[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 55 (Thursday, March 29, 2007)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D438-D439]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
BUDGET: DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the Department of the Navy in review of the Defense Authorization 
Request for fiscal year 2008 and the future years Defense Program, 
after receiving testimony from Donald C. Winter, Secretary, and Admiral 
Michael G. Mullen, Chief of Naval Operations, both of the United States 
Navy; and General James T. Conway, Commandant of the United States 
Marine Corps.
NOMINATION
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine the nomination of David James Gribbin IV, of 
Virginia, to be General Counsel of the Department of Transportation, 
after the nominee testified and answered questions in his own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably 
reported:
  S. 521, to designate the Federal building and United States 
courthouse and customhouse located at 515 West First Street in Duluth, 
Minnesota, as the ``Gerald W. Heany Federal Building and United States 
Courthouse and Customhouse'';
  S. 801, to designate a United States courthouse located in Fresno, 
California, as the ``Robert E. Coyle United States Courthouse'';
  S. 992, to achieve emission reductions and cost savings through 
accelerated use of cost-effective lighting technologies in public 
buildings, with amendments;
  S. 496, to reauthorize and improve the program authorized by the 
Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965;
  A bill entitled ``The Water Resources Development Act of 2007''; and
  The nominations of Roger Romulus Martella, Jr., of Virginia, to be 
Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and 
Bradley Udall, of Colorado, to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of 
the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence In National 
Environmental Policy Foundation.
CLEAN ENERGY
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine clean 
energy from the margins to the mainstream, focusing on promoting the 
widespread use of clean renewable power and the Production Tax Credit 
which was to spur its development, after receiving testimony from John 
Bruton, European Commission, Washington, D.C.; John Krenicki, Jr., 
General Electric Energy, Atlanta, Georgia; Todd Raba, MidAmerican 
Energy Company, Des Moines, Iowa; Johan van't Hof, Tonbridge 
Corporation, Ontario, Canada; and Ryan H. Wiser, Lawrence Berkeley 
National Laboratory, Berkeley, California.
IRAN
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine an update on United States policy towards Iran, after receiving 
testimony from

[[Page D439]]

R. Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
AGENCIES' IMPROPER PAYMENTS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal 
Services, and International Security concluded a hearing to examine 
eliminating and recovering improper payments, focusing on the Office of 
Management and Budget report entitled ``Improving the Accuracy and 
Integrity of Improper Payments'', including trends in agencies' 
reporting under the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002, from 
fiscal years 2004 through 2006, challenges in reporting improper 
payment information and improving internal control, and agencies' 
reporting of recovery auditing efforts, after receiving testimony from 
Linda M. Combs, Controller, Office of Federal Financial Management, 
Office of Management and Budget; McCoy Williams, Director, Financial 
Management and Assurance, Government Accountability Office; John W. 
Cox, Chief Financial Officer, Department of Housing and Urban 
Development; David M. Norquist, Chief Financial Officer, Department of 
Homeland Security; Timothy B. Hill, Director, Office of Financial 
Management, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Department of 
Health and Human Services; Terry Bowie, Deputy Chief Financial Officer, 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and Lee White, PRG-
Schultz International, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia.
INDIAN TRUST FUND LITIGATION
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded an oversight hearing 
to examine Indian trust fund litigation, focusing on settlement 
legislation relative to pending and potential claims by individual 
Indians and tribes, after receiving testimony from Dirk Kempthorne, 
Secretary of the Interior; William W. Mercer, Acting Associate Attorney 
General, Department of Justice; John Bickerman, Bickerman Dispute 
Resolution, PLLC, Washington, D.C.; John E. Echohawk, Native American 
Rights Fund, Boulder, Colorado; William Martin, Intertribal Monitoring 
Association on Indian Trust Funds, Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Elouise 
C. Cobell, Browning, Montana.
UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee held a hearing to examine 
Department of Justice hiring and firing of United States Attorneys, 
focusing on preserving prosecutorial independence, receiving testimony 
from D. Kyle Sampson, former Chief of Staff to the Attorney General of 
the United States, Department of Justice.
  Hearing recessed subject to the call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Committee ordered 
favorably reported S. 163, to improve the disaster loan program of the 
Small Business Administration, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on 
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the 
intelligence community.
  Committee recessed subject to call.