[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 143 (Wednesday, November 2, 2005)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D1132-D1134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
PANDEMIC INFLUENZA PREPAREDNESS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human 
Services, Education, and Related Agencies concluded a hearing to 
examine funding needs for pandemic influenza preparedness, focusing on 
vaccines, antivirals, and disease surveillance, public health 
infrastructure, and risk communication, after receiving testimony from 
Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary, Julie Gerberding, Director, Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention, Anthony Fauci, Director, National 
Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of 
Health, and Bruce Gellin, Director, National Vaccine Program Office, 
all of the Department of Health and Human Services; and John M. Barry, 
New Orleans, Louisiana.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following business items:
  S. 1063, to promote and enhance public safety and to encourage the 
rapid deployment of IP-enabled voice services, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute; and
  The nominations of Shana L. Dale, of Georgia, to be Deputy 
Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and 
Mark V. Rosenker, of Maryland, and Kathryn Higgins, of South Dakota, 
each to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board, and 
nomination lists in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
and the Coast Guard.
PUBLIC LANDS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Public Lands 
and Forests concluded a hearing to examine S. 1548, to provide for the 
conveyance of certain Forest Service land to the city of Coffman Cove, 
Alaska, S. 1541, to protect, conserve, and restore public land 
administered by the Department of the Interior or the Forest Service 
and adjacent land through cooperative cost-shared grants to control and 
mitigate the spread of invasive species, S. 1552, to amend Public Law 
97-435 to extend the

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authorization for the Secretary of the Interior to release certain 
conditions contained in a patent concerning certain land conveyed by 
the United States to Eastern Washington University until December 31, 
2009, H.R. 482, to provide for a land exchange involving Federal lands 
in the Lincoln National Forest in the State of New Mexico, and S. 405, 
to provide for the conveyance of certain public land in Clark County, 
Nevada, for use as a heliport, after receiving testimony from Gloria 
Manning, Associate Deputy Chief for National Forest Systems, Forest 
Service, Department of Agriculture; and Scott J. Cameron, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Performance, Accountability, 
and Human Resources.
HURRICANE KATRINA RESPONSE
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded 
oversight hearings to examine the response to Hurricane Katrina, 
focusing on the actions of certain federal agencies, and efforts to 
provide economic revitalization on the Gulf Coast of the United States, 
after receiving testimony from Nils J. Diaz, Chairman, Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission; Sandy K. Baruah, Acting Assistant Secretary of 
Commerce for Economic Development; H. Dale Hall, Director, U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior; David L. Winstead, 
Commissioner, Public Buildings Service, General Services 
Administration; and Mayor C. Ray Nagin, Kim Dunn Chapital, Dillard 
University Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, and William H. 
Hines, Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere and Denegre, L.L.P, 
all of New Orleans, Louisiana.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: On Tuesday, November 1, Committee 
ordered favorably reported the following business items:
  The Convention for the Strengthening of the Inter-American Tropical 
Tuna Commission established by the 1949 Convention between the United 
States of America and the Republic of Costa Rica, with Annexes (Treaty 
Doc. 109-2);
  S. 1315, to require a report on progress toward the Millennium 
Development Goals, with an amendment;
  S. 1184, to waive the passport fees for a relative of a deceased 
member of the Armed Forces proceeding abroad to visit the grave of such 
member or to attend a funeral or memorial service for such member; and
  The nominations of Donald A. Gambatesa, of Virginia, to be Inspector 
General, United States Agency for International Development, Roland 
Arnall, of California, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of the 
Netherlands, Jeffrey Thomas Bergner, of Virginia, to be an Assistant 
Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, and James Caldwell Cason, 
of Florida, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Paraguay.
U.S.-INDIAN NUCLEAR ENERGY COOPERATION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine security and nonproliferation implications relating to U.S.-
Indian nuclear energy cooperation, after receiving testimony from R. 
Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs, and Robert G. 
Joseph, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, 
both of the Department of State; Ronald F. Lehman, II, Lawrence 
Livermore National Laboratory Center for Global Security Research, 
Livermore, California; Ashton B. Carter, Harvard University Belfer 
Center for Science and International Affairs, Cambridge, Massachusetts; 
and Henry D. Sokolski, Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, and 
Michael Krepon, Henry L. Stimson Center, both of Washington, D.C.
HURRICANE KATRINA: NEW ORLEANS LEVEE SYSTEM
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine the effect of Hurricane Katrina on the 
infrastructure of coastal Louisiana, focusing on the performance of the 
levee system that surrounds New Orleans, after receiving testimony from 
Paul F. Mlakar, Senior Research Scientist, U.S. Army Research and 
Development Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Ivor Ll. van Heerden, 
Louisiana Forensic Data Gathering Team, Baton Rouge; Raymond B. Seed, 
University of California, Berkeley, on behalf of the National Science 
Foundation-sponsored Levee Investigation Team; and Peter G. Nicholson, 
University of Hawaii, Manoa, on behalf of the American Society of Civil 
Engineers.
TRIBAL LOBBYING MATTERS
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee held an oversight hearing to 
examine In Re Tribal Lobbying Matters, Et Al, focusing on lobbying 
fraud, after receiving testimony from J. Steven Griles, former Deputy 
Secretary, and Michael Rossetti, former Counsel to the Secretary, both 
of the Department of the Interior; Kevin Sickey and David Sickey, both 
of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, Elton; Fred Baggett, Greenberg 
Traurig, Tallahassee, Florida; B.R. McConnon, Democracy Data and 
Communications,


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Alexandria, Virginia; William Worfel, Kinder, Louisiana; Kathryn Van 
Hoof, Lecompte, Louisiana; Christopher Cathcart, Washington, D.C.; and 
Gail Halpern, Silver Spring, Maryland.
  Hearings recessed subject to the call.
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.