[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 38 (Thursday, March 30, 2006)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D304-D306]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Interior and Related 
Agencies concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for 
fiscal year 2007 for the Department of the Interior, after receiving 
testimony from P. Lynn Scarlett, Deputy Secretary, R. Thomas Weimer, 
Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget, and Pamela K. 
Haze, Co-Director, Office of Budget, all of the Department of the 
Interior.
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Energy and Water concluded 
a hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2007 for 
the Department of Energy's Supply and Conservation account, Electricity 
Delivery and Energy Reliability account, Office of Nuclear Energy, 
Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Office of 
Environmental Management, Office of Fossil Energy Research and 
Development, and Office of Science, after receiving testimony from 
David K. Garman, Under Secretary for Energy, Science, and Environment, 
and Raymond L. Orbach, Director, Office of Science, both of the 
Department of Energy.
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
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 Department of 
Agriculture, after receiving testimony in behalf of funds for their 
respective activities from Keith Collins, Chief Economist, J.B. Penn, 
Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, Mark E. 
Rey, Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, Eric M. 
Bost, Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, 
Richard A. Raymond, Under Secretary for Food Safety, and Charles 
Lambert, Acting Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, 
all of the Department of Agriculture.
FLAT FEDERAL INCOME TAX
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on the District of Columbia 
concluded a hearing to examine the potential effects of a flat Federal 
income tax in the District of Columbia, after receiving testimony from 
Natwar M. Gandhi, Chief Financial Officer for the Government of the 
District of Columbia; and Terence C. Golden, Federal City Council, 
Washington, D.C.
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 reserve component personnel policies, 
after receiving testimony from Thomas F. Hall, Assistant Secretary of 
Defense for Reserve Affairs; Lieutenant General H. Steven Blum, USA, 
Chief National Guard Bureau; Lieutenant General Clyde A. Vaughn, USA, 
Director, Army National Guard; Lieutenant General Daniel James III, 
USAF, Director, Air National Guard; Lieutenant General James R. Helmly, 
USA, Chief, Army Reserve; Vice Admiral John G. Cotton, USN, Chief, Navy 
Reserve; Lieutenant General John W. Bergman, USMC, Commander, Marine 
Forces Reserve; and Lieutenant General John A. Bradley, USAF, Chief, 
Air Force Reserve.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered 
favorably reported an original bill to amend the Defense Production Act 
of 1950, to strengthen Government review and oversight of foreign 
investment in the United States, to provide for enhanced Congressional 
oversight with respect thereto.
MCKINNEY-VENTO HOMELESS ASSISTANCE REAUTHORIZATION
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Housing and Transportation concluded a hearing to examine S. 1801, to 
amend the

[[Page D305]]

McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to reauthorize the Act, and 
provide for consolidation of HUD's homeless programs, after receiving 
testimony from Roy A. Bernardi, Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban 
Development; Philip F. Mangano, Executive Director, U.S. Interagency 
Council on Homelessness; Gail Dorfman, County Commissioner, Hennepin 
County, Minnesota; Steven R. Berg, National Alliance to End 
Homelessness, Washington, D.C.; Charles W. Gould, Volunteers of 
America, Alexandria, Virginia; Anthony Love, Coalition for the Homeless 
of Houston/Harris County, Inc., Houston, Texas; and Dennis P. Culhane, 
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered 
favorably reported S. 2389, to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to 
prohibit the unlawful acquisition and use of confidential customer 
proprietary network information, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute.
POLAR-ORBITING OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITES
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Disaster Prevention and Prediction concluded an oversight hearing to 
examine National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite 
System, which provide data and imagery that are used by weather 
forecasters, climatologists, and the military to map and monitor 
changes in weather, climate, the oceans, and the environment, after 
receiving testimony from Gary E. Payton, Deputy Under Secretary of the 
Air Force for Space Programs; David A. Powner, Director, Information 
Technology Management Issues, Government Accountability Office; Gregory 
W. Withee, Assistant Administrator for Satellite and Information 
Services, National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information 
Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of 
Commerce; David L. Ryan, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Redondo Beach, 
California.
COMPETITION AND CONVERGENCE
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine the state of competition and convergence in the 
telecommunications industry, after receiving testimony from Kyle 
McSlarrow, National Cable and Telecommunications Association, Earl 
Comstock, COMPTEL, Walter McCormick, US Telecom, Steve Largent, CTIA-
The Wireless Association, and Mark Cooper, on behalf of Consumer 
Federation of America, Free Press, and Consumers Union, all of 
Washington, D.C.; and Jerry Ellig, George Mason University Mercatus 
Center, Arlington, Virginia.
WATER PROJECTS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Water and 
Power concluded a hearing to examine S. 1577, to facilitate the 
transfer of Spearfish Hydroelectric Plant Number 1 to the city of 
Spearfish, South Dakota, S. 1962, to authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior to revise certain repayment contracts with the Bostwick 
Irrigation District in Nebraska, the Kansas Bostwick Irrigation 
District No. 2, the Frenchman-Cambridge Irrigation District, and the 
Webster Irrigation District No. 4, all a part of the Pick-Sloan 
Missouri Basin Program, S. 2028, to provide for the reinstatement of a 
license for a certain Federal Energy Regulatory Commission project, S. 
2035, to extend the time required for construction of a hydroelectric 
project in the State of Idaho, S. 2054, to direct the Secretary of the 
Interior to conduct a study of water resources in the State of Vermont, 
S. 2205, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain 
parcels of land acquired for the Blunt Reservoir and Pierre Canal 
features of the initial stage of the Oahe Unit, James Division, South 
Dakota, to the Commission of Schools and Public Lands and the 
Department of Game, Fish, and Parks of the State of South Dakota for 
the purpose of mitigating lost wildlife habitat, on the condition that 
the current preferential leaseholders shall have an option to purchase 
the parcels from the Commission, and H.R. 3812, to authorize the 
Secretary of the Interior to prepare a feasibility study with respect 
to the Mokelumne River, after receiving testimony from Senator Thune; 
John Keys III, Commissioner of Reclamation, and Catherine L. Hill, 
Northeast Regional Hydrologist, U.S. Geologist Survey, both of the 
Department of the Interior; J. Mark Robinson, Director, Office of 
Energy Projects, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of 
Energy; Mayor Jerry Krambeck, Spearfish, South Dakota; Laurence R. 
Becker, Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, Waterbury; C. 
Mel Lytle, San Joaquin County, Stockton, California, on behalf of the 
Mokelumne River Water and Power Authority; and Darla Pollman Rogers, 
Riter, Rogers, Wattier and Brown, LLP, on behalf of Preferential 
Leaseholders with the Blunt Reservoir and Pierre Canal.
COST OF OIL
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the hidden cost of oil, focusing on the externality costs of 
U.S. dependence on fossil fuels, after receiving testimony from Milton 
R. Copulos, National Defense Council Foundation, Alexandria, Virginia; 
Hillard Huntington, Stanford

[[Page D306]]

University Energy Modeling Forum, Stanford, California; and Gary W. 
Yohe, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut.
NUCLEAR AND RADIOLOGICAL THREAT
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Permanent 
Subcommittee on Investigations resumed hearings to examine securing the 
global supply chain relating to neutralizing the nuclear and 
radiological threat, focusing on programs that form the defense against 
nuclear terrorism including the Container Security Initiative, the 
Megaports Initiative, the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, 
and the role of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, a new office 
created within DHS to coordinate global nuclear detection architecture, 
receiving testimony from Senators Graham and Schumer; Michael P. 
Jackson, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security; Christopher L. Koch, 
World Shipping Council, Washington, D.C.; Gary D. Gilbert, Hutchison 
Port Holdings, Oakton, Virginia; and John P. Clancey, Maersk, Inc., 
Charlotte, North Carolina.
  Hearings recessed subject to the call.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT VETERANS' PREFERENCE
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the 
District of Columbia concluded an oversight hearing to examine the 
Federal Government's implementation of veterans' preference in the 
hiring of employees, including an evaluation of the laws designed to 
protect and promote the employment of veterans, the impact of workforce 
flexibilities on veterans, and how veterans' redress mechanisms are 
working, after receiving testimony from Dan G. Blair, Deputy Director, 
Office of Personnel Management; Charles S. Ciccolella, Assistant 
Secretary of Labor for Veterans' Employment and Training; James McVay, 
Deputy Special Counsel, Office of Special Counsel; Richard Weidman, 
Vietnam Veterans of America, Silver Spring, Maryland; and Joseph C. 
Sharpe, Jr., The American Legion, and Brian E. Lawrence, Disabled 
American Veterans, both of Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. 1768, to permit the televising of Supreme Court proceedings;
  S. 829, to allow media coverage of court proceedings; and
  The nominations of Michael A. Chagares, of New Jersey, to be United 
States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, Patrick Joseph Schiltz, to 
be United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota, Gray 
Hampton Miller, to be United States District Judge for the Southern 
District of Texas, and Sharee M. Freeman, of Virginia, to be Director, 
Community Relations Service, and Jeffrey L. Sedgwick, of Massachusetts, 
to be Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, both of the 
Department of Justice.
VETERANS' LEGISLATIVE PRESENTATIONS
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine legislative presentations of certain veterans' organizations, 
after receiving testimony from George Basher, National Association of 
State Directors of Veterans' Affairs, Albany, New York; Gerald S. 
Harvey, American Ex-Prisoners of War, Arlington, Texas; John Rowan, 
Vietnam Veterans of America, Silver Spring, Maryland; and Edward W. 
Kemp, AMVETS, Lanham, Maryland.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on 
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the 
intelligence community.
  Committee recessed subject to the call.