[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 19 (Tuesday, March 3, 1998)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D154-D156]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS--AGRICULTURE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural 
Development, and Related Agencies held hearings on proposed budget 
estimates for fiscal year 1999 for rural programs of the Department of 
Agriculture, receiving testimony from Jill Long Thompson, Under 
Secretary for Rural Development, Wally Beyer, Administrator, Rural 
Utilities Service, Jan E. Shadburn, Administrator, Rural Housing 
Service, Dayton J. Watkins, Administrator, Rural Business-Cooperative 
Service, and Robert Armstrong, Executive Director, Alternative 
Agricultural Research and Commercialization Corporation, all of the 
Department of Agriculture.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Tuesday, March 10.
APPROPRIATIONS--FBI/DEA/INS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, 
and the Judiciary, and Related Agencies held hearings on proposed 
budget estimates for fiscal year 1999 for the Department of Justice, 
receiving testimony in behalf of funds for their respective activities 
from Louis J. Freeh, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Thomas 
A. Constantine, Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration, and 
Doris Meissner, Commissioner, Immigration and Naturalization Service, 
all of the Department of Justice.
  Subcommittee will meet again tomorrow.
APPROPRIATIONS--DOE DEFENSE PROGRAMS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Energy and Water 
Development held hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 
1999 for Department of Energy defense programs, receiving testimony 
from Victor H. Reis, Assistant Secretary of Energy for Defense 
Programs.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Tuesday, March 10.
APPROPRIATIONS--IMF SUPPLEMENTAL
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Foreign Operations held 
hearings on proposed supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year 
ending September 30, 1998 for the International Monetary Fund, 
receiving testimony from Robert E. Rubin, Secretary, and Lawrence H. 
Summers, Deputy Secretary, both of the Department of the Treasury; and 
Alan Greenspan, Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Tuesday, March 17.
APPROPRIATIONS--MILITARY CONSTRUCTION
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Military Construction held 
hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 1999 for Army and 
defense agency military construction programs, receiving testimony from 
Alma B. Moore, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, 
Logistics & Environment); Brig. Gen. Gary W. Heckman, Director, Center 
for Command Support, U.S. Special Operations Command; Frederick N. 
Baillie, Executive Director, Resource, Planning and Performance 
Directorate, Defense Logistics Support Command, Defense Logistics 
Agency; Carolyn H. Becraft, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense 
(Personnel Support, Families and Education), Office of the Under 
Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness); and Rear Adm. Tom 
Carrato, USN, Chief Operating Officer, TRICARE Management Activity.

[[Page D155]]


  Subcommittee will meet again on Tuesday, March 10.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Committee resumed hearings in open and 
closed sessions on proposed legislation authorizing funds for fiscal 
year 1999 for the Department of Defense and the future years defense 
program, focusing on the military strategies and operational 
requirements of the unified commands, receiving testimony from Gen. 
Wesley K. Clark, USA, Commander-in-Chief, U.S. European Command; Gen. 
John H. Tilelli, USA, Commander in Chief, United Nations Command/
Combined Forces Command Korea, and Commander, U.S. Forces Korea; and 
Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, USMC, Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Central Command.
  Committee will meet again on Thursday, March 5.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Seapower held hearings on 
proposed legislation authorizing funds for fiscal year 1999 for the 
Department of Defense and the future years defense program, focusing on 
the seapower threat-based force requirement, receiving testimony from 
Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, USAF, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 
Staff; Adm. Donald L. Pilling, USN, Vice Chief of Naval Operations; and 
Gen. Richard I. Neal, USMC, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Tuesday, March 10.
FINANCIAL REGULATORY RELIEF
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee held 
hearings on S. 1405, to provide for improved monetary policy and 
regulatory reform in financial institution management and activities, 
to streamline financial regulatory agency actions, and to provide for 
improved consumer credit disclosure, receiving testimony from Laurence 
H. Meyer, Member, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Rex 
Hammock, Hammock Publishing, Nashville, Tennessee, on behalf of the 
National Federation of Independent Business; Cornelius D. Mahoney, 
Woronoco Savings Bank, Westfield, Massachusetts, on behalf of the 
America's Community Bankers; and Edward E. Furash, Furash & Company, 
Washington, D.C.
  Hearings continue on Tuesday, March 10.
GLOBAL TOBACCO SETTLEMENT
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee resumed 
hearings to examine the scope and depth of the proposed settlement 
between State Attorneys General and tobacco companies to mandate a 
total reformation and restructuring of how tobacco products are 
manufactured, marketed, and distributed in America, focusing on 
proposed restrictions on the advertising, marketing and sale of tobacco 
products, receiving testimony from Senator Mack; Robert Pitofsky, 
Chairman, Federal Trade Commission; Michael P. Eriksen, Director, 
Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services; Matthew L. Myers, 
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids/National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids, 
and David C. Vladeck, Public Citizen Litigation Group, both of 
Washington, D.C.; Richard A. Daynard, Northeastern University School of 
Law, Boston, Massachusetts; David S. Versfelt, Donovan, Leisure, Newton 
& Irvine, New York, New York, on behalf of the Freedom to Advertise 
Coalition; and Martin Redish, Northwestern University School of Law, 
Chicago, Illinois.
  Hearings continue on Thursday, March 5.
FOREST SERVICE BUDGET
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded hearings 
to examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 1999 
for the Forest Service, after receiving testimony from Michael P. 
Dombeck, Chief, Forest Service, and James R. Lyons, Under Secretary for 
Natural Resources and Environment, both of the Department of 
Agriculture, who were accompanied by several of their associates.
ISTEA AUTHORIZATION
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee met and approved 
an amendment to be offered as a floor amendment to the modified 
committee amendment in the nature of a substitute (Amendment No. 1676) 
to S. 1173, to authorize funds for construction of highways, for 
highway safety programs, and for mass transit programs (pending before 
the Senate).
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 on the accession of 
Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. (These Protocols were opened 
for signature at Brussels on December 16, 1997, and signed on behalf of 
the United States and other parties to the North Atlantic Treaty 
(Treaty Doc. 105-36);
  S. Con. Res. 60, expressing the sense of Congress in support of 
efforts to foster friendship and cooperation between the United States 
and Mongolia;

[[Page D156]]


  S. Con. Res. 78, relating to the indictment and prosecution of Saddam 
Hussein for war crimes and other crimes against humanity;
  S. Res. 174, to state the sense of the Senate that Thailand is a key 
partner and friend of the United States, has committed itself to 
executing its responsibilities under its arrangements with the 
International Monetary Fund, and that the United States should be 
prepared to ensure continued close bilateral relations;
  H.R. 1116, to provide for the conveyance of the reversionary interest 
of the United States in certain lands to the Clint Independent School 
District and the Fabens Independent School District; and
  The nominations of Robert T. Grey, Jr., of Virginia, for the rank of 
Ambassador during his tenure of service as United States Representative 
to the Conference on Disarmament, and three Foreign Service Officer 
promotion lists.
SOFTWARE INDUSTRY
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee held hearings to examine the 
state of competition in the computer software industry, focusing on 
market power and structural change in the software industry and the 
role of antitrust laws in high-technology industries, receiving 
testimony from Bill Gates, Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington; 
Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems, Inc., Palo Alto, California; James 
Barksdale, Netscape Communications Corporation, Mountain View, 
California; Michael Dell, Dell Computer Corporation, Round Rock, Texas; 
Douglas J. Burgum, Great Plains Software, Fargo, North Dakota; and 
Stewart Alsop II, New Enterprise Associates, Menlo Park, California.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Subcommittee on Public Health 
and Safety concluded hearings to examine how certain infectious 
diseases are a continuing threat to the health of United States 
citizens and of people around the world and the United States response 
to promote the international effort to combat emerging diseases, after 
receiving testimony from David Satcher, Assistant Secretary for Health/
U.S. Surgeon General, Anthony S. Fauci, Director, National Institute of 
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, and 
Stephen Blount, Associate Director for Global Health, Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention, all of the Department of Health and 
Human Services; David Brandling-Bennett, Pan American Health 
Organization/World Health Organization, Washington, D.C.; Fredia S. 
Wadley, Tennessee Department of Health, Nashville; Joan Baumback, New 
Mexico Department of Health, Las Cruces; Herbert A. Pigman, Rotary 
International, Evanston, Illinois; and Christopher J.L. Murray, Harvard 
University School of Public Health, Cambridge, Massachusetts.