[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 11, 1998)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D212-D214]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS--DEFENSE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Defense held hearings on 
proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 1999 for the Department of 
Defense, focusing on Navy and Marine Corps programs, receiving 
testimony from John H. Dalton, Secretary of the Navy; Adm. Jay L. 
Johnson, Chief of Naval Operations; and Gen. Charles C. Krulak, 
Commandant of the Marine Corps.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Wednesday, March 18.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Airland Forces held 
hearings on proposed legislation authorizing funds for fiscal year 1999 
for the Department of Defense and the future years defense program, 
focusing on land forces modernization, receiving testimony from Lt. 
Gen. Paul J. Kern, USA, Military Deputy Director/Assistant Secretary of 
the Army (Research, Development and Acquisition); Lt. Gen. John N. 
Abrams, USA, Deputy Commanding General, United States Training and 
Doctrine Command; Maj. Gen. Michael J. Williams, USMC, Commanding 
General, Marine Corps Systems Command; and Lt. Gen. John E. Rhodes, 
USMC, Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Wednesday, March 25.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Personnel 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 military health system, receiving testimony from Gary A. 
Christopherson, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health 
Affairs; Lt. Gen. Ronald R. Blanck, USA, Surgeon General of the Army; 
Vice Adm. Harold M. Koenig, USN, Surgeon General of the Navy; Lt. Gen. 
Charles E. Roadman, II, USAF,

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Surgeon General of the Air Force; David J. McIntyre, Jr., TriWest 
Healthcare Alliance, Phoenix, Arizona; Robert E. Shields, Humana 
Military Healthcare Services, Inc., Louisville, Kentucky; Capt. Calvin 
C. Dudley, USN (Ret.), Georgia Federal/Military Retiree Coalition, 
Royston; Cdr. Michael W. Lord, USN (Ret.), Commissioned Officers 
Association of the U.S. Public Health Service, Inc., and Sydney Hickey, 
National Military Family Association, Alexandria, Virginia, both on 
behalf of the Military Coalition; Col. Charles C. Partridge, USA 
(Ret.), National Association for Uniformed Services, Springfield, 
Virginia, on behalf of the National Military and Veterans Alliance; and 
W. Hal Franck, Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Wednesday, March 18.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Readiness held hearings on 
proposed legislation authorizing funds for fiscal year 1999 for the 
Department of Defense and the future years defense program, focusing on 
environmental and military construction programs, receiving testimony 
from Sherri W. Goodman, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for 
Environmental Security; Jan B. Reitman, Staff Director, Environment and 
Safety, Defense Logistics Agency; Raymond J. Fatz, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary of the Army for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health; 
Robert B. Pirie, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Installations 
and Environment; Thomas W. McCall, Jr., Deputy Assistant Secretary of 
the Air Force for Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health; John 
B. Goodman, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Industrial Affairs 
and Installations; Paul Johnson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army 
for Installations and Housing; and Jimmy Dishner, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary of the Air Force for Installations.
  Subcommittee recessed subject to call.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Strategic Forces held 
hearings on proposed legislation authorizing funds for fiscal year 1999 
for the Department of Defense and the future years defense program, 
focusing on United States national security space programs and 
policies, receiving testimony from Gen. Howell M. Estes, USAF, 
Commander-in-Chief, United States Space Command; and Keith R. Hall, 
Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space/Director, National 
Reconnaissance Office.
  Subcommittee will meet again tomorrow.
ELECTRONIC AUTHENTICATION
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Financial Services and Technology concluded hearings on S. 1594, to 
facilitate the use of electronic authentication techniques by financial 
institutions, after receiving testimony from P. Michael Nugent, 
Citibank, New York, New York; and Ken Lieberman, VISA U.S.A., Inc., 
Harris Miller, ITAA, and Alfred M. Pollard, Bankers Roundtable, all of 
Washington, D.C.
GLOBAL TOBACCO SETTLEMENT
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee resumed 
hearings on proposed legislation to reform and restructure the 
processes by which tobacco products are manufactured, marketed, and 
distributed, to prevent the use of tobacco products by minors, and to 
redress the adverse health effects of tobacco use, receiving testimony 
from Senators Hatch, Chafee, Baucus, Lugar, and Conrad.
  Hearings continue on Tuesday, March 17.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following business items:
  S. 633, to adjust the boundary of the Petroglyph National Monument in 
New Mexico to exclude the Paseo del Norte road corridor, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1132, to modify the boundaries of the Bandelier National Monument 
to include the lands within the headwaters of the Upper Alamo Watershed 
which drain into the monument and which are not currently within the 
jurisdiction of a Federal land management agency, and to authorize 
purchase or donation of those lands, with amendments; and
  S. 1069, to designate the American Discovery Trail as the first 
National Discovery Trail and to establish a new category within the 
National Trails System, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute.
  Committee also completed its review of those programs which fall 
within the committee's jurisdiction as contained in the President's 
proposed budget for fiscal year 1999, and agreed on recommendations it 
will make thereon to the Committee on the Budget.
  Also, committee began markup of S. 1403, to establish a national 
historic lighthouse preservation program, but did not complete action 
thereon, and recessed subject to call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported S. 
Res. 187, expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the human rights 
situation in the People's Republic of China.

[[Page D214]]


MIDDLE EAST
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian 
Affairs held hearings to examine recent developments in the Middle East, 
focusing on the Israel-PLO negotiating process and the role of the United 
States in that process, receiving testimony from Senators Kyl and Lieberman; 
Martin S. Indyk, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs; 
Daniel Pipes, Middle East Quarterly, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Henry 
Siegman, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, New York; and Robert 
Satloff, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Steven Emerson, both 
of Washington, D.C.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
NOMINATION
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded an additional hearing on the 
nomination of Frederica A. Massiah-Jackson, to be United States District 
Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (pending on Senate Executive 
Calendar), after the nominee testified and answered further questions in her 
own behalf.
BANKRUPTCY REFORM
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the 
Courts concluded hearings on S. 1301, to provide for consumer bankruptcy 
protection, focusing on certain abuses occurring under the current 
Bankruptcy Code, after receiving testimony from Richard M. Stana, 
Legislative Advisor, General Accounting Office; Lawrence A. Friedman, 
Friedman and Kohut, Southfield, Michigan, on behalf of the National 
Association of Bankruptcy Trustees; A. Thomas Small, Chief Bankruptcy Judge, 
Eastern District of North Carolina; Tahira K. Hira, Iowa State University, 
Ames; George J. Wallace, Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, on behalf of the 
American Financial Services Association, Michael E. Staten, Credit Research 
Center/Georgetown University School of Business, and Stephen Brobeck, 
Consumer Federation of America, all of Washington, D.C.; William E. Brewer, 
Jr., Raleigh, North Carolina, on behalf of the National Association of 
Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys; Stanton Bluestone, Carson Pirie Scott & 
Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on behalf of the National Retail Federation; 
Brian McDonnell, National Association of Federal Credit Unions, Arlington, 
Virginia; Robert Elliot, Household International, Inc., Prospect Heights, 
Illinois; Douglas Boshkoff, Indiana University School of Law, Bloomington; 
Randal C. Picker, University of Chicago Law School, Chicago, Illinois, on 
behalf of the National Bankruptcy Conference; Deborah D. Williamson, Cox & 
Smith, San Antonio, Texas, on behalf of the American Bankruptcy Institute; 
and Matthew J. Mason, Detroit, Michigan, on behalf of the International 
Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of 
America and the UAW-GM Legal Services Plan.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the nomination of Richard M. McGahey, of New York, to be an Assistant 
Secretary of Labor.
  Also, committee began markup of S. 1648, to amend the Public Health 
Service Act and the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to provide for reductions in 
youth smoking, for advancements in tobacco-related research, and the 
development of safer tobacco products, but did not complete action thereon, 
and will meet again on Wednesday, March 18.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee completed its review of those 
programs which fall within the committee's jurisdiction as contained in the 
President's proposed budget for fiscal year 1999, and agreed on 
recommendations it will make thereon to the Committee on the Budget.
TRIBAL SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee held hearings to examine the status 
of tribal sovereign immunity and the role it plays to preserve the Federal 
Government's protection of tribal self-government, and its impact on Indian 
economic development, commercial dealings and taxation, and related 
proposals, including S. 1691, to provide for Indian legal reform, receiving 
testimony from Representatives Istook and LaHood; Derril B. Jordan, 
Associate Solicitor, Division of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior; 
Thomas L. LeClaire, Director, Office of Tribal Justice, Department of 
Justice; Judge R.A. Randall, Minnesota State Court of Appeals, St. Paul; New 
York State Assembly Jeffrey Klein, Albany; Michael Harris, Michael D. Harris 
Law Office, Tahlequah, Oklahoma; Phillip Martin, Mississippi Band of Choctaw 
Indians, Philadelphia; W. Ron Allen, Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, Sequim, 
Washington, on behalf of the National Congress of American Indians; Mark A. 
Jarboe, Dorsey & Whitney, Minneapolis, Minnesota; John Lattauzio, J & J 
Mini-Markets, Alamogordo, New Mexico; Greg Love, Love's Country Stores, 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on behalf of the Society of Independent Gasoline 
Marketers of America; Gregory E. Pyle, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Durant; 
David Kwail, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Phoenix; Reid Peyton Chambers, 
Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse & Endreson, Washington, D.C.; and Scott Morrison, 
Wilburton, Oklahoma.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.