[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 130 (Thursday, November 16, 2006)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D1114-D1115]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
BUSINESS SYSTEMS MODERNIZATION
Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine Department of Defense business systems modernization 
and financial management accountability efforts, after receiving 
testimony from David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United 
States, Government Accountability Office; John Argodale, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Operations; David M. 
Wennergren, Chief Information Officer, Department of the Navy; and John 
G. Vonglis, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air 
Force for Financial Management and Comptroller.
PIPELINE SAFETY PROGRAM
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine the reauthorization of the Pipeline Safety 
Program, focusing on safety concerns and the growing rate of 
construction-related pipeline accidents driven by a growing economy, 
including S. 3961, to provide for enhanced safety in pipeline 
transportation, after receiving testimony from Vice Admiral Thomas J. 
Barrett, USCG (Ret.), Administrator, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials 
Safety Administration, Department of Transportation; Carl Weimer, 
Pipeline Safety Trust, Bellingham, Washington; Timothy Felt, Explorer 
Pipeline Company, Tulsa, Oklahoma, on behalf of the Association of Oil 
Pipe Lines and the American Petroleum Institute; Terry Boss, Interstate 
Natural Gas Association of America, Washington, D.C.; and E. Frank 
Bender, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, Baltimore, Maryland, on 
behalf of the American Gas Association and the American Public Gas 
Association.
NOMINATION
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the nomination of Kevin M. Kolevar, of Michigan, to 
be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Electricity Delivery and Energy 
Reliability, after the nominee testified and answered questions in his 
own behalf.
PUBLIC LANDS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Public Lands 
and Forests concluded a hearing to examine S. 3636, to establish 
wilderness areas, promote conservation, improve public land, and 
provide for high quality economic development in Washington County, 
Utah, and S. 3772, to establish wilderness areas, promote conservation, 
improve public land, and provide for high quality development in White 
Pine County, Nevada, after receiving testimony from Senators Bennett, 
Ensign, and Reid; Chad Calvert, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of 
the Interior for Land and Minerals Management; Joel Holtrop, Deputy 
Chief, National Forest System, Forest Service, Department of 
Agriculture; Brent Eldridge, White Pine County Board of County 
Commissioners, Ely, Nevada; Jerry Greenberg, Wilderness Society, 
Madison, Wisconsin, on behalf of sundry organizations; Alan Gardner, 
Board of Commissioners, Washington County, Utah; Peter Metcalf, Black 
Diamond Equipment, Limited, Salt Lake City, Utah, on behalf of the 
Outdoor Industry Association.
CHIP PROGRAM
Committee on Finance: Subcommittee on Health Care held a hearing to 
examine the States' perspective of the Children's Health Insurance 
Program (CHIP), receiving testimony from Nathan Checketts, Utah 
Department of Health, Salt Lake City; Sharon L. Carte, West Virginia 
Children's Health Insurance Agency, Charleston; Ann C. Kohler, New 
Jersey Department of Human Services, Trenton; Nina Owcharenko, The 
Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C.; Lisa C. Dubay, Johns Hopkins 
Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; and Tobi 
Drabczyk, Walkersville, Maryland.
  Hearings recessed subject to the call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
ordered favorably reported the following business items:
  S. 4046, to extend oversight and accountability related to United 
States reconstruction funds and efforts in Iraq by extending the 
termination date of the Office of the Special Inspector General for 
Iraq Reconstruction; and
  The nominations of James H. Bilbray, of Nevada, and Thurgood 
Marshall, Jr., of Virginia, both to be

[[Page D1115]]

a Governor of the United States Postal Service, Dan G. Blair, to be 
Chairman, Postal Rate Commission, and Stephen Thomas Conboy, of 
Virginia, to be United States Marshal for the Superior Court of the 
District of Columbia.
DOD TRAVEL SYSTEM
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Permanent 
Subcommittee on Investigations concluded hearings to examine Department 
of Defense travel policies and practices, focusing on the cost benefit 
analysis of the Defense Travel System, after receiving testimony from 
Thomas F. Gimble, Acting Inspector General, and David S.C. Chu, Under 
Secretary for Personnel and Readiness, both of the Department of 
Defense; and McCoy Williams, Director, Financial Management and 
Assurance, Government Accountability Office.
DRUG SAFETY AND INNOVATION
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine proposals to improve drug safety and 
innovation, and S. 3807, to amend the Public Health Service Act and the 
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to improve drug safety and 
oversight, after receiving testimony from Sheila P. Burke, the National 
Academies, Diane E. Thompson, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS 
Foundation, and Greg Simon, FasterCures, all of Washington, D.C.; 
Steven E. Nissen, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio; Adrian 
Thomas, Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, 
LLC, Horsham, Pennsylvania; and Jim Guest, Consumers Union, Yonkers, 
New York.
CIVIL RIGHTS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded an oversight hearing to 
examine the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, after 
receiving testimony from Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General, Civil 
Rights Division, Department of Justice; Michael A. Carvin, Jones Day, 
Robert N. Driscoll, Alston and Bird, LLP, and Joseph Rich, Lawyers' 
Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, all of Washington, D.C.; and 
Theodore M. Shaw, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., New 
York, New York.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to 
receive a briefing on certain intelligence matters from officials of 
the intelligence community.