[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 29, 1998)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D857-D860]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
AGRICULTURE REORGANIZATION
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry: Committee concluded 
oversight hearings to examine the Department of Agriculture's progress 
in consolidating and downsizing its operations, after receiving

[[Page D858]]

testimony from Richard E. Rominger, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture; 
and Lawrence J. Dyckman, Director, Food and Agriculture Issues, 
Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division, General 
Accounting Office.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following business items:
  The nominations of Kelley S. Coyner, of Virginia, to be Administrator 
of the Research and Special Programs Administration, Department of 
Transportation, and Diane D. Blair, of Arkansas, and Ritajean H. 
Butterworth, of Washington, each to be a Member of the Board of 
Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting;
  S. 2107, to enhance electronic commerce by promoting the reliability 
and integrity of commercial transactions through establishing 
authentication standards for electronic communications, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2217, to provide for continuation of the Federal research 
investment in a fiscally sustainable way, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute. (As approved by the committee, the amendment 
authorizes funds for fiscal years 1999 through 2010.);
  S. 2120, to improve the ability of Federal agencies to license 
federally-owned inventions, with an amendment;
  S. 2119, to amend the Amateur Sports Act to strengthen provisions 
protecting the right of athletes to compete, recognize the Paralympics 
and growth of disabled sports, and improve the U.S. Olympic Committee's 
ability to resolve certain disputes, with an amendment in the nature of 
a substitute;
  S. 1802, to authorize funds for programs of the Surface 
Transportation Board, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. 
(As approved by the committee, the amendment authorizes $16,190,000 for 
fiscal year 1999.); and
  S. 2360, to authorize funds for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, with amendments. (As approved by the committee, the 
bill will authorize funds for fiscal years 1999 through 2003.)
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following business items:
  The nomination of Bill Richardson, of New Mexico, to be Secretary of 
Energy;
  S. 1978, to designate the auditorium located within the Sandia 
Technology Transfer Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as the ``Steve 
Schiff Auditorium'';
  H.R. 2493, to establish a mechanism by which the Secretary of 
Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior can provide for uniform 
management of livestock grazing on Federal lands;
  S. 1719, to direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of 
the Interior to exchange land and other assets with Big Sky Lumber Co., 
with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 3830, to provide for the exchange of certain lands within the 
State of Utah;
  H.R. 2886, to provide for a demonstration project in the Stanislaus 
National Forest, California, under which a private contractor will 
perform multiple resource management activities for that unit of the 
National Forest System, with an amendment;
  H.R. 3796, to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to convey the 
administrative site for the Rogue River National Forest and use the 
proceeds for the construction or improvement of offices and support 
buildings for the Rogue River National Forest and the Bureau of Land 
Management, with an amendment;
  H.R. 1663, to clarify the intent of the Congress in Public Law 93-632 
to require the Secretary of Agriculture to continue to provide for the 
maintenance of 18 concrete dams and weirs that were located in the 
Emigrant Wilderness at the time the wilderness area was designated as 
wilderness in that Public Law;
  S. 2087, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain 
works, facilities, and titles of the Gila Project, and designated lands 
within or adjacent to the Gila Project, to the Wellton-Mohawk 
Irrigation and Drainage District, with an amendment;
  S. 1398, to extend certain contracts between the Bureau of 
Reclamation and irrigation water contractors in Wyoming and Nebraska 
that receive water from Glendo Reservoir, with an amendment;
  S. 2171, to extend the deadline under the Federal Power Act 
applicable to the construction of a hydroelectric project in the State 
of Arkansas;
  S. 2232, to establish the Little Rock Central High School National 
Historic Site in the State of Arkansas, with an amendment in the nature 
of a substitute;
  S. 1016, to authorize funds through fiscal year 2004 for the Coastal 
Heritage Trail Route in New Jersey;
  S. 1333, to amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to 
allow national park units that cannot charge an entrance or admission 
fee to retain other fees and charges, with an amendment in the nature 
of a substitute;
  S. 2039, to designate the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, 404-mile 
trail from the Rio Grande River near El Paso, Texas, to San Juan 
Pueblo, New

[[Page D859]]

Mexico, as a component of the National Trails System;
  S. 2106, to expand the boundaries of Arches National Park, Utah, to 
include portions of certain drainages that are under the jurisdiction 
of the Bureau of Land Management, and to include a portion of Fish Seep 
Draw owned by the State of Utah, with an amendment;
  S. 2129, to eliminate restrictions on the acquisition of certain land 
contiguous to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park;
  S. 469, to designate a portion of the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord 
Rivers as a component of the National Wild and Scenic River System, 
with an amendment;
  H.R. 2186, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide 
assistance to the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in 
Casper, Wyoming;
  S. 1408, to establish the Lower East Side Tenement National Historic 
Site;
  S. 1665, to authorize funds for programs of the Delaware and Lehigh 
Navigation Canal National Heritage Corridor Act, with amendments;
  S. 1718, to amend the Weir Farm National Historic Site Establishment 
Act of 1990 to authorize the acquisition of additional acreage for the 
historic site to permit the development of visitor and administrative 
facilities and to authorize the appropriation of additional amounts for 
the acquisition of real and personal property, with an amendment;
  S. 1990, to authorize expansion of Fort Davis National Historic Site 
in Fort Davis, Texas;
  S. 2109, to provide for an exchange of lands located near Gustavus, 
Alaska, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2272, to amend the boundaries of Grant-Kohrs Ranch National 
Historic Site in the State of Montana; and
  S. 2276, to amend the National Trails System Act to designate El 
Camino Real de los Tejas as a National Historic Trail, with amendments.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following bills:
  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, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2364, to authorize funds for fiscal years 1999 through 2003 and 
make reforms to programs authorized by the Public Works and Economic 
Development Act of 1965;
  S. 2361, to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act to authorize programs for predisaster 
mitigation, to streamline the administration of disaster relief, and to 
control the Federal costs of disaster assistance, with amendments;
  S. 2359, to authorize funds for fiscal years 1999 through 2004 for 
programs of the National Environmental Education Act;
  S. 2317, to improve the National Wildlife Refuge System, with an 
amendment; and
  H.R. 3453, to designate the Federal Building and Post Office located 
at 100 East B Street, Casper, Wyoming, as the ``Dick Cheney Federal 
Building''.
WORK INCENTIVES IMPROVEMENT ACT
Committee on Finance: Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy 
held hearings on S. 1858, to amend the Social Security Act to provide 
individuals with disabilities with incentives to become economically 
self-sufficient, focusing on health care barriers that prevent citizens 
with disabilities from working, receiving testimony Senators Harkin and 
Kennedy; former Senator Dole; Cynthia M. Fagnoni, Director, Income 
Security Issues, Health, Education, and Human Services Division, 
General Accounting Office; Paul Van de Water, Assistant Director, 
Budget Analysis Division, Congressional Budget Office; T. Jeff 
Bangsberg, Becklund Home Health Care, Minneapolis, Minnesota, on behalf 
of the Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities; Allan I. 
Bergman, United Cerebral Palsy Associations, Inc., Washington, D.C.; 
Brian Irish, Burlington, Vermont; and Nancy Becker Kennedy, Los 
Angeles, California.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
SATELLITE EXPORT LICENSING
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee on International 
Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services concluded hearings to 
examine the process by which commercial communications satellites are 
licensed for launch by foreign countries, after receiving testimony 
from C. Michael Armstrong, AT&T, Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and 
Chairman, President's Export Council; and Steven D. Dorfman, Hughes 
Electronics Corporation, Arlington, Virginia.
PUNITIVE DAMAGE AWARDS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee held hearings on S. 1554, to 
provide for relief from excessive punitive damage awards in cases 
involving primarily financial loss by establishing rules for 
proportionality between the amount of punitive damages and the amount 
of economic loss, receiving testimony from Senator Lieberman; Mark E. 
Dapier, Mercury Finance Company, Lake Forest, Illinois; Timothy A.

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Lambirth, Ivanjack & Lambirth, Los Angeles, California; Peter D. 
Zeughauser, ClientFocus, Newport Beach, California; George L. Priest, 
Yale University Law School, New Haven, Connecticut; and Jeff Jinnett, 
LeBoeuf Computing Technologies, New York, New York.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
INS REFORM
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Immigration concluded 
oversight hearings to examine the structure of the law enforcement 
activities of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, after 
receiving testimony from Doris Meissner, Commissioner, and Ron Sanders, 
Chief Patrol Agent, United States Border Patrol (Tucson, Arizona), on 
behalf of the Chief Patrol Agents' Association, both of the Immigration 
and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice; and Richard J. 
Gallo, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, East Northport, 
New York.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Committee ordered favorably 
reported S. 1380, to authorize funds for titles VI and X of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act to expand the implementation of 
public charter schools, with an amendment.
  Also, committee resumed markup of S. 2213, to allow all States to 
participate in activities under the Education Flexibility Partnership 
Demonstration Act, but did not complete action thereon, and will meet 
again tomorrow.
WENDELL H. FORD GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS REFORM ACT
Committee on Rules and Administration: Committee concluded hearings on 
S. 2288, to provide for the reform and continuing legislative oversight 
of the production, procurement, dissemination, and permanent public 
access of the Government's publications, after receiving testimony from 
Michael F. DiMario, Public Printer, and George E. Lord, Chairman, Joint 
Council of GPO Unions, both of the Government Printing Office; Barbara 
J. Ford, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, on behalf of the 
American Library Association; Daniel P. O'Mahony, Brown University, 
Providence, Rhode Island, on behalf of the Inter-Association Working 
Group on Government Information Policy; Benjamin Y. Cooper, Printing 
Industries of America, Inc., Alexandria, Virginia; and Robert L. 
Oakley, Georgetown University Law Center, on behalf of the American 
Association of Law Libraries, Daniel C. Duncan, Information Industry 
Association, Patrice McDermott, OMB Watch, and William J. Boarman, 
Communications Workers of America/AFL-CIO, all of Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following bills:
  S. 1905, to provide for equitable compensation for the Cheyenne River 
Sioux Tribe, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 3069, to extend the Advisory Council on California Indian Policy 
to allow the Advisory Council one year to advise Congress on the 
implementation of its recommendations, with an amendment;
  S. 1770, to elevate the position of Director of the Indian Health 
Service to Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, and to 
provide for the organizational independence of the Indian Health 
Service within the Department of Health and Human Services, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 391, to provide for the disposition of certain funds appropriated 
to pay judgment in favor of the Mississippi Sioux Indians, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute; and
  S. 1419, to deem the activities of the Miccosukee Tribe on the 
Tamiani Indian Reserve to be consistent with the purposes of the 
Everglades National Park, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on 
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the 
intelligence community.
  Committee recessed subject to call.