Council; A. Lamar Alexander, Jr., former 
Secretary of Education; former Mayor Edward I. Koch, New York, New 
York; Jay P. Greene, University of Houston, Houston, Texas; and Jeanne 
Allen, Center for Education Reform, Kathleen Sylvester, Progressive 
Policy Institute, and Mark E.P. Roberts, all of Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. 506, to clarify and make technical corrections to certain 
copyright provisions;
  S. 568, to make a technical correction to title 28, United States 
Code, relating to jurisdiction for lawsuits against terrorist states; 
and
  The nominations of Donald M. Middlebrooks, to be United States 
District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, Jeffrey T. Miller, 
to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of 
California, and Robert W. Pratt, to be United States District Judge for 
the Southern District of Iowa.
JOB TRAINING
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Subcommittee on Employment and 
Training concluded hearings to examine innovations in youth job 
training, focusing on Federal programs to assist at-risk youth improve 
their preparation for a career, after receiving testimony from Mary H. 
Silva, National Director, Office of Job Corps, Department of Labor; 
Allyson Peerman, Advanced Mirco Devices, and Richard Halpin, American 
Institute for Learning, both of Austin, Texas; Ralph DiBattista, 
Vinnell Corporation, St. Paul, Minnesota; Carmen Placido, Center for 
Employment Training, San Jose, California; Lorenzo D. Harrison, East 
Harlem Employment Service/STRIVE, New York, New York; and Jerome Ryan, 
Boston Alternative Education Alliance, Boston, Massachusetts.
SENATE ELECTION INVESTIGATION
Committee on Rules and Administration: Committee ordered favorably 
reported an original resolution authorizing an investigation into 
alleged illegal and

[[Page D355]]

improper activities affecting the outcome of a United States Senate 
election held in the State of Louisiana in November 1996.
GULF WAR ILLNESSES
Committee on Veterans Affairs: Committee concluded hearings to examine 
the United States Government's response with regard to the disclosure 
of information on the possible exposure of United States and allied 
troops to chemical and biological weapons during the Persian Gulf War 
and the handling of health care concerns of U.S. veterans, after 
receiving testimony from Gen. Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.).
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on 
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the 
intelligence community.
  Committee will meet again on Wednesday, April 23.