[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 18 (Thursday, February 17, 2005)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D139-D140]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: BUDGET
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent 
Agencies concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for 
fiscal year 2006 for the National Science Foundation, after receiving 
testimony from John H. Marburger III, Director, Office of Science and 
Technology Policy; and Arden L. Bement, Jr., Director National Science 
Foundation, and Warren M. Washington, Chair, both of the National 
Science Board.
EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL
Committee on Appropriations: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
proposed legislation making emergency supplemental appropriations for 
the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, after receiving testimony 
from Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State.
DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION REQUEST
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the proposed Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2006 and the 
Future Years Defense Program, after receiving testimony from Donald H. 
Rumsfeld, Secretary, and Tina W. Jonas, Under Secretary, Comptroller, 
both of the Department of Defense; and General Richard B. Myers, USAF, 
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
nominations of Buddie J. Penn, of Virginia, to be an Assistant 
Secretary of the Navy, Admiral William J. Fallon, USN, to be Commander, 
U.S. Pacific Command, and 2,598 nominations in the Army, Navy, Air 
Force, and Marine Corps.
MEDICARE AND MEDICAID
Committee on the Budget: Committee held a hearing to examine rising 
health care costs and the impact on future generations relating to 
Medicare and Medicaid, receiving testimony from Thomas R. Saving, 
Public Trustee, Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary 
Medical Insurance Trust Funds, Department of Health and Human Services; 
Jeffrey R. Brown, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana; 
and Lois E. Quam, UnitedHealth Group, Minneapolis, Minnesota
FEDERAL LANDS RECREATION ENHANCEMENT ACT OVERSIGHT
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks concluded an oversight hearing to examine the National Park 
Service's implementation of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement 
Act (Public Law 108-447), after receiving testimony from P. Lynn 
Scarlett, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy, Management, 
and Budget; Jill Nicoll, National Park Foundation, Washington, D.C.; 
and Stephanie M. Clement, Friends of Acadia, Bar Harbor, Maine.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the 
nominations of Daniel R. Levinson, of Maryland, to be Inspector 
General, Department of Health and Human Services, and Harold Damelin, 
of Virginia, to be Inspector General, and Raymond Thomas Wagner, Jr., 
of Missouri, to be a Member of the Internal Revenue Service Oversight 
Board, both of the Department of the Treasury, after the nominees 
testified and answered questions in their own behalf.
RUSSIA
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine democracy in retreat in Russia, after receiving testimony from 
Steven Theede, YUKOS Oil Company, Moscow, Russia; Tim Osborne, Group 
MENATEP, London, United Kingdom; Anders Aslund, Carnegie Endowment for 
International Peace, Bruce P. Jackson, Project on Transitional 
Democracies, Stephen Nix, International Republican Institute, Nelson 
Ledsky, National Democratic Institute, Mary McClymont, Interaction, and 
Nancy Lindborg, Mercy Corps, all of Washington, D.C.; and Daniel Toole, 
UNICEF, New York, New York.
FEDERAL PROGRAMS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the 
District of Columbia concluded a hearing to examine an overview of the 
Government Accountability Office high-risk list, focusing on ensuring 
Congressional oversight by bringing attention to government-wide 
management challenges and high-risk program areas, after receiving 
testimony from David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United 
States, Government Accountability Office; and Clay Johnson III,

[[Page D140]]

Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget.
DRUG IMPORTATION
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine the price of drug reimportation, 
focusing on implications for United States consumers, pricing, research 
and development, and innovation, after receiving testimony from Grant 
D. Aldonas, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade; Robert 
M. Goldberg, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Center for Medical 
Progress, New York, New York; Benjamin Zycher, Pacific Research 
Institute for Public Policy, San Francisco, California; Stephen 
Pollard, Centre for the New Europe, Brussels, Belgium; and Kevin 
Outterson, West Virginia University College of Law, Morgantown.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported S. 
256, to amend title 11 of the United States Code, with amendments.
SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION BUDGET
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal 
year 2006 for the Small Business Administration, after receiving 
testimony from Hector V. Barreto, Administrator, U.S. Small Business 
Administration; David Coit, North Atlantic Capital, Washington, D.C., 
on behalf of the National Association of Small Business Investment 
Companies; Daniel Betancourt, Association For Enterprise Opportunity, 
on behalf of the Community First Fund, and Patricia Sands, Spill-Guard, 
on behalf of the Women's Business Center of Northern Virginia, both of 
Arlington; John R. Massaua, Maine Small Business Development Center, 
Portland, on behalf of the Association of Small Business Development 
Centers; and Edward Tuvin, Community South Bank, Adamsville, Tennessee, 
on behalf of the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, 
Inc.
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.