[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 79 (Wednesday, June 15, 2005)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D608-D610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS: DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on District of Columbia 
concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal 
year 2006 for the government of the District of Columbia, after 
receiving testimony from Mayor Anthony A. Williams, Linda W. Cropp, 
Chairman, Council, Natwar M.

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Gandhi, Chief Financial Officer, and Clifford B. Janey, Superintendent, 
Chief State School Officer, all of the government of the District of 
Columbia.
PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
current financial condition and potential risks relating to solvency of 
the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, focusing on the state of the 
defined benefit system, and accrual accounting and exposure to 
underfunding of pension plans, after receiving testimony from Bradley 
D. Belt, Executive Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; and 
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Director, Congressional Budget Office.
BALLAST WATER INVASIVE SPECIES MANAGEMENT
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: National Ocean 
Policy Study concluded a hearing to examine ballast water invasive 
species management and threats to coral reefs, focusing on 
reauthorization of the Coral Reef Conservation Act, after receiving 
testimony from Timothy R.E. Keeney, Deputy Assistant Secretary of 
Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration; Rear Admiral Thomas H. Gilmour, Assistant Commandant 
for Marine Safety, Security, and Environmental Protection, U.S. Coast 
Guard, Department of Homeland Security; Maurya B. Falkner, California 
State Lands Commission, Sacramento; Kathy J. Metcalf, Chamber of 
Shipping of America, Washington, D.C., on behalf of the Shipping 
Industry Ballast Water Coalition; Joel C. Mandelman, Nutech 03, 
Incorporated, Arlington, Virginia; and Kim Hum, The Nature Conservancy 
of Hawaii, Honolulu.
MEDICAID REFORM
Committee on Finance: Committee held a hearing to examine strategies 
for strengthening Medicaid, focusing on the impact on State government 
budgets, cost-sharing rules, enhancing quality and reducing costs of 
the overall health care system, and strengthening employer-based and 
other forms of health care coverage, receiving testimony from Virginia 
Governor Mark Warner, Richmond, and Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, 
Little Rock, both on behalf of the National Governors Association; Alan 
R. Weil, National Academy for State Health Policy, Portland, Maine; and 
Jeanne M. Lambrew, Center for American Progress, and Stuart M. Butler, 
The Heritage Foundation, both of Washington, D.C.
  Hearing recessed subject to call.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the nominations of Zalmay Khalilzad, of Maryland, to be Ambassador to 
Iraq, Eduardo Aguirre, Jr., of Texas, to be Ambassador to Spain and 
Andorra, Julie Finley, of the District of Columbia, to be U.S. 
Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in 
Europe, with the rank of Ambassador, Craig Roberts Stapleton, of 
Connecticut, to be Ambassador to France, Robert Johann Dieter, of 
Colorado, to be Ambassador to Belize, Rodolphe M. Vallee, of Vermont, 
to be Ambassador to the Slovak Republic, Molly Hering Bordonaro, of 
Oregon, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Malta, Ann Louise Wagner, 
of Missouri, to be Ambassador to Luxembourg, Donald E. Booth, of 
Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Liberia, Pamela E. 
Bridgewater, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Ghana, 
Terence Patrick McCulley, of Oregon, to be Ambassador to the Republic 
of Mali, Roger Dwayne Pierce, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to Republic 
of Cape Verde, Christopher J. Hanley, of Maryland, to be a Member of 
the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, 
Jorge A. Plasencia, of Florida, to be a Member of the Advisory Board 
for Cuba Broadcasting, Jay T. Snyder, of New York, to be a Member of 
the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, Richard J . 
Griffin, of Virginia, to be Director of the Office of Foreign Missions, 
and to have the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service, and to 
be Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, and certain 
Foreign Service Officer promotion lists.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing on the 
nominations of Ronald E. Neumann, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the 
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Gregory L. Schulte, of Virginia, to be 
Representative of the United States of America to the International 
Atomic Energy Agency, with the rank of Ambassador, and Representative 
of the United States of America to the Vienna Office of the United 
Nations, with the rank of Ambassador, and Michael E. Hess, of New York, 
to be Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for 
International Development in the Bureau of Democracy, Conflict and 
Humanitarian Assistance, after the nominees testified and answered 
questions in their own behalf.
CHEMICAL FACILITIES SAFETY
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee held 
a hearing to determine whether the Federal government is doing enough 
to secure

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chemical facilities, focusing on buffer zone protection plans (BZPPs), 
site assistance visits (SAVs), and increased security information 
sharing, receiving testimony from Robert B. Stephan, Acting Under 
Secretary of Homeland Security for Information Analysis and 
Infrastructure Protection; and Thomas P. Dunne, Deputy Assistant 
Administrator, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, 
Environmental Protection Agency.
  Hearing recessed subject to call.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine the nominations of Linda M. Springer, of 
Pennsylvania, to be Director of the Office of Personnel Management, 
Laura A. Cordero, to be an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the 
District of Columbia, who was introduced by District of Columbia 
Delegate Norton, and A. Noel Anketell Kramer, to be an Associate Judge 
of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, after the nominees 
testified and answered questions in their own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the nomination of Lester M. Crawford, of Maryland, 
to be Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Department of Health and Human 
Services.
YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded an oversight hearing 
to examine youth suicide prevention among Native Americans, focusing on 
economic issues, health care benefits and access, behavioral health 
care issues for tribal youth, and traditional health practice, after 
receiving testimony from Richard H. Carmona, Surgeon General, Public 
Health Service, Office of Public Health and Science, and Charles Grim, 
Director, Indian Health Service, both of the Department of Health and 
Human Services; Twila Rough Surface, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Fort 
Yates, North Dakota; Joseph B. Stone, Confederated Tribes of the Grande 
Ronde Behavioral Health Program, Grande Ronde, Oregon, on behalf of the 
American Psychological Association; Julie Garreau, Cheyenne River Youth 
Project, Eagle Butte, South Dakota; R. Dale Walker, Oregon Health and 
Science University One Sky Center, Portland; and Clark Flatt, The Jason 
Foundation, Inc., Hendersonville, Tennessee.
DETAINEES
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
issues relating to detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in 
Cuba, focusing on certain Supreme Court rulings related to detained 
enemy combatants, status of cases pending before Military Commissions, 
and the war on terrorism, after receiving testimony from Brigadier 
General Thomas L. Hemingway, Legal Advisor to the Appointing Authority 
for the Office of Military Commissions, and Rear Admiral James M. 
McGarrah, Director of Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy 
Combatants, and Lieutenant Commander Charles D. Swift, Judge Advocate 
General's Corps, both of the Department of the Navy, all of the 
Department of Defense; J. Michael Wiggins, Deputy Associate Attorney 
General, and Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General, both of the Department 
of Justice; William P. Barr, Verizon Corporation, Washington, D.C., 
former U.S. Attorney General; Joseph Margulies, University of Chicago 
Law School MacArthur Justice Center, Chicago, Illinois; and Stephen J. 
Schulhofer, New York University School of Law, New York, New York.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to 
receive a briefing on certain intelligence matters from officials of 
the intelligence community.
ENERGY COSTS AND THE ELDERLY
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the effects of rising energy prices and their impact on America's 
senior citizens, focusing on the costs of heating oil, gasoline, 
residential natural gas, and electricity, after receiving testimony 
from Margot H. Anderson, Director, Office of Energy Markets and End 
Use, Energy Information Administration, Department of Energy; Nelda 
Barnett, Owensboro, Kentucky, on behalf of the AARP; Donna K. Harvey, 
Hawkeye Valley Area Agency on Aging, Inc., Waterloo, Iowa, on behalf of 
the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging; and Jim Slusher, 
Mid Columbia Community Action Council, Inc., The Dalles, Oregon.