[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 11, 1997)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D598-D599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS--NIH
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human 
Services, and Education held hearings on proposed budget estimates for 
fiscal year 1998 for the National Institutes of Health, receiving 
testimony in behalf of funds for their respective activities from 
Harold Varmus, Director, and Anthony S. Fauci, Director, National 
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, both of the National 
Institutes of Health, and Earl Fox, Acting Administrator, Health 
Resources and Services Administration, all of the Department of Health 
and Human Services; F.E. Thompson, Jr., Mississippi State Department of 
Health, Jackson; Kim Williams, Biloxi, Mississippi; and Danyse Leon, 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  Subcommittee recessed subject to call.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Committee began markup of S. 450, to 
authorize 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, and related proposals, but 
did not complete action thereon, and will meet again tomorrow.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: On Tuesday, June 10, Subcommittee on 
Acquisition and Technology met in closed session and approved for full 
committee consideration those provisions which fall within the 
jurisdiction of the subcommittee of S. 450, proposed National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1998 and 1999.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: On Tuesday, June 10, Subcommittee on 
Seapower met in closed session and approved for full committee 
consideration those provisions which fall within the jurisdiction of 
the subcommittee of S. 450, proposed National Defense Authorization Act 
for Fiscal Years 1998 and 1999.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Strategic Forces met in 
closed session and approved for full committee consideration those 
provisions which fall within the jurisdiction of the subcommittee of S. 
450, proposed National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1998 
and 1999.
ATM SURCHARGES
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee held 
hearings to examine the practice of surcharging by banks and thrifts 
with regard to automated teller machines used by individuals who do not 
hold accounts at the institutions owning the ATMs, and S. 885, to limit 
fees charged by financial institutions for the use of automatic teller 
machines, receiving testimony from Thomas J. McCool, Associate 
Director, Financial Institutions and Markets Issues, General Government 
Division, and Lamont Kincaid, Evaluator-in-Charge, both of the General 
Accounting Office; Edmund Mierzwinski, U.S. Public Interest Research 
Group, Washington, D.C.; and Kurt Helwig and Henry Polmer, both of the 
Electronic Funds Transfer Association, Herndon, Virginia.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
OECD SHIPBUILDING AGREEMENT ACT
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
hearings on S. 629, to declare that the Congress approve the Agreement 
Respecting Normal Competitive Conditions in the Commercial Shipbuilding 
and Repair Industry (Shipbuilding Agreement), a reciprocal trade 
agreement resulting from negotiations under the auspices of the 
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, entered into on 
December 21, 1994, after receiving testimony from Thomas P. Jones, Jr., 
Atlantic Marine Holding Company, Jacksonville, Florida, on behalf of 
the Shipbuilders Council of America; and Cindy Brown, American 
Shipbuilding Association, Arlington, Virginia.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following bills:
  H.R. 363, to extend the Electric and Magnetic Fields Research and 
Public Information Dissemination program through fiscal year 1998;
  S. 231, to establish the National Cave and Karst Research Institute 
in the State of New Mexico;
  S. 423, to extend the legislative authority through August 10, 2000 
for the Board of Regents of Gunston Hall to establish a memorial to 
honor George Mason;
  S. 669, to provide for the acquisition of the Plains Railroad Depot 
at the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site; and
  S. 731, to extend the legislative authority through June 30, 2002 for 
construction of the National Peace Garden memorial.

[[Page D599]]


  Also, committee completed its review of certain spending reductions 
and revenue increases to meet reconciliation expenditures as imposed by 
H. Con. Res. 84, establishing the congressional budget for the United 
States Government for fiscal year 1998 and setting forth appropriate 
budgetary levels for fiscal years 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002, and 
agreed on recommendations which it will make thereon to the Committee 
on the Budget.
LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION FUND
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee held oversight 
hearings to examine the benefits of, and needs for, the State-side Land 
and Water Conservation Fund Grant program, receiving testimony from 
Fran P. Mainella, Florida State Division of Recreation and Parks, 
Tallahassee, on behalf of the National Recreation and Park Association; 
Donald W. Murphy, California State Department of Parks and Recreation, 
Sacramento, on behalf of the National Association of State Outdoor 
Recreation Liaison Officers and the Americans for Our Heritage and 
Recreation; Brigid Sullivan, Louisville and Jefferson County Parks 
Department, Louisville, Kentucky, on behalf of the Urban Park and 
Recreation Alliance; Bernadette Castro, New York State Office of Parks, 
Recreation and Historic Preservation, Albany; and Nancy Hogshead, 
Women's Sport Foundation, New York, New York.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
WEAPONS PROLIFERATION AND U.S. EXPORT CONTROLS
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee on International 
Security, Proliferation and Federal Services concluded hearings to 
examine the role of the United States in assisting other nations 
through the transfer of dual-use technology, focusing on the 
modernization of certain militaries and proliferation of weapons of 
mass destruction technology and delivery systems, and the 
Administration's policy loosening export control restrictions on United 
States supercomputers, after receiving testimony from William A. 
Reinsch, Bureau of Export Administration, Department of Commerce; 
Mitchel B. Wallerstein, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for 
Counterproliferation Policy; Stephen D. Bryen, Delta Tech, Inc., Silver 
Spring, Maryland, former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Trade 
Security Policy; and William Schneider, Jr., Arlington, Virginia, 
former Under Secretary of State.
JUDICIAL ACTIVISM
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on the Constitution, 
Federalism, and Property Rights held hearings to examine issues with 
regard to the constitutional role of federal judges to decide cases and 
controversies, focusing on the problem and impact of judicial activism, 
whereby federal judges decisions are based on policy preferences, 
receiving testimony from C. Boyden Gray, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, 
former White House Counsel to President Bush; Edwin Meese III, Heritage 
Foundation, former Attorney General of the United States, Nebraska 
Attorney General Don Stenberg, Lincoln; and Wade Henderson, Leadership 
Conference on Civil Rights, all of Washington, D.C.; Patrick Boyle, 
Philadelphia Police Department, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Bruce 
Fein, McLean, Virginia.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the nominations of Yerker Andersson, of Maryland, to be a 
Member of the National Council on Disability, Jose-Marie Griffiths, of 
Tennessee, to be a Member of the National Commission on Libraries and 
Information Science, and Kathryn O'Leary Higgins, of South Dakota, to 
be Deputy Secretary of Labor.
  Also, committee completed its review of certain spending reductions 
and revenue increases to meet reconciliation expenditures as imposed by 
H. Con. Res. 84, establishing the congressional budget for the United 
States Government for fiscal year 1998 and setting forth appropriate 
budgetary levels for fiscal years 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002, and 
agreed on recommendations which it will make thereon to the Committee 
on the Budget.
  Also, committee began consideration of S. 830, to amend the Federal 
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Public Health Service Act to 
improve the regulation of food, drugs, devices, and biological 
products, but did not complete action thereon, and will meet again on 
Wednesday, June 18.