[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 39 (Thursday, March 11, 1999)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D262-D266]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
FOREST SERVICE BUDGET
Committee on Agriculture: Subcommittee on Department Operations, 
Oversight, Nutrition, and Forestry held a hearing to review the Forest 
Service fiscal year 2000 Budget. Testimony was heard from 
Representatives Herger and Peterson of Pennsylvania; the following 
officials of the USDA: Michael Dombeck, Chief, Forest Service; and 
Roger C. Viadero, Inspector General; Linda M. Calbom, Director, 
Resources, Community, and Economic Development Accounting and Financial 
Management Issues, Accounting and Information Management Division, GAO; 
and public witnesses.
SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS
Committee on Appropriations: Ordered reported the Supplemental 
Appropriations for fiscal year 1999.
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, STATE, AND JUDICIARY APPROPRIATIONS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, 
and Judiciary held a hearing on the Attorney General. Testimony was 
heard from Janet Reno, Attorney General.
DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Defense held a hearing on 
fiscal year 2000 Navy/Marine Corps Budget Review. Testimony was heard 
from the following officials of the Department of the Navy: Richard 
Danzig, Secretary; Adm. Jay L. Johnson, USN, Chief of Naval Operations; 
and Gen. Charles C. Krulak, USMC, Commandant of the Marine Corps.

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ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Energy and Water 
Development held a hearing on Energy Resources and Science. Testimony 
was heard from the following officials of the Department of Energy: Dan 
Reicher, Assistant Secretary, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable 
Energy; William D. Magwood, IV, Director, Office of Nuclear Energy, 
Science and Technology; and Martha Krebs, Director, Office of Science.
FOREIGN OPERATIONS APPROPRIATIONS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export 
Financing and Related Programs held a hearing on Security Assistance. 
Testimony was heard from John D. Holum, Acting Under Secretary, Arms 
Control and International Security Affairs, Department of State; and 
James Bodner, Principal Deputy Under Secretary, Policy, Department of 
Defense.
INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Interior held a hearing on 
the Smithsonian. Testimony was heard from I. Michael Heyman, Secretary, 
Smithsonian Institution.
LABOR-HHS-EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human 
Services, and Education held a hearing on Postsecondary Education, and 
Special Institutions for the Disabled, and on Secretary of Labor. 
Testimony was heard from the following officials of the Department of 
Education: Judith E. Heumann, Assistant Secretary, Special Education 
and Rehabilitative Services; Robert R. Davila, Vice President, National 
Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology; 
and Tuck Tinsley, III, President, American Printing House for the 
Blind.
MILITARY CONSTRUCTION APPROPRIATIONS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Military Construction held 
a hearing on Navy Construction. Testimony was heard from Robert B. 
Pirie, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, (Installations and 
Environment), Department of Defense.
VA-HUD-INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent 
Agencies continued hearings on Department of Housing and Urban 
Development. Testimony was heard from Andrew M. Cuomo, Secretary of 
Housing and Urban Development.
DEFENSE BUDGET REQUESTS
Committee on Armed Services: Held a hearing on the various combatant 
commanders-in-chief (CINC's) on their geographic areas of 
responsibility and assess the impact of the fiscal year 1999 defense 
budget request on their respective missions. Testimony was heard from 
the following officials of the Department of Defense: Walter B. 
Slocome, Under Secretary (Policy) and Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, USMC, 
Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command.
DOMESTIC TERRORISM--FEDERAL RESPONSE
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Military Research and 
Development held a hearing on the federal response to domestic 
terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction--increasing the 
effectiveness of the domestic emergency preparedness program. Testimony 
was heard from the following officials of the Department of Defense: 
Charles L. Cragin, Acting Assistant Secretary, Reserve Affairs; Delores 
M. Etter, Deputy Under Secretary, Science and Technology; Raymond 
Dominguez, Deputy Assistant Secretary (Forces and Resources), Office of 
the Assistant Secretary (Special Operations and Low Intensity 
Conflict); and Major. Gen. John Doesburg, USA, Commander, U.S. Army 
Soldier and Biological Chemical Command; and Page Stoutland, Director, 
Chemical and Biological Nonproliferation Program, Department of Energy.
FINANCIAL SERVICES ACT
Committee on Banking and Financial Services: Ordered reported amended 
the Financial Services Act of 1999.
DEFENSE BUDGET
Committee on the Budget: Held a hearing on ``The Clinton Defense Plan: 
Shipshape or Treading Water?'' Testimony was heard from the following 
officials of the Department of Defense: John J. Hamre, Deputy 
Secretary; and William J. Lynn, III, Under Secretary, Comptroller; and 
public witnesses.
EXXON-MOBIL MERGER
Committee on Commerce: Subcommittee on Energy and Power concluded 
hearings on the Exxon-Mobil merger. Testimony was heard from public 
witnesses.
``DATE RAPE'' DRUGS
Committee on Commerce: Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations 
held a hearing on ``Date Rape'' Drugs. Testimony was heard from 
Representative Jackson-Lee; the following officials of the Department 
of Health and Human Services: Nicholas Reuter, Associate Director, 
Domestic and International Drug Control, Office of Health Affairs, FDA; 
and

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Stephen Zukin, M.D., Director, Clinical and Services Research, National 
Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH; the following officials of the Department 
of Justice: Terrance W. Woodworth, Deputy Director, Office of Diversion 
Control, DEA; and Patricia Maher, Civil Division; and public witnesses.
SCHOOL VIOLENCE
Committee on Education and the Workforce: Subcommittee on Early 
Childhood, Youth, and Families held a hearing on School Violence: 
Protecting our Children. Testimony was heard from Mark Rosenberg, M.D., 
Director, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human 
Services; and public witnesses.
MISCELLANEOUS MEASURES
Committee on Government Reform: Subcommittee on Census approved for 
full Committee action the following bills: H.R. 928, 2000 Census Mail 
Outreach Improvement Act; H.R. 929, 2000 Census Language Barrier 
Removal Act; H.R. 1009, to authorize the awarding of grants to cities, 
counties, tribal organizations, and certain other entities for the 
purpose of improving public participation in the 2000 decennial census; 
and H.R. 1010, to improve participation in the 2000 decennial census by 
increasing the amounts available to the Bureau of the Census for 
marketing, promotion, and outreach.
COMBATTING TERRORISM--GAO VIEWS
Committee on Government Reform: Subcommittee on National Security, 
Veterans' Affairs, and International Relations held a hearing on 
``Government-wide Spending to Combat Terrorism: GAO Views on the 
President's Annual Report''. Testimony was heard from the following 
officials of the National Security and International Affairs Division, 
GAO: Henry L. Hnton, Jr., Assistant Comptroller; and Davi M. 
D'Agostino, Assistant Director, National Security Analysis.
TIBETAN UPRISING--40TH ANNIVERSARY--DALAI LAMA'S PLIGHT
Committee on International Relations: Held a hearing on U.S. Policy 
Considerations on the Fortieth Anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising and 
the Dalai Lama's Flight into Exile. Testimony was heard from Julia V. 
Taft, Assistant Secretary, Population, Refugees, and Migration, 
Department of State; and public witnesses.
MISCELLANEOUS MEASURES
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual 
Property approved for full Committee action the following bills: H.R. 
850, Security and Freedom through Encryption (SAFE) Act; H.R. 769, 
Madrid Protocol Implementation Act; and H.R. 771, to amend rule 30 of 
the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to restore the stenographic 
preference for recording depositions; and H.R. 1027, amended, Satellite 
Television Improvement Act.
OVERSIGHT--JUVENILE JUSTICE
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Crime concluded oversight 
hearings on putting consequences back into juvenile justice, Federal, 
State, and local efforts. Testimony was heard from Representative Mike 
Lawlor, member, House of Representatives, State of Connecticut; Judge 
Patricia West, Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, Virginia 
Beach; and Judge Richard D. Taylor, Juvenile and Domestic Relations 
District Court, Richmond, both with the State of Virginia; and public 
witnesses.
OVERSIGHT--IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims also 
held an oversight hearing on the impact of immigration on low-skilled 
American workers and on American minority communities. Testimony was 
heard from public witnesses.
OVERSIGHT
Committee on Resources: Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, 
Wildlife and Oceans held a hearing on the reauthorization of the Yukon 
River Salmon Act, the Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967, and the 
Intergovernmental Consultative Committee Agreement Between the 
Government of the United States and the Government of the Union of 
Soviet Socialist Republics on Mutual Fisheries Relations of May 31, 
1988. Testimony was heard from Mary Beth West, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary, Oceans, Fisheries and Space, Department of State; Rowan 
Gould, Deputy Assistant Director, Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Department of the Interior; and Gary Matlock, Chief, 
Sustainable Fisheries Office, National Marine Fisheries Service, 
Department of Commerce.
MISCELLANEOUS MEASURES
Committee on Resources: Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands 
held a hearing on the following bills: H.R. 66, to preserve the 
cultural resources of Route 66 Corridor and to authorize the Secretary 
of the Interior to provide assistance; and H.R. 659, to authorize 
appropriations for the protection of Paoli and Brandywine Battlefields 
in Pennsylvania, to direct the National Park Service to conduct a 
special resource study of Paoli and Brandywine Battlefields, to 
authorize the Valley Forge Museum of the American Revolution at Valley 
Forge

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National Historical Park. Testimony was heard from Senator Specter; 
Representatives Wilson, Weldon of Pennsylvania, Pitts and Hoeffel; 
Katherine Stevenson, Associate Director, Cultural Resources 
Stewardship, National Parks Service, Department of the Interior; and 
public witnesses.
MISCELLANEOUS MEASURES
Committee on Resources: Subcommittee on Water and Power approved for 
full Committee action the following bills: H.R. 992, amended, to convey 
the Sly Park Dam and Reservoir to the El Dorado Irrigation District; 
H.R. 1019, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey lands and 
interests comprising the Carlsbad Irrigation Project to the Carlsbad 
Irrigation District; H.R. 841, amended, Welton-Mohawk Transfer Act; and 
H.R. 862, Clear Creek Distribution System Conveyance Act.
OVERSIGHT--BUDGET
Committee on Science: Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics held an 
oversight hearing on fiscal year 2000 Budget: Regulations and 
Operations. Testimony was heard from Keith Calhoun-Senghor, Director, 
Office of Space Commercialization, Technology Administration, 
Department of Commerce; Patti Grace Smith, Associate Administrator, 
Office of Commercial Space Transportation, FAA, Department of 
Transportation; Joseph Rothenberg, Associate Administrator, Office of 
Human Space Flight, NASA; and a public witness.
SMALL BUSINESS ADVOCACY REVIEW PANELS
Committee on Small Business: Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform and 
Paperwork Reduction and the Subcommittee on Government Programs and 
Oversight held a joint hearing on the Small Business Advocacy Review 
Panels created by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness 
Act. Testimony was heard from public witnesses.
MISCELLANEOUS MEASURES
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure: Ordered reported the 
following measures: H.R. 1000, amended, Aviation Investment and Reform 
Act for the 21st Century; H.R. 130, to designate the United States 
Courthouse located at 40 Centre Street in New York, New York, as the 
``Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse''; H.R. 751, amended, to 
designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 
504 Hamilton Street in Allentown, Pennsylvania, as the ``Edward N. Cahn 
Federal Building and United States Courthouse;'' H.R. 717, National 
Parks Air Tour Management Act of 1999; H.R. 820, amended, Coast Guard 
Authorization Act of 1999; H. Con. Res. 44, amended, authorizing the 
use of the Capitol Grounds for the 18th annual National Peace Officers' 
Memorial Service; H. Con. Res. 47, amended, authorizing the use of the 
Capitol grounds for the Greater Washington Soap Box Derby; H. Con. Res. 
48, authorizing the use of the Capitol Grounds for the opening 
ceremonies of Sunrayce 99; H. Con. Res. 49, authorizing the use of the 
Capitol Grounds for a bike rodeo to be conducted by the Earth Force 
Youth Bike Summit; H. Con. Res. 50, authorizing the 1999 District of 
Columbia Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run to be run through 
the Capitol Grounds; and H. Con. Res. 51, expressing the sense of 
Congress that Dr. Doan Viet Hoat is to be praised and honored for his 
commitment to fight for democratic change in Vietnam.
  The Committee also approved an 11(b) resolution.
MISCELLANEOUS MEASURES
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure: Subcommittee on 
Economic Development, Public Buildings, Hazardous Materials and 
Pipeline Transportation approved for full Committee action the 
following: H.R. 130, to designate the United States Courthouse located 
at 40 Centre Street in New York, New York as the ``Thurgood Marshall 
United States Courthouse;'' H.R. 751, amended, to designate the Federal 
building and United States courthouse located at 504 Hamilton Street in 
Allentown, Pennsylvania, as the ``Edward N. Cahn Federal Building and 
United States Courthouse;'' H. Con. Res. 44, amended, authorizing the 
use of the Capitol Grounds for the 18th annual National Peace Officers' 
Memorial Service; H. Con. Res. 47, amended, authorizing the use of the 
Capitol grounds for the Greater Washington Soap Box Derby; H. Con. Res. 
48, authorizing the use of the Capitol Grounds for the opening 
ceremonies of Sunrayce 99; H. Con. Res. 49, authorizing the use of the 
Capitol Grounds for a bike rodeo to be conducted by the Earth Force 
Youth Bike Summit; H. Con. Res. 50, authorizing the 1999 District of 
Columbia Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run to be run through 
the Capitol Grounds; and H. Con. Res. 51, expressing the sense of 
Congress that Dr. Doan Viet Hoat is to be praised and honored for his 
commitment to fight for democratic change in Vietnam.
  The Subcommittee also approved an 11(b) resolution.
BUDGET VIEWS AND ESTIMATES
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Approved the Committee's Budget Views 
and Estimates for fiscal year 2000 for submission to the Committee on 
the Budget.

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WHISTLEBLOWING AND RETALIATION
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Subcommittee on Oversight and 
Investigations held a hearing on whistleblowing and retaliation in the 
Department of Veterans Affairs. Testimony was heard from Elaine Kaplan, 
Special Counsel, Office of Special Counsel; the following officials of 
the Department of Veterans Affairs: Richard J. Griffin, Inspector 
General; Eugene A. Brickhouse, Assistant Secretary, Human Resources and 
Administration; and Leigh Bradley, General Counsel; and public 
witnesses.
DISABILITY BENEFICIARIES--BARRIERS PREVENTING RETURN TO WORK
Committee on Ways and Means: Subcommittee on Social Security held a 
hearing on Barriers Preventing Disability Beneficiaries from Returning 
to Work. Testimony was heard from Representatives Johnson of 
Connecticut and Ramstad; Kenneth S. Apfel, Commissioner, SSA; Cynthia 
M. Fagnoni, Director, Income Security Issues, Health, Education and 
Human Services Division, GAO; and public witnesses.
BRIEFING--COX/DICKS COMMITTEE FINDINGS
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence: Met in executive session to 
receive a briefing on Findings of the Cox/Dicks Committee. The 
Committee was briefed by Representatives Cox and Dicks.

Joint Meetings
BANKRUPTCY REFORM
  Joint Meeting: Senate Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee on 
Administrative Oversight and the Courts concluded joint hearings with 
the House Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee on Commercial and 
Administrative Law on bankruptcy reform issues, after receiving 
testimony from Dean Sheaffer, Boscov's Department Store, Inc., Laurel 
Dale, Pennsylvania, on behalf of the National Retail Federation; Bruce 
L. Hammonds, MBNA America Bank, Wilmington, Delaware; Carol J. Kenner, 
United States Bankruptcy Judge, for the District of Massachusetts, Gary 
Klein, National Consumer Law Center, and Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Law 
School, all of Boston, Massachusetts; Larry Nuss, Cedar Falls Community 
Credit Union, Cedar Falls, Iowa, on behalf of the Credit Union National 
Association, Inc.; Edith Hollan Jones, United States Court of Appeals 
Judge for the Fifth Circuit, Houston, Texas, on behalf of the National 
Bankruptcy Review Commission; Judith Greenstone Miller, Clark Hill, 
Birmingham, Michigan, on behalf of the Commercial Law League of 
America; and Todd Zywicki, George Mason University School of Law, 
Arlington, Virginia.