[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 96 (Thursday, June 26, 2003)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D749-D751]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
HEALTHY FORESTS RESTORATION ACT
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded 
hearings to examine H.R. 1904, to improve the capacity of the Secretary 
of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to plan and conduct 
hazardous fuels reduction projects on National Forest System lands and 
Bureau of Land Management lands aimed at protecting communities, 
watersheds, and certain other at-risk lands from catastrophic wildfire, 
to enhance efforts to protect watersheds and address threats to forest 
and rangeland health, including catastrophic wildfire, across the 
landscape, after receiving testimony from Senator McCain; Mark Rey, 
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and the 
Environment; Lynn Scarlett, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for 
Policy, Management, and Budget; Michael Carroll, Minnesota State 
Forester, St. Paul, on behalf of the National Association of State 
Foresters; Frederick M. Stephen, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, 
on behalf of the Society of American Foresters; Tom Nelson, Sierra 
Pacific Industries, Redding, California, on behalf of the American 
Forest and Paper Association; Jacquellin L. McAvoy, City Council, Post 
Falls, Idaho, on behalf of the Idaho Women in Timber; Michael Petersen, 
The Lands Council, Spokane, Washington; Norman L. Christensen, Jr., 
Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, 
Durham, North Carolina; Hal Salwasser, Oregon State University 
Department of Forest Resources, Corvallis; Donald J. Kochan, George 
Mason University School of Law, Arlington, Virginia; and Patrick 
Parenteau, Vermont Law School, South Royalton.
APPROPRIATIONS--LABOR/HHS/EDUCATION AND MILITARY CONSTRUCTION
Committee on Appropriations: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business bills:
  An original bill (S. 1356) making appropriations for the Departments 
of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and related agencies 
for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2004; and
  An original bill (S. 1357) making appropriations for military 
construction, family housing, and base realignment and closure for the 
Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2004.
FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded 
hearings to examine affiliate

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sharing practices in relation to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 
focusing on privacy protections, security risks and threats to the 
credit reporting system, retail credit card programs, and merchandise 
returns, after receiving testimony from Vermont Assistant Attorney 
General Julie Brill, Montpelier; Joel R. Reidenberg, Fordham University 
School of Law, and Martin Wong, Citigroup, Inc., both of New York, New 
York; Ronald A. Prill, Target Financial Services, Minneapolis, 
Minnesota, on behalf of the National Retail Federation; Edmund 
Mierzwinski, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Washington, D.C.; 
Terry Baloun, Wells Fargo Bank, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Angela 
Maynard, Keycorp, Cleveland, Ohio.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following business items:
  S. 1264, to reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission, with 
amendments;
  H.R. 1320, to amend the National Telecommunications and Information 
Administration Organization Act to facilitate the reallocation of 
spectrum from governmental to commercial users, with an amendment;
  An original bill to authorize funds for highway safety programs, 
motor carrier safety programs, hazardous materials transportation 
safety programs, and boating safety programs;
  S. 1262, to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2004, 2005, and 
2006 for certain maritime programs of the Department of Transportation, 
with amendments; and
  S. 1218, to provide for Presidential support and coordination of 
interagency ocean science programs and development and coordination of 
a comprehensive and integrated United States research and monitoring 
program, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute.
NOMINATIONS:
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded hearings to examine the 
nominations of Josette Sheeran Shiner, of Virginia, to be a Deputy 
United States Trade Representative, with the rank of Ambassador, and 
James J. Jochum, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Commerce, 
after each nominee testified and answered questions in their own 
behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. Res. 90, expressing the sense of the Senate that the Senate 
strongly supports the nonproliferation programs of the United States, 
with an amendment;
  S. Res. 62, calling upon the Organization of American States (OAS) 
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations High 
Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Union, and human rights 
activists throughout the world to take certain actions in regard to the 
human rights situation in Cuba;
  S. Res. 149, expressing the sense of the Senate that the 
international response to the current need for food in the Horn of 
Africa remains inadequate, with an amendment; and
  The nominations of Robert W. Fitts, of New Hampshire, to be 
Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, and to serve concurrently and without 
additional compensation as Ambassador to the Solomon Islands and 
Ambassador to the Republic of Vanuatu, Marsha E. Barnes, of Maryland, 
to be Ambassador to the Republic of Suriname, John E. Herbst, of 
Virginia, to be Ambassador toUkraine, Tracey Ann Jacobson, of the 
District of Columbia, to be Ambassador to Turkmenistan, George A. Krol, 
of New Jersey, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Belarus, John F. 
Maisto, of Pennsylvania, to be Permanent Representative of the United 
States of America to the Organization of American States, with the rank 
of Ambassador, Greta N. Morris, of California, to be Ambassador to the 
Republic of the Marshall Islands, Roger Francisco Noriega, of Kansas, 
to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Western Hemisphere Affairs), 
William B. Wood, of New York, to be Ambassador to the Republic of 
Colombia, and certain Foreign Service Officer promotion lists.
INTERNATIONAL PARENTAL ABDUCTION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded hearings to examine 
the Department of State's Office of Children's Issues, focusing on 
responding to international parental abduction, after receiving 
testimony from Senator Lincoln; and Maura Harty, Assistant Secretary of 
State, Bureau of Consular Affairs.
NOMINATIONS:
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the nominations of Judith Nan Macaluso, to be an Associate Judge of the 
Superior Court of the District of Columbia; Fern Flanagan Saddler, to 
be an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of 
Columbia; and Joshua B. Bolten, of the District of Columbia, to be 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. 281, to amend the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century 
to make certain amendments with respect to Indian tribes, to provide 
for training

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and technical assistance to Native Americans who are interested in 
commercial vehicle driving careers, with an amendment in the nature of 
a substitute; and
  The nominations of Lisa Genevieve Nason, of Alaska, Georgianna E. 
Ignace, of Wisconsin, John Richard Grimes, of Massachusetts, each to be 
a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of American Indian 
and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development, and Charles W. Grim, of 
Oklahoma, to be Director of the Indian Health Service, Department of 
Health and Human Services.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. Res. 174, designating Thursday, November 20, 2003, as ``Feed 
America Thursday'';
  S. Res. 175, designating the month of October 2003, as ``Family 
History Month''; and
  The nominations of Diane M. Stuart, of Utah, to be Director of the 
Violence Against Women Office, Department of Justice; and Thomas M. 
Hardiman, to be United States District Judge for the Western District 
of Pennsylvania.
  Also, committee resumed markup of S. 1125, to create a fair and 
efficient system to resolve claims of victims for bodily injury caused 
by asbestos exposure, but did not complete action thereon, and recessed 
subject to call.
GROWING WAHHABI INFLUENCE
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and 
Homeland Security concluded hearings to examine the ideological 
structure of Wahhabism, an extreme and violent form of Islam, and its 
potential for politcal and social influence in the United States, after 
receiving testimony from David Aufhauser, General Counsel, Department 
of the Treasury; Larry A. Mefford, Assistant Director, Counterterrorism 
Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice; and 
Alex Alexiev, Center for Security Policy, and Stephen Schwartz, 
Foundation for Defense of Democracies, both of Washington, D.C.