[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 102 (Thursday, July 17, 1997)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D776-D778]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NORTHERN FOREST STEWARDSHIP ACT
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Subcommittee on 
Forestry, Conservation, and Rural Revitalization concluded hearings on 
S. 546, to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to provide technical 
assistance for sustainable forest management, assist in coordinating 
ecological and economic research and implementation of interstate and 
Northern Forest Lands Council policies, and provide technical and 
financial assistance for State conservation land planning and 
acquisition and rural community assistance, after receiving testimony 
from James R. Lyons, Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural 
Resources and Environment; John P. Cahill, New York State Department of 
Environmental Conservation, Albany; Brendan J. Whittaker, Vermont 
Natural Resources Council, Guildhall; Stephen W. Schley, Pingree 
Associates, Inc., Bangor, Maine, on behalf of the Maine Forest Products 
Council; John E. Sargent, Chichester, New Hampshire; and David W. 
Guernsey, Kingfield, Maine.
APPROPRIATIONS--AGRICULTURE/VA/HUD/MILITARY CONSTRUCTION
Committee on Appropriations: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following bills:
  An original bill (S. 1033) making appropriations for agriculture 
programs, conservation programs, rural economic and community 
development, domestic food programs, foreign assistance and related 
programs, and the Food and Drug Administration for the fiscal year 
ending September 30, 1998;
  An original bill (S. 1034) making appropriations for the Departments 
of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and for sundry 
agencies, commissions, corporations, and offices for the fiscal year 
ending September 30, 1998; and
  H.R. 2016, making appropriations for military construction, family 
housing, and base realignment and closure for the Department of Defense 
for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1998, with amendments.
APPROPRIATIONS--AMTRAK
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Transportation and Related 
Agencies concluded hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal 
year 1998 for the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), 
focusing on the calculation of ``excess'' railroad retirement payments, 
after receiving testimony from Steven A. Bartholow, Deputy General 
Counsel, and Frank Buzzi, Chief Actuary, both of the U.S. Railroad 
Retirement Board; Jacob J. Lew, Deputy Director, Office of Management 
and Budget; Mortimer L. Downey, Deputy Secretary of Transportation; and 
Thomas M. Downs, President and Chairman, and Thomas J. Gillespie, Jr., 
Vice President, Government Affairs, both of the National Railroad 
Passenger Corporation (Amtrak).
NOMINATION
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded hearings on the 
nomination of Rudy deLeon, of California, to be Under Secretary of 
Defense for Personnel and Readiness, after the nominee testified and 
answered questions in his own behalf.
AUTHORIZATION--EXPORT/IMPORT BANK
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
International Finance concluded hearings on S. 1026, authorizing funds 
for the Export-Import Bank of the United States, after receiving 
testimony from James A. Harmon, President and Chairman, Export-Import 
Bank of the United States; Stuart E. Eizenstat, Under Secretary of 
State for Economic and Business Affairs, on behalf of the Trade 
Promotion Coordinating Committee; JayEtta Hecker, Associate Director, 
International Relations and Trade Issues, National Security and 
International Affairs Division, General Accounting Office; Noor Doja, 
Minnesota Export Finance Authority, on behalf of the National 
Association of State Development Agencies and Minnesota Trade Office, 
and Richard P. Ferris, Norwest Bank Minnesota, National Association, 
both of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Gary W. Groom, Raytheon Engineers & 
Constructors International, Lexington, Massachusetts, on behalf of the 
National Association of Manufacturers; William M. Murray, Fuller 
Company, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on behalf of the National Foreign 
Trade Council, Inc.; Ian Vasquez, Cato Institute, Washington, D.C.; and 
Edward F. Carter, Harza Engineering Company, Chicago, Illinois.

[[Page D777]]


HUD REBUILDING AND LOAN GUARANTY PROGRAM
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Financial Institutions and Regulatory Relief concluded hearings to 
examine the status of Federal efforts to investigate and prosecute 
individuals responsible for church arson, focusing on the 
implementation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development 
rebuilding and loan guaranty program which guarantees private sector 
loans to assist nonprofit organizations, including churches, in 
financing the rebuilding of facilities damaged or destroyed by arson or 
terrorism, after receiving testimony from Andrew Cuomo, Secretary of 
Housing and Urban Development; James E. Johnson, Assistant Secretary of 
the Treasury for Enforcement, and Isabelle Katz Pinzler, Acting 
Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Department of 
Justice, both on behalf of the National Church Arson Task Force; Mark 
Logan, Special Agent in Charge (Charlotte Field Division), Bureau of 
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Department of the Treasury; Albert M. 
Pennybacker, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., 
and Sullivan Robinson, Congress of National Black Churches, Inc., both 
of Washington, D.C.; Larry Hill, Matthews Murkland Presbyterian Church, 
Charlotte, North Carolina; and Shirley F. Hines, Greater Mount Zion 
Tabernacle Church Rebuilding Project, Portsmouth, Virginia.
AUTO CHOICE REFORM ACT
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee held 
hearings on S. 625, to provide for competition between forms of motor 
vehicle insurance, to permit an owner of a motor vehicle to choose the 
most appropriate form of insurance, to guarantee affordable premiums, 
and to provide for more adequate and timely compensation for accident 
victims, receiving testimony from Senators Lieberman, McConnell, and 
Moynihan; Representatives Armey and Saxton; Jeffrey O'Connell, 
University of Virginia Law School, Charlottesville; Harvey Rosenfield, 
Proposition 103 Enforcement Project, and Stephen Carroll, Rand, both of 
Santa Monica, California; Peter Kinzler, Coalition for Auto-Insurance 
Reform, Alexandria, Virginia; Tim Ryles, Ryles Resource Group, Newborn, 
Georgia; and Andrew Tobias, New York, New York.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded hearings 
on the nominations of Patrick A. Shea, of Utah, to be Director of the 
Bureau of Land Management, Robert G. Stanton, of Virginia, to be 
Director of the National Park Service, and Kathleen M. Karpan, of 
Wyoming, to be Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and 
Enforcement, all of the Department of the Interior, and Kneeland C. 
Youngblood, of Texas, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the 
United States Enrichment Corporation, after the nominees testified and 
answered questions in their own behalf. Mr. Shea was introduced by 
Senators Hatch and Bennett, Mr. Stanton was introduced by Senators 
Sarbanes and Warner, and Ms. Karpan was introduced by Senator Thomas.
OKLAHOMA CITY MEMORIAL/TRINITY LAKE DESIGNATION/EVERGLADES WILDERNESS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks, Historic Preservation, and Recreation concluded hearings on S. 
871, to establish the Oklahoma City National Memorial at the site of 
the bombing incident at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, to 
designate the memorial a unit of the National Park Service, and 
establish the Oklahoma City Memorial Trust to oversee the development 
and operation of the memorial, S. 895, to designate the reservoir 
created by Trinity Dam in the Central Valley project, California, and 
designated as ``Clair Engle Lake'' is redesignated as ``Trinity Lake'', 
and S. 931, to designate the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness and 
the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center in Everglades National Park, after 
receiving testimony from Katherine H. Stevenson, Associate Director of 
Cultural Resource Stewardship and Partnerships, National Park Service, 
Department of the Interior; and Joseph B. Browder, Friends of the 
Everglades, Washington, D.C.
GLOBAL WARMING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded hearings 
to examine the causes, impacts, and uncertainties of global climate 
change, after receiving testimony from Timothy E. Wirth, Under 
Secretary of State for Global Affairs; Janet Yellen, Chair, Council of 
Economic Advisers; Kevin J. Fay, International Climate Change 
Partnership, Arlington, Virginia; and William O'Keefe, Global Climate 
Coalition, Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  An original bill (S. 1032) to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 
1961 with respect to the authority of the Overseas Private Investment 
Corporation to issue insurance and extend financing;

[[Page D778]]


  S. Res. 98, expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the 
conditions for the United States becoming a signatory to any 
international agreement on greenhouse gas emissions under the United 
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;
  An original concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 40) expressing the 
sense of the Congress that the OAS-CIAV Mission in Nicaragua is to be 
congratulated for its defense of human rights, promotion of peaceful 
conflict resolution, and contribution to the development of freedom and 
democracy in Nicaragua;
  An original concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 41) calling for a 
United States initiative seeking a just and peaceful resolution of the 
situation in Cyprus; and
  The nominations of A. Peter Burleigh, of California, to be the Deputy 
Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, 
with the rank and status of Ambassador, Ralph Frank, of Washington, to 
be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Nepal, Gordon D. Giffin, of Georgia, to 
be Ambassador to Canada, John C. Holzman, of Hawaii, to be Ambassador 
to the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Karl Frederick Inderfurth, of 
North Carolina, to be Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian 
Affairs, David J. Scheffer, of Virginia, to be Ambassador at Large for 
War Crime Issues, Richard Sklar, of California, to be Representative of 
the United States to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform, 
with the rank of Ambassador, Linda Jane Zack Tarr-Whelan, of Virginia, 
for the rank of Ambassador during her tenure of service as United 
States Representative to the Commission on the Status of Women of the 
Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, and two Foreign 
Service Officer promotion lists.
BOSNIA PEACE AGREEMENT
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on European Affairs 
concluded hearings to examine the current situation in Bosnia-
Herzegovina and United States and international efforts to implement 
the 1995 Dayton peace accords, after receiving testimony from Robert S. 
Gelbard, Special Representative of the President and the Secretary of 
State for Implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords; Harold J. 
Johnson, Associate Director, International Relations and Trade Issues, 
National Security and International Affairs Division, General 
Accounting Office; and Morton I. Abramowitz, International Crisis 
Group, and John W. Heffernan, Coalition for International Justice, both 
of Washington, D.C.
CAMPAIGN FINANCING INVESTIGATION
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee continued hearings, in 
open and closed sessions, to examine certain matters with regard to the 
committee's special investigation on campaign financing, receiving 
testimony from John H. Cobb, Counsel to Special Investigation, 
Committee on Governmental Affairs; and Paula V. Greene, Stephens Inc., 
Washington, D.C.
  Hearings will continue on Wednesday, July 23.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee resumed mark up of S. 10, to 
reduce violent juvenile crime, promote accountability by juvenile 
criminals, and punish and deter violent gang crime, but did not 
complete action thereon, and will meet again on Wednesday, July 23.
VISA WAIVER PILOT PROGRAM
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Immigration concluded 
hearings on proposals to extend the Visa Waiver Pilot Program 
established by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, 
including S. 290, to establish a visa waiver pilot program for 
nationals of Korea who are traveling in tour groups to the United 
States, after receiving testimony from Senators Murkowski and Inouye; 
Representative Kim; Mary A. Ryan, Assistant Secretary of State for 
Consular Affairs; Michael D. Cronin, Assistant Commissioner for 
Inspections, Inspections Division, Immigration and Naturalization 
Service, Department of Justice; Virginia Governor George Allen, 
Richmond; Hawaii Lieutenant Governor Mazie K. Hirono, Honolulu; and 
Janet Thomas, Air Transport Association of America, Washington, D.C.
CHILD CARE QUALITY
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Committee held hearings on 
proposals to improve the quality of child care in the United States, 
including the proposed Creating Improved Delivery of Child Care: 
Affordable, Reliable, and Educational Act of 1997, receiving testimony 
from Senators Mack and Graham; Representatives Gilman and Deutsch; Ted 
Childs, Jr., IBM Corporation, North Tarrytown, New York; William 
Waldman, New Jersey Department of Human Services, Trenton; Deborah Lowe 
Vandell, University of Wisconsin, Madison, on behalf of the NICHD Early 
Child Care Research Network; James M. Poole, Raleigh, North Carolina, 
on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Lynn Behrmann, 
Manchester, Connecticut; and Mark and Julie Fiedelholtz, Plantation, 
Florida.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.