[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 102 (Wednesday, September 6, 2000)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D861-D862]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
FIRESTONE TIRE RECALL
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Transportation held 
oversight hearings to examine issues surrounding the investigation and 
recall of Firestone ATX, ATX II, and Wilderness AT tires and Ford 
Explorer rollovers, receiving testimony from Sue Bailey, Administrator, 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Department of 
Transportation; Masatoshi Ono and Gary Crigger, both of Bridgestone/
Firestone, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee; Helen Petrauskas, Ford Motor 
Company, Dearborn, Michigan; and Joan Claybrook, Public Citizen, and 
David Pittle, Consumers Union, both of Washington, D.C.
  Hearings recessed subject to call.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded hearings on the 
nominations of Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, USMC, for appointment to the grade 
of general and to be Commander-in-Chief, United States Southern 
Command, Lt. Gen. Charles R. Holland, USAF, for appointment to the 
grade of general and to be Commander-in-Chief, United States Special 
Operations Command, and Maj. Gen. Robert B. Flowers, USA, for 
appointment to the grade of lieutenant general and to be the Chief of 
Engineers, United States Army, after the nominees testified and 
answered questions in their own behalf. Lt. Gen. Holland was introduced 
by Senator Byrd.
MEDICAID UPPER PAYMENT LIMITS
Committee on Finance: Committee held oversight hearings to examine 
alleged States' practices of setting the maximum rates that can be paid 
to Medicaid providers, known as upper payment limits, to obtain 
excessive Federal matching funds at the expense of the other States and 
contrary to the intent of the program, receiving testimony from Michael 
F. Mangano, Principal Deputy Inspector General, and Timothy 
Westmoreland, Director, Center for Medicaid and State Operations, 
Health Care Financing Administration, both of the Department of Health 
and Human Services; and Kathryn G. Allen, Associate Director, Health 
Financing and Public Health Issues, Health, Education, and Human 
Services Division, General Accounting Office.
  Hearings recessed subject to call.
TAIWAN ACCESSION TO THE WTO
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee held hearings to examine 
issues relating to the proposed accession of the Peoples Republic of 
China and the Republic of China on Taiwan to the World Trade 
Organization, receiving testimony from Senator Kyl; and John R. Bolton, 
American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C., former Assistant 
Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs.
  Hearings recessed subject to call.
ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE AND PRIVACY
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded hearings to examine the 
effect that new surveillance technologies is having on the important 
public policy balance between personal privacy rights and law 
enforcement in the digital age, focusing on the FBI Carnivore system, 
after receiving testimony from Donald M. Kerr, Assistant Director, and 
Larry R. Parkinson, General Counsel, both of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation, and Kevin V. Di Gregory, Deputy Assistant Attorney 
General, Criminal Division, and Martha Stansell-Gamm, Chief, Computer

[[Page D862]]

Crimes and Intellectual Property, all of the Department of Justice; 
James X. Dempsey, Center for Democracy and Technology, and Jeffrey 
Rosen, George Washington University Law School, both of Washington, 
D.C.; Michael O'Neill, George Mason University Law School, Fairfax, 
Virginia; and Vinton G. Cerf, Internet Society, Reston, Virginia.
CAMERAS AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN COURTROOM
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight 
and the Courts concluded hearings on S. 721, to allow media coverage of 
court proceedings, after receiving testimony from Edward R. Becker, 
Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, on 
behalf of the Judicial Conference of the United States; Nancy Gertner, 
United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts; Hiller 
B. Zobel, Associate Justice, Superior Court Department, Massachusetts 
Trial Court; Lynn D. Wardle, Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark 
Law School, Provo, Utah; David Busiek, KCCI-TV, Des Moines, Iowa, on 
behalf of the Radio-Television News Directors Association; and Ronald 
L. Goldfarb, Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. 611, to provide for administrative procedures to extend Federal 
recognition to certain Indian groups, with an amendment in the nature 
of a substitute; and
  S. 2282, to encourage the efficient use of existing resources and 
assets related to Indian agricultural research, development and exports 
within the United States Department of Agriculture, with an amendment 
in the nature of a substitute.
INDIAN SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded hearings on S. 2580, 
to provide for the issuance of bonds to provide funding for the 
construction of schools of the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the 
Department of the Interior, after receiving testimony from William 
Mehojah, Director, Office of Indian Education Programs, Bureau of 
Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior; John W. Cheek, National 
Indian Education Association, Alexandria, Virginia; Jeffrey Seidel, 
Parkway Muni Resources, Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Frank D. Rapp, 
Dakota Area Consortium of Treaty Schools, Buffalo Gap, South Dakota.