[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 24 (Wednesday, March 1, 2006)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D141-D143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS--DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human 
Services, Education, and Related Agencies concluded hearings to examine 
proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2007 for the Department of 
Education, after receiving testimony from Margaret Spellings, Secretary 
of Education.
APPROPRIATIONS--LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Legislative Branch 
concluded hearings to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 
2007 for the Library of Congress and the Open World Leadership Center, 
after receiving testimony from James H. Billington, Librarian of 
Congress, who was accompanied by several of his associates.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Airland concluded hearings 
to examine Army Transformation and the future combat systems 
acquisition strategy in review of the defense authorization request for 
fiscal year 2007 and the future years defense program, after receiving 
testimony from Claude M. Bolton, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Army 
for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology and Army Acquisition 
Executive; General Richard A. Cody, USA, Vice Chief of Staff, United 
States Army; Paul L. Francis, Director, Acquisition and Sourcing 
Management, Government Accountability Office; and David R. Graham, 
Deputy Director, Strategy Forces and Resources Division, Institute for 
Defense Analyses.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Personnel concluded 
hearings to examine active component, reserve component, and civilian 
personnel programs in review of the defense authorization request for 
fiscal year 2007, after receiving testimony from David S. C. Chu, Under 
Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness; Lieutenant General 
Franklin L. Hagenbeck, USA, Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, United 
States Army; Vice Admiral John C. Harvey, Jr., USN, Chief of Naval 
Personnel, United States Navy; Lieutenant General H. P. Osman, USMC, 
Deputy Commandant for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, United States 
Marine Corps; and Lieutenant General Roger A. Brady, USAF, Deputy Chief 
of Staff, Personnel, United States Air Force.
REGULATORY RELIEF PROPOSALS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine regulatory relief proposals to remove regulatory 
burden from the banking industry, after receiving testimony from John 
M. Reich, Director, Office of Thrift Supervision, and Julie L. 
Williams, First Senior Deputy Comptroller and Chief Counsel, Office of 
the Comptroller of the Currency, both of the Department of the 
Treasury; Donald L. Kohn, Member, Board of Governors of the Federal 
Reserve System; Douglas H. Jones, Acting General Counsel, Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corporation; JoAnn M. Johnson, Chairman, National 
Credit Union Administration; Gavin Gee, Idaho Department of Finance, 
Boise, on behalf of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors; Linda 
Jekel, Washington Department of Financial Institutions, Olympia, on 
behalf of the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors; 
H. Greg McClellan, MAX Federal Credit Union, Montgomery, Alabama, on 
behalf of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions; Bradley E. 
Rock, Bank of Smithtown, Smithtown, New York, on behalf of the American 
Bankers Association; Edmund Mierzwinski, U.S. Public Interest Research 
Group, Travis Plunkett, Consumer Federation of America, Margot 
Saunders, National Consumer Law Center, and Steve Bartlett, The 
Financial Services Roundtable, all of Washington, D.C.; F. Weller 
Meyer, Acacia Federal Savings Bank, Falls Church, Virginia, on behalf 
of America's Community Bankers; Joe McGee, Legacy Community Federal 
Credit Union, Birmingham, Alabama, on behalf of the Credit Union 
National Association; and Terry Jorde, CountryBank USA, Cando, North 
Dakota, on behalf of Independent Community Bankers of America.
2007 BUDGET: HHS
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded hearings to examine the 
President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2007 for the 
Department of Health and Human Services, after receiving testimony from 
Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services.
WINTER STORMS
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Disaster Prevention and Prediction concluded a hearing to examine the 
role of the National Weather Service in forecasting and warning

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for winter storms, after receiving testimony from Louis W. Uccellini, 
Director, National Centers for Environmental Prediction, National 
Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 
Department of Commerce, and Mayor Denise Michels, Nome, Alaska, on 
behalf of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.
U.S. TERRITORIES ECONOMIES
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded an 
oversight hearing to examine the state of the economies and fiscal 
affairs in the Territories of Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of 
the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands, 
after receiving testimony from American Samoa Delegate Eni 
Faleomavaega, and American Samoa Governor Togiola T.A. Tulafono, both 
of Vailoatai; Virgin Islands Delegate Donna M. Christensen, and Virgin 
Islands Governor Charles W. Turnbull, both of St. Croix; Guam Delegate 
Madeleine Z. Bordallo, and Guam Governor Felix Perez Camacho, both of 
Hagatna; Northern Mariana Islands Resident Representative Pedro A. 
Tenorio, Saipan; and David B. Cohen, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the 
Interior for Insular Affairs.
FOREIGN GUEST WORKER TREE PLANTING CONTRACTS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Public Lands 
and Forests concluded a hearing to examine the role of the Forest 
Service and other Federal agencies in protecting the health and welfare 
of foreign guest workers carrying out tree planting and other service 
contracts on National Forest System lands, and to consider related 
Forest Service guidance and contract modifications issued in recent 
weeks, after receiving testimony from Mark Rey, Under Secretary of 
Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment; Victoria A. Lipnic, 
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment Standards Administration; 
D. Michael Dale, Northwest Workers' Justice Project, Portland, Oregon; 
Cassandra Moseley, University of Oregon Institute for a Sustainable 
Environment, Eugene; Lynn Jungwirth, Watershed Research and Training 
Center, Hayfork, California; and Cindy Wood, Wood's Fire and Emergency 
Services, Inc., Portola, California, on behalf of the National Wildfire 
Suppression Association.
YUCCA MOUNTAIN PROJECT
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the status of the Yucca Mountain Project, focusing 
on the proposed spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste 
repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, after receiving testimony from 
Senators Reid and Ensign; William Wehrum, Acting Assistant 
Administrator for Air and Radiation, Environmental Protection Agency; 
Paul M. Golan, Acting Director, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste 
Management, Department of Energy; Robert R. Loux, Nevada Agency for 
Nuclear Projects, Office of the Governor, Carson City; Robert Fri, 
Resources for the Future, Washington, D.C., on behalf of the National 
Research Council; Allison M. MacFarlane, Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, Cambridge; and Dade W. Moeller, Dade Moeller and 
Associates, McLean, Virginia, on behalf of the Health Physics Society.
BUDGET: DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded hearings to examine the President's proposed budget request 
for fiscal year 2007 for the Department of Homeland Security, after 
receiving testimony from Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland 
Security.
PROTECTING AMERICA'S COMPETITIVE EDGE (PACE) ACT
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Subcommittee on 
Education and Early Childhood Development held hearings to examine S. 
2198, to ensure the United States successfully competes in the 21st 
century global economy, focusing on efforts to improve math and science 
and technology education, receiving testimony from Henry L. Johnson, 
Assistant Secretary of Education for Elementary and Secondary 
Education; Arden L. Bement, Jr., Director, National Science Foundation; 
Thomas W. Rudin, The College Board, New York, New York; James B. Hunt, 
Jr., Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy, Chapel Hill, 
North Carolina, former Governor of North Carolina; Peter O'Donnell, 
Jr., O'Donnell Foundation, Dallas, Texas, on behalf of the National 
Academies' Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st 
Century; and Joshua R. Tagore, University High School of Science and 
Engineering, Hartford, Connecticut.
  Hearing recessed subject to the call.
RYAN WHITE CARE ACT
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE 
Act relating to fighting the AIDS epidemic of today, after receiving 
testimony from Elizabeth Duke, Administrator, Health Resources and 
Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded hearings to examine the 
nominations of Norman Randy Smith, of Idaho, to be United States 
Circuit

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Judge for the Ninth Circuit, who was introduced by Senators Craig and 
Crapo, and Patrick Joseph Schiltz, to be United States District Judge 
for the District of Minnesota, who was introduced by Senator Coleman, 
after the nominees testified and answered questions in their own 
behalf.
BORDER VIOLENCE
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and 
Homeland Security held joint hearings with the Subcommittee on 
Immigration, Border Security, and Citizenship to examine Federal 
strategies to end border violence, focusing on border-related volent 
crime, criminal networks that smuggle people and drugs across U.S. 
borders, and certain programs implemented to address these problems, 
receiving testimony from Paul K. Charlton, United States Attorney for 
the District of Arizona, Department of Justice; David Aguilar, Chief of 
Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection, and Marcy Forman, 
Director of Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, both 
of the Department of Homeland Security; Sheriff Larry A. Dever, Cochise 
County, Arizona; Sheriff A. D'Wayne Jernigan, Val Verde County, Texas, 
on behalf of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition; Lavoyger Durham, El 
Tule Ranch, Falfurrias, Texas; and T. J. Bonner, National Border Patrol 
Council, American Federation of Government Employees (AFL-CIO), Campo, 
California.
  Hearing recessed subject to the call.
NOMINATION
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the nomination of Eric M. Thorson, of Virginia, to 
be Inspector General, Small Business Administration, after the nominee, 
who was introduced by Senator Grassley, testified and answered 
questions in his own behalf.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to 
receive a briefing on certain intelligence matters from officials of 
the intelligence community.