[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 100 (Thursday, July 23, 1998)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D824-D827]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded hearings on the 
nominations of Patrick T. Henry, of Virginia, to be Assistant Secretary 
of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Carolyn H. Becraft, of 
Virginia, to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and 
Reserve Affairs, and Ruby Butler DeMesme, of Virginia, to be Assistant 
Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower, Reserve Affairs, Installations 
and Environment, after the nominees testified and answered questions in 
their own behalf. Ms. DeMesme was introduced by Senator Glenn.
SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded hearings to examine long-
term economic and budgetary effects of Social Security reform, after 
receiving testimony from Martin S. Feldstein, Harvard University, 
Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Rudolph G. Penner, Urban Institute, and 
Henry J. Aaron, Brookings Institution, both of Washington, D.C.
BOXING REFORM
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
hearings on S. 2238, to reform unfair and anticompetitive practices in 
the professional boxing industry, after receiving testimony from James 
Nave and Marc Ratner, both of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and 
Eddie Futch, all of Las Vegas, Nevada; Larry Hazard, New Jersey

[[Page D825]]

State Athletic Control Board, Trenton; Walter R. Stone, Adler, Pollock 
& Sheehan, Providence, Rhode Island, on behalf of the International 
Boxing Federation; and Jose Sulaiman, World Boxing Council, Colonia 
Juarez, Mexico.
ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE RESOURCES
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded 
oversight hearings to review the process and the results of the recent 
United States Geological Survey assessment of oil and gas resources for 
onshore areas of Federal lands, in State of Alaska waters, and on 
private Native lands within the boundaries of the Arctic National 
Wildlife Refuge 1002 Area, after receiving testimony from Thomas J. 
Casadevall, Acting-Director, and Kenneth J. Bird and David W. 
Houseknecht, both Geologists, all of the U.S. Geological Survey, 
Department of the Interior; and Kenneth A. Boyd, Alaska Department of 
Natural Resources, Anchorage.
LAND EXCHANGE/HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks, Historic Preservation, and Recreation concluded hearings on the 
following bills:
  S. 2109, to authorize an exchange of lands in Glacier Bay National 
Park and Preserve in Alaska, after receiving testimony from Richard 
Levitt, Gustavus Electric Company, Gustavus, Alaska;
  S. 2257 and H.R. 1522, bills authorizing funds through fiscal year 
2004 for the National Historic Preservation Fund, after receiving 
testimony from Virginia State Historic Preservation Officer H. 
Alexander Wise, Jr., Richmond, on behalf of the National Conference of 
State Historic Preservation Officers; and Edward M. Norton, Jr., 
National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Susan West Montgomery, 
Preservation Action, both of Washington, D.C.
  S. 2276, to designate El Camino Real de los Tejas as a National 
Historic Trail, after receiving testimony from Thomas H. Eubanks, 
Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, Baton Rouge; 
and
  S. 2284, to establish the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in 
the State of South Dakota, after receiving testimony from Tim J. Pavek, 
Minuteman II Deactivation Program, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South 
Dakota.
  Testimony was also received on S. 2109, S. 2257, H.R. 1522, S. 2276, 
and S. 2284 (all listed above), and S. 2272, to amend the boundaries of 
the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in the State of Montana 
from Maureen Finnerty, Associate Director, Operations, National Park 
Service, Department of the Interior.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee continued markup 
of S. 2131, to provide 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, but did not complete action thereon, and will meet 
again on Wednesday, July 29.
FEMA REFORM
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Subcommittee on Clean Air, 
Wetlands, Private Property, and Nuclear Safety concluded hearings on 
proposals to reform the Federal Emergency Management Agency, after 
receiving testimony from James L. Witt, Director, Federal Emergency 
Management Agency; Mayor Hal Daub, Omaha, Nebraska, on behalf of the 
National League of Cities; Joseph F. Myers, Florida Division of 
Emergency Management, Tallahassee, on behalf of the National Emergency 
Management Association; Albert Ashwood, Oklahoma Department of 
Emergency Management, Oklahoma City; and Dan Summers, New Hanover 
County Department of Emergency Management, Wilmington, North Carolina.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. Con. Res. 82, expressing the sense of Congress concerning the 
worldwide trafficking of persons, that has a disproportionate impact on 
women and girls, and is condemned by the international community as a 
violation of fundamental human rights, with amendments;
  S. Con. Res. 103, expressing the sense of the Congress in support of 
the recommendations of the International Commission of Jurists on Tibet 
and on United States policy with regard to Tibet, with amendments;
  An original bill to provide authorities with respect to the transfer 
of excess defense articles and the transfer of naval vessels under the 
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act;
  S.J. Res. 54, finding the Government of Iraq in unacceptable and 
material breach of its international obligations, with an amendment;
  The Amended Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the use of 
Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices (Protocol II or the amended Mines 
Protocol). (Protocols to the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or 
Restrictions on the use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be 
Deemed to be Excessively

[[Page D826]]

Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects) (Treaty Doc. 105-1), with 
1 reservation, 9 understandings, and 14 conditions; and
  The nominations of David G. Carpenter, of Virginia, for the rank of 
Ambassador while serving as Director of the Office of Foreign Missions, 
and to be Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, John 
Bruce Craig, of Pennsylvania, to be Ambassador to the Sultanate of 
Oman, Bert T. Edwards, of Maryland, to be Chief Financial Officer, 
Department of State, Richard E. Hecklinger, of Virginia, to be 
Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand, James Howard Holmes, of 
Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia, Charles F. 
Kartman, of Virginia, for the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of 
service as Special Envoy for the Korean Peace Talks, Theodore H. 
Kattouf, of Maryland, to be Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, 
Elizabeth Davenport McKune, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the State 
of Qatar, Steven Robert Mann, of Pennsylvania, to be Ambassador to the 
Republic of Turkmenistan, William B. Milam, of California, to be 
Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Hugh Q. Parmer, of 
Texas, to be Assistant Administrator for Humanitarian Response, Agency 
for International Development, David Michael Satterfield, of Virginia, 
to be Ambassador to the Republic of Lebanon, Arthur Louis Schechter, of 
Texas, to be Ambassador to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, Jonathan H. 
Spalter, of the District of Columbia, to be an Associate Director 
(Bureau of Information), United States Information Agency, Richard 
Nelson Swett, of New Hampshire, to be Ambassador to Denmark, Melissa 
Foelsch Wells, of Connecticut, to be Ambassador to the Republic of 
Estonia, Mary Beth West, of the District of Columbia, for the rank of 
Ambassador during her tenure of service as Deputy Assistant Secretary 
of State for Oceans, Fisheries and Space, and two Foreign Service 
Officer promotion lists received by the Senate on June 18, 1998 and 
July 15, 1998, respectively.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded hearings on the 
nominations of Robert C. Felder, of Florida, to be Ambassador to the 
Republic of Benin, James Vela Ledesma, of California, to be Ambassador 
to the Gabonese Republic and to serve concurrently and without 
additional compensation as Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Sao 
Tome and Principe, Joseph H. Melrose Jr., of Pennsylvania, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Sierra Leone, George Mu, of California, 
to be Ambassador to the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire, Robert Cephas Perry, 
of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Central African Republic, Joseph 
Gerard Sullivan, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Republic of 
Angola, William Lacy Swing, of North Carolina, to be Ambassador to the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kathryn Dee Robinson, of Tennessee, 
to be Ambassador to the Republic of Ghana, George McDade Staples, of 
Kentucky, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Rwanda, and John Melvin 
Yates, of Washington, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Cameroon, 
after the nominees testified and answered questions in their own 
behalf. Mr. Sullivan was introduced by Representative Ballenger, Ms. 
Robinson was introduced by Senator Frist, and Mr. Yates was introduced 
by Senator Moynihan.
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on International 
Operations concluded hearings to examine whether a proposed United 
Nations international criminal court is in the national interest of the 
United States, afterreceiving testimony from David J. Scheffer, 
Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, Department of State; and 
John R. Bolton, American Enterprise Institute, former Assistant 
Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, and Lee A. 
Casey and David B. Rivkin, Jr., both of Hunton & Williams, all of 
Washington, D.C.
TELEPHONE CRAMMING
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Permanent Subcommittee on 
Investigations concluded hearings to examine incidents of the 
fraudulent practice of telephone cramming, the billing of unauthorized 
services on a consumer's telephone bill, after receiving testimony from 
Lawrence E. Strickling, Deputy Chief, Common Carrier Bureau, Federal 
Communications Commission; Eileen Harrington, Associate Director for 
Marketing Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade 
Commission; Susan Grant, National Consumers League, Washington, D.C.; 
and Roy M. Neel, United States Telephone Association.
SOFTWARE INDUSTRY
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded hearings to examine the 
current status of, and prospects for, competition and innovation in 
certain segments of the software industry, focusing on the future 
direction of business and Internet-related software and the extent to 
which competition and innovation may be suppressed by existing and/or 
potential monopoly power, and what basic principles of fair competition 
are necessary to facilitate continued growth and innovation in the 
software industry, after receiving testimony from Robert Glaser, Real 
Networks, Seattle, Washington; Lawrence J. Ellison, Oracle Corporation, 
Redwood Shores, California; Mitchell Kertzman, Sybase Inc., Emeryville, 
California;

[[Page D827]]

Jeffrey Papows, Lotus Development Corporation, Cambridge, 
Massachusetts; and Michael Jeffress, Television Host, Inc., Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Committee concluded hearings on 
the nominations of Ida L. Castro, of New York, and Paul M. Igasaki, of 
California, each to be a Member of the Equal Employment Opportunity 
Commission, after the nominees testified and answered questions in 
their own behalf. Ms. Castro was introduced by Senator D'Amato.
MEDICAL INDUSTRY Y2K COMPLIANCE
Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem: Committee 
concluded hearings to examine the potential impact of the Year 2000 
technology information problem on the medical industry, focusing on the 
health industry's progress in preparing for Y2K, and its effect on data 
systems holding medical records and payment systems, medical devices 
for diagnostic testing, and patient monitors and life support systems, 
after receiving testimony from Kenneth W. Kizer, Under Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs for Health; Kevin L. Thurm, Deputy Secretary, Michael 
A. Friedman, Acting Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration, and 
Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, Administrator, Health Care Financing 
Administration, all of the Department of Health and Human Services; 
Daniel S. Nutkis, Odin Group, Nashville, Tennessee; Jennifer Jackson, 
Connecticut Hospital Association, Hartford, on behalf of the American 
Hospital Association; Donald J. Palmisano, New Orleans, Louisiana, on 
behalf of the American Medical Association; Ramin Mojdeh, Guidant 
Corporation, Indianapolis, Indiana, on behalf of the Health Industry 
Manufacturers Association; Gil R. Glover, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of 
Texas, Dallas, on behalf of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association; and 
Joel Ackerman, Rx2000 Solutions Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota.