[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 125 (Thursday, September 11, 2003)]
[Daily Digest]
[Page D987]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM
Committee on Armed Services: Committee met in closed session to receive 
a briefing on lessons learned regarding Operation Iraqi Freedom from 
Brigadier General Robert Cone, USA, Director, Operation Iraqi Freedom 
Joint Lessons Learned Collection Team; Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani, 
Jr., USN, Commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command; and General Gary Luck, 
USA (Retired), former Commander, U.S. Forces-Korea, Senior Advisor to 
the U.S. Joint Forces Command.
PUBLIC LANDS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Public Lands 
and Forests concluded a hearing to examine S. 849, to provide for a 
land exchange in the State of Arizona between the Secretary of 
Agriculture and Yavapai Ranch Limited Partnership, S. 511, to provide 
permanent funding for the Payment In Lieu of Taxes program, S. 432, to 
authorize the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
Agriculture to conduct and support research into alternative treatments 
for timber produced from public lands and lands withdrawn from the 
public domain for the National Forest System, and S.1582, to amend the 
Valles Preservation Act to improve the preservation of the Valles 
Caldera, after receiving testimony from Senator McCain; Mark Rey, Under 
Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and the Environment; 
Chris Kearney, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy 
Management and Budget; Dennis Well, City Manager, Williams, Arizona; 
Tony Gioia, Council Member, Camp Verde, Arizona; Harry Mendoza, 
McKinley County Commissioner, Gallup, New Mexico; and Jeffrey R. Ellis, 
Chemicals and Plastics Technology, Plantation, Florida.
U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine U.S.-China relations, focusing on China's rise in prominence in 
a geostrategic, political, commercial, cultural influence, human rights 
violations, Chinese military capability, and the state of China's 
economy, after receiving testimony from James A. Kelly, Assistant 
Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Nicholas R. 
Lardy, Institute for International Economics, T. Kumar, Amnesty 
International USA, Harold Brown, and Kurt M. Campbell, each of the 
Center for Strategic and International Studies, all of Washington, D.C.
VA ENHANCED SERVICES INITIATIVE
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the Department of Veterans Affairs' Capital Asset Realignment 
for Enhanced Services (CARES) Initiative, the effort to develop a 
roadmap relative to the allocation of capital resources within the 
Veterans Health Administration (VHA), including developing market plans 
to address planning initiatives and space requirements, realignments 
and consolidations, after receiving testimony from Anthony J. Principi, 
Secretary, Robert H. Roswell, Under Secretary for Health, Everett 
Alvarez, Jr., Chairman, Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services 
Commission, and Jay Halpern, Acting Director of the National CARES 
Program Office, all of the Department of Veterans Affairs.