[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 106 (Thursday, July 24, 1997)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D821-D823]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA APPROPRIATIONS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on the District of Columbia 
held a hearing on D.C. Public Safety. Testimony was heard from the 
following officials of the District of Columbia: Jack Evans, Chairman, 
Committee on the Judiciary, City Council; Larry D. Soulsby, Chief of 
Police, Metropolitan Police Department; Michael C. Rogers, City 
Administrator; Margaret Moore, Director, Department of Corrections; and 
Otis J. Latin, Chief, Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department; 
Robert E. Langston, Chief, National Park Service Police, Department of 
the Interior; and Stephan D. Harlan, Vice-Chairman, Financial 
Responsibility Authority.
GAO REPORT
Committee on Banking and Financial Services: Subcommittee on Capital 
Markets, hearing on the GAO Report on the Merger of Office of Federal 
Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) and the Federal Housing Finance 
Board. Testimony was heard from Jean Gleason Stromberg, Director, 
Financial Institutions and Market Issues, GAO; and the following 
officials of the Department of Housing and Urban Development: Nicholas 
P. Retsinas, Assistant Secretary, Housing and Federal Housing 
Commission; Bruce A. Morrison, Chairman, Federal Housing Finance Board; 
and Mark A. Kinsey, Acting Director, OFHEO.
FATHERHOOD
Committee on Education and the Workforce: Subcommittee on Early 
Childhood, Youth and Families held a hearing on Focus on Fatherhood. 
Testimony was heard from Representative Pitts and Turner; and public 
witnesses.
CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL SERVICE--ACCOUNTING AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
Committee on Education and the Workforce: Subcommittee on Oversight and 
Investigations held a hearing on the Accounting and Management 
Practices of the Corporation for National Service. Testimony was heard 
from the following officials of the Corporation for National Service: 
Harris Wofford, CEO; and Luise Jordan, Inspector General; and public 
witnesses.
OVERSIGHT--NLRB
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight: Subcommittee on Human 
Resources held an oversight hearing on the National Labor Relations 
Board (NLRB). Testimony was heard from the following officials of the 
NLRB: William B. Gould IV, Chairman; Fred L. Feinstein, General 
Counsel; and Robert E. Allen, Inspector General; Carlotta Joyner, 
Director, Education and Employment Issues, GAO; and public witnesses.
REFORMING INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight: Subcommittee on National 
Security, International Affairs, and Criminal Justice held a hearing on 
Reforming Inventory Management Through Innovative Business Practices. 
Testimony was heard from the following officials of the GAO: David 
Warren, Director, Defense Management Issues; Kenneth R. Knouse, Jr., 
Assistant Director; Robert L. Repasky and Matthew B. Lea, both Senior 
Evaluators; and the following officials of the Department of Defense: 
Edward Martin, Acting Assistant Secretary, Health Affairs; James B. 
Emahiser, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary, Materiel and Distribution; 
and Jeffrey A. Jones, Executive Director, Logistics Management, Defense 
Logistics Agency.
GLOBAL CLIMATE NEGOTIATIONS
Committee on International Relations: Held a hearing on Global Climate 
Negotiations: Obligations of Developed and Developing Countries. 
Testimony was heard from Tim Wirth, Under Secretary, Global Affairs, 
Department of State; David Hales, Deputy Assistant Administrator, 
Global Center for Environment, AID, U.S. International Development 
Cooperation Agency; and public witnesses.

[[Page D822]]


MISCELLANEOUS MEASURES
Committee on International Relations: Subcommittee on Asia and the 
Pacific approved for full Committee action the following resolutions: 
H. Res. 195, amended, concerning the crisis in Cambodia; H. Con. Res. 
74, amended, concerning the situation between the Democratic People's 
Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea; and H. Res. 157, 
congratulating the people of India and Pakistan on the occasion of the 
50th anniversary of their nations' independence.
FEDERAL AGENCY COMPLIANCE ACT
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Commercial and 
Administrative Law approved for full Committee action H.R. 1544, 
Federal Agency Compliance Act.
INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRADE--ROLE OF MONEY LAUNDERING
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Crime held a hearing on the 
nature and extent of domestic and international money laundering, its 
role in the international drug trade, and methods of combating the 
problem. Testimony was heard from Mary Lee Warren, Deputy Assistant 
Attorney General, Criminal Division, Department of Justice; Raymond 
Kelly, Under Secretary, Enforcement, Department of the Treasury; and 
public witnesses.
MISCELLANEOUS MEASURES
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims 
approved for full Committee action amended H.R. 1493, to require the 
Attorney General to establish a program in local prisons to identify, 
prior to arraignment, criminal aliens and aliens who are unlawfully 
present in the United States.
  The Subcommittee also held a hearing on the following bills: H.R. 
967, to prohibit the use of United States funds to provide for the 
participation of certain Chinese officials in international 
conferences, programs, and activities and to provide that certain 
Chinese officials shall be ineligible to receive visas and be excluded 
from admission to the United States; H.R. 1543, to amend the 
Immigration and Nationality Act to permit certain nonimmigrant aliens 
to study in publicly funded adult education programs if the alien 
provides reimbursement for such study; and H.R. 2172, to amend the 
Immigration and Nationality Act to make the restrictions on foreign 
student study at a public elementary or secondary school inapplicable 
in cases where the school evidences a desire for such result, and to 
prohibit the use of Federal funds to pay the cost of such study. 
Testimony was heard from Representatives Frank of Massachusetts, Gilman 
and Dellums; Jacquelyn A. Bednarz, Special Assistant to the Associate 
Commissioner for Examinations, Immigration and Naturalization Service, 
Department of Justice; and public witnesses.
OVERSIGHT
Committee on Resources: Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, 
Wildlife and Oceans held an oversight hearing on review of the 
authority and decision making processes of the National Marine 
Fisheries Service Northwest Region. Testimony was heard from public 
witnesses.
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS
Committee on Rules: Granted, by a vote of 7 to 4, a modified closed 
rule providing 1 hour of debate on H.R. 2209, making appropriations for 
the Legislative Branch for the fiscal year ending September 30, l998. 
The rule waives section 302 (prohibiting consideration of legislation 
which exceeds a committee's allocation of new entitlement authority) 
and section 308 (requiring a cost estimate in committee report on new 
entitlement authority) of the Budget Act against consideration of the 
bill. The rule waives clause 2 (unauthorized appropriations and 
legislation on general appropriations bills) and clause 6 (prohibits 
reappropriations on general appropriations bills) of rule XXI against 
the bill.
  The rule makes in order only those amendments printed in the report 
of the Committee on Rules. The rule provides that each amendment will 
be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided 
between the proponent and an opponent, will not be subject to amendment 
except as specified in the report, and will be protected from all 
points of order. The rule allows the Chair to postpone recorded votes 
and reduce to five minutes the minimum time for voting on any postponed 
question, provided that the voting time on the first in any series of 
votes is not less than 15 minutes. Finally, the rule provides one 
motion to recommit, with or without instructions. Testimony was heard 
from Representatives Walsh, Camp, Klug, Castle, Davis of Virginia, 
Linda Smith of Washington, Serrano, Obey, Hoyer, Gejdenson and Roemer.
MINORITY OWNED BUSINESSES--IMPACT OF PROPOSED TAX CHANGES
Committee on Small Business: Subcommittee on Empowerment held a hearing 
on the impact proposed tax changes will have on minority owned 
businesses. Testimony was heard from public witnesses.
VETERANS HEALTH PROGRAMS IMPROVEMENT ACT
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Subcommittee on Health approved for 
full Committee action H.R.

[[Page D823]]

2206, Veterans Health Programs Improvement Act of 1997.
VA MEDICAL FACILITY MANAGEMENTS--REVIEW CONSOLIDATION
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Subcommittee on Health and the 
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a joint hearing to 
review the process by which VA is consolidating VA medical facility 
managements and their clinical and support services, and the results of 
such initiatives. Testimony was heard from Stephen Backhus, Director, 
Veterans' Affairs and Military Health Care Issues, Health, Education, 
and Human Services Division, GAO; the following officials of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs: Kenneth Kizer, M.D., Under Secretary, 
Health; Joan Cummings, M.D., Director, Veterans Integrated Service 
Network (VISN) 12; and Christopher Terrence, M.D., Chief of Staff, New 
Jersey Health Care System; and a public witness.
REPORT--NATIONAL COMMISSION ON RESTRUCTURING THE IRS
Committee on Ways and Means: Subcommittee on Oversight held a hearing 
on the Report of the National Commission on Restructuring the Internal 
Revenue Service. Testimony was heard from Senators Grassley and Kerry; 
Lawrence H. Summers, Deputy Secretary, Department of the Treasury; and 
the following Commissioners of the National Commission on Restructuring 
the Internal Revenue Service: Fred T. Goldberg Jr., Robert Tobias, 
Larry Irving, Jr., Assistant Secretary, Communications and Information, 
Department of Commerce; George Newstrom; Josh S. Weston and David 
Keating.
SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY RECIPIENTS--BARRIERS PREVENTING RETURNING TO 
WORK
Committee on Ways and Means: Subcommittee on Social Security concluded 
hearings on Barriers Preventing Social Security Disability Recipients 
from Returning to Work. Testimony was heard from public witnesses.