[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 49 (Thursday, April 8, 2004)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D367-D368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS: CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent 
Agencies concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for 
fiscal year 2005 for the Corporation for National and Community 
Service, after receiving testimony from David Eisner, Chief Executive 
Officer, Corporation for National and Community Service.
APPROPRIATIONS: LEGISLATIVE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Legislative Branch 
concluded hearings to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 
2005 for the Offices of the Secretary of the Senate and the Architect 
of the Capitol, after receiving testimony from Emily J. Reynolds, 
Secretary of the Senate; and Alan M. Hantman, Architect of the Capitol.
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Foreign Operations 
concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal 
year 2005 for the Department of State, focusing on foreign operations, 
after receiving testimony from Colin Powell, Secretary of State.
CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded closed and open 
hearings to examine military implications of the United Nations 
Convention on the Law of the Sea, after receiving testimony from 
Admiral Vernon E. Clark, USN, Chief of Naval Operations; William H. 
Taft IV, Legal Advisor, Department of State; Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, 
American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C., former U.S. Ambassador 
to the United Nations; J. William Middendorf II, Little Compton, Rhode 
Island, former Secretary of the Navy; John Norton Moore, University of 
Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville; and Rear Admiral William L. 
Schachte, Jr., JAGC, USN (Ret.), Charleston, South Carolina.
MUTUAL FUND INDUSTRY
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee continued 
hearings to examine current investigations and regulatory actions 
regarding the mutual fund industry, focusing on investor protection 
issues, including late trading, market timing and selective disclosure 
abuses, after receiving testimony from William H. Donaldson, Chairman, 
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following business items:
  S. 2273, to provide increased rail transportation security, with 
amendments;
  S. 2279, to amend title 46, United States Code, with respect to 
maritime transportation security, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute; and
  The nominations of Louis S. Thompson, of Maryland, to be a Member of 
the Reform Board (Amtrak), Kirk Van Tine, of Virginia, to be Deputy 
Secretary of Transportation, Theodore William Kassinger, of Maryland, 
to be Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Deborah Hersman, of Virginia, to be 
a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board, Thomas Hill 
Moore, of Florida, to be a Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, A. Paul Anderson, of Florida, and Joseph E. Brennan, of 
Maine, each to be a Federal Maritime

[[Page D368]]

Commissioner, Jack Edwin McGregor, of Connecticut, to be a Member of 
the Advisory Board of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development 
Corporation, Terry M. Cross, to be Vice Commandant of the U.S. Coast 
Guard, and to the grade of Vice Admiral, Vivien S. Crea, to be 
Commander, Atlantic Area of the U.S. Coast Guard, and to the grade of 
Vice Admiral, Harvey E. Johnson, to be Commander, Pacific Area of the 
U.S. Coast Guard, and to the grade of Vice Admiral, and certain lists 
of nominations for promotion in the U.S. Coast Guard.
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CONCESSIONS PROGRAM
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks concluded an oversight hearing to examine National Park Service's 
implementation of management policies and procedures for its concession 
management program, after receiving testimony from A. Durand Jones, 
Deputy Director, National Park Service, and Richard Allen Naille II, 
Chairperson, National Park Service Concessions Management Advisory 
Board, both of the Department of the Interior; Janet T. White, White 
Sands Concessions, Inc., Alamogordo, New Mexico; Michael F. Welch, 
Xanterra Parks and Resorts, Aurora, Colorado, on behalf of the National 
Park Hospitality Association; and Susie Verkamp, Verkamp's, El Prado, 
New Mexico.
ANTI-SEMITISM IN EUROPE
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on European Affairs 
concluded a hearing to examine anti-Semitism in Europe, focusing on 
Arab and Muslim proponents of anti-Jewish hostility, recognition of the 
problem by European leadership, and the European Union Monitoring 
Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, and S. 2292, to require a report on 
acts of anti-Semitism around the world, after receiving testimony from 
A. Elizabeth Jones, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of European 
and Eurasian Affairs; Caryl M. Stern, Anti-Defamation League, Rabbi 
Andrew Baker, American Jewish Committeee, Mark Levin, National 
Conference on Soviet Jewry, and Daniel S. Mariaschin, B'nai B'rith 
International, all of Washington, D.C.
MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG PROGRAM
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee on Oversight of 
Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of 
Columbia concluded an oversight hearing to examine the implementation 
of the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement, and Modernization Act 
(Public Law 108-173), focusing on the new prescription drug discount 
card program, human resource issues, program integrity, system changes, 
and beneficiary education, after receiving testimony from Michael 
McMullan, Deputy Director, Center for Beneficiary Choices, Centers for 
Medicare and Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human 
Services; Gail R. Wilensky, Project HOPE, Bethesda, Maryland, former 
Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration; and Nancy-
Ann DeParle, J.P. Morgan Partners, LLC, New York, New York, former 
Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nominations of William Duane Benton, of Missouri, to be United 
States Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit, who was introduced by 
Senators Bond and Talent; Robert Bryan Harwell, to be United States 
District Judge for the District of South Carolina, who was introduced 
by Senators Hollings and Graham (SC); George P. Schiavelli, to be 
United States District Judge for the Central District of California, 
who was introduced by Senator Boxer; and Curtis V. Gomez, to be Judge 
for the District Court of the Virgin Islands, who was introduced by 
Virgin Islands Delegate Christensen, after each nominee testified and 
answered questions in their own behalf.
MASS TRANSPORTATION SECURITY
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
safety concerns of the mass transportation system in the United States, 
focusing on S. 2289, to amend title 18, United States Code, to combat 
terrorism against railroad carriers and mass transportation systems on 
land, on water, or through the air, after receiving testimony from 
Harry S. Mattice, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of 
Tennessee, Department of Justice; S. Mark Lindsey, Chief Counsel, 
Federal Railroad Administration, Department of Transportation; Ernest 
R. Frazier, Sr., Chief, System Security and Safety, National Railroad 
Passenger Corporation (Amtrak); and Brian Michael Jenkins, Mineta 
Transportation Institute, San Jose, California.
BUSINESS MEETING
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to 
consider pending intelligence matters.