[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 113 (Wednesday, September 13, 2006)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D952-D954]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
HOUSING BUBBLE
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Economic Policy and the Subcommittee on Housing and Transportation 
concluded joint hearings to examine the housing bubble and its 
implications for the economy, focusing on the current housing 
downswing, the depth and duration of the downswing, the economic 
consequences of the falloff in housing market activity, and the impacts 
of several secondary effects of the evolving

[[Page D953]]

housing cycle, after receiving testimony from Patrick J. Lawler, 
Associate Director and Chief Economist, Office of Federal Housing 
Enterprise Oversight; Richard A. Brown, Chief Economist, Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corporation; David F. Seiders, National Association 
of Home Builders, Washington, D.C.; and Tom Stevens, National 
Association of Realtors, Chicago, Illinois.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the nominations of David Longly Bernhardt, of Colorado, to be 
Solicitor, 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, all of 
the Department of the Interior.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the nominations of Roger Romulus Martella, Jr., of 
Virginia, to be Assistant Administrator, and Alex A. Beehler, of 
Maryland, to be Inspector General, both of the Environmental Protection 
Agency, and William H. Graves, of Tennessee, to be a Member of the 
Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority, who was 
introduced by Senator Alexander, after the nominees testified and 
answered questions in their own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following bills:
  H.R. 5689, to amend the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient 
Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users to make technical 
corrections, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1848, to promote remediation of inactive and abandoned mines, with 
an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 3630, to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to 
reauthorize a program relating to the Lake Pontchartrain Basin;
  H.R. 3929, to amend the Water Desalination Act of 1996 to authorize 
the Secretary of the Interior to assist in research and development, 
environmental and feasibility studies, and preliminary engineering for 
the Municipal Water District of Orange County, California, Dana Point 
Desalination Project located at Dana Point, California, with an 
amendment;
  S. 3617, to reauthorize the North American Wetlands Conservation Act;
  H.R. 5061, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey Paint 
Bank National Fish Hatchery and Wytheville National Fish Hatchery to 
the State of Virginia;
  S. 3551, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey the 
Tylersville division of the Lamar National Fish Hatchery and Fish 
Technology Center to the State of Pennsylvania, with an amendment;
  S. 3867, to designate the Federal courthouse located at 555 
Independence Street, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as the ``Rush H. 
Limbaugh, Sr., Federal Courthouse'';
  H.R. 5187, to amend the John F. Kennedy Center Act to authorize 
additional appropriations for the John F. Kennedy Center for the 
Performing Arts for fiscal year 2007, proposed Convention on 
Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage Contingent Cost 
Allocation Act, proposed legislation to amend the Clean Air Act to 
encourage the most polluted areas in the United States to attain clean 
air standards;
  S. 3879, to implement the Convention on Supplementary Compensation 
for Nuclear Damage, with an amendment;
  S. 2348, to amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to require a licensee 
to notify the Atomic Energy Commission, and the State and county in 
which a facility is located, whenever there is an unplanned release of 
fission products in excess of allowable limits, with an amendment in 
the nature of a substitute;
  S. 3591, to improve efficiency in the Federal Government through the 
use of high-performance green buildings, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute; and
  The nominations of William B. Wark, of Maine, and William E. Wright, 
of Florida, each to be a Member of the Chemical Safety and Hazard 
Investigation Board, and Stephen M. Prescott, of Oklahoma, and Anne 
Jeannette Udall, of North Carolina, each to be a Member of the Board of 
Trustees of the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National 
Environmental Policy Foundation.
NONPROFIT HOSPITALS
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
charitable care and community benefits at nonprofit hospitals, after 
receiving testimony from Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, Topeka; 
Carol Keehan, Catholic Health Association of the United States, and 
Kevin E. Lofton, American Hospital Association, both of Washington, 
D.C.; Scott A. Duke, Glendive Medical Center, Glendive, Montana; Nancy 
M. Kane, Harvard School of Public Health Department of Health Policy 
and Management, Boston, Massachusetts; and Raymond A. Hartz, Legal Aid 
Society of Eastern Virginia, Inc., Norfolk.

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LEBANON
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine securing a permanent cease-fire relating to Lebanon, focusing 
on what the United States and others can do to secure lasting calm on 
Israel's northern border, strengthen the Lebanese Government so that it 
can fully control its territory, and assist in meeting Lebanon's urgent 
humanitarian and reconstruction needs, including the impact of this 
conflict on broader U.S. interests in the region, and achieving a peace 
settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, after receiving 
testimony from C. David Welch, Assistant Secretary of State for Near 
Eastern Affairs; Carlos Pascual, Brookings Institution, Washington, 
D.C.; Paul Salem, Carnegie Middle East Center, Beirut, Lebanon; and 
Augustus Richard Norton, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine the nominations of Wayne Cartwright 
Beyer, of New Hampshire, to be a Member of the Federal Labor Relations 
Authority, who was introduced by Senator Gregg, and Stephen Thomas 
Conboy, of Virginia, to be United States Marshal for the Superior Court 
of the District of Columbia, after the nominees testified and answered 
questions in their own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following bills:
  S. 2453, to establish procedures for the review of electronic 
surveillance programs, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  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. 3001, to ensure that all electronic surveillance of United States 
persons for foreign intelligence purposes is conducted pursuant to 
individualized court-issued orders, to streamline the procedures of the 
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute.
  Also, Committee failed to approve for reporting 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.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to 
receive a briefing on certain intelligence matters from officials of 
the intelligence community.
MEDICAID: MANAGED CARE
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
managed care relating to securing Medicaid's future, after receiving 
testimony from Anthony Rodgers, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment 
System, Phoenix; Ron Pollack, Families USA, and Jeffrey S. Crowley, 
Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, both of Washington, 
D.C.; Greg Nycz, Family Health Center of Marshfield, Inc., Marshfield, 
Wisconsin; David Ford, CareOregon, Portland, Oregon; and Daniel J. 
Hilferty, AmeriHealth Mercy and Keystone Mercy Health Plans, 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on behalf of the Medicaid Health Plans of 
America.