[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 118 (Thursday, September 28, 2000)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D994-D996]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
U.S. IRAQ POLICY
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded hearings to examine 
issues relating to the United States policy toward Iraq, including 
Iraq's development of weapons of mass destruction, and the forging of a 
consensus in the Security Council on enforcing arms control in Iraq, 
after receiving testimony from Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, USMC (Ret), 
former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Central Command; Richard Butler, 
Diplomat-in-Residence, Council on Foreign Relations; and Richard N. 
Perle, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C.
SEC AUDITOR INDEPENDENCE PROPOSAL
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Securities held hearings on a Securities and Exchange Commission 
proposal to promulgate agency regulations which restrict certain types 
of non-audit services that independent public accountants may provide 
to their audit clients, receiving testimony from Arthur Levitt, 
Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission; Barry C. Melancon, 
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and John H. Biggs, 
TIAA-CREF, both of New York, New York; Shaun F. O'Malley, Public 
Oversight Board Panel on Audit Effectiveness, Stamford, Connecticut; 
and Philip B. Livingston, Financial Executives Institute, Morristown, 
New Jersey.
  Hearings recessed subject to call.
NUCLEAR WASTE LITIGATION
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded hearings 
to examine the impacts of recent United States Federal Circuit Court of 
Appeals decisions regarding the Federal government's breach of contract 
for failure to accept high level nuclear waste by January 1998, 
including a related measure S. 1287, to provide for the storage of 
spent nuclear fuel pending completion of the nuclear waste repository, 
after receiving testimony from Ivan Itkin, Director, Office of Civilian 
Radioactive Waste Management, and Marc Johnston, Deputy General Counsel 
for Litigation, both of the Department of Energy; Lauren McDonald, 
Georgia Public Service Commission, Atlanta, on behalf of the North 
American Regulatory Utility Commission; Russell A. Mellor, Yankee 
Atomic Electric Company/Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company, 
Auburn, Massachusetts; John W. Rowe, Unicom Corporation and 
Commonwealth Edison, Chicago, Illinois; David Sparby, Xcel Energy Inc., 
Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Thomas A. Schatz, Citizens Against 
Government Waste, and Marvin Fertel, Nuclear Energy Institute, both of 
Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following bills:
  H.R. 2496, to reauthorize the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and 
Design Program Act of 1994;
  H.R. 4320, to assist in the conservation of great apes by supporting 
and providing financial resources for the conservation programs of 
countries within the range of great apes and projects of persons with 
demonstrated expertise in the conservation of great apes;
  H.R. 3671, to amend the Acts popularly known as the Pittman-Robertson 
Wildlife Restoration Act and the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration 
Act to enhance the funds available for grants to States for fish and 
wildlife conservation projects and increase opportunities for 
recreational hunting, bow hunting, trapping, archery, and fishing, by 
eliminating opportunities for waste, fraud, abuse, maladministration, 
and unauthorized expenditures for administration and execution of those 
Acts, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 4286, to provide for the establishment of the Cahaba River 
National Wildlife Refuge in Bibb County, Alabama;
  H.R. 3292, to provide for the establishment of the Cat Island 
National Wildlife Refuge in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana with 
amendments;
  H.R. 4318, to establish the Red River National Wildlife Refuge;
  H.R. 4435, to clarify certain boundaries on the map relating to Unit 
NC01 of the Coastal Barrier Resources System;
  H.R. 34, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to make technical 
corrections to a map relating to the Coastal Barrier Resources System, 
with amendments;
  H.R. 1162, to designate the bridge on United States Route 231 that 
crosses the Ohio River between Maceo, Kentucky, and Rockport, Indiana, 
as the ``William H. Natcher Bridge'';
  H.R. 1605, to designate the Federal building and United States 
courthouse located at 402 North Walnut Street in Harrison,Arkansas, as 
the ``J. Smith Henley Federal Building and United States Courthouse''; 
and

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  H.R. 4806, to designate the Federal building located at 1710 Alabama 
Avenue in Jasper, Alabama, as the ``Carl Elliott Federal Building''.
FEDERAL PROTECTIVE SERVICE REFORM ACT
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Subcommittee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure concluded hearings on H.R. 809, to 
amend the Act of June 1, 1948, to provide for reform of the Federal 
Protective Service, after receiving testimony from Representative 
Traficant; Robert A. Peck, Commissioner, Public Buildings, Service, and 
Joel S. Gallay, Deputy Inspector General, both of the General Services 
Administration; Jane R. Roth, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third 
Circuit, Wilmington, Delaware, on behalf of the Judicial Conference of 
the United States; and Steven Bellew, Federal Protective Service 
Police, Dallas, Texas, on behalf of the Fraternal Order of Police 
Federal Protective Service Labor Committee.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Finance: Committee ordered favorably reported H.R. 4844, 
to modernize the financing of the railroad retirement system and to 
provide enhanced benefits to employees and beneficiaries, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute.
WORLDWIDE SLAVERY
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded hearings to examine 
the extent of slavery-like practices throughout the world and 
international efforts to end slavery, after receiving testimony from 
Charles Jacobs and Francis Bok, both of Boston, Massachusetts, Moctar 
Teyeb, Bronx, New York, and Barbara Vogel, Charles Hayes, Kristen 
Young, Nicole Cimino, Stacy Caruso, and Dong Hyan Cho, all of Highline 
Community School, Aurora, Colorado, all on behalf of the American Anti-
Slavery Group; Kevin Bales, University of Surrey-Roehampton, London, 
England; and Jean-Robert Cadet, Restavec Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio.
KYOTO PROTOCOL
Committee on Foreign Relations/Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources: Committees concluded joint hearings to examine issues 
relating to the upcoming Sixth Conference of the Parties to the United 
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), focusing on 
the status of the three years old Kyoto Protocol, designed to limit 
emissions of greenhouse gases, after receiving testimony from Frank E. 
Loy, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. 1898, to provide protection against the risks to the public that 
are inherent in the interstate transportation of violent prisoners, 
with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 2442, to provide for the preparation of a Government report 
detailing injustices suffered by Italian Americans during World War II, 
and a formal acknowledgement of such injustices by the President, with 
amendments;
  S. 2915, to make improvements in the operation and administration of 
the Federal courts, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2924, to strengthen the enforcement of Federal statutes relating 
to false identification, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute; and
  The nomination of Loretta E. Lynch, of New York, to be United States 
Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
AGRICULTURAL COMPETITION
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights, 
and Competition concluded hearings to examine issues related to 
competition and mergers in the agricultural industry, and related 
proposals, including S. 2252, to provide for the review of agriculture 
mergers and acquisitions by the Department of Agriculture and to outlaw 
unfair practices in the Agriculture industry, after receiving testimony 
from Senator Daschle; Daniel Glickman, Secretary of Agriculture; John 
M. Nannes, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, 
Department of Justice; Robert B. Gibbs, Holmes County, Ohio on behalf 
of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation; J. Patrick Boyle, American Meat 
Institute, Arlington, Virginia; Leland Swenson, National Farmers Union, 
Washington, D.C.; Luther G. Tweeten, Ohio State University Department 
of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, Columbus; 
and Peter C. Carstensen, University of Wisconsin Law School, Madison.
NURSING HOME INITIATIVE
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded hearings to review the 
Health Care Financing Administration implementation of the Nursing Home 
Initiative, launched two years ago, designed to improve enforcement of 
the standards of care for nursing home residents required by the 
Nursing Home Reform Act, after receiving testimony from William J. 
Scanlon, Director, Health Financing and Public Health Issues, Health, 
Education, and Human Services Division, General Accounting Office; 
Michael Hash, Deputy Administrator, Health Care Financing

[[Page D996]]

Administration, Department of Health and Human Services; Claire C. 
McCaskill, Office of the Missouri State Auditor, Jefferson City, and 
Carol Benner, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 
Catonsville, on behalf of the Association of Health Facility Survey 
Agencies.