[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 106 (Thursday, August 3, 2006)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D900-D902]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded open and closed 
hearings to examine Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war on terrorism, 
after receiving testimony from Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of 
Defense; General Peter Pace, USMC, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; and 
General John P. Abizaid, USA, Commander, U.S. Central Command.
STATE OF THE OCEANS 2006
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
National Ocean Policy Study concluded a hearing to examine state of the 
oceans in

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2006, focusing on the final report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean 
Policy and the role of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
(NOAA) in implementing components of the Administration's response to 
the report entitled ``U.S. Ocean Action Plan'', after receiving 
testimony from Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., USN (Ret.), 
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration; Leon E. Panetta, Co-Chairman, and Paul 
Kelly, Member, both of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative Task 
Force; Mike Chrisman, California Resources Agency, Sacramento; and 
Michael K. Orbach, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, North 
Carolina.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the nominations of Drue Pearce, of Alaska, to be Federal 
Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects, and John 
Ray Correll, of Indiana, to be Director of the Office of Surface Mining 
Reclamation and Enforcement, and Mark Myers, of Alaska, to be Director 
of the United States Geological Survey, both of the Department of the 
Interior.
NUCLEAR FUEL MANAGEMENT AND DISPOSAL ACT
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine S. 2589, to enhance the management and disposal of 
spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, to ensure 
protection of public health and safety, to ensure the territorial 
integrity and security of the repository at Yucca Mountain, after 
receiving testimony from Senators Reid and Ensign; Edward F. Sproat, 
III, Director, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, 
Department of Energy; Martin J. Virgilio, Deputy Executive Director, 
Materials, Research, State and Compliance Programs, Office of the 
Executive Director for Operations, United States Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission; Robert L. Loux, Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, Office 
of the Governor, Carson City; David A. Wright, South Carolina Public 
Service Commission, Columbia, on behalf of National Association of 
Regulatory Utility Commissioners; J. Barnie Beasley, Jr., Southern 
Nuclear Operating Company, Birmingham, Alabama; Geoffrey H. Fettus, 
Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, D.C.
TAX REFORM
Committee on Finance: Committee held a hearing to examine individual 
income tax policy, focusing on efforts to streamline and simplify the 
tax code, receiving testimony from former Senator Connie Mack, III, 
former Senator John Breaux, and Elizabeth Garrett, University of 
Southern California Gould School of Law, Los Angeles, all on behalf of 
the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform; David M. Walker, 
Comptroller General of the United States, Government Accountability 
Office; Jane G. Gravelle, Senior Specialist in Economic Policy, 
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress; and James Poterba, 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Economics, 
Cambridge.
  Hearing recessed subject to the call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Finance: Committee ordered favorably reported S. 2010, to 
amend the Social Security Act to enhance the Social Security of the 
Nation by ensuring adequate public-private infrastructure and to 
resolve to prevent, detect, treat, intervene in, and prosecute elder 
abuse, neglect, and exploitation, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute.
NOMINATION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the nomination of Mary Martin Ourisman, of Florida, to be 
Ambassador to Barbados, and to serve concurrently and without 
additional compensation as Ambassador to St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint 
Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, and 
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, after the nominee, who was introduced 
by Senators Warner and Allen, testified and answered questions in her 
own behalf.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the nominations of Cesar Benito Cabrera, of Puerto Rico, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Mauritius, and to serve concurrently and 
without additional compensation as Ambassador to the Republic of 
Seychelles, Cindy Lou Courville, of Virginia, to be U.S. Representative 
to the African Union, with the rank of Ambassador, and Donald C. 
Johnson, of Texas, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Equatorial 
Guinea.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and 
International Security concluded a hearing to examine financial 
management at the Department of Defense, focusing on the components of 
the Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness Plan to improve the 
overall financial management health of the Department of Defense, 
including an understanding of other plans

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involved in improving the financial management infrastructure at the 
Department, after receiving testimony from David M. Walker, Comptroller 
General of the United States, Government Accountability Office; and J. 
David Patterson, Principal Deputy Under Secretary (Comptroller), Teresa 
McKay, Deputy Chief Financial Officer, and Thomas F. Gimble, Acting 
Inspector General, all of the Department of Defense.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. 2679, to establish an Unsolved Crimes Section in the Civil Rights 
Division of the Department of Justice, and an Unsolved Civil Rights 
Crime Investigative Office in the Civil Rights Unit of the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute; and
  The nominations of Frances Marie Tydingco-Gatewood, to be Judge for 
the District Court of Guam, and Troy A. Eid, to be United States 
Attorney for the District of Colorado, Department of Justice.
  Also, Committee began consideration of S. 2453, to establish 
procedures for the review of electronic surveillance programs, agreeing 
to an amendment in the nature of a substitute, and subpoenas relating 
to American Bar Association (ABA) reports, but did not take final 
action thereon, and recessed subject to call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to 
consider pending intelligence matters.
  Committee recessed subject to the call.