[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 48 (Thursday, April 27, 2006)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D398-D399]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS: IRS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, 
The Judiciary, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies 
concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal 
year 2007 for the Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury, 
after receiving testimony from Mark Everson, Commissioner, Internal 
Revenue Service, Raymond T. Wagner, Jr., Chairman, Internal Revenue 
Service Oversight Board, J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General 
for Tax Administration, and Nina E. Olsen, National Taxpayer Advocate, 
Taxpayer Advocate Service, all of the Department of the Treasury.
CAPITOL VISITOR CENTER
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Legislative Branch resumed 
hearings to examine the progress of Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) 
construction, focusing on the installation and fabrication of stone, 
and the acceptance testing of the CVC's complex fire and life-safety 
systems, receiving testimony from Alan M. Hantman, Architect, Robert C. 
Hixon, Jr., Capitol Visitor Center Project Manager, Stephen Ayers, 
Chief Operating Officer, all of the Office of the Architect of the 
Capitol; and Bernard L. Ungar, Director, and Terrell Dorn, Assistant 
Director, both of Physical Infrastructure Issues, Government 
Accountability Office.
  Hearings continue on Wednesday, May 24, 2006.
MILITARY ACTIVITY
Committee on Armed Services: Committee met in closed session to receive 
a briefing to examine operations and intelligence from Peter W. Rodman, 
Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs; 
Brigadier General Carter Ham, USA, Deputy Director for Regional 
Operations, J-3, and Rear Admiral David J. Dorsett, USN, Director of 
Intelligence, J-2, both of The Joint Staff.
DROUGHT ISSUES
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Disaster Prevention and Prediction concluded an oversight hearing to 
examine drought research, monitoring, and forecasting issues and the 
shortage of water, focusing on drought management in the United States, 
and the need to move the nation to a more risk-based management 
approach to lessen the vulnerability to this natural hazard, after 
receiving testimony from Chester J. Koblinsky, Director, Climate 
Program Office, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce; former 
Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer, Environmental Systems Research 
Institute, Redlands, California, on behalf of the Alliance for Earth 
Observations; and Donald A. Wilhite, University of Nebraska National 
Drought Mitigation Center, Lincoln.
WESTERN HEMISPHERE TRAVEL INITIATIVE
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, 
Peace Corps and Narcotics Affairs concluded a hearing to examine the 
progress of implementing the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, 
which will require all travelers to and from the Americas, the 
Caribbean, and Bermuda to have a passport or other accepted document 
that establishes the bearer's identity and nationality to enter or re-
enter the United States, in order to strengthen border security and 
facilitate entry into the United States for U.S. citizens and 
legitimate foreign visitors, after receiving testimony from Senators 
Dorgan and Schumer; Representatives Reynolds and Slaughter; Paul 
Rosenzweig, Counselor (Policy Directorate) and Acting Assistant 
Secretary of Homeland Security for Policy Development; Frank E. Moss, 
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Passport Services, Bureau of 
Consular Affairs; Ken Oplinger, Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce 
and Industry, Bellingham, Washington; Brian Sage, Northwest Angle and 
Islands Homeowners Association, Angle Inlet, Minnesota; and Howard A. 
Zemsky, Greater Buffalo Niagara Partnership, Buffalo, New York, on 
behalf of the Binational Tourism Alliance.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. 2557, to improve competition in the oil and gas industry, to 
strengthen antitrust enforcement with regard to industry mergers;

[[Page D399]]


  S. 2292, to provide relief for the Federal judiciary from excessive 
rent charges; and
  The nominations of Michael Ryan Barrett, to be United States District 
Judge for the Southern District of Ohio, Brian M. Cogan, to be United 
States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York, Thomas M. 
Golden, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania, Timothy Anthony Junker, to be United States Marshal for 
the Northern District of Iowa, and Patrick Carroll Smith, Sr., of 
Maryland, to be United States Marshal for the Western District of North 
Carolina.
  Also, Committee began markup of S. 2453, to establish procedures for 
the review of electronic surveillance programs; S. 2455, to provide in 
statute for the conduct of electronic surveillance of suspected 
terrorists for the purposes of protecting the American people, the 
Nation, and its interests from terrorist attack while ensuring that the 
civil liberties of United States citizens are safeguarded; and S. 2468, 
to provide standing for civil actions for declaratory and injunctive 
relief to persons who refrain from electronic communications through 
fear of being subject to warrantless electronic surveillance for 
foreign intelligence purposes, but did not complete action thereon, and 
recessed subject to the call.
VOTING RIGHTS ACT
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee held a hearing to examine 
renewing the temporary provisions of the Voting Rights Act, ensuring 
that the right to vote continues to be protected to the full extent of 
Congress's constitutional authority, receiving testimony from 
Representatives Sensenbrenner, and Conyers.
  Hearing recessed subject to the call.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Veterans Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
nomination of Daniel L. Cooper, of Pennsylvania, to be Under Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs for Benefits.
VA RESEARCH
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the Department of Veterans Affairs medical and prosthetic 
research program, focusing on funding basic science and clinical 
research, after receiving testimony from Jonathan B. Perlin, Under 
Secretary for Health, Joel Kupersmith, Chief Research and Development 
Officer, Richard F. Weir, Research Scientist, VA Prosthetics Research 
Laboratory, Jesse Brown, VA Medical Center (Chicago, Illinois), and 
Fred S. Wright, VA Connecticut Healthcare System (West Haven), and 
Dennis L. Stevens, Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Boise, Idaho), both 
Associate Chiefs of Staff for Research, all of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs; John R. Feussner, Medical University of South 
Carolina Department of Medicine, Charleston; and John I. Kennedy, Jr., 
University of Alabama at Birmingham, on behalf of the Alliance for 
Academic Internal Medicine.
BUSINESS MEETING
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to 
consider pending intelligence matters.
  Committee recessed subject to the call.

Joint Meetings
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Joint Economic Committee: Committee concluded hearings to examine the 
current economic outlook, focusing on the monetary policy of the 
Federal Reserve, and incentives for investment activity, after 
receiving testimony from Ben Bernanke, Chairman, Board of Governors of 
the Federal Reserve System.