[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 106 (Friday, July 31, 1998)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D882-D883]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded 
hearings on the nominations of Charles R. Rawls, of North Carolina, to 
be General Counsel, and Keith C. Kelly, of Arizona, to be a Member of 
the Board of Directors of the Commodity Credit Corporation, both of the 
Department of Agriculture; and James E. Newsome, of Mississippi, and 
Barbara Pedersen Holum, of Maryland, both to be Commissioners of the 
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, after the nominees testified and 
answered questions in their own behalf. Mr. Rawls was introduced by 
Senator Faircloth, Mr. Newsome was introduced by Senators Lott and 
Cochran, and Mr. Kelly was introduced by Senators Burns and Baucus.
MANDATORY ARBITRATION AGREEMENTS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded 
oversight hearings to examine issues relating to mandatory, binding 
arbitration of employment disputes in the securities industry, and 
proposed legislation to ensure that an employer cannot use their 
superior bargaining power to coerce their employees to capitulate to an 
agreement which diminishes their civil rights protections, after 
receiving testimony from Senator Feingold; Representative Markey; Isaac 
C. Hunt, Jr., Commissioner, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; 
Linda D. Fienberg, National Association of Securities Dealers, Stuart 
J. Kaswell, Securities Industry Association, and Elizabeth Toledo, 
National Organization for Women, all of Washington, D.C.; Robert E. 
Meade, American Arbitration Association, and Samuel Estreicher, New 
York University School of Law, both of New York, New York; and Cliff 
Palefsky, McGuinn, Hillsman & Palefsky, San Francisco, California, on 
behalf of the National Employment Lawyers' Association.
PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee held hearings to examine the 
moral, ethical, and medical implications of physician assisted suicide, 
and S. 2151, to clarify Federal law to prohibit the dispensing or 
distribution of a controlled substance for the purpose of causing, or 
assisting in causing, the suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing of any 
individual, focusing on the use of controlled substances and the 
Federal Government's role in the practice of medicine, receiving 
testimony from Senators Nickles, Wyden, and Gordon Smith; Joseph N. 
Onek, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General, and Thomas A. 
Constantine, Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration, both of 
the Department of Justice; Ralph P. Miech, Brown University School of 
Medicine, Providence, Rhode Island; Joanne Lynn, Americans for Better 
Care of the Dying, Washington, D.C., on behalf of the American 
Geriatrics Society; Walter R. Hunter, Hospice of Michigan, Southfield; 
Harold C. Sox, Jr., Lebanon, New Hampshire, on behalf of the American 
College of Physicians/American Society of Internal Medicine; Andrew I. 
Batavia, Florida International University, North Miami; and Gayle 
Hafner, Not Dead Yet, Texas, Maryland.
  Hearings were recessed subject to call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: On Thursday, July 30, committee 
ordered favorably reported S. 2213, to allow all States to participate 
in activities under the Education Flexibility Partnership

[[Page D883]]

Demonstration Act, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Special Committee on the year 2000 Technology Problem: Committee held 
hearings to examine issues relating to the Year 2000 technology problem 
confronting the telecommunications industry, receiving testimony from 
Michael K. Powell, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission; 
John S. Edwards, Member, President's National Security 
Telecommunications Advisory Committee; D. Diane Fountaine, Deputy 
Manager, National Communications System; Judith List, Bellcore, 
Morristown, New Jersey; Joseph Castellano, Bell Atlantic Corporation, 
New York, New York; A. Gerard Roth, GTE Corp., on behalf of the 
TelcoYear 2000 Forum, and Ramu Potarazu, INTELSAT, both of Washington, 
D.C.; and Gary J. Beach, CIO Magazine, Framingham, Massachusetts.
  Committee recessed subject to call.