[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 105 (Wednesday, July 16, 2003)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D826-D827]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS: ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Energy and Water 
Development approved for full Committee consideration an original bill 
making appropriations for energy and water development programs for the 
fiscal year ending September 30, 2004.
Nominations:
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
nominations of Thomas W. O'Connell, of Virginia, to be an Assistant 
Secretary of Defense, and Paul Morgan Longsworth, of Virginia, to be 
Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, National 
Nuclear Security Administration.
MONETARY POLICY REPORT
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded 
hearings to examine the semi-annual Monetary Policy Report of the 
Federal Reserve and the economic outlook, after receiving testimony 
from Alan Greenspan, Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal 
Reserve System.
INTERNET TAX MORATORIUM
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
hearings to examine proposed legislation to make permanent the 
moratorium on taxes on Internet access, focusing on the costs of tax 
compliance, and benefits achieved under the Internet Tax Freedom Act, 
after receiving testimony from Billy Hamilton, Texas Comptroller of 
Public Accounts, Austin; Joseph A. Ripp, America Online, Inc., Dulles, 
Virginia; Paul Misener, Amazon.com, Inc., Washington, D.C.; and Mark 
Beshears, Sprint Corporation, Overland Park, Kansas.
MARINE MAMMAL PROTECTION ACT AUTHORIZATION
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Oceans, Fisheries, and Coast Guard concluded hearings on proposed 
legislation authorizing funds for programs of the Marine Mammal 
Protection Act, focusing on improvements to marine mammal bycatch 
reduction efforts, enforcement, and other important aspects of marine 
mammal conservation management policy, after receiving testimony from 
Rebecca Lent, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National 
Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, Department of Commerce; Marshall P. Jones, Jr., Deputy 
Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior; 
Vice Admiral Charles W. Moore, Jr., USN, Deputy Chief of Naval 
Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics; David Cottingham, Marine 
Mammal Commission, Bethesda, Maryland; Rear Admiral Richard West, USN, 
(Ret.), Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education, and Nina 
M. Young, The Ocean Conservancy, both of Washington, D.C.; Peter Tyack, 
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts; and 
Charles Johnson, Alaska Nanuuq Commission, Nome, Alaska.
GREAT LAKES RESTORATION
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee on Oversight of 
Government Management, Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia 
concluded hearings to examine the recent General Accounting Office 
report entitled: ``An Overall Strategy and Indicators for Measuring 
Progress Are Needed to Better Achieve Restoration Goals'', focusing on 
the ramifications of an uncoordinated Great Lakes restoration strategy, 
current management of various environmental programs, and possible next 
steps to improve the management of Great Lakes programs, after 
receiving testimony from Senators DeWine and Levin; John B. Stephenson, 
Director, Natural Resources and Environment, General Accounting Office; 
Robyn Thorson, Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
Department of the Interior; Thomas V. Skinner, Region V Administrator, 
National Program Manager for the Great Lakes, Environmental Protection 
Agency; Colonel William E. Ryan III, Deputy Commander, Great Lakes and 
Ohio River Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Timothy R.E. Keeney, 
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Illinois State Senator 
Susan Garrett, Springfield; Christopher Jones, Ohio Environmental 
Protection Agency, Columbus, on behalf of the Council of Great Lakes 
Governors; Dennis L. Schornack, Chair, United States Section, 
International Joint Commission, Washington, D.C.; and Margaret Wooster, 
Great Lakes United, Buffalo, New York.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following bills:

[[Page D827]]


  S. 618, to provide for the use and distribution of the funds awarded 
to the Western Shoshone identifiable group under Indian Claims 
Commission Docket Numbers 326-A-1, 326-A-3, 326-K, with an amendment in 
the nature of a substitute; and
  S.1146, to implement the recommendations of the Garrison Unit Tribal 
Advisory Committee by providing authorization for the construction of a 
rural health care facility on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, 
North Dakota, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute.
INDIAN HEALTH CARE
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded joint hearings with 
House Committee on Resources, Office of Native American and Insular 
Affairs on S. 556, to amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to 
revise and extend that Act, and H.R. 2440, to improve the 
implementation of the Federal responsibility for the care and education 
of Indian people by improving the services and facilities of Federal 
health programs for Indians and encouraging maximum participation of 
Indians in such programs, after receiving testimony from Charles W. 
Grim, Interim Director, Indian Health Service, Department of Health and 
Human Services; Steven B. Nesmith, Assistant Secretary of Housing and 
Urban Development for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations; 
Rachel A. Joseph, National Steering Committee on the Reauthorization of 
the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, Lone Pine, California; Ben 
Muneta, Association of American Indian Physicians, and Everett R. 
Rhoades, Central Oklahoma American Indian Health Council, Inc., both of 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Steven Weaver, Alaska Native Tribal Health 
Consortium, Anchorage; Kay A. Culbertson, Denver Indian Health and 
Family Services, Denver, Colorado; and Carmelita Skeeter, Indian Health 
Care Resource Center of Tulsa, Inc., Tulsa, Oklahoma.
HOSPITAL GROUP PURCHASING
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition 
Policy and Consumer Rights concluded hearings on competition in the 
marketplace in relation to hospital group purchasing, focusing on how 
Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) affect the cost and quality of 
health care in America, including whether the benefits of GPOs outweigh 
the potential for harm to hospitals, consumers and competition, after 
receiving testimony from Mark McKenna, Novation, Irving Texas; Richard 
Norling, Premier, San Diego, California; Said Hilal, Applied Medical 
Resources Corporation, Rancho Santa Margarita, California; Thomas 
Brown, BIOTRONIK, Inc., Lake Oswego, Oregon; Gary Heiman, Standard 
Textile, Cincinnati, Ohio; Elizabeth Weatherman, Warburg Pincus, LLC, 
New York, New York; and Lynn James Everard, Coconut Creek, Florida.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on 
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the 
intelligence community.
  Committee recessed subject to call.