[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 21, 2004)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D812-D815]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NOMINATIONS:
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nominations of Vice Admiral Timothy J. Keating, USN, for 
appointment to the grade of admiral and to be Commander, United States 
Northern Command/Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command; 
Lieutenant General Bantz J. Craddock, USA, for appointment to the grade 
of general and to be Commander, United States Southern Command; Peter 
Cyril Wyche Flory, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense 
for International Security Policy, and Valerie Lynn Baldwin, of Kansas, 
to be an Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management and 
Comptroller, who was introduced by Senator Roberts, and Representatives 
Hobson, and Jerry Lewis, after the nominees testified and answered 
questions in their own behalf.
NMS AND MARKET STRUCTURE
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine regulation of the national market system and 
developments in market structure, focusing on proposals to modernize 
the national market system to improve the regulatory structure of U.S. 
equity markets, after receiving testimony from William H. Donaldson, 
Chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; Robert Greifeld, 
NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc., David F. Harris, American Stock Exchange, 
LLC, Edward J. Nicoll, Instinet Group, Inc., and John Thain, New York 
Stock Exchange, Inc., all of New York, New York; and Gerald D. Putnam, 
Archipelago Holdings, LLC, Chicago, Illinois.
PUBLIC LANDS/NATIONAL FORESTS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Public Lands 
and Forests concluded a

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hearing to examine S. 738, to designate certain public lands in 
Humboldt, Del Norte, Mendocino, Lake, Napa, and Yolo Counties in the 
State of California as wilderness, to designate certain segments of the 
Black Butte River in Mendocino County, California as a wild or scenic 
river, S. 1614, to designate a portion of White Salmon River as a 
component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, S. 2221, to 
authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to sell or exchange certain 
National Forest System land in the State of Oregon, S. 2253, to permit 
young adults to perform projects to prevent fire and suppress fires, 
and provide disaster relief, on public land through a Healthy Forest 
Youth Conservation Corps, S. 2334, to designate certain National Forest 
System land in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as components of the 
National Wilderness Preservation System, S. 2408, to adjust the 
boundaries of the Helena, Lolo, and Beaverhead-Deerlodge National 
Forests in the State of Montana, and S. 2622, to provide for the 
exchange of certain Federal land in the Santa Fe National Forest and 
certain non-Federal land in the Pecos National Historical Park in the 
State of New Mexico, after receiving testimony from Senator Boxer; 
Representative Thomas; Mark Rey, Under Secretary of Agriculture for 
Natural Resources and Environment Minerals; Chad Calvert, Assistant 
Secretary of the Interior for Lands and Minerals Management; Art Pope, 
Northwest Youth Corps, Eugene, Oregon; John Woolley, Humboldt County 
Supervisor, Eureka, California; and Don Amador, BlueRibbon Coalition, 
Inc., Oakley, California.
TAX GAP
Committee on Finance: Committee held a hearing to examine bridging the 
difference between what taxpayers pay voluntarily and what they are 
supposed to pay, focusing on increasing the effectiveness of the 
Internal Revenue Service, simplifying the tax administration system, 
the ``underground economy'', tax shelters, and ways that data sharing 
and analysis may enhance tax compliance and improve immigration 
eligibility decisions, receiving testimony from Raymond T. Wagner Jr., 
Member, Internal Revenue Service Oversight Board, Pamela J. Gardiner, 
Acting Inspector General for Tax Administration, Mark W. Everson, 
Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Nina E. Olson, National Taxpayer 
Advocate, Taxpayer Advocate Service, Internal Revenue Service, all of 
the Department of the Treasury; Michael Brostek, Director, Strategic 
Issues, Government Accountability Office; Nicholas P. Godici, 
Commissioner for Patents, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Department 
of Commerce; Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney of New York 
County, New York, New York; Debbie Langsea, California Franchise Tax 
Board, Sacramento; Joseph Bankman, Stanford Law School, Stanford, 
California; Dale Brown, Incline Village, Nevada; and an anonymous 
witness.
  Hearings recessed subject to the call.
MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANK
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine United States efforts to prevent, detect, and punish corruption 
associated with development assistance provided by the Multilateral 
Development Banks, focusing on the United States Department of 
Treasury's role and internal efforts, after receiving testimony from 
John B. Taylor, Under Secretary of the Treasury for International 
Affairs; Richard Thornburgh, Kirkpatrick and Lockhart, former United 
States Attorney General, and Kimberly Ann Elliott, Institute for 
International Economics, all of Washington, DC; and Guido Penzhorn; 
Durban Bar, Durban, South Africa.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. 1230, to provide for additional responsibilities for the Chief 
Information Officer of the Department of Homeland Security relating to 
geospatial information, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 2347, to amend the District of Columbia College Access Act of 1999 
to permanently authorize the public school and private school tuition 
assistance programs established under the Act, with an amendment;
  H.R. 4012, to amend the District of Columbia College Access Act of 
1999 to reauthorize for five additional years the public school and 
private school tuition assistance programs established under the Act;
  S. 2409, to provide for continued health benefits coverage for 
certain Federal employees, with an amendment;
  S. 2628, to amend chapter 23 of title 5, United States Code, to 
clarify the disclosures of information protected from prohibited 
personnel practices, require a statement in nondisclosure policies, 
forms, and agreements that such policies, forms, and agreements conform 
with certain disclosure protections, provide certain authority for the 
Special Counsel;
  S. 2536, to enumerate the responsibilities of the Officer for Civil 
Rights and Civil Liberties of the Department of Homeland Security, to 
require the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security to 
designate a senior official to investigate civil rights complaints, 
with an amendment;
  S. 2635, to establish an intergovernmental grant program to identify 
and develop homeland security information, equipment, capabilities, 
technologies,

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and services to further the homeland security of the United States and 
to address the homeland security needs of Federal, State, and local 
governments, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2657, to amend part III of title 5, United States Code, to provide 
for the establishment of programs under which supplemental dental and 
vision benefits are made available to Federal employees, retirees, and 
their dependents, to expand the contracting authority of the Office of 
Personnel Management;
  S. 2639, to reauthorize the Congressional Award Act;
  S. 2275, to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101 et 
seq.) to provide for homeland security assistance for high-risk 
nonprofit organizations, with amendments;
  S. 593, to ensure that a Federal employee who takes leave without pay 
in order to perform service as a member of the uniformed services or 
member of the National Guard shall continue to receive pay in an amount 
which, when taken together with the pay and allowances such individual 
is receiving for such service, will be no less than the basic pay such 
individual would then be receiving if no interruption in employment had 
occurred, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 3797, to authorize improvements in the operations of the 
government of the District of Columbia;
  S. 2688, to provide for a report of Federal entities without annually 
audited financial statements;
  S. 2501, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 73 South Euclid Avenue in Montauk, New York, as the 
``Perry B. Duryea, Jr. Post Office'';
  H.R. 4427, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 73 South Euclid Avenue in Montauk, New York, as the 
``Perry B. Duryea, Jr. Post Office'';
  S. 2640, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 1050 North Hills Boulevard in Reno, Nevada, as the 
``Guardians of Freedom Memorial Post Office Building'' and to authorize 
the installation of a plaque at such site;
  S. 2673, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 1001 Williams Street, Ignacio, Colorado, as the 
``Leonard C. Burch Post Office Building'';
  S. 2682, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 222 West 8th Street, Durango, Colorado, as the ``Ben 
Nighthorse Campbell Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 3340, to redesignate the facilities of the United States Postal 
Service located at 7715 and 7748 S. Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago, 
Illinois, as the ``James E. Worsham Post Office'' and the ``James E. 
Worsham Carrier Annex Building'', respectively;
  H.R. 4222, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 550 Nebraska Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, as the 
``Newell George Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 4327, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 7450 Natural Bridge Road in St. Louis, Missouri, as 
the ``Vitilas `Veto' Reid Post Office Building''; and
  The nominations of Neil McPhie, of Virginia, to be Chairman, and 
Barbara J. Sapin, of Maryland, to be a Member, both of the Merit 
Systems Protection Board.
NATIVE AMERICAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
S. 519, to establish a Native American-owned financial entity to 
provide financial services to Indian tribes, Native American 
organizations, and Native Americans, after receiving testimony from 
David W. Anderson, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian 
Affairs; Mark F. Brown, Mohegan Indian Tribe, Uncasville, Connecticut; 
Julie Kitka, Alaska Federation of Natives, Anchorage, Alaska; Chester 
Carl, National American Indian Housing Council, Washington, D.C.; 
Haunani Apoliona, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Honolulu, Hawaii; and 
Katherine A. Spilde, Harvard University Project on American Indian 
Economic Development, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following bills:
  S. 2301, to improve the management of Indian fish and wildlife and 
gathering resources, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute; 
and
  S. 2382, to establish grant programs for the development of 
telecommunications capacities in Indian country, with an amendment in 
the nature of a substitute.
  Also, committee approved the motion to authorize the issuance of 
subpoenas by the Chairman and grant the Chairman and Vice Chairman the 
authority to issue additional subpoenas during the period of July 23, 
2004 through September 7, 2004, pursuant to In re Tribal Lobbying 
Matters, et al. inquiry.
INDIAN HEALTH CARE IMPROVEMENT ACT
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded an oversight hearing 
to examine the proposed reauthorization of the Indian Health Care 
Improvement Act, after receiving testimony from Representative

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Hayworth; Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of Health and Human Services, 
and Charles Grim, Director of the Indian Health Service, each of the 
Department of Health and Human Services.
RADIATION EXPOSURE COMPENSATION
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded an oversight hearing to 
examine the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program, focusing on 
compensation to individuals, or their surviving beneficiaries, who 
contracted certain specified cancers or other specified serious 
diseases as a possible result of their exposure to radiation, after 
receiving testimony from Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, Deputy Assistant Attorney 
General for the Civil Division, and Dianne Spellberg, Acting Director, 
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Program, both of the Department of 
Justice; Rita Torres, Surprise, Arizona; Jeffrey Thompson, 
Jacksonville, Arkansas; and Helen Bandley Houghton, San Antonio, Texas.