[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 124 (Wednesday, September 17, 1997)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D960-D961]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
DIGITAL TV
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee held 
hearings to examine future technologies such as high-definition 
television, digital television and multiplexing, receiving testimony 
from Representative Tauzin; Reed E. Hundt, Chairman, Federal 
Communications Commission; Larry Irving, Assistant Secretary of 
Commerce for Communications and Information; Robert W. Decherd, A.H. 
Belo Corporation, Dallas, Texas, on behalf of the National Association 
of Broadcasters; Preston Padden, ABC Television Network, New York, New 
York; and David D. Smith, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., Baltimore, 
Maryland.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
UNDERGROUND UTILITIES PROTECTION
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine concluded hearings on S. 
1115, to create uniform national standards and provide grants to 
establish or improve State one-call notification systems designed to 
protect America's underground infrastructure which includes buried 
communication and fiber optic cables, water and sewer pipes, electric 
lines, and oil and gas pipelines, after receiving testimony from Kelley 
S. Coyner, Acting Administrator for Research and Special Programs 
Administration, Department of Transportation; Catherine G. Abbott, 
Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation, Fairfax, Virginia; Frank Ianna, 
AT&T, Basking Ridge, New Jersey; Charles E. Dettmann, Association of 
American Railroads, Washington, D.C.; and Gene Shull, A.E. Shull and 
Company, Tyler, Texas, on behalf of the Associated General Contractors.
ALASKA LAND EXCHANGE
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded hearings 
on S. 1158, to amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, regarding 
the Huna Totem Corporation public interest land exchange, and S. 1159, 
to amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, regarding the Kake 
Tribal Corporation public interest land exchange, after receiving 
testimony from Eleanor Towns, Director of Lands, Forest Service, 
Department of Agriculture; Mayor Lonnie Anderson, and Gordon Jackson, 
Kake Tribal Corporation, both of Kake, Alaska; Albert Dick, Huna Totem 
Corporation, Hoonah, Alaska; and Jack Hession, Sierra Club, Anchorage, 
Alaska.
AUTHORIZATION--TRANSPORTATION
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably 
reported S. 1173, authorizing funds for construction of highway safety 
programs and for mass transit programs, with amendments.
FAST-TRACK TRADE AUTHORITY
Committee on Finance: Committee held hearings on proposed legislation 
to renew fast track trade authority to allow the President to negotiate 
further trade agreements to open foreign markets to United States goods 
and services, and other related trade proposals, receiving testimony 
from Robert E. Rubin, Secretary of the Treasury; Charlene Barshefsky, 
United States Trade Representative; and Jeffrey M. Lang, Deputy United 
States Trade Representative.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION TREATY
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded hearings on the 
Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication 
Union (ITU), with Annexes, signed at Geneva on December 22, 1992, and 
amendments to the Constitution and Convention, signed at Kyoto on 
October 14, 1994, together with declarations and reservations by the 
United States as contained in the Final Acts (Treaty Doc. 104-34), 
after receiving testimony from Vonya B. McCann, Coordinator for 
International Communications and Information Policy, Department of 
State; David F. Fisher, ADC Telecommunications, Inc., Minneapolis, 
Minnesota; and Lon C. Levin, American Mobile Radio Corporation/American 
Mobile Satellite Corporation, Reston, Virginia.
CHINA POLICY ACT
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee held hearings on S. 1164, to 
state a policy of the United States that engages the People's Republic 
of China in areas of mutual interest, promotes human rights,

[[Page D961]]

religious freedom, and democracy in China and enhances the national 
security interests of the United States with respect to China, 
receiving testimony from Senator Abraham; Stanley O. Roth, Assistant 
Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; and Gary L. 
Bauer, Family Research Council, Robert A. Kapp, United States-China 
Business Council, Robert Kagan, Carnegie Endowment for International 
Peace, Abigail E. Abrash, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human 
Rights, and Richard N. Haass, Brookings Institution, all of Washington, 
D.C.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
CAMPAIGN FINANCING INVESTIGATION
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee resumed hearings to 
examine certain matters with regard to the committee's special 
investigation on campaign financing, receiving testimony from Sheila 
Heslin, former Director of Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs, 
National Security Council.
  Hearings continue tomorrow.
INDIAN COUNTRY GANG ACTIVITY
Committee on the Judiciary/Committee on Indian Affairs: Committees 
concluded joint hearings to examine the incidence of youth violence and 
criminal gang activity within Indian country, and the Federal response, 
after receiving testimony from Kevin V. DiGregory, Deputy Assistant 
Attorney General, Criminal Division, and Charles F. Rinkevich, 
Director, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (Glynco, Georgia), 
both of the Department of Justice; Judge William A. Thorne, Third 
District Court of Utah, Salt Lake City; Ivan Makil, Salt River Pima-
Maricopa Indian Community, Scottsdale, Arizona; David Nez, Navajo 
Nation, Window Rock, Arizona; and Daniel N. Lewis, Boys and Girls Clubs 
of America, Phoenix, Arizona.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPETITION
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights 
and Competition concluded hearings to examine the outlook for 
competition in the telecommunications industry as a result of the 
Telecommunications Act of 1996, and the role of the Department of 
Justice in promoting and protecting this competition, after receiving 
testimony from Joel I. Klein, Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust 
Division, Department of Justice; Reed E. Hundt, Chairman, Federal 
Communications Commission; Barry K. Allen, Ameritech Corporation, 
Chicago, Illinois; Mark C. Rosenblum, AT&T Corp., Basking Ridge, New 
Jersey; William P. Barr, GTE Corporation, and Gene Kimmelman, Consumers 
Union, both of Washington, D.C.; and John C. Shapleigh, Brooks Fiber 
Properties, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri.