[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 83 (Tuesday, June 23, 1998)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D685-D686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS--COMMERCE/JUSTICE/STATE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, 
and the Judiciary approved for full committee consideration an original 
bill making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, 
and State, the Judiciary, and related agencies programs for the fiscal 
year ending September 30, 1999.
APPROPRIATIONS--INTERIOR
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Interior and Related 
Agencies approved for full committee consideration an original bill 
making appropriations for the Department of the Interior and related 
agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30,1999.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded hearings on the 
nominations of Gen. Richard B. Myers, USAF, to be Commander-in-Chief, 
United States Space Command, Vice Adm. Richard W. Mies, USN, to be 
Commander-in-Chief, United States Strategic Command, and Lt. Gen. 
Charles T. Robertson, Jr., USAF, to be Commander-in-Chief, United 
States Transportation Command and Commander, Air Mobility Command, 
after the nominees testified and answered questions in their own 
behalf.
PUERTO RICO
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded 
oversight hearings to examine certain implications with regard to the 
future of Puerto Rico's political status should that country choose 
independence from the United States and become a sovereign nation, 
including the status of United States citizenship of persons born in 
and residing in Puerto Rico, and trade and tariff implications, after 
receiving testimony from Johnny H. Gillian, Senior Specialist, American 
Constitutional Law, Congressional Research Service, Library of 
Congress; Richard L. Thornburgh, Kirkpatrick and Lockhart, former 
United States Attorney General, and Gregory T. Nojeim, American Civil 
Liberties Union, both of Washington, D.C.; and Manuel Rodriguez-
Orellana, Puerto Rican Independence Party, Emilio Soler Mari, Accion 
Democratica Puertorriquena, Luis Vega-Ramos, PROELA, and Juan M. Garcia 
Passalacqua all of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Subcommittee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure concluded hearings on S. 2131, to 
authorize funds for the conservation and development of water and 
related resources, and to authorize the Secretary of the Army to 
construct various projects for improvements to rivers and harbors of 
the United States, after receiving testimony from Joseph W. Westphal, 
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works; Michael Davis, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works; Maj. Gen. Russell L. 
Fuhrman, Director of Civil Works for the Army Corps of Engineers; Mayor 
Kenneth E. Pringle, Borough of Belmar, New Jersey; Councilwoman Louisa 
M. Strayhorn, City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, on behalf of the 
Kempsville Borough; Grover Fugate, Rhode Island Coastal Resources 
Management Council, Wakefield; Kurt J. Nagle, American Association of 
Port Authorities, Alexandria, Virginia; Scott C. Faber, American 
Rivers, Washington, D.C.; and Stephen H. Higgins, Broward County 
Department of Natural Resource Protection, Broward County, Florida, on 
behalf of the American Coastal Coalition.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. 1344, to target assistance to support the economic and political 
independence of the countries of South Caucasus and Central Asia, with 
an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. Con. Res. 97, expressing the sense of Congress concerning the 
human rights and humanitarian situation facing the women and girls of 
Afghanistan, with amendments;
  S. Res. 237, expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the 
situation in Indonesia and East Timor;
  S. Res. 240, expressing the sense of the Senate with respect to 
democracy and human rights in the Lao People's Democratic Republic, 
with amendments;
  Montreal Protocol No. 4 to Amend the Convention for the Unification 
of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air signed at 
Warsaw on October 12, 1929, as amended by the Protocol done at The 
Hague on September 8, 1955 (Ex. B, 95th Cong. 1st sess.), with one 
declaration and two provisos;
  Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in 
International Business Transactions, adopted at Paris on November 21, 
1997, by a conference held under the auspices of the Organization for 
Economic Cooperation and Development. Convention signed in Paris on 
December 17, 1997, by the United States and 32 other nations (Treaty 
Doc. 105-43), with one understanding, one declaration, and three 
provisos; and

[[Page D686]]


  The nominations of Shirley Elizabeth Barnes, of New York, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Madagascar, William Davis Clarke, of 
Maryland, to be Ambassador to the State of Eritrea, Paul L. Cejas, of 
Florida, to be Ambassador to Belgium, Jeffrey Davidow, of Virginia, to 
be Ambassador to Mexico, Vivian Lowery Derryck, of Ohio, to be 
Assistant Administrator for Africa, Agency for International 
Development, Eric S. Edelman, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the 
Republic of Finland, Nancy Halliday Ely Raphel, of the District of 
Columbia, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia, George 
Williford Boyce Haley, of Maryland, to be Ambassador to the Republic of 
The Gambia, Michael Craig Lemmon, of Florida, to be Ambassador to the 
Republic of Armenia, John O'Leary, of Maine, to be Ambassador to the 
Republic of Chile, Rudolf Vilem Perina, of California, to be Ambassador 
to the Republic of Moldova, Katherine Hubay Peterson, of California, to 
be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Lesotho, Edward L. Romero, of New 
Mexico, to be Ambassador to Spain, and to serve concurrently and 
without additional compensation as Ambassador to Andorra, Cynthia 
Perrin Schneider, of Maryland, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of the 
Netherlands, Nancy E. Soderberg, of the District of Columbia, to be 
Alternate Representative of the United States for Special Political 
Affairs in the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador, and to be 
an Alternate Representative of the United States to the Sessions of the 
General Assembly of the United Nations during her tenure of service as 
Alternate Representative of the United States for Special Political 
Affairs in the United Nations, Charles Richard Stith, of Massachusetts, 
to be Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania, Kenneth Spencer 
Yalowitz, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Georgia, and 
a Foreign Service Officer Promotion list (John M. O'Keefe) received in 
the Senate on September 3, 1997.
  Also, committee began mark up of S. Res. 238, expressing the sense of 
the Senate regarding human rights conditions in China and Tibet, but 
did not complete action thereon and recessed subject to call.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee held hearings on S. 2148, to 
protect religious liberty by extending the Religious Freedom 
Restoration Act's rule of protection to the full extent of Congress's 
statutory authority and by assisting the Courts in enforcing the free 
exercise clause of the Constitution by enacting enforcement measures 
under the 14th Amendment by requiring the government to disprove 
violations of constitutional rights, receiving testimony from Rabbi 
David Zwiebel, Agudath Israel of America, Marci A. Hamilton, Benjamin 
N. Cardozo School of Law/Yeshiva University, and Christopher L. 
Eisgruber, New York University School of Law, all of New York, New 
York; Dallin H. Oaks, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and 
Michael W. McConnell, University of Utah College of Law, both of Salt 
Lake City, Utah; Richard D. Land, Ethics and Religious Liberty 
Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Nashville, Tennessee; 
Elliot M. Mincberg, People for the American Way, Washington, D.C.; and 
Douglas Laycock, University of Texas at Austin School of Law.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.