[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 82 (Thursday, June 5, 2003)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D616-D618]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS: FOREIGN OPERATIONS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Foreign Operations 
concluded hearings to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 
2004 for foreign operations, after receiving testimony from Andrew S. 
Natsios, Administrator, United States Agency for International 
Development.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded 
hearings to examine proposed legislation authorizing funds for the 
Defense Production Act, focusing on its role in helping to obtain the 
goods and services needed to promote the national defense, after 
receiving testimony from Ronald M. Sega, Director, Defense Research and 
Engineering, and Suzanne D. Patrick, Deputy Under Secretary for 
Industrial Policy, both of the Department of Defense; Karan K. Bhatia, 
Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security; R. David 
Paulison, Director, Preparedness Division, Emergency Preparedness and 
Response Directorate, Department of Homeland Security; and Denise 
Swink, Acting Director, Office of Energy Assurance, Department of 
Energy.
INTERCITY PASSENGER RAIL FINANCE
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine concluded hearings to 
examine intercity passenger rail finance, focusing on existing and 
future Amtrak services, government and freight railroad subsidization, 
and a separate and sealed future high-

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speed passenger rail corridor, after receiving testimony from Allan 
Rutter, Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration, Department of 
Transportation; Jeff Morales, California Department of Transportation, 
Sacramento; Robert Serlin, Rail Infrastructure Management, 
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania; Sonny Hall, Transportation Trades 
Department, (AFL-CIO), on behalf of the Transport Workers Union of 
America, and Edward R. Hamberger, Association of American Railroads, 
both of Washington, D.C.; and James Query, Lehman Brothers, 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
TITLE XI MARITIME LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
hearings on reform of the Title XI Maritime Loan Guarantee Program, 
which authorizes the Maritime Administration (MARAD) to assist private 
companies in obtaining financing for the U.S. construction of vessels 
or the modernization of U.S. shipyards, after receiving testimony from 
William G. Schubert, Administrator, Maritime Administration, and 
Kenneth M. Mead, Inspector General, both of the Department of 
Transportation; and Thomas J. McCool, Managing Director, Financial 
Markets and Community Investment, General Accounting Office.
CLEAR SKIES ACT
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Subcommittee on Clean Air, 
Climate Change, and Nuclear Safety concluded hearings to examine S. 
485, to amend the Clean Air Act to reduce air pollution through 
expansion of cap and trade programs, to provide an alternative 
regulatory classification for units subject to the cap and trade 
program, focusing on emissions-control technologies and utility-sector 
investment issues, after receiving testimony from Randall S. Kroszner, 
Member Council of Economic Advisers; Larry S. Monroe, Southern Company, 
on behalf of Edison Electric Institute, and Margo Thorning, American 
Council for Capital Formation, both of Washington, D.C.; Steve Benson, 
University of North Dakota Energy and Environment Center, Grand Forks; 
Richard Bucher, W.L. Gore and Associates, Inc., Newark, Delaware; 
Denise L. Nappier, Connecticut State Treasurer, Hartford; Wes Taylor, 
TXU Energy North America, Dallas, Texas; Jim McGinnis, Morgan Stanley, 
New York, New York; Douglas G. Cogan, Investor Responsibility Research 
Center, Washington, D.C.; and Mark S. Brownstein, Enterprise Strategy, 
Newark, New Jersey, on behalf of the Public Service Enterprise Group 
and Clean Energy Group.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Finance: Committee met and approved a proposal to extend 
expenditure authority for the aviation trust fund through September 30, 
2006, and conform the expenditure purposes to include those obligations 
of the United States authorized by S. 824, Aviation Investment and 
Revitalization Vision Act (pending on Senate calendar).
NORTH KOREA
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific 
Affairs concluded hearings to examine the human rights situation in 
North Korea, focusing on social and religious control, access to food 
and health care, political prisoners, prison, and labor camps, after 
receiving testimony from Andrew S. Natsios, Administrator, U.S. Agency 
for International Development; Debra Liang-Fenton, U.S. Committee for 
Human Rights in North Korea, and Marcus Noland, Institute for 
International Economics, both of Washington, D.C.; Kongdon Oh Hassig, 
Institute for Defense Analysis, Alexandria, Virginia; Stephen W. 
Linton, Eugene Bell Foundation, Clarksville, Maryland; and Hae Nam Ji, 
North Korea.
Nominations:
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee concluded hearings to 
examine the nominations: of C. Stewart Verdery, Jr., of Virginia, to be 
Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning, Border and Transportation 
Security Directorate, and Michael J. Garcia, of New York, to be 
Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement, both of the Department of Homeland Security, after each 
nominee testified and answered questions in their own behalf.
TRIBAL FISH AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS
Committee on Indian Affairs: On June 4, 2003, Committee concluded 
oversight hearings to examine the status of tribal fish and wildlife 
management programs across Indian country, focusing on efforts of 
tribal governments to preserve and protect fish and wildlife resources, 
after receiving testimony from D. Robert Lohn, Regional Administrator, 
Northwest Region, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce; Hannibal 
Bolton, Chief, Division of Fish and Wildlife Management and Habitat 
Restoration, Fisheries and Habitat Conservation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Department of the Interior; J. Mark Robinson, Director, Office 
of Energy Projects, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Steven 
Wright, Administrator, Bonneville Power Administration, both of the 
Department of Energy;

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Jim Wells, Director, Natural Resources and Environment Team, General 
Accounting Office; Olney Patt, Jr., Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish, 
Portland, Oregon; Charles Wilkinson, University of Colorado School of 
Law, Boulder; Bill Frank, Jr., Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, 
and Jim Anderson, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, both of 
Olympia, Washington; Dave Hererra, Skokomish Tribe, Shelton, 
Washington; Mel Moon, Quileute Tribe, Forks, Washington; Gary Aitken, 
Sr., Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, Spokane, Washington; and Terry Gibson, 
Shoshone Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, Owyhee, Nevada.
ASBESTOS LITIGATION
Committee on the Judiciary: On June 4, 2003, Committee concluded 
hearings to examine S. 1125, to create a fair and efficient system to 
resolve claims of victims for bodily injury caused by asbestos 
exposure, after receiving testimony from Senators Hagel and Murray; 
Laurence H. Tribe, Harvard University Law School, Cambridge, 
Massachusetts; James D. Crapo, National Jewish Medical Research Center, 
Denver, Colorado; Laura Stewart Welch, Center to Protect Workers 
Rights, Silver Spring, Maryland; John E. Parker, University of West 
Virginia Department of Medicine, Morgantown, West Virginia; Mark A. 
Peterson, Legal Analysis Systems, Thousand Oaks, California; Fred 
Dunbar, National Economic Research Associates, and Robert Hartwig, 
Insurance Information Institute, both of New York, New York; Eric D. 
Green, Boston University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts; and 
Jennifer L. Biggs, Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, St. Louis, Missouri.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. Res. 116, commemorating the life, achievements, and contributions 
of Al Lerner; and
  The nominations of Richard C. Wesley, of New York, to be United 
States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit, J. Ronnie Greer, to be 
United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee, 
Mark R. Kravitz, to be United States District Judge for the District of 
Connecticut, and John A. Woodcock, Jr., to be United States District 
Judge for the District of Maine, and R. Hewitt Pate, of Virginia, to be 
an Assistant Attorney General, David B. Rivkin, Jr., of Virginia, to be 
a Member of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United 
States, and Harlon Eugene Costner, to be United States Marshal for the 
Middle District of North Carolina, all of the Department of Justice.