[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 150 (Thursday, October 23, 2003)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D1163-D1165]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
nomination of Maj. Gen. Robert T. Clark for appointment in the United 
States Army to the grade of Lieutenant General.
HOUSING GSE'S
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine proposals

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for improving the regulation of the Housing government-sponsored 
enterprises (GSEs), focusing on regulatory independence, the exposure 
of taxpayers to risks from the GSEs, and including regulation of the 
Federal Home Loan Banks, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, after receiving 
testimony from John T. Korsmo, Chairman, Federal Housing Finance Board; 
Armando Falcon, Jr, Director, Office of Federal Housing Enterprise 
Oversight, Department of Housing and Urban Development; Douglas Holtz-
Eakin, Director, Congressional Budget Office; John D. Koch, Charter One 
Bank, Cleveland, Ohio, on behalf of America's Community Bankers; Dale 
J. Torpey, Federation Bank, Washington, Iowa, on behalf of the 
Independent Community Bankers of America; Allen J. Fishbein, Consumer 
Federation of America, and Robert M. Couch, Mortgage Bankers 
Association, both of Washington, D.C.; and Iona C. Harrision, Realty 
Executives-Main Street, U.S.A., Upper Marlboro, Maryland, on behalf of 
the National Association of Realtors.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the nominations of Roger Walton Ferguson, Jr., of 
Massachusetts, to be Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the 
Federal Reserve System, Ben S. Bernanke, of New Jersey, to be a Member 
of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and Paul S. 
Atkins, of Virginia, to be a Member of the Securities and Exchange 
Commission.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the nominations of Karen K. Bhatia, of Maryland, to 
be an Assistant Secretary of Transportation, Gwendolyn Brown, of 
Virginia, to be Chief Financial Officer, National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration, Charles Darwin Snelling, of Pennsylvania, to be a 
Member of the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington 
Airports Authority, and certain nominations for promotion in the U.S. 
Coast Guard.
RAILROAD COMPETITION ACT
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine concluded a hearing to 
examine railroad shipper issues and S. 919, to amend title 49, United 
States Code, to enhance competition among and between rail carriers in 
order to ensure efficient rail service and reasonable rail rates, after 
receiving testimony from Roger Nober, Chairman, Surface Transportation 
Board, Department of Transportation; Edward R. Hamberger, Association 
of American Railroads, Washington, D.C.; Terry C. Whiteside, Whiteside 
and Associates, Billings, Montana, on behalf of several farm producer 
groups; Charles E. Platz, Basell North America, Inc., Wilmington, 
Delaware, on behalf of the Consumers United for Rail Equity and the 
American Chemistry Council; and Randall Linville, The Scoular Company, 
Overland Park, Kansas.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following bills:
  S. 994, to protect human health and the environment from the release 
of hazardous substances by acts of terrorism, with amendment in the 
nature of a substitute; and
  S. 1757, to amend the John F. Kennedy Center Act to authorize 
appropriations for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 
with an amendment.
COMPANY OWNED LIFE INSURANCE
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine current-
federal tax treatment, proposals, and issues relating to company owned 
life insurance, focusing on the uses of corporate-owned life insurance, 
identify where any problems might exist, and suggest how those problems 
should be addressed, after receiving testimony from Gregory F. Jenner, 
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy; Davi M. 
D'Agostino, Director, Financial Markets and Community Investment, 
General Accounting Office; Frank Keating, American Council of Life 
Insurers, and Andrew D. Pike, American University Washington College of 
Law, both of Washington, D.C.; Robert Plybon, Association for Advanced 
Life Underwriting, Falls Church, Virginia; and Spencer Tillman, Sugar 
Land, Texas.
VISA REFORMS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on International 
Operations and Terrorism concluded a hearing to examine how to achieve 
the necessary security improvements in a global environment relating to 
the post-9/11 visa reforms and new technology, focusing on the economic 
impact of tourism, travel by students and scholars, and the negative 
perception of U.S. visa policies, after receiving testimony from C. 
Stewart Verdery, Jr., Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for 
Policy, Border, and Transportation Security; Janice L. Jacobs, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs; David M. Hardy, 
Acting Assistant Director, Records Management Division, Federal Bureau 
of Investigation, Department of Justice; William C. Oberlin, American 
Chamber of Commerce in Korea and Boeing International Corporation, 
Seoul, Korea; John Aber, University of New Hampshire, Durham; and

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Jose Estorino, Orlando/Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau, 
Orlando, Florida, on behalf of the Travel Industry Association of 
America.
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions:  Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine State and federal oversight to ensure 
the Safety and quality of drug compounding--the process of mixing, 
combining, or altering ingredients to create a customized medication 
for an individual patient--by pharmacies, after receiving testimony 
from Janet Heinrich, Director, Health Care-Public Health Issues, 
General Accounting Office; Steven K. Galson, Acting Director, Center 
for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 
Department of Health and Human Services; Sarah L. Sellers, Center for 
Pharmaceutical Safety, Barrington, Illinois; Daniel A. Herbert, 
Richmond, Virginia, on behalf of the American Pharmacists Association; 
Kevin Kinkade, Missouri Board of Pharmacy, Jefferson City; and William 
P. Kennedy, Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Orlando, Florida.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. 1545, to amend the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant 
Responsibility Act of 1996 to permit States to determine State 
residency for higher education purposes and to authorize the 
cancellation of removal and adjustment of status of certain alien 
students who are long-term United States residents, with an amendment 
in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1743, to permit reviews of criminal records of applicants for 
private Security officer employment;
  S. 1194, to foster local collaborations which will ensure that 
resources are effectively and efficiently used within the criminal and 
juvenile justice Systems, with an amendment in the nature a substitute;
  S. Res. 239, designating November 7, 2003, as ``National Native 
American Veterans Day'' to honor the Service of Native Americans in the 
United States Armed Forces and the contribution of Native Americans to 
the defense of the United States;
  S. Res. 240, designating November 2003 as ``National American Indian 
Heritage Month''; and
  The nominations of Dale S. Fischer, to be United States District 
Judge for the Central District of California, and Gary L. Sharpe, to be 
United States District Judge for the Northern District of New York.
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.