[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 64 (Tuesday, May 19, 1998)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D527-D528]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Energy and Water 
Development concluded hearings to examine the state of advanced nuclear 
technologies, focusing on the disposal of spent nuclear fuel from 
nuclear power reactors, the future strategic direction for nuclear 
energy and nuclear regulation, and the development of the Gas Turbine-
Modular Helium Reactor, after receiving testimony from Hank C. Jenkins-
Smith, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque; Joe F. Colvin, Jr., 
Nuclear Energy Institute, Washington, D.C.; Corbin A. McNeill, Jr., 
PECO Energy Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Richard Wilson, 
Harvard University, and Alan B. Smith, Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, both of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Stan O. Schriber, Los 
Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico; Linden Blue, 
General Atomics, San Diego, California; and Charles E. Till, Argonne 
National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois.
FCC
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Communications resumed oversight hearings to examine the Federal 
Communications Commission, focusing on activities of the Mass Media 
Bureau, receiving testimony from Roy Stewart, Chief, Mass Media Bureau, 
FCC.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
PUERTO RICO
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee held oversight 
hearings to examine fiscal and economic implications of a change in the 
political status of Puerto Rico, receiving testimony from James R. 
White, Associate Director, Tax Policy and Administration Issues, 
General Accounting Office; J. Thomas Hexner, International Institute 
for Advanced Studies, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Ivar A. Pietri, 
Peregrine Development Company, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico; and Marcos 
Rodriguez-Ema, Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico, Fernando 
Martin-Garcia, Puerto Rican Independence Party, and Santos Negron Diaz, 
Puerto Rico Development Bank, all of San Juan.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations:  Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. 1758, to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to facilitate 
protection of tropical forests through debt reduction with developing 
countries with tropical forests, with amendments;
  S. Res. 172, congratulating President Chandrika Bandaranaike 
Kumaratunga and the people of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri 
Lanka on the celebration of 50 years of independence;
  S. Res. 188, expressing the sense of the Senate regarding Israeli 
membership in a United Nations regional group;
  An original bill to amend section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act 
to require information on foreign government officials responsible for 
human rights abuses;
  S. Con. Res. 30, expressing the sense of Congress that the Republic 
of China on Taiwan should be admitted to multilateral economic 
institutions including the IMF and IBRD;
  H.R. 2232, to provide for increased international broadcasting 
activities to China, with amendments;
  The International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of 
Plants (Treaty Doc. 104-17), with 1 reservation, 2 declarations, and 1 
proviso;
  The International Grains Agreement (Treaty Doc. 105-4), with 1 
declaration and 1 proviso;
  Amendments to the Convention on the International Maritime 
Organization (Treaty Doc. 104-36), with 1 declaration and 1 proviso;
  The Trademark Law Treaty (Treaty Doc. 105-35), with 2 declarations 
and 1 proviso; and
  The nominations of William Joseph Burns, of Pennsylvania, to be 
Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Ryan Clark Crocker, of 
Washington, to be Ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic, Charles H. 
Dolan, Jr., of Virginia, to be a Member of the United States Advisory 
Commission on Public Diplomacy, and three Foreign Service Officer 
promotion lists, with an exception, received in the Senate on March 26, 
1998 and April 2, 1998.
GOVERNMENT COMPUTER SECURITY
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee held hearings to examine 
the state of computer security within Federal, State and local 
agencies, focusing on certain risks related to computer-communication 
technology and efforts to reduce them, receiving testimony from Peter 
G. Neumann, SRI International, Menlo Park, California; and 
representatives from LOpht Heavy Industries.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
TELEPHONE INDUSTRY CONSOLIDATION
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights 
and Competition concluded hearings to examine the state of competition 
in the

[[Page D528]]

telecommunications industry, focusing on how consolidation within the 
industry will affect businesses and consumers, including the impact of 
the proposed merger between Ameritech and SBC Communications, Inc., 
after receiving testimony from Edward E. Whitacre, Jr., SBC 
Communications, Inc., San Antonio, Texas; and Scott C. Cleland, Legg 
Mason Wood Walker, Inc., and Gene Kimmelman, Consumers Union, both of 
Washington, D.C.
BANKRUPTCY REFORM
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight 
and the Courts held hearings on S. 1914, to provide reforms to the 
business provisions of the bankruptcy code, focusing on Title II which 
updates and improves provisions of the bankruptcy code designed to 
ensure liquidity in financial markets, Title IV which establishes 
special fast-track bankruptcy procedures for businesses in Chapter 11 
which have less than $5 million in debt, and certain tax provisions, 
receiving testimony from Linda Ekstrom Stanley, United States Trustee 
for Region 17 (San Francisco, California), Department of Justice; Jere 
W. Glover, Chief Counsel for Advocacy, Small Business Administration; 
Roger L. Anderson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for 
Federal Finance; Philip J. Hendel, Hendel, Collins & Newton, 
Springfield, Massachusetts, on behalf of the Commercial Law League; 
Stephen H. Case, Davis, Polk & Wardwell, former Adviser, National 
Bankruptcy Review Commission, Ann Stern, Financial Guarantee Insurance 
Corporation, on behalf of the Association of Financial Guaranty 
Insurers, David Warren, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., Inc., on 
behalf of the Bond Market Association, and Kathleen J. Cahill, New York 
City Office of the Corporation Counsel, on behalf of the National 
League of Cities, all of New York, New York; Randal C. Picker, Sidley & 
Austin, on behalf of the National Bankruptcy Conference, and Illinois 
Assistant Attorney General James D. Newbold, on behalf of the National 
Association of Attorneys General, both of Chicago, Illinois; H. 
Elizabeth Baird, NationsBank, Charlotte, North Carolina, on behalf of 
the American Bankers Association; Joyce Kuhns, Weinberg & Green, 
Baltimore, Maryland, on behalf of the International Council of Shopping 
Centers; Grant W. Newton, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California; 
and Damon Silvers, AFL-CIO, Washington, D.C.
  Subcommittee recessed subject to call.
HEALTH CARE QUALITY
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Committee concluded hearings to 
examine how to implement improved health claim grievance procedures, 
focusing on the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) 
requirements regarding internal review of health benefit claims and the 
need for independent external review, and S. 1712, to improve the 
quality of health plans and provide protections for consumers enrolled 
in such plans, after receiving testimony from Olena Berg, Assistant 
Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefits; Margaret A. 
Hamburg, Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning 
and Evaluation; Bernice Steinhardt, Director, Health Services Quality 
and Public Health Issues, Health, Education, and Human Services 
Division, General Accounting Office; Maryland State Delegate Marilyn 
Goldwater, Annapolis, on behalf of the National Conference of State 
Legislatures; Stephen deMontmollin, AvMed Health Plan, Gainesville, 
Florida, on behalf of the American Association of Health Plans; Mark 
Smith, AMP Incorporated, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on behalf of the 
Corporate Health Care Coalition; Peter W. Thomas, Powers, Pyles, Sutter 
& Verville, Washington, D.C., on behalf of the Health Task Force of the 
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities; and Thomas McAfee, Brown and 
Toland Medical Group, San Francisco, California.