[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 40 (Wednesday, April 1, 1998)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D347-D350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS--INTERIOR
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Interior held hearings on 
proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 1999 for the Department of 
the Interior, receiving testimony from Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the 
Interior.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Thursday, April 23.
APPROPRIATIONS--DEFENSE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Defense held hearings on 
proposed budget estimates for fiscal

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year 1999 for Department of Defense medical programs, receiving 
testimony from Lt. Gen. Ronald R. Blanck, Surgeon General of the Army; 
Vice Adm. Harold M. Koenig, Surgeon General of the Navy; Lt. Gen. 
Charles H. Roadman, II, Surgeon General of the Air Force; Brig. Gen. 
Bettye H. Simmons, Chief, Army Nurse Corps; Capt. Mary Ann Gardner, 
Deputy Director, Navy Nurse Corps; and Brig. Gen. Linda J. Stierle, 
Director, Medical Readiness Doctrine and Planning and Nursing Services, 
Department of Defense.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Wednesday, April 22.
APPROPRIATIONS--NIH
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human 
Services, and Education held hearings on proposed budget estimates for 
fiscal year 1999 for the National Institutes of Health, receiving 
testimony from Harold E. Varmus, Director, National Institutes of 
Health, Department of Health and Human Services, who was accompanied by 
several of his associates.
  Subcommittee recessed subject to call.
IDENTITY THEFT
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Financial Services and Technology concluded hearings to examine the 
impact and extent of the illegal use of personal identifiers (social 
security numbers, credit cards, or personal identifications) and other 
related data often available through the electronic media, and the need 
for legislation to identify a single federal agency with jurisdiction 
to investigate and prosecute criminals involved in crimes of identity 
theft, after receiving testimony from James Bauer, Deputy Assistant 
Director, Office of Investigations, United States Secret Service, 
Department of the Treasury; Wayne C. Matus, New York, New York; Darylle 
Goodfield, Los Angeles, California; and Sue Carter, Southern 
California.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered 
favorably reported S. 1415, 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, with an amendment in the nature 
of a substitute.
NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks, Historic Preservation, and Recreation held hearings on certain 
provisions of S. 1693, to renew, reform, reinvigorate, and protect the 
National Park System, focusing on Title I, to reform management 
operations of the National Park Service, Title II, to provide for the 
establishment of criteria for creating new units of the National Park 
Systems, Title III, to extend the current recreational fee 
demonstration program through September 30, 2005 and expand it to all 
units of the National Park System, and Title V, to create a passport 
specifically for use for admission to units of the National Park 
System, receiving testimony from Robert G. Stanton, Director, National 
Park Service, Department of the Interior; Edward M. Norton, National 
Trust for Historic Preservation, Albert C. Eisenberg, National Parks 
and Conservation Association, David J. Humphreys, American Recreation 
Coalition, and William P. Horn, Birch, Horton, Bittner, and Cherot, all 
of Washington, D.C.; and Rick Gale, Boise, Idaho, on behalf of the 
Association of National Park Rangers.
  Subcommittee will meet again on Thursday, April 30.
INDOOR AIR QUALITY
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded hearings 
to examine issues relating to indoor air quality, focusing on the 
health effects of second-hand smoke in the workplace and in homes, and 
related provisions of the proposed tobacco settlement between State 
Attorneys General and the tobacco industry, after receiving testimony 
from Carol M. Browner, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency; 
Michael P. Eriksen, Director, Office on Smoking and Health, National 
Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human 
Services; Kansas Attorney General Carla J. Stovall, Topeka; Gregory N. 
Connolly, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston; Alfred 
Munzer, Washington Adventist Hospital, Takoma Park, Maryland, on behalf 
of the American Lung Association; Robert K. Lemons, Building Owners and 
Managers Association of Boston, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Michael 
Sternberg, Sam & Harry's Restaurants, Washington, D.C., on behalf of 
the National Restaurant Association.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  H.R. 1836, to amend chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code, to 
improve administration of sanctions against unfit health care providers 
under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, with an amendment;

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  S. 1642, to improve the effectiveness and performance of Federal 
financial assistance programs, simplify Federal financial assistance 
application and reporting requirements, and improve the delivery of 
services to the public;
  H.R. 2766, to designate the United States Post Office located at 215 
East Jackson Street in Painesville, Ohio, as the ``Karl Bernal Post 
Office Building'';
  H.R. 2773, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 3750 North Kedzie Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, as 
the ``Daniel J. Doffyn Post Office Building'';
  S. 1886, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 3750 North Kedzie Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, as 
the ``Daniel J. Doffyn Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 2836, to designate the building of the United States Postal 
Service located at 180 East Kellogg Boulevard in Saint Paul, Minnesota, 
as the ``Eugene J. McCarthy Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 3120, A bill to designate the United States Post Office located 
at 95 West 100 South Street in Provo, Utah, as the ``Howard C. Nielson 
Post Office Building''; and
  The nominations of Elaine D. Kaplan, of the District of Columbia, to 
be Special Counsel, Office of Special Counsel, Ruth Y. Goldway, of 
California, to be a Commissioner of the Postal Rate Commission, and 
Melvin R. Wright, to be an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the 
District of Columbia.
  Prior to this action, committee concluded hearings on the nomination 
of Mr. Wright (listed above), after the nominee testified and answered 
questions in his own behalf.
YEAR 2000 CONVERSION
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee concluded hearings to 
examine Federal agencies' efforts to successfully convert computer 
systems for the Year 2000, focusing on the progress of strategies being 
implemented to avoid major computer disruptions, after receiving 
testimony from John A. Koskinen, Chair, President's Council on the Year 
2000 Conversion; Kevin L. Thurm, Deputy Secretary of Health and Human 
Services; and Mortimer L. Downey, Deputy Secretary of Transportation.
AIRLINE HUB PRACTICES
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights, 
and Competition concluded hearings to examine the state of competition 
in the domestic aviation industry, focusing on whether airline hubs 
produce competitive benefits or impose monopoly prices on the public, 
after receiving testimony from Richard B. Hirst, Northwest Airlines, 
Inc., St. Paul, Minnesota; Steven A. Morrison, Northeastern University, 
Boston, Massachusetts; Cyril D. Murphy, United Airlines, Inc., Chicago, 
Illinois; Robert J. Spane, Vanguard Airlines, Mission, Missouri; and 
Kevin C. Stamper, Pro Air, Inc., Detroit, Michigan.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following business items:
  S. 1882, authorizing funds for fiscal year 1999 for programs of the 
Higher Education Act, with amendments;
  S. 1754, to consolidate and authorize funds for health professions 
and minority and disadvantaged health professions and disadvantaged 
health education programs, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute; and
  The nominations of Rebecca T. Bingham, of Kentucky, and Martha B. 
Gould, of Nevada, each to be a Member of the National Commission on 
Libraries and Information Science, Scott Snyder Fleming, of Virginia, 
to be Assistant Secretary of Education for Legislation and 
Congressional Affairs; and Cherryl T. Thomas, of Illinois, to be a 
Member of the Railroad Retirement Board.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. 1279, to provide for the transfer of services and personnel from 
the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Office of Self-Governance of the 
Department of the Interior, and to emphasize the need for job creation 
on Indian reservations, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 1797, to reduce tobacco use by Native Americans and to make the 
proposed tobacco settlement applicable to tobacco-related activities on 
Indian lands, with amendments; and
  The nomination of Katherine L. Archuleta, of Colorado, to be a Member 
of the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts 
Development.
INDIAN GAMING REGULATORY IMPROVEMENT ACT
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee held hearings on S. 1870, to 
provide the National Indian Gaming Commission with resources to monitor 
and regulate certain Indian gaming operations, receiving testimony from 
Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs; 
Mayor Art Madrid, La Mesa, California; Tadd M. Johnson, National Indian 
Gaming Commission, Raymond C. Scheppach, National Governors' 
Association, and W. Ron Allen,

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National Congress of American Indians, all of Washington, D.C.; Deborah 
Doxtator, Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, Oneida; and Daniel 
Tucker, California Nations Indian Gaming Association, Sacramento.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.