[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 24 (Thursday, March 7, 2002)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D189-D191]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS--FCC/SEC
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, 
and the Judiciary concluded hearings on proposed budget estimates for 
fiscal year 2003, on behalf of funds for their respective activities, 
after receiving testimony from Michael K. Powell, Chairman, Federal 
Communications Commission; and Harvey L. Pitt, Chairman, U.S. 
Securities and Exchange Commission.
APPROPRIATIONS--INTERIOR
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Interior concluded 
hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2003 for the 
Department of Energy, after receiving testimony from Spencer Abraham, 
Secretary of Energy.
APPROPRIATIONS--HHS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human 
Services, and Education concluded hearings on proposed budget estimates 
for fiscal year 2003 for the Department of Health and Human Services, 
after receiving testimony from Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of Health 
and Human Services.
AMTRAK
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Transportation concluded 
hearings to examine Amtrak performance, budget, and passenger rail 
service issues, focusing on a new national policy on intercity 
passenger rail and the Federal role in support of that form of 
transportation, after receiving testimony from Michael P. Jackson, 
Deputy Secretary, Allan Rutter, Administrator, Federal Railroad 
Administration, and Kenneth M. Mead, Inspector General, all of the 
Department of Transportation; George D. Warrington, President/CEO, 
Amtrak (National Railroad Passenger Corporation); and Ronald Utt, 
Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C.
DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded hearings on proposed 
legislation authorizing funds for fiscal year 2003 for the Department 
of Defense and the Future Years Defense Program, after receiving 
testimony from Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, USA, Chief of Staff, United 
States Army; Adm. Vernon E. Clark, USN, Chief of Naval Operations; Gen. 
James L. Jones, USMC, Commandant of the Marine Corps; and Gen. John P. 
Jumper, Chief of Staff, United States Air Force.
DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Strategic concluded 
hearings on proposed legislation authorizing funds for fiscal year 2003 
for the Department of Defense, focusing on the Ballistic Missile 
Defense Program, after receiving testimony from E.C. Aldridge, Under 
Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics; and 
Lt. Gen. Ronald T. Kadish, USAF, Director, Missile Defense Agency.
MONETARY POLICY
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded 
oversight hearings to examine the Semi-Annual Report on Monetary Policy 
of the Federal Reserve, after receiving testimony from Alan Greenspan, 
Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
NATIONAL TRAILS SYSTEMS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks concluded hearings to examine S. 1069/H.R. 834, to amend the 
National Trails System Act to clarify Federal authority relating to 
land acquisition for willing sellers from the majority of the trails in 
the System, S. 213/H.R. 37, to amend the National Trails System Act to 
update the feasibility and suitability studies of 4 national historic 
trails and provide for possible additions to such trails, H.R.1384, to 
amend the National Trails System Act to designate the route in Arizona 
and New Mexico which the Navajo and Mescalero Apache Indian tribes were 
forced to walk in 1863 and 1864, for study for potential addition to 
the National Trails System, and S. 1946, to amend the National Trails 
System Act to designate the Old Spanish Trail as a National Historic 
Trail, after receiving testimony from Senators Hatch and Levin; 
Katherine Stevenson, Associate Director, Cultural Resources

[[Page D190]]

Stewardship and Partnerships, National Park Service, Department of the 
Interior; Kelsey Begaye, Navajo Nation, Window Rock, Arizona; Shane 
Henry, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Denver; William C. 
Watson, Oregon-California Trails Association, Orinda, California; 
Patrick Hearty, National Pony Express Association, Inc., South Jordan, 
Utah; Gary Werner, Partnership for the National Trails System, Inc., 
Madison, Wisconsin; and Dru Bower, Petroleum Association of Wyoming, 
Casper.
PRESCRIPTION DRUG COVERAGE
Committee on Finance: Committee held hearings to examine the 
President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2003 for 
prescription drug coverage as part of the Medicare proposal, receiving 
testimony from former Senator Bob Kerrey, on behalf of the Concord 
Coalition; Thomas A. Scully, Administrator, Centers for Medicare and 
Medicaid Services, and Bobby P. Jindal, Assistant Secretary for 
Planning and Evaluation, both of the Department of Health and Human 
Services; Dan L. Crippen, Director, Congressional Budget Office; 
William D. Novelli, American Association of Retired Persons, and 
Patricia Neuman, Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Medicare Policy 
Project, both of Washington, D.C.
  Hearings recessed subject to call.
CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD PROTOCOLS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded hearings to examine 
two optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 
both of which were adopted at New York, May 25, 2000: (1) The Optional 
Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Involvement of 
Children in Armed Conflict; and (2) The Optional Protocol to the 
Conventional on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child 
Prostitution and Child Pornography, signed on July 5, 2000 (Treaty Doc. 
106-37), after receiving testimony from E. Michael Southwick, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs; 
Marshall S. Billingslea, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for 
Negotiations Policy; John G. Malcolm, Deputy Assistant Attorney 
General, Criminal Division, Department of Justice; Jo Becker, Human 
Rights Watch, New York, New York; and RAdm. Eugene J. Carroll, Jr, USN 
(Ret.), Center for Defense Information, and RAdm. Timothy O. Fanning, 
Jr., USNR (Ret.), Navy League of the United States, both of Washington, 
D.C.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South 
Asian Affairs concluded hearings to examine the trafficking of persons, 
focusing on monitoring and combating this practice through the 
implementation of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection 
Act of 2000, after receiving testimony from Paula Dobriansky, Under 
Secretary for Global Affairs, and Nancy Ely-Raphel, Senior Advisor, 
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, both of the 
Department of State; Viet D. Dinh, Assistant Attorney General, Office 
of Legal Policy, Department of Justice; Nguyen Van Hanh, Director, 
Office of Refugee Resettlement, Administration for Children and 
Families, Department of Health and Human Services; Hae Jung Cho, 
Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, Los Angeles, California; 
Ann Jordan, International Human Rights Law Group, Washington, D.C.; and 
Carol Smolensky, End Child Prostitution and Trafficking-USA, New York, 
New York.
PUBLIC HEALTH/NATURAL RESOURCES
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee concluded hearings to 
examine public health and natural resources, focusing on current 
implementation of environmental laws, after receiving testimony from 
Senators Jeffords and Craig; Christine Todd Whitman, Administrator, 
Eric V. Schaeffer, former Director, Office of Regulatory Enforcement, 
and E. Donald Elliot, former General Counsel, all of the Environmental 
Protection Agency; Thomas O. McGarity, University of Texas School of 
Law, Austin; and Gregory S. Wetstone, National Resources Defense 
Council, Washington, D.C.
INDIAN PROGRAMS BUDGET
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee resumed hearings on the 
President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2003 for Indian 
programs, focusing on employment and training, education, housing, 
government, and law enforcement, receiving testimony from Michael H. 
Trujillo, Director, Assistant Surgeon General/Director, Indian Health 
Services, Department of Health and Human Services; and Michael Liu, 
Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Public and 
Indian Housing.
  Hearings continue on Thursday, March 14.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. Res. 214, designating March 25, 2002, as ``Greek Independence Day: 
A National Day of Celebration of Greek and American Democracy''; and
  The nominations of Ralph R. Beistline, to be United States District 
Judge for the District of Alaska, David C. Bury, to be United States 
District Judge for the District of Arizona, Randy Crane, to be United 
States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas, Eric F. 
Melgren, to be United

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States Attorney for the District of Kansas, Paul I. Perez, to be United 
States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, Theophile Alceste 
Duroncelet, to be United States Marshal for the Eastern District of 
Louisiana, John R. Edwards, to be United States Marshal for the 
District of Vermont, Stephen Gilbert Fitzgerald, to be United States 
Marshal for the Western District of Wisconsin, Gregory Allyn Forest, to 
be United States Marshal for the Western District of North Carolina, 
James Loren Kennedy, to be United States Marshal for the Southern 
District of Indiana, Dennis Cluff Merrill, to be United States Marshal 
for the District of Oregon, James Thomas Plousis, to be United States 
Marshal for the District of New Jersey, J.C. Raffety, of West Virginia, 
to be United States Marshal for the Northern District of West Virginia, 
Charles R. Reavis, to be United States Marshal for the Eastern District 
of North Carolina, Michael Robert Regan, to be United States Marshal 
for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, James Anthony Rose, to be 
United States Marshal for the District of Wyoming, John Schickel, of 
Kentucky, to be United States Marshal for the Eastern District of 
Kentucky, Jesse Seroyer, Jr., to be United States Marshal for the 
Middle District of Alabama, Timothy Dewayne Welch, to be United States 
Marshal for the Northern District of Oklahoma, and William R. 
Whittington, to be United States Marshal for the Western District of 
Louisiana.