[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 45 (Thursday, March 20, 2003)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D271-D273]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NOMINATION
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded 
hearings to examine the nomination of Vernon Bernard Parker, of 
Arizona, to be an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Civil Rights, 
after the nominee, who was introduced by Senators McCain and Kyl, 
testified and answered questions in his own behalf.
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, 
and the Judiciary concluded hearings to examine proposed budget 
estimates for fiscal year 2004 for the Department of Commerce, after 
receiving testimony from Donald L. Evans, Secretary of Commerce.
APPROPRIATIONS: FOREST SERVICE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Interior concluded 
hearings to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2004 for 
the Department of Agriculture Forest Service, after receiving testimony 
from Dale N. Bosworth, Chief, Forest Service, Department of 
Agriculture.
APPROPRIATIONS: EPA
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent 
Agencies concluded hearings to examine proposed budget estimates for 
fiscal year 2004 for the Environmental Protection Agency, after 
receiving testimony from Christine Todd Whitman, Administrator, 
Environmental Protection Agency.
DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION: ENERGY
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded hearings to examine 
proposed legislation authorizing funds for fiscal year 2004 for the 
Department of Defense, focusing on atomic energy defense activities of 
the Department of Energy, after receiving testimony from Spencer 
Abraham, Secretary of Energy.

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REAL ESTATE SETTLEMENT PROCEDURES ACT
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded 
hearings to examine issues relating to the Department of Housing and 
Urban Development's proposed rule on the Real Estate Settlement 
Procedures Act, focusing on the effort to better protect consumers and 
increase homeownership by making the home financing process more 
transparent, simpler, and less costly, after receiving testimony from 
Mel Martinez, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
CLEAN AIR ACT AMENDMENTS
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Subcommittee on Clean Air, 
Climate Change, and Nuclear Safety concluded hearings to examine S. 
385, to amend the Clean Air Act to eliminate methyl tertiary butyl 
ether from the United States fuel supply, to increase production and 
use of renewable fuel, and to increase the Nation's energy 
independence, and other proposed legislation amending the Clean Air Act 
regarding fuel additives and renewable fuels, gasoline, water 
contamination, and the oil and natural gas industry, after receiving 
testimony from Jeffrey R. Holmstead, Assistant Administrator for Air 
and Radiation, Environmental Protection Agency; David K. Garman, 
Assistant Secretary for Renewable Energy, and Mary Hutzler, Director, 
Office of Integrated Analysis and Forecasting, Energy Information 
Administration, both of the Department of Energy; Paul J. Granger, 
Plainview Water District, Plainview, New York; Craig Perkins, 
Environmental and Public Works Management, Santa Monica, California; 
Fred Yoder, Plain City, Ohio, on behalf of the National Corn Growers 
Association; Edward Murphy, American Petroleum Institute, Bob 
Slaughter, National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, Scott H. 
Segal, Bracewell and Patterson, on behalf of the Oxygenated Fuels 
Association, all of Washington, D.C.; Richard Wagman, G.A. & F.C. 
Wagman, York, Pennsylvania, on behalf of the American Road and 
Transportation Builders Association; and A. Blakeman Early, Washington, 
D.C., on behalf of the American Lung Association.
EMBASSY SECURITY
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded hearings to examine 
how to make embassies safer in areas of conflict, focusing on federal 
efforts to provide secure diplomatic and consular facilities for U.S. 
Government personnel overseas, the Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program, 
and related provisions of the President's proposed budget request for 
fiscal year 2004 for the Department of State, after receiving testimony 
from Charles E. Williams, Director and Chief Operating Officer, 
Overseas Buildings Operations Bureau, and Francis X. Taylor, Assistant 
Secretary for Diplomatic Security and the Office of Foreign Missions, 
both of the Department of State; and Jess T. Ford, Director, 
International Affairs and Trade, General Accounting Office.
CARGO CONTAINERS SECURITY
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee concluded hearings to 
examine securing seaport cargo containers from terrorist attack by 
implementing and using the Container Security Initiative, Operations 
Safe Commerce, and the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, 
focusing on the coordination between agencies regulating seaport 
commerce, the standardization of procedures between and within 
agencies, intelligence information available to port managers, 
departmental funding, and providing qualified and well trained 
personnel for port security programs, after receiving testimony from 
Asa Hutchinson, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Border and 
Transportation Security; Peter W. Hall, United States Attorney for the 
District of Vermont, Department of Justice; Stephen E. Flynn, 
Independent Task Force on Homeland Security Imperatives, Council on 
Foreign Relations, New York, New York; Jeffrey W. Monroe, Department of 
Ports and Transportation, Portland, Maine; and Michael O'Hanlon, 
Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. 330, to further the protection and recognition of veterans' 
memorials;
  S. Res. 48, designating April 2003 as ``Financial Literacy for Youth 
Month'';
  S. Res. 52, recognizing the social problem of child abuse and 
neglect, and supporting efforts to enhance public awareness of the 
problem, with an amendment;
  S. Res. 58, expressing the sense of the Senate that the President 
should designate the week beginning June 1, 2003, as ``National Citizen 
Soldier Week''; and
  The nominations of Cormac J. Carney and James V. Selna, each to be a 
United States District Judge for the Central District of California, 
Philip P. Simon and Theresa Lazar Springmann, each to be a United 
States District Judge for the Northern District of Indiana, and Gregory 
A. White, to be United States Attorney for the Northern District of 
Ohio, Thomas Dyson Hurlburt, Jr., to be United States Marshal for the 
Middle District of Florida, Christina Pharo, to be United States 
Marshal for the Southern District of Florida, Dennis Arthur Williamson, 
to be United States Marshal for the

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Northern District of Florida, and Richard Zenos Winget, to be United 
States Marshal for the District of Nevada, all of the Department of 
Justice.
  Also, Committee adopted its rules of procedure for the 108th Congress 
and announced the following subcommittee assignments:
  Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts: Senators 
Sessions (Chairman), Grassley, Specter, Craig, Cornyn, Schumer, Leahy, 
Feingold, and Durbin.
  Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security: Senators 
Kyl (Chairman), Hatch, Specter, DeWine, Sessions, Chambliss, Feinstein, 
Kennedy, Biden, Kohl, and Edwards.
  Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights: 
Senators DeWine (Chairman), Hatch, Specter, Graham (SC), Chambliss, 
Kohl, Leahy, Feingold, and Edwards.
  Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights: 
Senators Cornyn (Chairman), Kyl, Graham (SC), Craig, Chambliss, 
Feingold, Kennedy, Schumer, and Durbin.
  Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship: 
Senators Chambliss (Chairman), Grassley, Kyl, DeWine, Sessions, Craig, 
Cornyn, Kennedy, Leahy, Feinstein, Schumer, Durbin, and Edwards.
  Subcommittee on Crime, Corrections and Victims' Rights: Senators 
Graham (SC) (Chairman), Hatch, Grassley, Sessions, Craig, Cornyn, 
Biden, Kohl, Feinstein, Durbin, and Edwards.
MEDICARE REFORM: PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded hearings to examine 
proposals to improve and modernize the current Medicare system, 
focusing on prescription drugs benefits, regulatory and contractor 
reforms, and demographic and health care trends, after receiving 
testimony from Thomas A. Scully, Administrator, Centers for Medicare 
and Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services; and 
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Director, Congressional Budget Office.