[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 138 (Thursday, October 2, 2003)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D1083-D1085]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
SARBANES-OXLEY ACT
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Public 
Law 107-204) and restoring investor confidence, after receiving 
testimony from Paul A. Volcker, Washington University, St. Louis, 
Missouri, former Chairman, Federal Reserve System, Charles A. Bowsher, 
National Association of Securities Dealers, Chicago, Illinois, former 
Comptroller General of the United States, Ralph Larsen, Johnson and 
Johnson, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Peter G. Peterson, Blackstone 
Group, New York, New York, all on behalf of the Conference Board, Inc.; 
Brian P. Anderson, Baxter International Inc., Deerfield, Illinois; John 
J. Castellani, Business Roundtable, and Richard L. Trumka, American 
Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, both of 
Washington, D.C.; and Keith D. Grinstein, Coinstar, Inc., Bellevue, 
Washington.
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing on media ownership, focusing on issues of media concentration 
and ownership rules, after receiving testimony from Mark Cooper, 
Consumer Federation of America, Washington, D.C.; and Victor B. Miller 
IV, Bear, Stearns and Company, Inc., Eli M. Noam, Columbia Institute 
for Tele-Information, Columbia University Graduate School of Business, 
and Philip M. Napoli, Fordham University Graduate School of Business, 
all of New York, New York.
AMTRAK
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing on S. 1501, to amend title 49, United States Code, to provide 
for stable, productive, and efficient passenger rail service in the 
United States, focusing on the future of intercity passenger rail 
service, after receiving testimony from Allan Rutter, Administrator, 
Federal Railroad Administration, and Kenneth M. Mead, Inspector 
General, both of the Department of Transportation; David L. Gunn, 
President and Chief Executive Officer, Amtrak; and Claudia L. Howells, 
Oregon Department of Transportation, Salem.

[[Page D1084]]


NATIONAL PARKS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks concluded a hearing to examine S. 524, to expand the boundaries 
of the Fort Donelson National Battlefield to authorize the acquisition 
and interpretation of lands associated with the campaign that resulted 
in the capture of the fort in 1862, S. 1313, to establish the Congaree 
Swamp National Park in the State of South Carolina, S. 1472, to 
authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide a grant for the 
construction of a statue of Harry S Truman at Union Station in Kansas 
City, Missouri, and S. 1576, to revise the boundary of Harpers Ferry 
National Historical Park, after receiving testimony from Senator 
Hollings; Sue Masica, Associate Director of Park Planning, Facilities, 
and Lands, National Park Service, Department of the Interior; Debby 
Spencer, West Kentucky Corporation, Bowling Green, Kentucky; Dennis E. 
Frye, Civil War Adventures, Sharpsburg, Maryland; Hattie Fruster, Lower 
Richland National Association For the Advancement of Colored People 
(NAACP), Hopkins, South Carolina; and Harriet Hampton-Faucette, Friends 
of the Congaree Swamp, Columbia, South Carolina.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Finance: on Wednesday, October 1, 2003, Committee ordered 
favorably reported S. 1637, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
to comply with the World Trade Organization rulings on the FSC/ETI 
benefit in a manner that preserves jobs and production activities in 
the United States, to reform and simplify the international taxation 
rules of the United States, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute.
CUBA
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine challenges for U.S. policy toward Cuba, focusing on the Western 
Hemisphere, challenges to multilateral consensus, U.S. programs to 
promote democracy and human rights, humanitarian aid and educational 
tourism, agricultural trade, and travel, after receiving testimony from 
Senator Baucus; Roger F. Noriega, Assistant Secretary of State for 
Western Hemisphere Affairs; R. Richard Newcomb, Director, Office of 
Foreign Assets Control, Department of the Treasury; Jose Miguel 
Vivanco, Human Rights Watch, Emilio T. Gonzalez, Tew Cardenas, LLP, and 
Bernard W. Aronson, ACON Investments, LLC, all of Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. Con. Res. 66, commending the National Endowment for Democracy for 
its contributions to democratic development around the world on the 
occasion of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the National 
Endowment for Democracy;
  S. Res. 230, calling on the People's Republic of China immediately 
and unconditionally to release Rebiya Kadeer;
  S. Res. 231, commending the Government and people of Kenya; and
  The nominations of Richard Eugene Hoagland, of the District of 
Columbia, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Tajikistan, Pamela P. 
Willeford, of Texas, to be Ambassador to Switzerland, and to serve 
concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador to the 
Principality of Liechtenstein, James Casey Kenny, of Illinois, to be 
Ambassador to Ireland, Randall L. Tobias, of Indiana, to be Coordinator 
of United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally, 
with the rank of Ambassador, W. Robert Pearson, of Tennessee, to be 
Director General of the Foreign Service, William Cabaniss, of Alabama, 
to be Ambassador to the Czech Republic, David L. Lyon, of California, 
to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador 
to the Republic of Kiribati, Roderick R. Paige, of Texas, to be a 
Representative of the United States of America to the Thirty-second 
Session of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, 
Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Robert B. Charles, of Maryland, 
to be an Assistant Secretary of State (International Narcotics and Law 
Enforcement Affairs), H. Douglas Barclay, of New York, to be Ambassador 
to El Salvador, and Pamela A. White, of Virginia, for promotion into 
the Senior Foreign Service.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the nomination of C. Suzanne Mencer, of Colorado, to be the Director of 
the Office for Domestic Preparedness, Department of Homeland Security.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following bills:
  S. 606, to provide collective bargaining rights for public safety 
officers employed by States or their political subdivisions; and
  S. 1627, to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute.

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SPOKANE TRIBE HYDROPOWER SETTLEMENT
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
S. 1438, to provide for equitable compensation of the Spokane Tribe of 
Indians of the Spokane Reservation in settlement of claims of the Tribe 
concerning the contribution of the Tribe to the production of 
hydropower by the Grand Coulee Dam, after receiving testimony from 
Senator Murray; Warren Seyler, Spokane Tribal Business Council, 
Wellpinit, Washington; Howard Funke, Funke and Work Law Offices, Coeur 
D'Alene, Idaho; and Charles E. Pace, Regional Services, Challis, Idaho.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items: S. 1580, to amend the Immigration and 
Nationality Act to extend the special immigrant religious worker 
program, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute; and
  The nominations of Charles W. Pickering, Sr., of Mississippi, to be 
United States Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit, Margaret Catharine 
Rodgers, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District 
of Florida, Roger W. Titus, to be United States District Judge for the 
District of Maryland, and Karin J. Immergut, of Oregon, to be United 
States Attorney for the District of Oregon, Department of Justice.
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.