[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 92 (Thursday, June 28, 2001)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D652-D655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
FEDERAL FARM BILL
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee held 
hearings to examine the context, framework, and content of the 
comprehensive federal Farm Bill reauthorization and new agriculture 
policy that can provide a more sustainable and predictable long-term 
economic safety net, receiving testimony from

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Leland Swenson, National Farmers Union, Washington, D.C.; Bob Stallman, 
Columbus, Texas, on behalf of the American Farm Bureau Federation; 
Charles W. Fluharty, Rural Policy Research Institute, Columbia, 
Missouri; Craig Cox, Soil and Water Conservation Society, Ankeny, Iowa; 
Howard A. Learner, Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest, 
Chicago, Illinois; Barbara P. Glenn, Federation of Animal Science 
Societies/Coalition on Funding Agricultural Research Missions, 
Bethesda, Maryland, on behalf of the National Coalition for Food and 
Agricultural Research; Sharon Daly, Catholic Charities USA, Alexandria, 
Virginia; and David E. Carter, Mountain View Harvest Cooperative, 
Longmont, Colorado.
  Hearings recessed subject to call.
APPROPRIATIONS--INTERIOR
Committee on Appropriations: Committee ordered favorably reported H.R. 
2217, making appropriations for the Department of the Interior and 
related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2002, with 
amendments.
APPROPRIATIONS--FCC/SEC
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, 
and the Judiciary concluded hearings on proposed budget estimates for 
fiscal year 2002, after receiving testimony in behalf of funds for 
their respective activities from Michael K. Powell, Chairman, Federal 
Communications Commission; and Laura Simone Unger, Acting Chairman, 
Securities and Exchange Commission.
APPROPRIATIONS--INTERIOR
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Interior approved for full 
committee consideration H.R. 2217, making appropriations for the 
Department of the Interior and related agencies for the fiscal year 
ending September 30, 2002, with amendments.
APPROPRIATIONS--FAA/AMTRAK
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Transportation concluded 
hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2002, after 
receiving testimony in behalf of funds for their respective activities 
from Senators Biden and McCain; Jane F. Garvey, Administrator, Federal 
Aviation Administration, and George D. Warrington, President and Chief 
Executive Officer, National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), 
both of the Department of Transportation.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded hearings on proposed 
legislation authorizing funds for fiscal year 2002 for the Department 
of Defense and the Future Years Defense program, focusing on the 2002 
budget amendment, after receiving testimony from Donald H. Rumsfeld, 
Secretary, and Dov S. Zakheim, Under Secretary/Comptroller, both of the 
Department of Defense; and Gen. Henry H. Shelton, USA, Chairman, Joint 
Chiefs of Staff.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported 2,130 
military nominations in the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps.
IRAN AND LIBYA SANCTIONS ACT
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded 
hearings on S. 994, to amend the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996 
to extend authorities for five years under that Act, after receiving 
testimony from E. Anthony Wayne, Assistant Secretary for Economic and 
Business Affairs, and James Larocco, Acting Assistant Secretary for 
Near Eastern Affairs, both of the Department of State; Patrick Clawson, 
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Bradley Gordon, American 
Israel Public Affairs Committee, William A. Reinsch, National Foreign 
Trade Council, on behalf of USA*Engage, and William F. Martin, 
Washington Policy and Analysis, Inc./Council on Foreign Relations 
Energy Security Group, former Deputy Secretary of Energy/Executive 
Secretary of the National Security Council, all of Washington, D.C.; 
and Stephanie Bernstein, Justice for Pan Am 103, Bethesda, Maryland.
BUDGET SURPLUS AND ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded hearings to examine the 
state of the projected budget surplus following approval of the 
Congressional budget resolution and enactment of the recent tax-
reduction legislation, and the outlook of the United States economy, 
after receiving testimony from Robert Greenstein, Center on Budget and 
Policy Priorities, Robert L. Bixby, Concord Coalition, and Carol Cox 
Wait, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, all of Washington, 
D.C.
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD'S MERGER RULES
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine concluded hearings to 
examine the Surface Transportation Board's new rules governing mergers 
of large railroads adopted in Major Rail Consolidation Procedures, STB 
Ex Parte No. 582 (Sub-No. 1), after receiving testimony from Linda J. 
Morgan, Chairman, Surface Transportation Board, Department of 
Transportation; Claudia L. Howells, Oregon Department of 
Transportation, Salem; John W. Snow,

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CSX Corporation, Richmond, Virginia; Paul M. Tellier, Canadian National 
Railway Company, Washington, D.C.; Michael R. Haverty, Kansas City 
Southern Railway Company, Kansas City, Missouri; and William L. Gebo, 
Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Michigan.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee held hearings to 
examine the recent National Research Council report on the science of 
climate change, energy technology options for managing the risks posed 
by climate change, what impact any effort to reduce greenhouse gas 
emissions would have on energy policy, and provisions to establish an 
Interagency Working Group on clean energy technology transfer of S. 
597, Comprehensive and Balanced Energy Policy Act, receiving testimony 
from James Edmonds, Senior Staff Scientist, and William Chandler, 
Senior Staff Scientist and Director, Advanced International Studies 
Unit, both of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Mark D. 
Levine, Director, Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Lawrence 
Berkeley National Laboratory, all of the Department of Energy; F. 
Sherwood Rowland, University of California, Irvine, John M. Wallace, 
University of Washington, Seattle, and Eric Barron, Pennsylvania State 
University, University Park, all on behalf of the National Research 
Council; and Robert M. Friedman, H. John Heinz III Center for Science, 
Economics and the Environment, Washington, D.C.
  Hearings recessed subject to call.
ZIMBABWE'S CRISIS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on African Affairs 
concluded hearings to examine the political and economic situation in 
Zimbabwe, after receiving testimony from Walter H. Kansteiner III, 
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; Robert I. Rotberg, 
Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Program on Intrastate 
Conflict and Conflict Prevention, Cambridge, Massachusetts, on behalf 
of the World Peace Foundation; Yves Sorokobi, Committee to Protect 
Journalists, New York, New York; and John Prendergast, International 
Crisis Group, Washington, D.C.
ELECTRIC INDUSTRY RESTRUCTURING
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee held hearings to examine 
the impact of electric industries restructuring on system reliability, 
focusing on new participants in the electric business, changing roles 
of traditional participants, increasing the number of wholesale power 
transactions, as well as increasing the distances over which power 
transactions take place, receiving testimony from Kevin A. Kelly, 
Director, Division of Policy Innovation and Communication, Office of 
Markets, Tariffs and Rates, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 
Department of Energy; David N. Cook, North American Electric 
Reliability Council, Princeton, New Jersey; Phillip G. Harris, PJM 
Interconnection, Norristown, Pennsylvania; and Irwin A. Popowsky, 
Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate, Harrisburg, on behalf of the 
National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates.
  Hearings recessed subject to call.
ELECTION REFORM
Committee on Rules and Administration: Committee concluded hearings to 
examine a report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights regarding the 
November 2000 election and election reform in general, after receiving 
testimony from Representatives Conyers, Ney, Hoyer, Wexler, Blunt, 
Eddie Bernice Johnson, Reyes, Becerra, Kildee, Waters, Corrine Brown, 
Deutsch, Meek, Jackson-Lee, Foley, Gonzalez, and Sweeney.
VETERANS BENEFITS
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded hearings on 
proposals providing for certain Veteran's benefits, including S. 131, 
to amend title 38, United States Code, to modify the annual 
determination of the rate of the basic benefit of active duty 
educational assistance under the Montgomery GI Bill, S. 228, to amend 
title 38, United States Code, to make permanent the Native American 
veterans housing loan program, S. 409, to amend title 38, United States 
Code, to clarify the standards for compensation for Persian Gulf 
veterans suffering from certain undiagnosed illnesses, S. 457, to amend 
title 38, United States Code, to establish a presumption of service-
connection for certain veterans with Hepatitis C, S. 662, to amend 
title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to furnish headstones or markers for marked graves of, or to 
other wise commemorate, certain individuals, S. 781, to amend section 
3702 of title 38, United States Code, to extend the authority for 
housing loans for members of the Selected Reserve, S. 912, to amend 
title 38, United States Code, to increase burial benefits for veterans, 
S. 937, to amend title 38, United States Code, to permit the transfer 
of entitlement to educational assistance of the Montgomery GI Bill by 
members of the Armed Forces, S. 1063, to amend chapter 72 of title 38, 
United States Code, to improve the administration of the United States 
Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, S. 1088, to amend title 38, 
United States Code, to facilitate the use of educational assistance 
under the Montgomery GI Bill for education leading to employment in 
high technology industry, S. 1089, to

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amend section 7253 of title 38, United States Code, to expand 
temporarily the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in 
order to further facilitate staggered terms for judges on that court, 
S. 1090, to increase, effective as of December 1, 2001, the rates of 
compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and the 
rates dependency and indemnity compensation for the survivors of 
certain disabled veterans, S. 1091, to amend section 1116 of title 38, 
United States Code, to modify and extend authorities on the presumption 
of service-connection for herbicide-related disabilities of Vietnam era 
veterans, and S. 1093, to amend title 38, United States Code, to 
exclude certain income from annual income determinations for pension 
purposes, to limit provision of benefits for fugitive and incarcerated 
veterans, to increase the home loan guaranty amount for construction 
and purchase of homes, and to modify and enhance other authorities 
relating to veterans' benefits, after receiving testimony from Senators 
Johnson and Hutchison; Leo S. Mackay, Deputy Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs, who was accompanied by several of his associates; and John R. 
Vitikacs, American Legion, Sidney Daniels, Veterans of Foreign Wars of 
the United States, Rick Surratt, Disabled American Veterans, and David 
M. Tucker, Paralyzed Veterans of America, all of Washington, D.C.
LONG-TERM CARE
Special Committee on Aging: Committee held hearings to examine the 
Administration's efforts to address the long-term care needs of this 
nation's elderly and disabled, including the role of families in 
providing care, and the role of federal programs in financing services, 
receiving testimony from former Senator David Durenberger, on behalf of 
the Citizens for Long Term Care Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of Health 
and Human Services; Carol V. O'Shaughnessy, Specialist in Social 
Legislation, Congressional Research Services, Library of Congress; and 
Robert B. Blancato, Matz, Blancato and Associates, Inc., Washington, 
D.C., former Executive Director, White House Conference on Aging.
  Hearings recessed subject to call.