[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 20 (Thursday, February 16, 2006)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D112-D114]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
ATOMIC ENERGY DEFENSE ACTIVITIES
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
priorities and plans for the atomic energy defense activities of the 
Department of Energy and to review the President's proposed budget 
request for fiscal year 2007 for atomic energy defense activities of 
the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security 
Administration, after receiving testimony from Samuel W. Bodman, 
Secretary of Energy.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
nominations of Preston M. Geren, of Texas, to be Under Secretary of the 
Army, James I. Finley, of Minnesota, to be Deputy Under Secretary of 
Defense for Acquisition and Technology, Thomas P. D'Agostino, of 
Maryland, to be Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs, National 
Nuclear Security Administration, and 3,576 military nominations in the 
Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the nominations of Randall S. Kroszner, of New 
Jersey, and Kevin M. Warsh, of New York, each to be a Member of the 
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and Edward P. Lazear, 
of California, to be a Member of the Council of Economic Advisers.
MONETARY POLICY REPORT
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the

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semiannual monetary policy report to the Congress, after receiving 
testimony from Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman, Board of Governors of the 
Federal Reserve System.
BUDGET: FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the 
President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2007 for foreign 
affairs, after receiving testimony from Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of 
State.
NOAA BUDGET
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal 
year 2007 for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
(NOAA), after receiving testimony from Vice Admiral Conrad C. 
Lautenbacher, Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.), Under Secretary of Commerce for 
Oceans and Atmosphere, and NOAA, Administrator.
OIL AND GAS LEASING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine S. 2253, to require the Secretary of the Interior to 
offer the 181 Area of the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas leasing, after 
receiving testimony from Johnnie Burton, Director, Minerals Management 
Service, Department of the Interior; Thomas E. Skains, Piedmont Natural 
Gas Company, Charlotte, North Carolina; Timothy S. Parker, Dominion 
Exploration and Production, Inc., Houston, Texas; Michael Gravitz, U.S. 
Public Interest Research Group, Washington, D.C.; and Stephen R. 
Wilson, CF Industries Holdings, Inc., Long Grove, Illinois.
PARKS LEGISLATION
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks concluded a hearing to examine S.J. Res. 28, resolution approving 
the location of the commemorative work in the District of Columbia 
honoring former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, S. 1870, to clarify the 
authorities for the use of certain National Park Service properties 
within Golden Gate National Recreation Area and San Francisco Maritime 
National Historical Park, S. 1913, to authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior to lease a portion of the Dorothy Buell Memorial Visitor 
Center for use as a visitor center for the Indiana Dunes National 
Lakeshore, S. 1970, to amend the National Trails System Act to update 
the feasibility and suitability study originally prepared for the Trail 
of Tears National Historic Trail and provide for the inclusion of new 
trail segments, land components, and campgrounds associated with that 
trail, H.R. 562, to authorize the Government of Ukraine to establish a 
memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia to honor the 
victims of the manmade famine that occurred in Ukraine in 1932-1933, 
and H.R. 318, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the 
suitability and feasibility of designating Castle Nugent Farms located 
on St. Croix, Virgin Islands, as a unit of the National Park System, 
after receiving testimony from John Parsons, Associate Regional 
Director for Lands, Resources and Planning, National Capital Region, 
National Park Service, Department of the Interior; and Chadwick Smith, 
Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
ENERGY OUTLOOK
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the Energy Information Administration's 2006 annual 
energy outlook on trends and issues affecting the United States' energy 
market, after receiving testimony from Guy Caruso, Administrator, 
Energy Information Administration, Department of Energy.
TRADE AGENDA
Committee on Finance: Committee held a hearing to examine the 
Administration's trade agenda for 2006, receiving testimony from Robert 
J. Portman, United States Trade Representative.
  Hearing recessed subject to the call.
NOMINATION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the nomination of Richard A. Boucher, of Maryland, to be 
Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, after the nominee 
testified and answered questions in his own behalf.
COMPETITIVENESS IN EDUCATION
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee met to 
discuss the role of education in global competitiveness, receiving 
testimony from Erick Ajax, E.J. Ajax and Sons, Inc., Minneapolis, 
Minnesota; Bob Bailey, Central Virginia Community College, and Wanda E. 
Brooks-Crocker, Framatome ANP, Inc., both of Lynchburg, Virginia; 
Michael J. Bzdack, Johnson and Johnson, Inc., New Brunswick, New 
Jersey; Sandy Day, Omaha Public Schools, Omaha, Nebraska; Carrie 
Langston, Chugwater School, Chugwater, Wyoming; Tom Layzell, Council on 
Postsecondary Education, Frankfort, Kentucky; Mary Morningstar, 
University of Kansas Department of Special Education, Lawrence; Mel 
Riddile, JEB Stuart High School, Falls Church, Virginia; Eric Schwarz, 
Citizen Schools, Boston, Massachusetts; Jim Shelton, Bill and Melinda 
Gates Foundation, Washington, D.C.; Robin Willner, IBM Global Community 
Initiatives, Armonk, New York; Reygan

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Freeney, Iowa City, Iowa; and Edna Varner, Chattanooga, Tennessee.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  H.R. 683, to amend the Trademark Act of 1946 with respect to dilution 
by blurring or tarnishment, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute; and
  The nominations of Timothy C. Batten, Sr., to be United States 
District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia, Thomas E. 
Johnston, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District 
of West Virginia, Aida M. Delgado-Colon, to be United States District 
Judge for the District of Puerto Rico, Leo Maury Gordon, of New Jersey, 
to be a Judge of the United States Court of International Trade, Carol 
E. Dinkins, of Texas, to be Chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties 
Oversight Board, Alan Charles Raul, of the District of Columbia, to be 
Vice Chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, and 
Paul J. McNulty, of Virginia, to be Deputy Attorney General, Reginald 
I. Lloyd, to be United States Attorney for the District of South 
Carolina, and Stephen C. King, of New York, to be a Member of the 
Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States, all of the 
Department of Justice.
BUDGET: VA PROGRAMS
Committee on Veterans Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2007 for the 
Department of Veterans Affairs, after receiving testimony from R. James 
Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, who was accompanied by 
several of his associates; Steve Robertson, The American Legion, 
Quentin Kinderman, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Brian Lawrence, Disabled 
American Veterans, and Carl Blake, Paralyzed Veterans of America, all 
of Washington, D.C.; and David G. Greineder, AMVETS, Lanham, Maryland.
BUSINESS MEETING
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to 
consider pending intelligence matters.
  Committee recessed subject to the call.