[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 95 (Wednesday, July 19, 2006)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D799-D801]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
MILITARY COMMISSION: HAMDAN V. RUMSFELD
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded hearings to examine 
the status of military commissions in light of the Supreme Court 
decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, after receiving testimony from Elisa C. 
Massimino, Human Rights First, Katherine Newell Bierman, Human Rights 
Watch, Eugene R. Fidell, Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell, LLP, on behalf 
of the National Institute of Military Justice, James Jay Carafano, 
Heritage Foundation, and Neal K. Katyal, Georgetown University, all of 
Washington, D.C.; Michael Mernin, Association of the Bar of the City of 
New York, New York, New York; David A. Schlueter, St. Mary's 
University, San Antonio, Texas; and Scott L. Silliman, Duke University 
School of Law Center on Law, Ethics, and National Security, Durham, 
North Carolina.
MONETARY POLICY REPORT
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded 
an oversight hearing to examine the Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report 
of the Federal Reserve, after receiving testimony from Ben S. Bernanke, 
Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the nominations of Frederic S. Mishkin, of New York, 
to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 
Linda Mysliwy Conlin, of New Jersey, to be First Vice President, James 
Lambright, of Missouri, to be President, and J. Joseph Grandmaison, of 
New Hampshire, to be a Member of the Board of Directors, all of the 
Export-Import Bank of the United States, Geoffrey S. Bacino, of 
Illinois, to be a Director of the Federal Housing Finance Board, Edmund 
C. Moy, of Wisconsin, to be Director of the Mint, Department of the 
Treasury.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following business items:
  S. Con. Res. 71, expressing the sense of Congress that States should 
require candidates for driver's licenses to demonstrate an ability to 
exercise greatly increased caution when driving in the proximity of a 
potentially visually impaired individual;
  S. 3661, to amend section 29 of the International Air Transportation 
Competition Act of 1979 relating to air transportation to and from Love 
Field, Texas;
  S. 3679, to authorize appropriations for the National Transportation 
Safety Board;
  An original bill, proposed Maritime Administration Improvements Act 
of 2006; and
  The nominations of Mark V. Rosenker, of Maryland, to be Chairman of 
the National Transportation Safety Board, R. Hunter Biden, of Delaware, 
and Donna R. McLean, of the District of Columbia, each to be a Member 
of the Reform Board (Amtrak), John H. Hill, of Indiana, to be 
Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and 
Andrew B. Steinberg, of Maryland, to be Assistant Secretary for 
Aviation and International Affairs, both of

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the Department of Transportation, and routine lists in the Coast Guard 
and NOAA.
HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Technology, Innovation, and Competitiveness concluded a hearing to 
examine high-performance computing as a priority in the overall Federal 
research and development portfolio, the impact and success of 
interagency coordination in this area, and United States leadership in 
high-performance computing in the context of global competitiveness in 
information technology and its applications, after receiving testimony 
from Simon Szykman, Director, National Coordination Office for 
Networking and Information Technology Research and Development; Irving 
Wladawsky-Berger, IBM Corporation, Somers, New York; Christopher Jehn, 
Cray Inc., Arlington, Virginia; Jack Waters, Level (3) Communications, 
Broomfield, Colorado; Joseph Lombardo, University of Nevada National 
Supercomputing Center for Energy and the Environment, Las Vegas; 
Michael Garrett, The Boeing Company, Seattle, Washington; and Stanley 
Burt, Advanced Biomedical Computing Center, Frederick, Maryland.
HEALTHY FORESTS RESTORATION ACT
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Public Lands 
and Forests concluded an oversight hearing on the implementation of The 
Healthy Forests Restoration Act (Public Law 108-148), after receiving 
testimony from Nina Rose Hatfield, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the 
Interior for Policy, Management and Budget; Dale Bosworth, Chief, U.S. 
Forest Service, Department of Agriculture; Rick Delaco, Village of 
Ruidoso, Lincoln County, New Mexico; Colleen MacLeod, Commissioner, 
Union County, La Grande, Oregon, on behalf of the National Association 
of Counties; Matthew Koehler, WildWest Institute, Missoula, Montana; 
and Jay Jensen, Council of Western State Foresters, Lakewood, Colorado.
AIR QUALITY STANDARDS
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the science and risk assessment behind the 
Environmental Protection Agency's proposed revisions to the particulate 
matter air quality standards, after receiving testimony from George 
Gray, Assistant Administrator, Research and Development, Environmental 
Protection Agency; John B. Stephenson, Director, Natural Resources and 
Environment, Government Accountability Office; Roger O. McClellan, 
Toxicology and Human Health Risk Analysis, Albuquerque, New Mexico; 
George D. Thurston, New York University School of Medicine, New York, 
New York; and Anne E. Smith, CRA International, and Daniel S. 
Greenbaum, Health Effects Institute, both of Boston, Massachusetts.
DHS PURCHASE CARDS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine Department of Homeland Security purchase 
cards, focusing on whether DHS's control environment and management of 
purchase card usage were effective, key internal control activities 
operated effectively and provided reasonable assurance that purchase 
cards were used appropriately, and indications existed of potentially 
fraudulent, improper, and abusive or questionable purchase card 
activity at DHS, after receiving testimony from Gregory D. Kutz, 
Managing Director, and John J. Ryan, Assistant Director, both of 
Forensic Audits and Special Investigations, Government Accountability 
Office; and David L. Norquist, Chief Financial Officer, Department of 
Homeland Security.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following business items:
  S. 3678, to amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to 
public health security and all-hazards preparedness and response, with 
an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 843, to amend the Public Health Service Act to combat autism 
through research, screening, intervention and education, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute; and
  The nominations of Elizabeth Dougherty, of the District of Columbia, 
and Harry R. Hoglander, of Massachusetts, each to be a Member of the 
National Mediation Board, Ronald S. Cooper, of Virginia, to be General 
Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Lawrence A. 
Warder, of Texas, to be Chief Financial Officer, and Troy R. Justesen, 
of Utah, to be Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education, 
both of the Department of Education.
CREDIT CARD INTERCHANGE FEES
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
antitrust concerns relating to credit card interchange rates--the fees 
that credit card issuers, and/or processors, charge the merchant to 
process a credit card transaction, after receiving testimony from Bill 
Douglass, Douglass Distributing Company, Sherman, Texas, on behalf of 
the National Association of Convenience Stores; Kathy Miller, The 
Elmore Store, Elmore, Vermont; Joshua L. Peirez, MasterCard Worldwide, 
Purchase, New York; and Joshua R. Floum, Visa U.S.A., Inc., Timothy J.

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Muris, George Mason University School of Law and O'Melveny and Meyers, 
and W. Stephen Cannon, Constantine Cannon, on behalf of the Merchants 
Payments Coalition, Inc., all of Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported S. 
2703, to amend the Voting Rights Act of 1965, with an amendment.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to 
receive a briefing on certain intelligence matters from officials of 
the intelligence community.