[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 31 (Tuesday, March 15, 2005)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D240-D242]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
SCHOOL NUTRITION PROGRAMS
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine school nutrition programs, focusing on the 
elimination of reduced price meals, the Summer Food Service Program, 
and nutrition education and promotion, after receiving testimony from 
Senator Dole; Dora Rivas, Dallas Independent School District, Dallas, 
Texas; Annette Bomar Hopgood, Georgia Department of Education, Atlanta; 
Karen Johnson, Child Nutrition Programs, Yuma, Arizona, on behalf of 
the School Nutrition Association; and Ruth Jonen, Hoffman Estates, 
Palatine, Illinois.
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Military Construction and 
Veterans' Affairs concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget 
estimates for fiscal year 2006 for the Department of Veterans Affairs, 
after receiving testimony from R. James Nicholson, Secretary, Jonathan 
B. Perlin, Acting Under Secretary for Health, Veterans' Health 
Administration, Vice Admiral Daniel L. Cooper (USN Ret.), Under 
Secretary for Benefits, Veterans Benefits Administration, Richard A. 
Wannemacher, Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs, National 
Cemetery Administration, Tim McClain, General Counsel, and Rita A. 
Reed, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget, all of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs.
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human 
Services, Education, and Related Agencies concluded a hearing to 
examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2006 for the 
Department of Labor, after receiving testimony from Elaine L. Chao, 
Secretary of Labor.
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, 
Judiciary and Housing and Urban Development concluded a hearing to 
examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2006 for the 
Department of Transportation, after receiving testimony from Norman Y. 
Mineta, Secretary of Transportation.

[[Page D241]]


APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Energy and Water concluded 
a hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2006 for 
the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Office of 
Science, and the Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology in 
the Department of Energy, after receiving testimony from David Garman, 
Assistant Secretary, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, 
Raymond L. Orbach, Director, Office of Science, and William D. Magwood, 
IV, Director, Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology, all of 
Department of Energy.
DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION: MILITARY STRATEGY
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
military strategy and operational requirements from combatant 
commanders in review of the Defense Authorization Request for fiscal 
year 2006, after receiving testimony from General Bantz J. Craddock, 
USA, Commander, U.S. Southern Command; and Admiral Timothy J. Keating, 
USN, Commander, U.S. Northern Command.
NOMINATION
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nomination of Anthony Joseph Principi, of California, to be a 
Member of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, after 
the nominee testified and answered questions in his own behalf.
HERITAGE AREA BILLS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Nationals 
Parks concluded a hearing to examine S. 175, to establish the Bleeding 
Kansas and Enduring Struggle for Freedom National Heritage Area, S. 
322, to establish the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership in 
the States of Vermont and New York, S. 323, to authorize the Secretary 
of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating 
the French Colonial Heritage Area in the State of Missouri as a unit of 
the National Park System, and S. 429, to establish the Upper Housatonic 
Valley National Heritage Area in the State of Connecticut and the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, after receiving testimony from Janet 
Snyder Matthews, Associate Director, Cultural Resources, National Park 
Service, Department of the Interior; James Baker, Missouri Department 
of Natural Resources, St. Genevieve; Judy Billings, Kansas Chamber of 
Commerce, Convention and Visitors Bureau, Lawrence; Ronald D. Jones, 
Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area, Inc., Salisbury, 
Connecticut; Ann Cousins, Preservation Trust of Vermont, Burlington; 
John W. Cosgrove, Alliance of National Heritage Areas, Scranton, 
Pennsylvania; and J. Peyton Knight, American Policy Center, and 
American Land Rights Association, Warrenton, Virginia.
NOMINATION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the nomination of Howard J. Krongard, of New Jersey, to be 
Inspector General, Department of State, after the nominee answered 
questions in his own behalf.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the nominations of Joseph R. DeTrani, of Virginia, for the rank 
of Ambassador during his tenure of service as Special Envoy for the Six 
Party Talks, John Thomas Schieffer, of Texas, to be Ambassador to 
Japan, who was introduced by Senator Hutchison, and Christopher R. 
Hill, of Rhode Island, to be an Assistant Secretary of State for East 
Asian and Pacific Affairs, after each nominee testified and answered 
questions in their own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the nominations of Howard J. Krongard, of New Jersey, to be Inspector 
General, Department of State, Joseph R. DeTrani, of Virginia, for the 
rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service as Special Envoy for 
the Six Party Talks, John Thomas Schieffer, of Texas, to be Ambassador 
to Japan, Christopher R. Hill, of Rhode Island, to be an Assistant 
Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, R. Nicholas 
Burns, of Massachusetts, to be an Under Secretary of State for 
Political Affairs, C. David Welch, of Virginia, to be an Assistant 
Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, John B. Bellinger, of 
Virginia, to be Legal Adviser of the Department of State, David B. 
Balton, of the District of Columbia, for the rank of Ambassador during 
his tenure of service as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans 
and Fisheries, Rudolph E. Boschwitz, of Minnesota, for the rank of 
Ambassador during his tenure of service as Representative of the United 
States of America on the Human Rights Commission of the Economic and 
Social Council of the United Nations, and promotion lists in the 
Foreign Service.
NATIONAL SECURITY PERSONNEL SYSTEM
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the 
District of Columbia concluded an oversight hearing to examine ensuring 
the success of the National Security

[[Page D242]]

Personnel System, focusing on the proposed regulations jointly 
published by the Department of Defense and Office of Personnel 
Management for the National Security Personnel System regarding 
management of the department and for civil service reform across the 
Federal government, after receiving testimony from David M. Walker, 
Comptroller General, Government Accountability Office; Charles S. 
Abell, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and 
Readiness; George Nesterczuk, Senior Advisor to the Director on 
Department of Defense, Office of Personnel Management; Richard 
Oppedisano, Federal Managers Association, Alexandria, Virginia; and 
John Gage, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, 
Washington, D.C., and Gregory J. Junemann, International Federation of 
Professional and Technical Engineers, AFL-CIO and CLC, Silver Spring, 
Maryland, both on behalf of the United DOD Workers' Coalition.
OPEN GOVERNMENT ACT
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and 
Homeland Security concluded a hearing to examine S. 394, to promote 
accessibility, accountability, and openness in Government by 
strengthening section 552 of title 5, United States Code (the OPEN 
Government Act), and S. 589, to establish the Commission on Freedom of 
Information Act Processing Delays, after receiving testimony from 
Katherine M. ``Missy'' Cary, Office of the Texas Attorney General, 
Austin; Mark Tapscott, The Heritage Foundation, Lisa Graves, American 
Civil Liberties Union, Meredith Fuchs, George Washington University 
National Security Archive, and Thomas M. Susman, Ropes and Gray LLP, 
all of Washington, D.C.; and Walter Mears, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY MERGERS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the SBC/ATT and Verizon/MCI mergers relating to remaking the 
telecommunications industry, after receiving testimony from Edward E. 
Whitacre, Jr., SBC Communications Inc., San Antonio, Texas; Ivan G. 
Seidenberg, Verizon Communications, Inc., New York, New York; David 
Dorman, AT&T Corporation, Bedminister, New Jersey; and Michael D. 
Capellas, MCI, Inc., Ashburn, Virginia.
BUSINESS MEETING
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to 
consider pending intelligence matters.
  Committee recessed subject to the call.
RETIREMENT
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the economics of retirement, focusing on the aging population, after 
receiving testimony from Alan Greenspan, Chairman, Board of Governors 
of the Federal Reserve Board.