[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 55 (Thursday, May 1, 1997)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D417-D419]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS--CFTC/FDA
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural 
Development, and Related Agencies concluded hearings on proposed budget 
estimates for fiscal year 1998, after receiving testimony in behalf of 
funds for their respective activities from Brooksley Born, Chairperson, 
Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and Michael A. Friedman, Lead 
Deputy Commissioner, Robert J. Byrd, Deputy Commissioner, Management 
and Systems, William B. Schultz, Deputy Commissioner for Policy, and 
Dennis P. Williams, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget, all of the 
Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services.
APPROPRIATIONS--VETERANS AFFAIRS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent 
Agencies held hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 
1998 for the Department of Veterans Affairs, receiving testimony from 
Jesse Brown, Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Tuesday, May 6.
APPROPRIATIONS--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Readiness concluded 
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 depot maintenance privatization initiatives, after receiving 
testimony from John P. White, Deputy Secretary of Defense; and David 
Warren, Director, and Julia Denman, Assistant Director, both of the 
Defense Management Issues, and John Brosnan, Assistant General Counsel, 
all of the General Accounting Office.
COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Financial Institutions and Regulatory Relief concluded oversight 
hearings on the regulatory activities of the Office of the Comptroller 
of the Currency, after receiving testimony from Eugene A. Ludwig, 
Comptroller of the Currency, Department of the Treasury.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following business items:
  The nominations of Triruvarur R. Lakshmanan, of New Hampshire, to be 
Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Kenneth M. Mead, 
of Virginia, to be Inspector General, Vice Adm. Roger T. Rufe, U.S. 
Coast Guard, to be Commander, Atlantic Area, United States Coast Guard, 
with the grade of vice admiral while so serving, and Rear Adm. James C. 
Card, U.S. Coast Guard, to be Commander, Pacific Area, United States 
Coast Guard, all of the Department of Transportation, Jerry M. Melillo, 
of Massachusetts, and Kerri-Ann Jones, of Maryland, each to be an 
Associate Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, with 
the grade of vice admiral while so serving, Andrew J. Pincus, of New 
York, to be General Counsel of the Department of Commerce, and certain 
promotion lists in the United States Coast Guard;

[[Page D418]]


  S. 648, to establish legal standards and procedures for product 
liability litigation;
  S. 363, to require that violent video programming is limited to 
broadcast after the hours when children are reasonably likely to 
comprise a substantial portion of the audience, unless it is 
specifically rated on the basis of its violent content so that it is 
blockable by electronic means specifically on the basis of that 
content, with an amendment;
  S. 414, to encourage competition in international shipping and growth 
of United States imports and exports, with an amendment in the nature 
of a substitute. (As approved by the committee, the bill authorizes $15 
million for the Federal Maritime Commission.); and
  S. 542, to authorize the Secretary of Transportation to issue a 
certificate of documentation with appropriate endorsement for 
employment in the coastwise trade for the vessel Far Horizons.
GRAND STAIRCASE-ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks, Historic Preservation and Recreation concluded hearings on S. 
357, to authorize the Bureau of Land Management to manage the Grand 
Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, after receiving 
testimony from Senators Hatch and Bennett; Representative Hansen; Bruce 
Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior; Ted Stewart, Utah Department of 
Natural Resources, John A. Harja, Utah School and Institutional Trust 
Lands Administration, and Scott Groene, Southern Utah Wilderness 
Alliance, all of Salt Lake City; Louise Liston, Garfield County 
Commission, Panguitch, Utah; Joe C. Judd, Kane County Commission, 
Kanab, Utah; Mark Austin, Boulder Mountain Lodge, Boulder, Utah; Debbie 
Sease, Sierra Club, Washington, D.C.; and Robert E. Irelan, Conoco, 
Inc., Midland, Texas.
NOMINATION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded hearings on the 
nomination of Stuart E. Eizenstat, of Maryland, to be Under Secretary 
of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs, after the 
nominee, who was introduced by Senators D'Amato, Sarbanes, Coverdell, 
and Cleland, testified and answered questions in his own behalf.
RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South 
Asian Affairs concluded hearings to examine the impact of religious 
persecution against Christians and other religious minorities in the 
Middle East, after receiving testimony from Representative Wolf; Steven 
J. Coffey, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, 
Human Rights and Labor; Nina Shea, Freedom House, Washington, D.C.; 
Walid Phares, Florida Atlantic University, Miami; and Bat Ye'or, 
Geneva, Switzerland.
DOD HIGH RISK AREAS
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee held hearings on proposed 
strategies to eliminate Department of Defense programs and operations 
identified as high risk because of waste, fraud, abuse, and 
mismanagement, focusing on financial management, information 
technology, weapon systems acquisition, contract management, 
infrastructure, and inventory management, receiving testimony from 
Henry L. Hinton, Jr., Assistant Comptroller General, National Security 
and International Affairs Division, and Jeffrey C. Steinhoff, Director 
of Planning and Reporting, Accounting and Information Management 
Division, both of the General Accounting Office; and R. Noel 
Longuemare, Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Acquisition and 
Technology, John F. Phillips, Deputy Under Secretary for Logistics, 
Emmett Paige, Jr., Assistant Secretary for Command, Control, 
Communication, and Intelligence, and John J. Hamre, Under Secretary and 
Comptroller, all of the Department of Defense.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee on International 
Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services concluded hearings to 
examine the Administration's plan for national missile defense known as 
the ``3+3'' program and its compliance with the 1972 Anti-Ballistic 
Missile Treaty, after receiving testimony from John D. Holum, Director, 
U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following measures:
  S. 476, to provide for the establishment of not less than 2,500 Boys 
and Girls Clubs of America facilities by the year 2000; and
  S. Res. 79, to commemorate the 1997 National Peace Officers Memorial 
Day.
INS REFORM
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Immigration concluded 
oversight hearings to review certain activities of the Immigration and 
Naturalization Service, focusing on the criminal record verification 
process for citizenship applicants, after receiving testimony from 
Stephen R. Colgate, Assistant Attorney General for Administration, 
Justice Management Division, Michael R. Bromwich, Inspector General, 
Doris Meissner, Commissioner, Immigration and

[[Page D419]]

Naturalization Service, and Charles W. Archer, Assistant Director, 
Criminal Justice Information Services Division, Federal Bureau of 
Investigation, all of the Department of Justice; Richard M. Stana, 
Acting Associate Director, Administration of Justice Issues, General 
Government Division, General Accounting Office; and Gary M. Ahrens, 
KPMG Peat Marwick, Washington, D.C.
AUTHORIZATION--NIH/BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Subcommittee on Public Health 
and Safety held hearings on proposed legislation authorizing funds for 
the National Institutes of Health, focusing on biomedical research 
priorities, receiving testimony from Harold E. Varmus, Director, 
National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services; 
Kenneth I. Shine, President, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of 
Sciences; Michael Rosenblatt, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences 
and Technology, Boston, Massachusetts; John W. Suttie, Federation of 
American Societies for Experimental Biology, Bethesda, Maryland; Leon 
E. Rosenberg, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, New Jersey; Myrl 
Weinberg, National Health Council, Washington, D.C.; and Mary Woolley, 
Research! America, Alexandria, Virginia.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.