[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 14, 2006)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D231-D234]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine the nominations of Boyd Kevin Rutherford, of 
Maryland, and Linda Avery Strachan, of Virginia, each to be an 
Assistant Secretary, Gale A. Buchanan, of Georgia, to be Under 
Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics, and Marc L. 
Kesselman, of Tennessee, to be General Counsel, all of the Department 
of Agriculture, after the nominees testified and answered questions in 
their own behalf.
APPROPRIATIONS: FDA
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural 
Development, and Related Agencies concluded a hearing to examine 
proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2007 for the Food and Drug 
Administration, after receiving testimony from Andrew C. von 
Eschenbach, Acting Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration, 
Department of Health and Human Services.
APPROPRIATIONS: D.C. AGENCIES
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on District of Columbia 
concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal 
year 2007, after receiving testimony in behalf of funds for their 
respective activities from Eric T. Washington, Chief Judge, District of 
Columbia Court of Appeals, and Chair, Joint Committee on Judicial 
Administration; Rufus G. King III, Chief Judge, District of Columbia 
Superior Court; Paul Quander, Jr., Director, Court Services and 
Offender Supervision Agency; Avis E. Buchanan, Director, Public 
Defender Service; and Reverend Donald Isassc, East of the River Clergy-
Police-Community Partnership.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the defense authorization request for fiscal year 2007 and the future 
years defense program, focusing on combatant commanders on their 
military strategy and operational requirements, after

[[Page D232]]

receiving testimony from General Bantz J. Craddock, USA, Commander, 
U.S. Southern Command; and Admiral Timothy J. Keating, USN, Commander, 
U.S. Northern Command.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the proposed defense authorization request for fiscal year 2007 and the 
future years defense program, focusing on the Joint Strike Fighter F-
136 Alternate Engine Program, after receiving testimony from Lord Peter 
Drayson, Minister for Defence Procurement, and Sir Jock Stirrup, Chief 
of the Air Staff, both of London, England; Air Commodore John Harvey, 
Director General New Air Combat Capability, Canberra, Australia; Rear 
Admiral Raydon W. Gates AO, CSM, Head of the Australian Defence Staff, 
and Major General Pasquale Preziosa, Defense and Defense Cooperation 
Attache, Embassy of Italy, both of Washington, D.C.; and Lieutenant 
General Giuseppe Bernardis, Chief, Department for Armament Programs, 
Secretariate for Defence and National Armaments, Rome, Italy.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Personnel concluded a 
hearing to examine the proposed Defense Authorization Request for 
fiscal year 2007, focusing on health benefits and programs, after 
receiving testimony from Tanna Schmidli, National Military Family 
Association, and Vice Admiral Norbert R. Ryan, Jr., USN (Ret.), 
Military Officers Association of America, and Edgar M. Zerr, Fleet 
Reserve Association, on behalf of the Military Coalition, all of 
Alexandria, Virginia; and Lieutenant General Dennis M. McCarthy, USMC 
(Ret.), Reserve Officers Association of the United States, Washington, 
D.C.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the nominations of James S. Simpson, of New York, to 
be Federal Transit Administrator, Department of Transportation, who was 
introduced by Senator Schumer and former Senator Cleland, and Robert M. 
Couch, of Alabama, to be President, Government National Mortgage 
Association, after the nominees testified and answered questions in 
their own behalf.
WIRELESS ISSUES AND SPECTRUM REFORM
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine wireless issues relating to spectrum reform, 
focusing on the Federal Communications Commission's spectrum and other 
regulatory policies for wireless services, including efforts to 
implement these policies to license and manage the non-Federal spectrum 
resources and wireless services, after receiving testimony from 
Catherine W. Seidel, Acting Bureau Chief, Wireless Telecommunications 
Bureau, Federal Communications Commission; John M.R. Kneuer, Acting 
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, 
National Telecommunications and Information Administration; JayEtta Z. 
Hecker, Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues, Government 
Accountability Office; Thomas F. Walsh, Illinois Valley Cellular, 
Marseilles, on behalf of Rural Cellular Association; Kevin C. Kahn, 
Intel Corporation, Thomas J. Sugrue, T-Mobile USA, Inc., and Jeannine 
Kenney, Consumers Union, all of Washington, D.C.; Robert W. Hubbard, 
Hubbard Television Group, St. Paul, Minnesota; and Lawrence J. White, 
New York University Stern School of Business, New York, New York.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine Wall Street perspective on telecommunications, 
focusing on investment sentiment and viewpoints of valuation, including 
key investment considerations, after receiving testimony from Luke T. 
Szymczak, JP Morgan Asset Management, Aryeh B. Bourkoff, UBS Investment 
Research, and Craig E. Moffett, Bernstein Research, all of New York, 
New York; and Kevin M. Moore, Wachovia Securities, Baltimore, Maryland.
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE BUDGET
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks concluded a hearing to examine the President's proposed budget 
request for fiscal year 2007 for National Park Service, Department of 
the Interior, after receiving testimony from Fran Mainella, Director, 
National Park Service, Department of the Interior.
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
Committee on Finance: Committee held a hearing to examine 
administrative challenges facing the Social Security Administration 
(SSA), focusing on the Human Capital Plan of the SSA, the Medicare 
Prescription Drug Program, new enumeration procedures, and the funding 
and productivity of the SSA, receiving testimony from Jo Anne B. 
Barnhart, Commissioner, and Patrick P. O'Carroll, Jr., Inspector 
General, both of the Social Security Administration; Richard E. 
Warsinskey, National Council of Social Security Management 
Associations, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio; Eileen P. Sweeney, Center on 
Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, D.C., on

[[Page D233]]

behalf of the Social Security Task Force of the Consortium for Citizens 
With Disabilities; and Erwin Hathaway, Trego, Montana.
  Hearing recessed subject to the call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  Convention between the Government of the United States of America and 
the Government of Bangladesh for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and 
the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion With Respect to Taxes on Income signed 
at Dhaka on September 26, 2004 with an exchange of notes enclosed 
(Treaty Doc. 109-5);
  Protocol Amending the Convention Between the Government of the United 
States of America and the Government of the French Republic for the 
Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion With 
Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital, signed at Paris on August 31, 
1994 (Treaty Doc. 109-4);
  Protocol Amending the Convention Between the United States of America 
and the French Republic for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the 
Prevention of Fiscal Evasion With Respect to Taxes on Estates, 
Inheritances, and Gifts signed at Washington on November 24, 1978 
(Treaty Doc. 109-7);
  Protocol Amending the Convention Between the Government of the United 
States of America and the Government of Sweden for the Avoidance of 
Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion With Respect to 
Taxes on Income signed at Washington on September 30, 2005 (Treaty Doc. 
109-8);
  Protocol of 1997 to Amend the International Convention for the 
Prevention of Pollution From Ships, 1973, as Modified by the Protocol 
of 1978 thereto (hereinafter the ``Protocol of 1997''), the Protocol of 
1997, which would add Annex VI, Regulations for the Prevention of Air 
Pollution From Ships, to the International Convention for the 
Prevention of Pollution From Ships, 1973, as Modified by the Protocol 
of 1978 (hereinafter the ``MARPOL Convention''), was signed by the 
United States on December 22, 1998 (Treaty Doc.108-7);
  Treaty Between the United States of America and Japan on Mutual Legal 
Assistance in Criminal Matters, signed at Washington on August 5, 2003; 
including a related exchange of notes (Treaty Doc. 108-12);
  Treaty Between the United States of America and the Federal Republic 
of Germany on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, signed at 
Washington on October 14,2003, and a related exchange of notes (Treaty 
Doc. 108-27);
  The nominations of Randall L. Tobias, of Indiana, to be Administrator 
of the United States Agency for International Development, Mark D. 
Wallace, of Florida, to be Representative of the United States of 
America to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform, with the 
rank of Ambassador, and to be Alternate Representative of the United 
States of America to the Sessions of the General Assembly of the United 
Nations, during his tenure of service as Representative of the United 
States of America to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform, 
Richard T. Miller, of Texas, to be Representative of the United States 
of America on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, 
with the rank of Ambassador, and to be an Alternate Representative of 
the United States of America to the Sessions of the General Assembly of 
the United Nations during his tenure of service as Representative of 
the United States of America on the Economic and Social Council of the 
United Nations, John A. Simon, of Maryland, to be Executive Vice 
President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, certain 
Foreign Service Officer promotion lists; and
  An original bill to implement the obligations of the United States 
under the Protocol Additional to the Agreement Between the United 
States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the 
Application of Safeguards in the United States of America (Treaty Doc. 
107-7)
GSA CONTRACTORS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Permanent 
Subcommittee on Investigations concluded a hearing to examine Federal 
contractors with unpaid tax debt, focusing on the extent to which 
contractors are tax-delinquent and what can be done about it, after 
receiving testimony from Gregory D. Kutz, Managing Director, and John 
J. Ryan, Assistant Director, both of the Forensic Audits and Special 
Investigations, and Steven J. Sebastian, Director, Financial Management 
and Assurance, all of the Government Accountability Office; Mark 
Everson, Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service, Department of the 
Treasury; and Kathleen M. Turco, Acting Deputy Administrator, General 
Services Administration.
OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
consolidation in the oil and gas industry, and its impact on the price 
of gasoline, after receiving testimony from Wisconsin Attorney General 
Peggy A. Lautenschlager, Madison; Joseph M. Alioto, Alioto Law Firm, 
San Francisco, California; Thomas Greene, California Department of 
Justice, Sacramento; Severin Borenstein, University

[[Page D234]]

of California Haas School of Business, Berkeley; David Boies, Boies, 
Schiller and Flexner, Armonk, New York; Rex W. Tillerson, Exxon Mobil 
Corporation, Irving, Texas; James J. Mulva, ConocoPhillips, and John 
Hofmeister, Shell Oil Company, both of Houston, Texas; David J. 
O'Reilly, Chevron Corporation, San Ramon, California; William R. 
Klesse, Valero Energy Corporation, San Antonio, Texas; and Ross J. 
Pillari, BP America, Inc., Chicago, Illinois.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nominations of Michael A. Chagares, of New Jersey, to be United 
States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, who was introduced by 
Senators Lautenberg and Menendez, Gray Hampton Miller, to be United 
States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas, who was 
introduced by Senators Hutchison and Cornyn, and Jeffrey L. Sedgwick, 
of Massachusetts, to be Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 
who was introduced by Senators Lautenberg and Menendez, and Sharee M. 
Freeman, of Virginia, to be Director, Community Relations Service, both 
of the Department of Justice, after the nominees testified and answered 
questions in their own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to 
consider pending intelligence matters.
  Committee recessed subject to the call.