[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 31, 1998)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D335-D336]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS--CFTC/FDA
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural 
Development, and Related Agencies concluded hearings on proposed budget 
estimates for fiscal year 1999, after receiving testimony in behalf of 
funds for their respective activities from Brooksley Born, Chairperson, 
Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and Michael A. Friedman, Lead 
Deputy Commissioner, Robert J. Byrd, Deputy Commissioner for Management 
and Systems, and William B. Schultz, Deputy Commissioner for Policy, 
all of the Food and Drug Administration, and Dennis P. Williams, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for the Budget, all of the Department of Health and 
Human Services.
APPROPRIATIONS--FOREIGN ASSISTANCE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Foreign Operations held 
hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 1999 for foreign 
assistance programs, focusing on certain economic and political issues, 
receiving testimony from Strobe Talbott, Deputy Secretary, and Stuart 
E. Eizenstat, Under Secretary for Economic Business and Agricultural 
Affairs, both of the Department of State.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Tuesday, April 21.
APPROPRIATIONS--JUSTICE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, 
and the Judiciary, and Related Agencies concluded hearings on proposed 
budget estimates for fiscal year 1999 for the Department of Justice, 
focusing on counter terrorism programs, after receiving testimony from 
Janet Reno, Attorney General, and Louis J. Freeh, Director, Federal 
Bureau of Investigation, both of the Department of Justice.
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 strategic nuclear policy and related matters, receiving 
testimony from Edward L. Warner, III, Assistant Secretary of Defense 
for Strategy and Threat Reduction; Gen. Eugene E. Habiger, USAF, 
Commander-in-Chief, United States Strategic Command; Adm. Stansfield 
Turner, USN (Ret.), former Director of Central Intelligence; Kathleen 
C. Bailey, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory/University of 
California, Berkeley; Keith B. Payne, National Institute for Public 
Policy, Fairfax, Virginia; and Bruce Blair, Brookings Institution, 
Washington, D.C.
  Subcommittee recessed subject to call.
AUTHORIZATION--SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine concluded hearings on S. 
1802, authorizing funds for fiscal years 1999 through 2001 for the 
Surface Transportation Board, after receiving testimony from Linda J. 
Morgan, Chairman, Surface Transportation Board, Department of 
Transportation; Ed Rastatter, National Industrial Transportation 
League, Arlington, Virginia; Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., Huntsman 
Corporation, Salt Lake City, Utah, on behalf of the Chemical 
Manufacturers Association and the Society of the Plastics Industry, 
Inc.; Kendell Keith, Washington, D.C., and Ed Lauer, Attebury Grain 
Inc., Amarillo, Texas, both on behalf of the National Grain and Feed 
Association; Robert G. Szabo, Consumers United for Rail Equity, Terry 
C. Whiteside, Alliance for Rail Competition, James A. Hagen, 
Association of American Railroads, and Edward Wytkind, Transportation 
Trades Department (AFL-CIO), all of Washington, D.C.; Robb Todd, City 
Council of Houston, Texas; K. Earl Durden,

[[Page D336]]

Rail Management and Consulting Corporation, Panama City Beach, Florida, 
on behalf of the American Shortline and Regional Railroads Association; 
and Joseph M. Harrison, American Moving and Storage Association, 
Alexandria, Virginia.
NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded hearings 
on S. 1100 and S. 1275, bills to make the United States Immigration and 
Nationality Act and the minimum wage provisions of the United States 
Fair Labor Standards Act applicable to the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands, and to impose certain restrictions on textile products 
manufactured in the Commonwealth, after receiving testimony from Bruce 
Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior; Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands Governor Pedro P. Tenorio, Speaker of the House of 
Representatives Diego T. Benavente, and President of the Senate Paul A. 
Manglona, both of the Northern Marianas Commonwealth Legislature, Kerry 
McKinney, Saipan Chamber of Commerce, Eric Gregoire, Diocese of Chalan 
Kanoa, Ron Sablan, Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
all of Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands; and Carlos Moore, American 
Textile Manufacturers Institute, Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING: IRS REFORM
Committee on Finance: Committee ordered favorably reported an original 
bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to restructure and 
reform the Internal Revenue Service of the Department of the Treasury, 
in lieu of H.R. 2676.
CHARTER SCHOOLS
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Committee concluded hearings to 
examine the role of charter schools in educational reform, State and 
Federal efforts to help charter schools access Federal funds, and S. 
1380 and H.R. 2616, bills to extend the authorization of funds through 
fiscal year 2002 for titles VI and X of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act to expand the implementation of public charter schools, 
after receiving testimony from Senator Lieberman; Representative 
Roemer; Cornelia M. Blanchette, Associate Director for Education and 
Employment Issues, Health, Education, and Human Services Division, 
General Accounting Office; Joan Heffernan, Integrated Day Charter 
School, Norwich, Connecticut; Raymond Jackson, ATOP Academy, and Lisa 
Graham Keegan, Arizona Department of Education, on behalf of the 
Education Leaders Council, both of Phoenix, Arizona; Tim Sindelar, 
Disability Law Center, Boston, Massachusetts; and Eric Rofes, 
University of California at Berkeley.
VA COMPENSATION FOR TOBACCO-RELATED ILLNESSES
Committee on Veterans Affairs: Committee concluded hearings on proposed 
legislation to limit the provision of veterans' benefits for tobacco-
related disability and death, after receiving testimony from Togo D. 
West, Jr., Acting Secretary, Joseph Thompson, Under Secretary for 
Benefits, John Thompson, Associate General Counsel, Thomas Garthwaite, 
Deputy Under Secretary for Health, and Mary Lou Kenner and James 
Endicott, both a former General Counsel, all of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs; and Philip R. Wilkerson, American Legion, David W. 
Gorman, Disabled American Veterans, Gordon H. Mansfield, Paralyzed 
Veterans of America, Kenneth A. Steadman, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and 
William F. Russo, Vietnam Veterans of America, all of Washington, D.C.
HOME HEALTH CARE ACCESS
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded hearings to examine the 
effect on seniors of certain policy changes to the home health care 
provisions under Medicare as directed by the Balanced Budget Act of 
1997, focusing on the interim payment system, venipuncture or the 
drawing of blood, and surety bonds requirements, after receiving 
testimony from Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, Administrator, Health Care 
Financing Administration, Department of Health and Human Services; 
Barbara Markham Smith, George Washington University Medical Center, and 
William Dombi, Center for Health Care Law, on behalf of the National 
Association for Home Care, both of Washington, D.C.; Cindi Slack, Sioux 
Valley Hospital Visiting Nurses Association, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; 
David J. Martin, Apple Home Healthcare, Inc., Metairie, Louisiana; 
Linda Fanton, Eastern Iowa Visiting Nurses and Home Health Care, 
Monticello; and James C. Pateidl, Lockton Companies, Kansas City, 
Missouri, on behalf of the National Association of Surety Bond 
Producers.