[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 8, 2000)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D175-D177]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NATIONAL RURAL DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Subcommittee on 
Forestry, Conservation, and Rural Revitalization concluded hearings on 
issues relating to the National Rural Development Partnership and the 
State Rural Development Councils, focusing on the lack of consistency 
in funding and the lack of legislative foundation providing policy 
guidance and direction, after receiving testimony from Jill Long 
Thompson, Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development; Eugene 
A. Conti, Jr., Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Transportation 
Policy; Claude E. Fox, Administrator, Health Resources and Services 
Administration, Department of Health and Human Services; Chuck 
Fluharty, Rural Policy Research Institute, Columbia, Missouri; Mayor 
Bill Graham, Scottsburg, Indiana, on behalf of the Indiana Rural 
Development Council and National Rural Development Partnership; Tom 
Hudson, Tom Hudson Company, Moscow, Idaho, on behalf of the Idaho Rural 
Partnership; Cornelius P. Grant, North Dakota Rural Development 
Council, Bismarck; David E. Black, Pennsylvania Department of Community 
and Economic Development, Harrisburg; and Colleen Landkamer, Blue Earth 
Board of Commissioners, Mankato, Minnesota, on behalf of the National 
Association of Counties.
APPROPRIATIONS--DOD MEDICAL PROGRAMS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Defense concluded hearings 
on proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2001 for the Department of 
Defense, focusing on certain medical programs, after receiving 
testimony from Rudy de Leon, Under Secretary for Personnel and 
Readiness, and William J. Lynn III, Under Secretary (Comptroller), both 
of the Department of Defense; Adm. Donald L. Pilling, USN, Vice Chief 
of Naval Operations and Chair, Defense Medical Oversight Committee; Lt. 
Gen. Ronald R. Blanck, USA, Army Surgeon General and Commanding 
General, U.S. Army Medical Command; Vice Adm. Richard A. Nelson, USN, 
Medical Corps, Navy Surgeon General and Chief, Bureau of Medicine and 
Surgery; Lt. Gen. Paul K. Carlton, Jr., USAF, Air Force Surgeon 
General; Col. Deborah Gustke, USA, Assistant Chief, Army Nurse Corps; 
Rear Adm. Karen A. Harmeyer, USN, Deputy Director, Navy Nurse Corps, 
Reserve Component, and Director, Naval Reserve Medical Program 32; and 
Brig. Gen. Barbara C. Brannon, USAF, Director of Medical Readiness and 
Nursing Services, Office of the Air Force Surgeon General.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Airland concluded hearings 
on proposed legislation authorizing funds for fiscal year 2001 for the 
Department of Defense and the Future Years Defense Program, focusing on 
Army transformation, Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, USA, Chief of Staff, United 
States Army.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Strategic concluded 
hearings on proposed legislation authorizing funds for fiscal year 2001 
for the Department of Defense and the Future Years Defense Program, 
focusing on national security space programs, policies, and operations, 
after receiving testimony from Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart, USAF, Commander-
in-Chief, North American Aerospace Defense Command/United States Space 
Command; and Keith R. Hall, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for 
Space, and Director, National Reconnaissance Office.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following business items:
  S. 2097, to authorize loan guarantees in order to facilitate access 
to local television broadcast signals in unserved and underserved 
areas, with an amendment;
  S. 1452, to modernize the requirements under the National 
Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards of 1974 and to 
establish a balanced consensus process for the development, revision, 
and interpretation of Federal construction and safety standards for 
manufactured homes, with an amendment; and
  The nominations of Kathryn Shaw, of Pennsylvania, to be a Member of 
the Council of Economic Advisers, and Jay Johnson, of Wisconsin, to be 
Director of the Mint, Department of the Treasury.
INTERNET SECURITY
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Communications concluded hearings to examine recent hacker attacks on 
popular

[[Page D176]]

websites, and examine the coordination of federal and industry efforts 
to heighten Internet security, after receiving testimony from Eric 
Holder, Jr., Deputy Attorney General, Michael A. Vatis, Director, 
National Infrastructure Protection Center, Federal Bureau of 
Investigation, both of the Department of Justice; William Reinsch, 
Under Secretary of Commerce, Bureau of Export Administration; and 
Michael Fuhrman, Cisco Systems, Inc., San Jose, California; Paul 
Misener, Amazon.com, Seattle, Washington; and Raj Reddy, Carnegie 
Mellon University Herbert A. Simon University, Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania.
FUEL PRICES
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded 
oversight hearings to examine energy supply and demand issues relating 
to crude oil, heating oil, and transportation fuels in light of recent 
price escalations, after receiving testimony from Senators Collins, 
Snowe, Schumer, and Jeffords.
NATIONAL PARKS/PRESERVATION/RECREATION
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks, Historic Preservation, and Recreation concluded hearings on S. 
1705, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to enter into land 
exchanges to acquire from the private owner and to convey to the State 
of Idaho approximately 1,240 acres of land near the City of Rocks 
National Reserve, Idaho, S. 972, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers 
Act to improve the administration of the Lamprey River in the State of 
New Hampshire, S. 1727, to authorize for the expansion annex of the 
historic Palace of the Governors, a public history museum located, and 
relating to the history of Hispanic and Native American culture, in the 
Southwest, S. 1849, to designate segments and tributaries of White Clay 
Creek, Delaware and Pennsylvania, as a component of the National Wild 
and Scenic Rivers System, S. 1910, to amend the Act establishing 
Women's Rights National Historical Park to permit the Secretary of the 
Interior to acquire title in fee simple to the Hunt House located in 
Waterloo, New York, and H.R. 1615, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers 
Act to extend the designation of a portion of the Lamprey River in New 
Hampshire as a recreational river to include an additional river 
segment, after receiving testimony from Senators Biden, and Moynihan; 
Denis P. Galvin, Deputy Director, National Park Service, Department of 
the Interior; Paul W. Edmondson, National Trust for Historic 
Preservation, Washington, D.C.; Thomas E. Chavez, Palace of the 
Governors, and Frank V. Ortiz, both of Museum of New Mexico, and Sante 
Fe; Sam Davidson, Access Fund, Boulder Colorado; Thomas B. Williams, 
Conservation Fund, Arlington, Virginia; and Edward J. O'Donnell, 
Newark, Delaware, on behalf of the White Clay Watershed Association.
INTERNAL REVENUE CODE
Committee on Finance: Committee held hearings to examine penalty and 
interest provisions in the Internal Revenue Code, and certain 
recommendations to simplify penalty administration and reduce taxpayer 
burden, receiving testimony from Jonathan Talisman, Acting Assistant 
Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy; Lindy Paull, Chief of Staff, 
Joint Committee on Taxation; Peter L. Faber, McDermott, Will and Emery, 
New York, New York; and Kenneth J. Kies, Washington National Tax 
Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Washington, D.C.
  Hearings continue tomorrow.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. Res. 87, commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the International 
Visitors Program;
  S. Res. 263, expressing the sense of the Senate that the President 
should communicate to the members of the Organization of Petroleum 
Exporting Countries (``OPEC'') cartel and non-OPEC countries that 
participate in the cartel of crude oil producing countries, before the 
meeting of the OPEC nations in March 2000, the position of the United 
States in favor of increasing world crude oil supplies so as to achieve 
stable crude oil prices, with an amendment;
  S. Con. Res. 87, commending the Holy See for making significant 
contributions to international peace and human rights, and objecting to 
efforts to expel the Holy See from the United Nations by removing the 
Holy See's Permanent Observer status in the United Nations;
  An original executive resolution directing the return of certain 
treaties to the President; and
  The nominations of N. Cinnamon Dornsife, of the District of Columbia, 
to be United States Director of the Asian Development Bank, Alan 
Phillip Larson, of Iowa, to be United States Alternate Governor of the 
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, United States 
Alternate Governor of the Inter-American Development Bank, United 
States Alternate Governor of the African Development Bank, United 
States Alternate Governor of the African Development Fund, United 
States Alternate Governor of the Asian Development Bank, and United 
States Alternate Governor of the European Bank for Reconstruction and 
Development, Department of State, Earl Anthony Wayne, of Maryland, to 
be Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, and 
a Foreign Service Officer Promotion list received in the Senate on May 
11, 1999.

[[Page D177]]


FOREIGN ASSISTANCE BUDGET
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on International 
Operations concluded hearings on the President's proposed budget 
request for fiscal year 2001 for foreign assistance, after receiving 
testimony from Patrick F. Kennedy, Assistant Secretary of State for 
Administration; and Benjamin Nelson, Director, International Relations 
and Trade Issues, National Security and International Affairs Division, 
General Accounting Office.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee 
continued markup of S. 2, to extend programs and activities under the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, but did not complete 
action thereon, and will meet again tomorrow.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Rules and Administration: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the nominations of Danny Lee McDonald, of Oklahoma, and 
Bradley A. Smith, of Ohio, each to be a Member of the Federal Election 
Commission.
  Prior to this action, committee concluded hearings on the 
aforementioned nominations, after the nominees testified and answered 
questions in their own behalf. Mr. McDonald was introduced by Senator 
Nickles and Mr. Smith was introduced by Senator Voinovich.
HEALTH CARE IMPROVEMENT
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded hearings on the 
proposed legislation authorizing funds for programs of the Health Care 
Improvement Act, to implement Federal responsibility for the care and 
education of Indian people by improving the services and facilities of 
Federal Indian health programs and encouraging maximum participation of 
Indians in such programs, after receiving testimony from Michael H. 
Trujillo, Assistant Surgeon General and Director, Indian Health 
Service, Department of Health and Human Services; Richard Narcia, Gila 
River Indian Community, Sacaton, Arizona; Rachel A. Joseph, Lone Pine, 
California, on behalf of the National Steering Committee on the 
Reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act; H. Sally 
Smith, National Indian Health Board, and Kay Culbertson, National 
Council of Urban Indian Health, both of Denver, Colorado; and Tex G. 
Hall, Three Affiliated Tribes, Fort Berthold, North Dakota, on behalf 
of the Aberdeen Area of the Great Plains Regional Tribal Chairman's 
Association.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on 
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the 
intelligence community.
  Committee will meet again tomorrow.