[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 103 (Tuesday, July 26, 2005)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D827-D829]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
SPECIES CONSERVATION
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Subcommittee on 
Forestry, Conservation, and Rural Revitalization concluded a hearing to 
examine how farm bill programs can better support species conservation, 
focusing on the Wetlands Reserve Program, the eastern bog turtle and 
ivory billed woodpecker, pallid sturgeon, salmon, and the sage grouse, 
after receiving testimony from Bruce I. Knight, Chief, Natural 
Resources Conservation Service, Department of Agriculture; J. Kent 
Foster, Idaho Association of Soil Districts, Boise; James L. Cummins, 
Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Stoneville; Steve Manning, 
Leon River Restoration Project, Gatesville, Texas; and Timothy D. 
Searchinger, Environmental Defense, Washington, D.C.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the nominations of Christopher Cox, of California, 
who was introduced by Senators Stevens, Feinstein, and Boxer, Roel C. 
Campos, of Texas, and Annette L.

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Nazareth, of the District of Columbia, who was introduced by Senator 
Schumer, each to be a Member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, 
after the nominees testified and answered questions in their own 
behalf.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the nominations of John C. Dugan, of Maryland, to be 
Comptroller of the Currency, John M. Reich, of Virginia, to be Director 
of the Office of Thrift Supervision, and Martin J. Gruenberg, of 
Maryland, to be a Member and Vice Chairperson of the Board of Directors 
of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, after the nominees 
testified and answered questions in their own behalf.
ELECTRONICS WASTE
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Subcommittee on Superfund 
and Waste Management concluded an oversight hearing to examine the 
potential health and environmental impact of electronics waste, after 
receiving testimony from Senators Talent and Wyden; Representative Mike 
Thompson; Thomas P. Dunne, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of 
Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Environmental Protection Agency; 
John B. Stephenson, Director, Natural Resources and Environment, 
Government Accountability Office; Garth T. Hickle, Minnesota Pollution 
Control Agency, St. Paul; Richard Goss, Electronic Industries Alliance, 
Arlington, Virginia; Scott Slesinger, Environmental Technology Council, 
Washington, D.C.; Michael Vitelli, Best Buy Company, Inc., Richfield, 
Minnesota, on behalf of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition; 
and Sheila Davis, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, San Jose, 
California.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Finance: Committee ordered favorably reported an original 
bill entitled ``National Employee Savings and Trust Equity Guarantee 
Act''.
GLOBAL ENERGY TRENDS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine implications for the United States regarding energy trends in 
China and India, focusing on China and India's expanding role in the 
global energy market and energy dialogues taking place with these two 
countries, after receiving testimony from E. Anthony Wayne, Interim 
Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural 
Affairs, and David K. Garman, Under Secretary of Energy for Science and 
Environment; Mikkal Herberg, The National Bureau of Asian Research, 
Seattle, Washington; Randall G. Shriver, Armitage International, 
Arlington, Virginia; and Sumit Ganguly, Indiana University India 
Studies Program, Bloomington.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. 1129, to provide authorizations of appropriations for certain 
development banks, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism (Treaty Doc. 107-18), 
with one understanding;
  Protocol of Amendment to International Convention on Simplification 
and Harmonization of Customs Procedures (Treaty Doc. 108-6), with 
reservations to 24 recommended practices contained in specific annexes;
  Convention on Cybercrime (Treaty Doc. 108-11), with six reservations 
and five declarations;
  U.N. Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (Treaty Doc. 
108-16), with three reservations and one declaration relating to the 
convention, three reservations, one understanding, and one declaration 
relating to the supplementary protocol on trafficking in persons, and 
two reservations and one understanding relating to the supplementary 
protocol on migrant smuggling; and
  The nominations of Henrietta Holsman Fore, of Nevada, to be an Under 
Secretary of State for Management, Henry Crumpton, of Virginia, to be 
Coordinator for Counterterrorism, with the rank and status of 
Ambassador at Large, Gillian Arlette Milovanovic, of Pennsylvania, to 
be Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia, James Cain, of North 
Carolina, to be Ambassador to Denmark, Alan W. Eastham, Jr., of 
Arkansas, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Malawi, Katherine Hubay 
Peterson, of California, to be Ambassador to Republic of Botswana, 
Michael Retzer, of Mississippi, to be Ambassador to the United Republic 
of Tanzania, Karen P. Hughes, of Texas, to be Under Secretary of State 
for Public Diplomacy, with the rank of Ambassador, Josette Sheeran 
Shiner, of Virginia, to be an Under Secretary of State for Economic, 
Business, and Agricultural Affairs, Kristen Silverberg, of Texas, to be 
an Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, 
and Jendayi Elizabeth Frazer, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary 
of State for African Affairs.
GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and 
International Security concluded a hearing to examine the General 
Services Administration (GSA), focusing on GSA's

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historic use of two proven negotiation tools to improve the pricing of 
schedules contracts-pre-award audits and postaward audits of pre-award 
information, after receiving testimony from David E. Cooper, Director, 
Acquisition and Sourcing Management, Government Accountability Office; 
Emily W. Murphy, Chief Acquisition Officer, and Kathleen S. Tighe, 
Counsel to the Inspector General, both of the General Services 
Administration; David H. Safavian, Administrator, Federal Procurement 
Policy, Office of Management and Budget; John B. Ames, Director, 
Contract Review and Evaluation Division, Office of Inspector General, 
Department of Veterans Affairs; and Thomas Graham, Networld Exchange, 
Carlsbad, California.
INDIAN TRUST REFORM ACT
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
legislation to resolve the lawsuit of Cobell v. Norton, focusing on S. 
1439, to provide for Indian trust asset management reform and 
resolution of historical accounting claims, after receiving testimony 
from Jim Cason, Associate Deputy Secretary, and Ross Swimmer, Special 
Trustee for American Indians, both of the Department of the Interior; 
Tex Hall, National Congress of American Indians, Washington, D.C.; Jim 
Gray, Inter-Tribal Monitoring Association, Albuquerque, New Mexico; 
Ernest L. Stensgar, Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, Portland, 
Oregon; James T. Martin, United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc., 
Nashville, Tennessee; and Elouise C. Cobell, Blackfeet Reservation 
Development Fund, Browning, Montana.
IMMIGRATION REFORM
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee held a hearing to examine 
comprehensive immigration reform proposals, receiving testimony from 
Senators Kennedy, McCain, Kyl, and Cornyn; Hal Daub, American Health 
Care Association, and National Center For Assisted Living, Washington, 
D.C., on behalf of the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition; Tamar 
Jacoby, Manhattan Institute, New York, New York; and Gary Endelman, 
Houston, Texas.
  Hearing recessed subject to the call.
PATENTS REFORM
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Intellectual Property held 
a hearing to examine harmonization and other matters concerning 
patents, focusing on the first-inventor-to- file issue, and pre-
issuance submissions of art, receiving testimony from Gerald J. 
Mossinghoff, Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier, and Neustadt, 
Alexandria, Virginia, former Assistant Secretary of Commerce and 
Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks; Q. Todd Dickinson, General 
Electric Company, Fairfield, Connecticut, former Under Secretary of 
Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and 
Trademark Office; Christine J. Siwik, Rakoczy Molino Mazzochi LLP, 
Chicago, Illinois, on behalf of Barr Laboratories, Inc.; Marshall C. 
Phelps, Jr., Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington; Charles E. 
Phelps, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, on behalf of 
sundry groups; David Beier, Amgen, Washington, D.C.
  Hearing recessed subject to the call.
NOMINATION
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nomination of Timothy Elliott Flanigan, of Virginia, to be Deputy 
Attorney General, Department of Justice, after the nominee, who was 
introduced by Senators Warner and Allen, testified and answered 
questions in his own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the nominations of Janice B. Gardner, of Virginia, to be Assistant 
Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, Department of the Treasury, 
Benjamin A. Powell, of Florida, to be General Counsel of the Office of 
the Director of National Intelligence, and John S. Redd, of Georgia, to 
be Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Office of the 
Director of National Intelligence.