[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 122 (Tuesday, September 26, 2006)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D1033-D1035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NEW BASEL CAPITAL ACCORD
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded 
hearings to examine implications of the New Basel Capital Accord 
designed to bring order to international capital markets, focusing on 
developments relating to bank regulatory capital requirements in the 
United States, including the U.S. implementation of Basel II and 
updates to regulatory capital rules for market risk, after receiving 
testimony from Susan Schmidt Bies, Member, Board of Governors of the 
Federal Reserve System; Sheila C. Bair, Chairman, Federal Deposit 
Insurance Corporation; John C. Dugan, Comptroller of the Currency, and 
John M. Reich, Director, Office of Thrift Supervision, both of the 
Department of the Treasury; Diana L. Taylor, New York State Banking 
Department, Albany, on behalf of the Conference of State Bank 
Supervisors; Kathleen E. Marinangel, McHenry Savings Bank, McHenry, 
Illinois, on behalf of America's Community Bankers; William M. Isaac, 
The Secura Group, Vienna, Virginia, former Chairman, Federal Deposit 
Insurance Corporation; and James Garnett, Citigroup, on behalf of the 
American Bankers Association, and Daniel K. Tarullo, Georgetown 
University Law Center, both of Washington, D.C.
INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation concluded joint hearings with the 
Committee on Foreign Relations to examine International Polar Year, 
focusing on goals in the Arctic in science and in policy, including 
Arctic research programs, after receiving testimony from Mead 
Treadwell, Chair, United States Arctic Research Commission; Arden L. 
Bement, Jr., Director, National Science Foundation; Vice Admiral Robert 
Papp, Chief of Staff, United States Coast Guard, Department of Homeland 
Security; Alan J. Parkinson, Deputy Director, Arctic Investigations 
Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of 
Health and Human Services; Thomas Armstrong, Program Coordinator, Earth 
Surface Dynamics Program, United States Geological Survey, Department 
of the Interior; Robin E. Bell, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of 
Columbia University, Palisades, New York, on behalf of Polar Research 
Board, The National Academies; and Virgil L. Sharpton, University of 
Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks.

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BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following business items:
  H.R. 1463, to designate a portion of the Federal building located at 
2100 Jamieson Avenue, in Alexandria, Virginia, as the ``Justin W. 
Williams United States Attorney's Building''; and
  The nominations of Roger Romulus Martella, Jr., of Virginia, to be an 
Assistant Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency, William H. 
Graves, of Tennessee, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the 
Tennessee Valley Authority, and Brigadier General Bruce Arlan Berwick, 
United States Army, Colonel Gregg F. Martin, United States Army, 
Brigadier General Robert Crear, United States Army, and Rear Admiral 
Samuel P. De Bow, Jr., NOAA, each to be a Member of the Mississippi 
River Commission.
HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
Committee on Finance: Subcommittee on Health Care held a hearing to 
examine health savings accounts, focusing on early enrollee experiences 
with the accounts and eligible health plans, receiving testimony from 
Robert J. Carroll, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax 
Analysis; John E. Dicken, Director, Health Care, Government 
Accountability Office; Joseph V. Knight, Setpoint Systems, Ogden, Utah, 
on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Sara R. Collins, 
Commonwealth Fund, New York, New York; John C. Goodman, National Center 
for Policy Analysis, Washington, D.C.; and Eric C. Beittel, Enders 
Insurance Associates, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
  Hearing recessed subject to the call.
COMBATING CHILD HUNGER
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine new initiatives to combat global child hunger and malnutrition, 
focusing on the intersection of hunger and the HIV/AIDS crisis, after 
receiving testimony from James Kunder, Acting Deputy Administrator, 
U.S. Agency for International Development; Julie L. Gerberding, 
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of 
Health and Human Services; George Ward, World Vision, Washington, D.C.; 
and James T. Morris, United Nations World Food Program, and former 
Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman, United Nations Children's 
Fund, both of New York, New York.
FEDERAL WORKFORCE REFORM
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the 
District of Columbia concluded a hearing to examine the Federal 
government's implementation of pay for performance systems for its 
senior executives, focusing on the regulatory structure for the 
systems, the agency certification process, and the effectiveness of the 
role of the Office of Personnel Management in evaluating and monitoring 
these systems, after receiving testimony from Linda M. Springer, 
Director, Office of Personnel Management; Brenda S. Farrell, Acting 
Director, Strategic Issues, Government Accountability Office; and Carol 
A. Bonosaro, Senior Executives Association, Washington, D.C.
TAX CODE
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and 
International Security concluded a hearing to examine uncollected taxes 
and issues of transparency relating to deconstructing the tax code, 
focusing on the 2006 updated estimate of the tax gap by the IRS, 
examine IRS efforts to close the tax gap as well as legislative 
solutions to increase tax payer compliance, and explore the 
transparency of the tax code, after receiving testimony from Mark 
Everson, Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service, J. Russell George, 
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and Nina E. Olson, 
National Taxpayer Advocate, all of the Department of the Treasury; Jay 
A. Soled, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey; Stephen J. 
Entin, Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation, Washington, 
D.C.; Jason Furman, New York University Wagner Graduate School of 
Public Service, New York, New York; and Neal Boortz, Atlanta, Georgia.
ILLEGAL INSIDER TRADING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
issues relating to illegal insider trading, focusing on the scope of 
the problem and issues concerning criminal enforcement, after receiving 
testimony from Ronald J. Tenpas, Associate Deputy Attorney General, 
Department of Justice; Linda C. Thomsen, Director of Enforcement, U.S. 
Securities and Exchange Commission; Robert A. Marchman, NYSE 
Regulation, Inc., and John C. Coffee, Jr., Columbia University Law 
School, both of New York, New York; Christopher K. Thomas, 
Measuredmarkets, Inc., Toronto, Canada; Jonathan R. Macey, Yale 
University, New Haven, Connecticut; James D. Cox, Duke University 
School of Law, Durham, North Carolina.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
nominations of Kent A. Jordan, of Delaware, to be United States Circuit 
Judge for the

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Third Circuit, John Alfred Jarvey, to be United States District Judge 
for the Southern District of Iowa, and Sara Elizabeth Lioi, to be 
United States District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nominations of Vanessa Lynne Bryant, to be United States District 
Judge for the District of Connecticut, who was introduced by Senators 
Dodd and Lieberman, and Michael Brunson Wallace, of Mississippi, to be 
United States Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit, who was introduced 
by Senators Cochran and Lott, after the nominees testified and answered 
questions in their own behalf, including numerous judicial and public 
witnesses.
NOMINATION
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the nomination of Robert T. Howard, of Virginia, to be an 
Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Information and Technology), 
after the nominee testified and answered questions in his own behalf.