[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 69 (Thursday, May 22, 1997)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D529-D532]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS--FOREIGN ASSISTANCE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Foreign Operations 
concluded hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 1998 
for foreign assistance programs, focusing on international affairs, 
after receiving testimony from Madeleine K. Albright, Secretary of 
State.

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NOMINATIONS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded 
hearings on the nominations of James A. Harmon, of New York, to be 
President, and Jackie M. Clegg, of Utah, to be First Vice President, 
both of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, after the nominees 
testified and answered questions in their own behalf. Ms. Clegg was 
introduced by Senators Hatch and Bennett.
ELECTRONIC FUND TRANSFER
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee held 
hearings to examine electronic funds transfer and electronic benefit 
transfer and the effect of these programs on Federal benefit 
recipients, receiving testimony from John D. Hawke, Jr., Under 
Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance; John R. Dyer, Principle 
Deputy Commissioner, Social Security Administration; Stephen L. Lemons, 
Acting Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Benefits; Kathleen 
Myers, Brooklyn-Wide Interagency Council of the Aging, Inc., Brooklyn, 
New York; and Marcelyn Creque, American Association of Retired Persons, 
Richard A. Wannemacher, Jr., Disabled American Veterans, and Margot F. 
Saunders, National Consumer Law Center, all of Washington, D.C.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
PROFESSIONAL BOXING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
oversight hearings on activities of the professional boxing industry, 
focusing on the possible creation of a pension system or assistance 
fund for professional boxers, after receiving testimony from Richard 
DeCuir, California State Athletic Commission, Sacramento; Floyd 
Patterson, New York State Athletic Commission, Poughkeepsie; Brenda 
Reneau, Oklahoma Department of Labor, Oklahoma City; Gregory P. Sirb, 
Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, Harrisburg, on behalf of the 
Association of Boxing Commissioners; Seth G. Abraham, Time Warner 
Sports, Roy Langbord, Showtime Networks, Inc., and Thomas Hoover, 
Veteran Boxers Association of New York, all of New York, New York; Jim 
Brady, Boxing News, Lawrence, Massachusetts; Rich Rose, Ceasars World 
Sports, Las Vegas, Nevada; Alfonso Daniels, Riverdale, Maryland; and 
Joseph M. DeGuardia, Bronx, New York.
INTERNET TAX FREEDOM ACT
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Communications concluded hearings on S. 442, to establish a national 
policy against State and local government interference with interstate 
commerce on the Internet or interactive computer services, and to 
exercise Congressional jurisdiction over interstate commerce by 
establishing a moratorium on the imposition of exactions that would 
interfere with the free flow of commerce via the Internet, after 
receiving testimony from Representatives Cox and White; Lawrence H. 
Summers, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury; Timothy M. Kaine, National 
League of Cities, Richmond, Virginia; Linda Rankin, Bear Creek 
Corporation, Medford, Oregon; Wade Anderson, Texas Office of the State 
Comptroller, Austin; Kendall L. Houghton, Committee on State Taxation, 
Washington, D.C.; and James Walton, Association of Online 
Professionals, Nashville, Tennessee.
ELECTRIC UTILITIES DEREGULATION
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee met to further 
discuss proposals to advance the goals of deregulation and competition 
in the electric power industry, focusing on financial implications of 
utility restructuring, receiving testimony from Ronald L. McMahan, 
Resource Data International, Inc., Boulder, Colorado; Steven M. Fetter, 
Fitch Investors Service, New York, New York; Kit Konolige, Morgan 
Stanley & Co., and Douglas W. Kimmelman, Goldman, Sachs & Co., both of 
New York, New York; Frank Pazlar, Minnesota Utility Investors, St. 
Paul; T. Graham Edwards, South Carolina Public Service Authority 
(Santee Cooper), Columbia, on behalf of the Large Public Power Council; 
and William D. Steinmeier, Jefferson City, Missouri, on behalf of the 
Electric Utility Shareholders Alliance.
  Committee will meet again on Thursday, June 12.
COMMUNITY BASED FORESTRY
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Forests and 
Public Land Management met to discuss the emerging process of 
community-based forestry, or finding community-based solutions to 
conflict resolution in public land management, receiving testimony from 
Lynn Jungwirth, Watershed Research and Training Center, Hayfork, 
California; Carol Daly, Flathead Economic Policy Center, Kalispell, 
Montana; Jonathan Kusel, Forest Community Research, Taylorsville, 
California; Dan'l Markham, Willapa Alliance, South Bend, Washington; 
Wendy Hinrichs Sanders, Lake States Forestry Alliance, Inc., Hayward, 
Wisconsin; Jack Shipley, Applegate Partnership, Grants Pass, Oregon; 
Nadine Bailey, Timber Producers Association of Michigan and Wisconsin, 
Inc., Rhilander, Wisconsin; Louis Blumberg, Wilderness Society, San 
Francisco, California; Neil Dion, Plumas Forest Project, Blairsden, 
California; John Doggett, American Farm Bureau, Washington, D.C.; and 
Bonnie Phillips, Pilchuck Audubon Society, Seattle, Washington.

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CHINA MFN STATUS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific 
Affairs held hearings on East Asian and Pacific Affairs to examine 
whether the renewal of China's most favored nation status is an 
appropriate tool for the United States to use in trying to shape the 
Chinese government's international and domestic policy, receiving 
testimony from Representative Bereuter; Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, American 
Enterprise Institute, Nicholas R. Lardy, Brookings Institution, James 
J. Przystup, Heritage Foundation, and Robert Kagan, American 
University, all of Washington, D.C.; and Kenneth Lieberthal, University 
of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
  Subcommittee recessed subject to call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. 261, to provide for a biennial budget process and a biennial 
appropriations process and to enhance oversight and the performance of 
the Federal Government, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 207, to review, reform, and terminate unnecessary and inequitable 
Federal subsidies, with amendments;
  S. 307, to authorize the transfer to States of surplus personal 
property for donation to nonprofit providers of assistance to 
impoverished families and individuals;
  H.R. 680, to authorize the transfer to States of surplus personal 
property for donation to nonprofit providers of necessaries to 
impoverished families and individuals; and
  The nominations of David J. Barram, of California, to be 
Administrator of General Services, and Mary Ann Gooden Terrell, to be 
an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. 768, for the relief of Michel Christopher Meili, Giuseppina Meili, 
Mirjam Naomi Meili, and Davide Meili;
  S. 507, to establish the United States Patent and Trademark 
Organization as a Government corporation, to amend the provisions of 
title 35, United States Code, relating to procedures for patent 
applications, commercial use of patents, and reexamination reform, with 
amendments;
  S. 610, to implement the obligations of the United States under the 
Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, 
Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, known 
as ``the Chemical Weapons Convention'' and opened for signature and 
signed by the United States on January 13, 1993, with an amendment in 
the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 400, to streamline operations in the Patent and Trademark Office 
of the Department of Commerce and to provide efficient and effective 
protection of patents and trademarks, with an amendment in the nature 
of a substitute; and
  The nominations of Eric L. Clay, of Michigan, to be United States 
Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit, Arthur Gajarsa, of Maryland, to be 
United States Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit, Alan S. Gold, to 
be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, 
and Thomas W. Thrash, Jr., to be United States District Judge for the 
Northern District of Georgia.
COLLEGE BOWL ALLIANCE
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights 
and Competition concluded hearings to examine antitrust and competitive 
issues within the college football Bowl Alliance, which consists of the 
Southeastern Athletic Conference, the Big 12, the Atlantic Coast 
Conference, and the Big East, as well as the University of Notre Dame, 
after receiving testimony from Senators McConnell, Bennett, Thomas, and 
Enzi; Ron Cooper, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky; Wally 
Richardson, Penn State University, State College, Pennsylvania; Richard 
Peace and David Baker, both of the University of Wyoming, Laramie; Roy 
F. Kramer, Southeastern Conference, Birmingham, Alabama; Karl Benson, 
Western Athletic Conference, Englewood, Colorado; Cedric W. Dempsey, 
National Collegiate Athletic Association, Overland Park, Kansas; Gary 
R. Roberts, Tulane University Law School, New Orleans, Louisiana; James 
E. Delany, Big Ten Conference, Park Ridge, Illinois; Chad Lewis, 
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; Tim Layden, Sports Illustrated, 
New York, New York; and Richard Circuit, Plymouth Holiday Bowl, San 
Diego, California.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
AUTHORIZATION--SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Subcommittee on Public Health 
and Safety concluded hearings on proposed legislation authorizing funds 
for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 
after receiving testimony from Nelba Chavez, Administrator, Substance 
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Department of Health 
and Human Services; Marsha Lillie-Blanton, Associate Director, Health 
Services Quality and Public Health Issues, Health, Education, and Human 
Services Division, General Accounting Office;

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Luceille Fleming, Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction 
Services, Columbus, on behalf of the National Association of State 
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors, Inc.; Mary Phillips Hauser, Marathon, 
Inc., Providence, Rhode Island, on behalf of Therapeutic Communities of 
America; J. David Hawkins, University of Washington, Seattle; James 
Langenbucher, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey; A. Kathryn 
Power, Rhode Island Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and 
Hospitals, Cranston, on behalf of the National Association of State 
Mental Health Program Directors; Mary Jane England, Washington Business 
Group on Health, Washington, D.C., on behalf of the American 
Psychiatric Association; Philip J. Leaf, Johns Hopkins University 
School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; and Fred 
Frese, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Akron, Ohio.
GPO REFORM
Committee on Rules and Administration: Committee concluded hearings to 
review legislative recommendations on certain revisions to Title 44 of 
the U.S. Code which authorizes the Government Printing Office to 
provide permanent public access to Federal government information, 
after receiving testimony from Henry J. Gioia, Senior Management 
Analyst, Office of the Director of Administration and Management, 
Office of the Secretary, Department of Defense; Gary R. Bachula, Deputy 
Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology Administration; John W. 
Carlin, Archivist of the United States; and Joan K. Lippincott, 
Coalition for Networked Information, Washington, D.C.
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.