[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 26 (Thursday, March 12, 1998)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D225-D228]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
AUTHORIZATION--CHILD NUTRITION
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee held 
hearings on proposed legislation authorizing funds for child nutrition 
programs, focusing on streamlining program operations, increasing 
access to qualified participants, and ensuring food safety, receiving 
testimony from Representative Kennedy; Shirley R. Watkins, Under 
Secretary of Agriculture for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services; 
Melinda Turner, American School Food Service Association, Booneville, 
Kentucky; Linda Locke, Community Coordinated Child Care, Louisville, 
Kentucky, on behalf of the National Child Care Food Program; Karen R. 
Ford, Food Bank of Iowa, Des Moines; and Robert Greenstein, Center on 
Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, D.C.
  Hearings continue on Tuesday, March 17.

[[Page D226]]


APPROPRIATIONS--SUPREME COURT/JUDICIARY
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, 
and the Judiciary held hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal 
year 1999 for the Supreme Court of the United States and the Judiciary, 
receiving testimony from Judge Anthony M. Kennedy and Judge David H. 
Souter, each an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States; and Judge John G. Heyburn II, United States District Judge for 
the Western District of Kentucky.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Thursday, March 19.
APPROPRIATIONS--LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch 
held hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 1999, 
receiving testimony in behalf of funds for their respective activities 
from Senator Warner, on behalf of the Joint Committee on Printing; 
Senator Roth, on behalf of the Joint Committee on Taxation; 
Representative Saxton, on behalf of the Joint Economic Committee; 
Gregory Casey, Senate Sergeant at Arms; James Billington, Librarian of 
Congress; and Daniel Mulhollan, Director, Congressional Research 
Service.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Thursday, March 19.
APPROPRIATIONS--TREASURY
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on the Treasury, Postal 
Service, and General Government held hearings on proposed budget 
estimates for fiscal year 1999 for the Department of the Treasury, 
receiving testimony from Robert E. Rubin, Secretary of the Treasury.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Thursday, March 26.
APPROPRIATIONS--HUD
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent 
Agencies held hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 
1999, receiving testimony in behalf of funds for their respective 
activities from Andrew Cuomo, Secretary of Housing and Urban 
Development; and John D. Hawke, Jr., Under Secretary of the Treasury 
for Domestic Finance, on behalf of the Community Development Financial 
Institutions.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Thursday, March 19.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Acquisition and Technology 
held hearings on proposed legislation authorizing funds for fiscal year 
1999 for the Department of Defense and the future years defense 
program, focusing on science and technology programs, receiving 
testimony from Jacques S. Gansler, Under Secretary of Defense for 
Acquisition and Technology; John W. Douglass, Assistant Secretary of 
the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition; Lt. Gen. George K. 
Muellner, USAF, Principal Deputy, Office of Assistant Secretary of the 
Air Force for Acquisition; Kenneth J. Oscar, Acting Assistant Secretary 
of the Army for Research, Development and Acquisition; and Larry Lynn, 
Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Wednesday, March 18.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Strategic Forces resumed 
hearings on proposed legislation authorizing funds for fiscal year 1999 
for the Department of Defense and the future years defense program, 
focusing on environmental management, non-proliferation, and fissile 
materials disposition, receiving testimony from Elizabeth A. Moler, 
Deputy Secretary of Energy, Rose Gottmoeller, Director, Office of Non-
Proliferation, James Owendoff, Acting Assistant Secretary for 
Environmental Management, and Howard Cantor, Acting Director, Office of 
Fissile Materials Disposition, all of the Department of Energy.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Thursday, March 19.
FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK REFORM
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded 
hearings on S. 1423, to modernize and improve the operations of the 
Federal Home Loan Bank by allowing financial institutions with assets 
less that $500 million to access the Federal Home Loan Bank System for 
new kinds of lending, providing voluntary membership, reforming the 
capital structure of the System, and changing the REFCorp formula to a 
fixed percentage, after receiving testimony from Mark Drabenstott, 
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Missouri; Dean R. Edwards, 
Affordable Housing Group, Charlotte, North Carolina; James Verbrugge, 
University of Georgia, Atlanta; Phil Burns, Farmers and Merchants 
National Bank, West Point, Nebraska, on behalf of the American Bankers 
Association; Robert I. Gulledge, Citizen's Bank, Robertsdale, Alabama, 
on behalf of the Independent Bankers Association of America; and Curtis 
L. Hage, Home Federal Savings Bank, Sioux City, South Dakota, on behalf 
of the America's Community Bankers.

[[Page D227]]


BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following business items:
  The nominations of John Charles Horsley, of Washington, to be 
Associate Deputy Secretary of Transportation, James E. Hall, of 
Tennessee, to be Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, 
Robert J. Shapiro, of the District of Columbia, to be Under Secretary 
of Commerce for Economic Affairs, Winter D. Horton, Jr., of Utah, and 
Christy Carpenter, of California, each to be a Member of the Board of 
Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Orson Swindle, of 
Hawaii, and Mozelle Willmont Thompson, of New York, each to be a 
Federal Trade Commissioner, and lists for promotion in the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the United States Coast 
Guard;
  S. 1699, to authorize the Secretary of Transportation to issue a 
certificate of documentation with appropriate endorsement for 
employment in the coastwise trade for the vessel BILLIE-B-II;
  S. 1731, to authorize the Secretary of Transportation to issue a 
certificate of documentation with appropriate endorsement for 
employment in the coastwise trade for the vessel FALLS POINT;
  S. 1732, to authorize the Secretary of Transportation to issue a 
certificate of documentation with appropriate endorsement for 
employment in the coastwise trade for the vessel VESTERHAVEN, with an 
amendment;
  S. 1609, to authorize funds for the Next Generation Internet program, 
and to require the Advisory Committee on High-Performance Computing and 
Communications, Information Technology, and the Next Generation 
Internet to monitor and give advice concerning the development and 
implementation of the Next Generation Internet program and report to 
the President and the Congress in its activities. (As approved by the 
committee, the bill authorizes $102,500,000 for fiscal year 1999 and 
$115,000,000 for fiscal year 2000.);
  H.R. 1702, to encourage the development of a commercial space 
industry in the United States, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 1250, to authorize funds for fiscal years 1998 and 1999 for the 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute;
  H. Con. Res. 131, expressing the sense of Congress regarding the 
ocean, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1422, to promote competition in the market for delivery of 
multichannel video programming;
  S. 1618, to improve the protection of consumers against ``slamming'' 
by telecommunications carriers, with amendments;
  S. 1619, to direct the Federal Communications Commission to study 
systems for filtering or blocking matter on the Internet, and to 
require the installation of such a system on computers in schools and 
libraries with Internet access; and
  S. 1482, to establish a prohibition on commercial distribution on the 
World Wide Web of material that is harmful to minors.
AUTHORIZATION--COAST GUARD
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Oceans and Fisheries concluded hearings on the President's proposed 
budget request for fiscal year 1999 for the United States Coast Guard, 
after receiving testimony from Adm. Robert E. Kramek, Commandant, U.S. 
Coast Guard, Department of Transportation.
CHINESE NUCLEAR COOPERATION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee held closed hearings to 
examine certain intelligence issues relating to Chinese nuclear 
cooperation with various countries, receiving testimony from Robert J. 
Einhorn, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs; 
and John Lauder, Special Assistant to the Director of Central 
Intelligence for Nonproliferation, Central Intelligence Agency.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
AFRICAN DEMOCRACY
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on African Affairs 
concluded hearings to examine the prospects for democracy under the 
current generation of new African leaders, and how the United States 
should interact with and support them, after receiving testimony from 
Susan E. Rice, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; and 
George B.N. Ayittey, American University, Pauline Baker, Fund for 
Peace, Salih Booker, Council on Foreign Relations, and David F. Gordon, 
Overseas Development Council, all of Washington, D.C.
IRS REFORM
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee held hearings on proposed 
legislation to reform and restructure the Internal Revenue Service, 
focusing on management flexibility and accountability provisions, 
receiving testimony from Charles O. Rossotti, Commissioner, Internal 
Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury; G. Edward DeSeve, Acting 
Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget; Carol 
J. Okin, Associate Director for Merit Systems Oversight and 
Effectiveness, Office of Personnel Management; and Michael Brostek, 
Associate

[[Page D228]]

Director, Federal Management and Workforce Issues, General Government 
Division, General Accounting Office.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
PROTECT ACT
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee held hearings on provisions of S. 
1530, to resolve ongoing tobacco litigation, to reform the civil 
justice system responsible for adjudicating tort claims against 
companies that manufacture tobacco products, and establish a national 
tobacco policy for the United States that will decrease youth tobacco 
use and reduce the marketing of tobacco products to young Americans 
(pending on Senate calendar), receiving testimony from David Satcher, 
Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services 
for Health; William L. Roper, University of North Carolina at Chapel 
Hill, on behalf of Partnership for Prevention; Gregory N. Connolly, 
Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program/Massachusetts Department of 
Public Health, Boston; and Michael C. Fiore, Center for Tobacco 
Research and Intervention/University of Wisconsin Medical School, 
Madison.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
HEALTH CARE TECHNOLOGY
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Subcommittee on Public Health 
and Safety resumed hearings on proposed legislation authorizing funds 
for the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, focusing on new 
technologies in patient care and the Agency's contribution to 
technology assessment and health care quality improvement, receiving 
testimony from John M. Eisenberg, Administrator, Agency for Health Care 
Policy and Research, and Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, Administrator, Health 
Care Financing Administration, both of the Department of Health and 
Human Services; Pete DeBusk, DeRoyal Industries, Inc., Powell, 
Tennessee, on behalf of the Health Industry Distributors Association; 
Paul W. Mikus, ENDOcare, Inc., Irvine, California, on behalf of the 
Health Industry Manufacturers Association; Wade Aubry, University of 
California, San Francisco, on behalf of the Blue Cross Blue Shield 
Association; and Neil R. Powe, Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, 
Baltimore, Maryland.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.