[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 56 (Wednesday, April 28, 2004)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D414-D416]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
MEDICAL PROGRAMS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Defense concluded a 
hearing to examine the state of medical programs in the armed services, 
focusing on the military system of teaching centers, research and 
development organizations, health clinics, and field hospitals, 
including the Force Health Protection, which is a continuum of services 
designed to create and maintain a healthy and fit military force, after 
receiving testimony from Lieutenant General James B. Peake, Surgeon 
General of the Army; Vice Admiral Michael L. Cowan, Surgeon General of 
the Navy; Lieutenant General George Peach Taylor, Jr., Air Force 
Surgeon General; Colonel Deborah A. Gutske, Assistant Chief, Army Nurse 
Corps; Rear Admiral Nancy J. Lescavage, Nurse Corps, U.S. Navy; and 
Major General Barbara C. Brannon, Assistant Air Force Surgeon General, 
Nursing Services, and Assistant Air Force Surgeon General, Medical 
Force Development.
MILITARY FORCE PROTECTION EQUIPMENT
Committee on Armed Services: Committee met in closed session to receive 
a briefing to discuss the performance of force protection equipment for 
ground forces in Iraq, including the Up-Armored HMMWV, and potential 
alternatives to meet force protection needs of the Combatant Commander 
from General George W. Casey, Jr., USA, Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Army; 
and Lieutenant General Richard A. Cody, USA, Deputy Chief of Staff for 
Operations, G-3.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee resumed 
hearings to examine telecommunications policy, focusing on the future 
of telecom reform, after receiving testimony from Reed E. Hundt, former 
Chairman, Federal Communications Commission, Adam D. Thierer, Cato 
Institute, Charles Freguson, Brookings Institution, and Raymond L. 
Gifford, Progress and Freedom Foundation, all of Washington, D.C.; and 
George Gilder, Discovery Institute, Seattle, Washington.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably 
the following bills:
  S. 1071, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior, through the 
Bureau of Reclamation, to conduct a feasibility study on a water 
conservation project within the Arch Hurley Conservancy District in the 
State of New Mexico, with an amendment;
  S. 1097, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to implement the 
Calfed Bay-Delta Program, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 1582, to amend the Valles Preservation Act to improve the 
preservation of the Valles Caldera, with an amendment in the nature of 
a substitute;
  S. 1687, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study 
on the preservation and interpretation of the historic sites of the 
Manhattan Project for potential inclusion in the National Park System, 
with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1778, to authorize a land conveyance between the United States and 
the City of Craig, Alaska, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 1791, to amend the Lease Lot Conveyance Act of 2002 to provide 
that the amounts received by the United States under that Act shall be 
deposited in the reclamation fund;
  S. Res. 321, recognizing the loyal service and outstanding 
contributions of J. Robert Oppenheimer to the United States and calling 
on the Secretary of Energy to observe the 100th anniversary of Dr. 
Oppenheimer's birth with appropriate programs at the Department of 
Energy and the Los Alamos National Laboratory;
  H.R. 1521, to provide for additional lands to be included within the 
boundary of the Johnstown Flood National Memorial in the State of 
Pennsylvania; and
  H.R. 3249, to extend the term of the Forest Counties Payments 
Committee.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine S. 1134, to reauthorize and improve the programs 
authorized by the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965, 
after receiving testimony from David A. Sampson, Assistant Secretary of 
Commerce for Economic Development, Economic Development Administration; 
James J. Saudade, Vermont Department of Housing and Community Affairs, 
Montpelier; Gary Gorshing, South Western Oklahoma Development 
Authority, Burns Flats, on behalf of the National Association of 
Development Organizations; R. Charles Gatson, Swope Community Builders, 
Kansas City, Missouri; and Phillip A. Singerman,

[[Page D415]]

Maryland Technology Development Corporation, Rockville, on behalf of 
the International Economic Development Council.
POWER WHEELCHAIR PROGRAM
Committee on Finance: Committee held a hearing to examine fraud and 
abuse in Medicare's power wheelchair program, focusing on fraudulent 
schemes and costly and abusive practices that are taking place in the 
sale of motorized wheelchairs to Medicare and Medicaid recipients, 
receiving testimony from Dara Corrigan, Acting Principal Deputy 
Inspector General, and Herbert Kuhn, Director, Center for Medicare 
Management, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, both of the 
Department of Health and Human Services; Leslie G. Aronovitz, Director, 
Health Care, Program Administration and Integrity Issues, General 
Accounting Office; Laura Cohen, TriWest region of TRICARE, Tucson, 
Arizona; Henry Claypool, Advancing Independence, Washington, D.C.; Kay 
Cox, American Association for Homecare, Alexandria, Virginia; and 
Rebecca Lewandowski, Klamath Falls, Oregon.
  Hearings recessed subject to the call.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the nominations of Jeffrey D. Feltman, of Ohio, to be 
Ambassador to Lebanon, Thomas Charles Krajeski, of Virginia, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Yemen, Richard LeBaron, of Virginia, to 
be Ambassador to Kuwait, James Francis Moriarty, of Virginia, to be 
Ambassador to Nepal, Michele J. Sison, of Maryland, to be Ambassador to 
the United Arab Emirates, and David Michael Satterfield, of Virginia, 
to be Ambassador to Jordan, after each nominee testified and answered 
questions in their own behalf.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the nominations of Constance Berry Newman, to be an Assistant 
Secretary of State for African Affairs, who was introduced by Senator 
Stevens and Delegate Holmes Norton; Aubrey Hooks, of Virginia, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire, Thomas Neil Hull III, of 
New Hampshire, to be Ambassador to Sierra Leone, and Roger A. Meece, of 
Washington, to be Ambassador to the Congo, after each nominee testified 
and answered questions in their own behalf.
GOVERNMENT PURCHASE CARDS
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the use and prevention of abuse of government purchase cards, 
focusing on efforts to streamline the federal acquisition processes, 
limited disciplinary actions taken by the Department of Defense 
relative to the cards, and a continuous monitoring system to limit 
fraudulent and improper usage, after receiving testimony from Gregory 
D. Kutz, Director, Financial Management and Assurance, and John J. 
Ryan, Assistant Director, Office of Special Investigations, both of the 
General Accounting Office; David K. Steensma, Assistant Inspector 
General, Contract Management, and Colonel William J. Kelley, Program 
Director, Data Mining Division, both of the Office of the Inspector 
General, Department of Defense; and Neal I. Fox, Assistant Commissioner 
for Commercial Acquisition, Federal Supply Service, General Services 
Administration.
CHILDREN AND WORKING PARENTS
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: On Thursday, April 
22, Subcommittee on Children and Families concluded a hearing to 
examine working parents and their children, focusing on early childhood 
education, elder care programs, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), 
and workplace flexibility, after receiving testimony from Ellen 
Galinsky, Families and Work Institute, Joy Bunson, JPMorgan Chase, and 
Carol Evans, Working Mother Media, all of New York, New York; Michael 
Shum, IBM, White Plains, New York, and Donna M. Klein, Washington, 
D.C., both on behalf of Corporate Voices for Working Families; Karen 
Kornbluh, New America Foundation, and Zoila Martinez and Manuel 
Martinez, all of Washington, D.C.
CHILDREN AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Subcommittee on 
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services concluded a hearing to 
examine mental health in children and youth, focusing on issues 
throughout the developmental process, and S. 1704, to amend the Public 
Health Service Act to establish a State family support grant program to 
end the practice of parents giving legal custody of their seriously 
emotionally disturbed children to State agencies for the purpose of 
obtaining mental health services for those children, after receiving 
testimony from Joy D. Osofsky, Louisiana State University Health 
Sciences Center, New Orleans, on behalf of ZERO TO THREE; Marleen Li 
Chen Wong, Los Angeles Unified School District, and the National Center 
for Child Traumatic Stress, Van Nuys, California; Louise A. Douce, The 
Ohio State University, Sunbury; Maryann Davis, University of 
Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester; Linda Champion, Montgomery, 
Alabama, on behalf of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill; 
Barbara Altenburger, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on behalf of the 
Parents Involved Network, and the Mental Health Association of Southern 
Pennsylvania.

[[Page D416]]


HEALTHY MARRIAGE
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Subcommittee on 
Children and Families concluded a hearing to examine how to promote a 
healthy marriage, focusing on the Healthy Marriage Initiative, the 
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, and discouraging teen 
pregnancy, after receiving testimony from Wade F. Horn, Assistant 
Secretary of Health and Human Service for Children and Families; 
Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, Rutgers University National Marriage Project, 
Amherst, Massachusetts; Roland C. Warren, National Fatherhood 
Initiative, Germantown, Maryland; Frank Keating, American Council of 
Life Insurers, McLean, Virginia; Stan E. Weed, Institute for Research 
and Evaluation, Salt Lake City, Utah.
TRIBAL CONTRACT SUPPORT COST
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
S. 2172, to make technical amendments to the provisions of the Indian 
Self Determination and Education Assistance Act relating to contract 
support costs, after receiving testimony from William A. Sinclair, 
Director, Office of Self-Governance and Self-Determination, Department 
of the Interior; Charles W. Grim, Assistant Surgeon General, Director, 
Indian Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services; W. Ron 
Allen, Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, Sequim, Washington, on behalf of the 
National Congress of American Indians; Chadwick Smith, Cherokee Nation, 
Tahlequah, Oklahoma; Herbert L. Fenster, McKenna, Long, and Aldridge, 
LLP, Denver, Colorado; and Lloyd B. Miller, Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, 
Miller and Munson, LLP, Anchorage, Alaska.
PLAYWRIGHTS LICENSING ANTITRUST INITIATIVE ACT
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine S. 
2349, to modify the application of the antitrust laws to permit 
collective development and implementation of a standard contract form 
for playwrights for the licensing of their plays, focusing on 
safeguarding the future of American live theater, after receiving 
testimony from Gerald Schoenfeld, Shubert Organization, Inc., on behalf 
of League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc., Roger S. Berlind, 
Berlind Productions, Inc., Stephen Sondheim, and Wendy Wasserstein, all 
of New York, New York; and Arthur Miller, Roxbury, Connecticut.
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.