[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 92 (Thursday, June 26, 1997)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D686-D687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Securities resumed hearings on proposals to reform the Social Security 
system, focusing on the impact of Social Security privatization, 
receiving testimony from Jose Pinera and Mark M. Klugmann, both of the 
International Center for Pension Reform, Santiago, Chile.
  Subcommittee recessed subject to call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following bills:
  S. 738, to reform the statutes relating to Amtrak, and to authorize 
funds for Amtrak, with amendments. (As approved by the committee, the 
bill authorizes $1,138,000,000 for fiscal year 1998, $1,058,000,000 for 
fiscal year 1999, $1,023,000,000 for fiscal year 2000, $989,000,000 for 
fiscal year 2001, and $955,000,000 for fiscal year 2002.); and
  S. 39, to support the International Dolphin Conservation Program in 
the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, with an amendment in the nature of 
a substitute.
  Also, committee began mark up of 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, but did not 
complete action thereon, and recessed subject to call.
RECREATION AREAS ACCESSIBILITY
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Forests and 
Public Land Management concluded hearings on S. 783, to provide for 
improved access to and use of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness 
in Minnesota, after receiving testimony from Senators Feingold and 
Wellstone; Lyle Laverty, Director, Recreation, Wilderness and Heritage 
Programs, Forest Service, Department of Agriculture; Guy Holmes, 
Wilderness Disability Project, Virginia, Minnesota; David E. Jenkins, 
American Canoe Association, Springfield, Virginia; Greg Lais, 
Wilderness Inquiry, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Robert D. LaTourell, Jr., 
Ely Outfitter's Association, and former Mayor Frank Salerno, both of 
Ely, Minnesota; and Bill Reffalt, Wilderness Society, Washington, D.C.
NATIONAL PARKS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks, Historic Preservation, and Recreation concluded hearings on S. 
308, to require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study 
concerning grazing use of certain land within and adjacent to Grand 
Teton National Park, Wyoming, and to extend temporarily certain grazing 
privileges, and S. 360, to require adoption of a management plan for 
the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area that allows appropriate use 
of motorized and nonmotorized river craft in the recreation area, after 
receiving testimony from Michael Soukup, Associate Director, Natural 
Resource Stewardship and Science, National Park Service, Department of 
the Interior; Lyle Laverty, Director, Recreation, Wilderness and 
Heritage Programs, Forest Service, Department of Agriculture; Carole 
Finley, Hughes River Expeditions, Inc., Cambridge, Idaho; Darrell 
Bentz, Intermountain Excursions and Bentz Boats, Lewiston, Idaho; Peter 
Grubb, River Odysseys West, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; Richard G. Sherwin, 
River Access for Tomorrow, Clarkston, Washington; Jack Sterne, Hells 
Canyon Preservation Council, Sisters, Oregon; and Sandra F. Mitchell, 
Hells Canyon Alliance, Boise, Idaho.
HOWARD M. METZENBAUM COURTHOUSE
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably 
reported S. 833, to designate the Federal building courthouse at Public 
Square and

[[Page D687]]

Superior Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, as the ``Howard M. Metzenbaum 
United States Courthouse''.
WETLANDS PROTECTION
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Subcommittee on Clean Air, 
Wetlands, Private Property, and Nuclear Safety concluded oversight 
hearings on recent administrative changes and judicial decisions 
relating to Section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 
focusing on litigation concerning activities subject to Clean Water Act 
permitting, mitigation banking, and the Environmental Protection 
Agency's Alaska wetlands initiative, after receiving testimony from 
Robert H. Wayland, III, Director, Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and 
Watersheds, Office of Water, Environmental Protection Agency; Michael 
L. Davis, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works; 
Darrel Seibert, Seibert Development Corporation, Hudson, Ohio, on 
behalf of the National Association of Home Builders; James Noyes, Los 
Angeles County Department of Public Works, Los Angeles, California, on 
behalf of the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management 
Agencies; Donald I. Siegel, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York; 
Donald F. McKenzie, Wildlife Management Institute, Washington, D.C.; 
Derb S. Carter, Jr., Southern Environmental Law Center, Chapel Hill, 
North Carolina; and Thomas W. Winter, Winter Brothers Material Company, 
St. Louis, Missouri, on behalf of the National Aggregates Association.
GLOBAL CLIMATE NEGOTIATIONS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on International Economic 
Policy, Export and Trade Promotion resumed hearings to examine current 
international negotiations intended to curb global greenhouse gas 
emissions, focusing on United States economic and science 
considerations, receiving testimony from Jerry J. Jasinowski, National 
Association of Manufacturers, William J. Cunningham, Jr., AFL-CIO, W. 
David Montgomery, Charles River Associates, and Robert Repetto, World 
Resources Institute, all of Washington, D.C.; Patrick J. Michaels, 
University of Virginia, Charlottesville; and Alan Robock, University of 
Maryland, College Park.
  Subcommittee recessed subject to call.
MEDICARE FRAUD
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Permanent Subcommittee on 
Investigations held hearings to examine Federal efforts to expose 
waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare program, receiving testimony 
from Senators Grassley and Harkin; Michael F. Mangano, Principal Deputy 
Inspector General, and Bruce C. Vladeck, Administrator, Health Care 
Financing Administration, Department of Health and Human Services; 
Charles L. Owens, Chief, Financial Crimes Section, Federal Bureau of 
Investigation, Department of Justice; Leslie G. Aronovitz, Associate 
Director, Health Financing and Systems Issues, Health, Education, and 
Human Services Division, General Accounting Office; and Pamela H. Bucy, 
University of Alabama School of Law, Tuscaloosa.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
GLOBAL TOBACCO SETTLEMENT
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee met to receive a briefing on the 
terms and parameters of the proposed Global Tobacco Settlement which 
will mandate a total reformation and restructuring of how tobacco 
products are manufactured, marketed and distributed in America, 
focusing on its long-term impact on children and the public health, and 
its legal and constitutional ramifications from Mississippi Attorney 
General Michael Moore, Jackson; Meyer G. Koplow, Wachtell, Lipton, 
Rosen & Katz, New York, New York; and Matthew L. Myers, National Center 
for Tobacco-Free Kids, Washington, D.C.
  Committee recessed subject to call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Small Business: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following bills:
  S. 208, to provide Federal contracting opportunities for small 
business concerns located in historically underutilized business zones, 
with an amendment in the nature of a substitute; and
  An original bill authorizing funds for fiscal years 1998, 1999, and 
2000 for programs of the Small Business Administration.