[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 7, 2007)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D278-D279]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine investing in our nation's future through 
agricultural research, focusing the Agricultural Bioenergy and Biobased 
Products Research Initiative, specialty crops, and Foreign Animal 
Disease Research, after receiving testimony from Gale Buchanan, Under 
Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics; Alan 
I. Leshner, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 
Washington, D.C.; Jeffrey D. Armstrong, Michigan State University, East 
Lansing; William H. Danforth, Washington University in St. Louis, St. 
Louis, Missouri; and Francis Thicke, Radiance Dairy Farm, Fairfield, 
Iowa.
MEDICAL READINESS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Defense concluded a 
hearing to examine Department of Defense medical programs, focusing on 
combat casualty care, and recruitment and retention efforts of medical 
department personnel, after receiving testimony from Lieutenant General 
James G. Roudebush, Surgeon General, and Major General Melissa A. Rank, 
Assistant Surgeon General for Nursing Services, both of the United 
States Air Force; Vice Admiral Donald C. Arthur, Surgeon General, and 
Rear Admiral Christine M. Bruzek-Kohler, Director of Nurse Corps, both 
of the United States Navy; and Lieutenant General Kevin C. Kiley, 
Surgeon General, and Major General Gale Pollock, Chief of the Nurse 
Corps, both of the United States Army.
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Energy and Water concluded 
a hearing to examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal 
year 2008 for the Department of Energy, after receiving testimony from 
James A. Rispoli, Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management, and 
Edward F. Sproat, III, Director, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste 
Management, both of the Department of Energy.
PHARMACEUTICAL IMPORTATION
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Trade, Tourism, and Economic Development concluded a hearing to examine 
policy implications of pharmaceutical importation for U.S. consumers, 
including S. 242, to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act 
with respect to the importation of prescription drugs, after receiving 
testimony from Randall W. Lutter, Acting Deputy Commissioner for 
Policy, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human 
Services; former Representative Billy Tauzin, Pharmaceutical Research 
and Manufacturers of America, William B. Schultz, Zuckerman Spaeder 
LLP, and Nelda Barnett, AARP, all of Washington, D.C.; Stephen W. 
Schondelmeyer, University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, 
Minneapolis; and John A. Vernon, University of Connecticut Department 
of Finance School of Business, Storrs.
EARTH SCIENCE RESEARCH
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Science and Space concluded a hearing to examine national imperatives 
for Earth Science research, after receiving testimony from Michael H. 
Freilich, Director, Earth Science Division, Science Mission 
Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Berrien 
Moore, III, University of New Hampshire Institute for the Study of 
Earth, Oceans, and Space, Durham, and Otis B. Brown, University of 
Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Key 
Biscayne, Florida, both on behalf of the National Academies; Nancy 
Colleton, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Arlington, 
Virginia, on behalf of the Alliance for Earth Observations.
ADVANCED ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded an 
oversight hearing to examine market constraints on large investments in 
advanced energy technologies and investigate ways to stimulate 
additional private-sector investment in the deployment of these 
technologies, after receiving testimony from Dan W. Reicher, 
Google.org, Mountain View, California; Elon Musk, Tesla Motors, El 
Segundo, California; Jerome P. Peters, Jr., TD Banknorth, N.A., 
Westport, Connecticut; John Denniston, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and 
Byers, Menlo Park, California; and Michael Liebreich, New Energy 
Finance, London, United Kingdom.

[[Page D279]]

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY BUDGET
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal 
year 2008 for the Environmental Protection Agency, after receiving 
testimony from Stephen L. Johnson, Administrator, Environmental 
Protection Agency.
CREDIT CARD PRACTICES
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Permanent 
Subcommittee on Investigations concluded a hearing to examine fees, 
interests rates and grace periods relating to credit card practices, 
focusing on high fees charged for late payments, over-the-limit 
charges, including how those fees are assessed, how they add to 
interest costs, and how they contribute to consumer debt, and an 
industry practice requiring consumer payments to be applied first to 
balances with the lowest interest rates instead of to balances with the 
highest interest rates, after receiving testimony from Alys Cohen, 
National Consumer Law Center, Washington, D.C., on behalf of National 
Association of Consumer Advocates; Bruce L. Hammonds, Bank of America, 
and Richard J. Srednicki, Chase Card Services, both of Wilmington, 
Delaware; Vikram A. Atal, Citigroup Inc., New York, New York; and 
Wesley Wannemacher, Lima, Ohio.
AMERICAN COMPETITIVENESS
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine strengthening American competitiveness 
for the 21st Century, after receiving testimony from William H. Gates, 
Microsoft Corporation, Seattle, Washington.
MC CARRAN-FERGUSON ACT
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the McCarran-Ferguson Act and Antitrust Immunity, including S. 618, to 
further competition in the insurance industry, after receiving 
testimony from Senators Lott and Landrieu; Susan E. Voss, Iowa 
Department of Commerce, Des Moines, on behalf of the National 
Association of Insurance Commissioners; J. Robert Hunter, Consumer 
Federation of America, and Marc Racicot, American Insurance 
Association, both of Washington, D.C.; and Michael M. Homan, New 
Orleans, Louisiana.
ANTITRUST LAWS
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition 
Policy and Consumer Rights concluded an oversight hearing to examine 
the enforcement of antitrust laws, including S. 316, to prohibit brand 
name drug companies from compensating generic drug companies to delay 
the entry of a generic drug into the market, and S. 772, to amend the 
Federal antitrust laws to provide expanded coverage and to eliminate 
exemptions from such laws that are contrary to the public interest with 
respect to railroads, after receiving testimony from Thomas O. Barnett, 
Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, Department of Justice; 
and Deborah Platt Majoras, Chairman, Federal Trade Commission.
VA CLAIMS ADJUDICATION PROCESS
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded an oversight 
hearing to examine the Veterans' Administration disability benefits 
adjudication process, focusing on the timeliness and accuracy of 
decisions on claims and appeals, and efforts to reduce backlogs, and 
concerns about decisional consistency, after receiving testimony from 
Daniel L. Cooper, Under Secretary for Benefits, and James P. Terry, 
Chairman, Board of Veterans' Appeals, both of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs; Daniel Bertoni, Acting Director, Education, Workforce 
and Income Security, Government Accountability Office; John Rowan, 
Vietnam Veterans of America, Silver Spring, Maryland; and Rick Surratt, 
Disabled American Veterans, Cold Spring, Kentucky.