[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 62 (Thursday, May 6, 2004)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D460-D461]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
ENERGY PRODUCTION: BIOMASS
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine new opportunities for agriculture, focusing on the 
use of biomass, which is any living matter that can be converted into 
usable energy through biological or chemical processes, and encompasses 
feedstocks such as agricultural crops and their residues, animal 
wastes, wood, wood residues and grasses, and municipal wastes use in 
energy production, after receiving testimony from former Representative 
Thomas Ewing, on

[[Page D461]]

behalf of the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory 
Committee; Mark E. Rey, Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural 
Resources and Environment; David Garman, Acting Under Secretary of 
Energy for Energy, Science and Environment, and Assistant Secretary of 
Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; R. James Woolsey, 
McLean, Virginia, former Director of Central Intelligence; C. Boyden 
Gray, Energy Future Coalition, Washington, D.C.; Mark E. Zappi, 
Mississippi State University Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical 
Engineering, Mississippi State; Tom L. Richard, Iowa State University, 
Ames; Lee R. Lynd, Dartmouth College Thayer School of Engineering, 
Hanover, New Hampshire; and Samuel B. McLaughlin, University of 
Tennessee Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following bills:
  H.R. 3104, to provide for the establishment of separate campaign 
medals to be awarded to members of the uniformed services who 
participate in Operation Enduring Freedom and to members of the 
uniformed services who participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom;
  An original bill entitled ``National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 2005'';
  An original bill entitled ``Department of Defense Authorization Act 
for Fiscal Year 2005'';
  An original bill entitled ``Military Construction Authorization Act 
for Fiscal Year 2005''; and
  An original bill entitled ``Department of Energy National Security 
Act for Fiscal Year 2005''.
  Also, committee received a report from the Select Committee on 
Intelligence on the proposed Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal 
Year 2005.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered 
favorably reported an original bill to authorize the Secretary of 
Homeland Security to award grants to public transportation agencies to 
improve security.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee held a 
hearing to examine impacts of climate change and states' actions, 
focusing on public health, forests, heatwaves, geological records, 
recent changes in the ocean, temperatures, sea ice and glacial ice, and 
ecological responses, receiving testimony from Ken Colburn, Northeast 
States for Coordinated Air Use Management, and Paul R. Epstein, Harvard 
Medical School Center for Health and the Global Environment, both of 
Boston, Massachusetts; William B. Curry, Woods Hole Oceanographic 
Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts; William R. Fraser, Polar Oceans 
Research Group, Sheridan, Montana; and Philip Mote, University of 
Washington, Seattle.
  Hearing recessed subject to call.
CARFA ACT
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee on Oversight of 
Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of 
Columbia concluded a hearing to examine S. 1668, to establish a 
commission to conduct a comprehensive review of Federal agencies and 
programs and to recommend the elimination or realignment of 
duplicative, wasteful, or outdated functions, after receiving testimony 
from Senator Brownback; former Representative Dick Armey, on behalf of 
Citizens for a Sound Economy; Clay Johnson III, Deputy Director for 
Management, Office of Management and Budget; and Paul Weinstein, Jr., 
Progressive Policy Institute, Washington, D.C.
NOMINATION
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nomination of Jonathan W. Dudas, of Virginia, to be Under Secretary 
of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States 
Patent and Trademark Office, after the nominee, who was introduced by 
Representative Hyde, testified and answered questions in his own 
behalf.