[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 77 (Thursday, May 22, 2003)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D578-D580]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
STEM CELL RESEARCH
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human 
Services, and Education, and Related Agencies concluded hearings to 
examine federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research, 
focusing on increasing the availability of stem cell lines for federal 
research, training scientists for technically-challenging cells, and 
basic pre-clinical research relative to the treatment of injuries and 
diseases, after receiving testimony from Elias Zerhouni, Director, and 
James Battey, Director, National Institute on Deafness and Other 
Communication Disorders, and Ronald McKay, Senior Investigator, 
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, both of the 
National Institutes of Health, all of the Department of Health and 
Human Services; John A. Kessler, Northwestern University's Feinberg 
School of Medicine, Evanston, Illinois; James Cordy, Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania, on behalf of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical 
Research; and Roy Ogle, University of Virginia Medical School, 
Charlottesville.
APPROPRIATIONS: AGRICULTURE/FDA
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural 
Development, and Related Agencies concluded hearings to examine 
proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2004 for the Department of 
Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health 
and Human Services, after receiving testimony from Eric M. Bost, Under 
Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, Elsa A. Murano, 
Under Secretary for Food Safety, and William T. Hawks, Under Secretary 
for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, all of the Department of 
Agriculture; and Mark B. McClellan, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, 
Department of Health and Human Services.
APPROPRIATIONS: DOE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Interior concluded 
hearings to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2004 for 
the Department of Energy, after receiving testimony from Spencer 
Abraham, Secretary of Energy.
APPROPRIATIONS: HIGHWAY SAFETY INITIATIVES
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury 
and General Government concluded hearings to examine proposed budget 
estimates for fiscal year 2004 for highway safety initiatives, focusing 
on developing a plan to research and enact effective data-driven 
programs to reduce the number of highway fatalities, after receiving 
testimony from Jeffrey Runge, Administrator, National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration, Annette M. Sandberg, Acting Administrator, 
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, both of the Department of 
Transportation; Wendy Hamilton, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Irving, 
Texas; and Chuck Hurley, National Safety Council, Itasca, Illinois.
U.S. ECONOMY
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded 
oversight hearings to examine issues relating to the U.S. economy, 
focusing on increasing investments in the equity markets, after 
receiving testimony from Peter R. Fisher, Under Secretary of the 
Treasury for Domestic Finance; Wayne D. Angell, Angell Economics, 
Arlington, Virginia; James W. Stuckert, J.J.B. Hilliard and W.L. Lyons

[[Page D579]]

Incorporated, Louisville, Kentucky; and Mark Zandi, Economy.com, West 
Chester, Pennsylvania.
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
hearings to examine media ownership, focusing on localism, diversity, 
and competition in broadcast television, and the Federal Communication 
Commission's ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership, after 
receiving testimony from Senator Allard; Rupert Murdoch, News 
Corporation, Gene Kimmelman, Consumers Union, on behalf of Consumers 
Union and the Consumer Federation of America, and Kent W. Mikkelsen, 
Economists Incorporated, all of Washington, D.C.; and Thomas Fontana, 
Fontana-Levinson Company, New York, New York, on behalf of the Writers 
Guild of America, East and the Caucus for Television Producers, Writers 
and Directors, and the American Federation of Television and Radio 
Artists.
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AND COMPETITION ACT
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Communications concluded hearings to examine S. 564, to facilitate the 
deployment of wireless telecommunications networks in order to further 
the availability of the Emergency Alert System, and issues relating to 
providing wireless broadband in rural areas, after receiving testimony 
from Antoinette Cook Bush, Northpoint Technology, Ltd., and Thomas W. 
Hazlett, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, both of Washington, 
D.C.; Andrew S. Wright, Satellite Broadcasting and Communications 
Association, Alexandria, Virginia; Harold Kirkpatrick, MDS America, 
Stuart, Florida; and Larry Roadman, Margaretville Telephone Company 
Incorporated, New York.
SAFETEA
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Competition, Foreign Commerce and Infrastructure concluded hearings to 
examine S. 1072, to authorize funds for Federal-aid highways, highway 
safety programs, and transit programs, (also known as SAFETEA (Safe, 
Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 
2003)), after receiving testimony from Jeffrey W. Runge, Administrator, 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Department of 
Transportation; Peter Guerrero, Physical Infrastructure Team, General 
Accounting Office; Jacqueline S. Gillan, Advocates for Highway and Auto 
Safety, Robert Strassberger, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, and 
Richard Berman, American Beverage Licensees/American Beverage 
Institute, all of Washington, D.C.; Wendy J. Hamilton, Mothers Against 
Drunk Driving, Irving, Texas; and Kathryn Swanson, Minnesota Office of 
Traffic Safety, St. Paul, on behalf of the Governors Highway Safety 
Association.
IRAQ
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee held hearings to examine Iraq 
stabilization and reconstruction, focusing on U.S. policy and plans, 
security, the political situation, the international community, the 
Coalition and the United Nations, military organization, troop 
strength, and rules of engagement, receiving testimony from Paul 
Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense; and General Peter Pace, Vice 
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.
  Hearings continue on Wednesday, June 4, 2003.
INDIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded hearings to examine 
the status of telecommunications in Indian Country, focusing on 
establishing telecommunication infrastructures in tribal communities, 
after receiving testimony from K. Dane Snowden, Chief, Consumer and 
Governmental Affairs Bureau, Federal Communications Commission; Hilda 
Gay Legg, Administrator, Rural Utilities Service, Rural Development, 
Department of Agriculture; Kelly Klegar Levy, Associate Administrator, 
Office of Policy Analysis and Development, National Telecommunications 
and Information Administration, Department of Commerce; Kade L. Twist, 
Kade L. Twist Consulting, Tempe, Arizona; Roanne Robinson Shaddox, 
Privacy Council, Incorporated, Washington, D.C., and Marcia Warren 
Edelman, Reston, Virginia, both of the Native Networking Policy Center; 
Richard P. Narcia, Gila River Indian Community, Sacaton, Arizona; Nora 
McDowell, Fort Mojave Tribe, Needles, California; Madonna Peltier 
Yawaki, Turtle Island Communications, Fort Yates, North Dakota; Gerald 
Monette, Turtle Mountain Community College, Belcourt, North Dakota, on 
behalf of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium; Valerie 
Fast-Horse, Couer d'Alene Tribe of Idaho, Plummer, on behalf of the 
Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians; Denis Turner, Southern 
California Tribal Chairmen's Association, Valley Center, California; 
Cora Whiting-Hildebrand, Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge, South 
Dakota; Gene Dejordy, Western Wireless Corporation, Bellevue, 
Washington; Mike Strand, Montana Independent Telecommunications 
Systems, Helena; and Ben H. Standifer, Jr., Tohono O'odham Nation, 
Sells, Arizona.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:

[[Page D580]]


  S. 554, to allow media coverage of court proceedings;
  S. 1023, to increase the annual salaries of justices and judges of 
the United States, with amendments;
  S. 858, to extend the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission;
  S. Res. 136, recognizing the 140th anniversary of the founding of the 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and congratulating members and 
officers of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers for the union's 
many achievements;
  S. Res. 92, designating September 17, 2003 as ``Constitution Day'';
  S. Res. 145, designating June 2003, as ``National Safety Month''; and
  The nominations of Michael Chertoff, of New Jersey, to be United 
States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, and Robert D. McCallum, 
Jr., of Georgia, to be Associate Attorney General, and Peter D. 
Keisler, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Attorney General, both of the 
Department of Justice.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded hearings to examine the 
nominations of Richard C. Wesley, of New York, to be United States 
Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit, who was introduced by Senators 
Schumer and Clinton, and Representative Reynolds; J. Ronnie Greer, to 
be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee, 
who was introduced by Senators Frist and Alexander, Thomas M. Hardiman, 
to be United States District Judge for the Western District of 
Pennsylvania, who was introduced by Senators Specter and Santorum, Mark 
R. Kravitz, to be United States District Judge for the District of 
Connecticut, who was introduced by Senator Dodd, and John A. Woodcock, 
Jr., to be United States District Judge for the District of Maine, who 
was introduced by Senators Snowe and Collins, after each nominee 
testified and answered questions in their own behalf.