[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 58 (Wednesday, April 11, 2007)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D482-D484]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS: NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVES
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Defense concluded a 
hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2008, 
after receiving testimony in behalf of funds for their respective 
activities from Lieutenant General Jack Stultz, Chief, Army Reserve; 
Vice Admiral John G. Cotton, Chief, Naval Reserve; Lieutenant General 
John W. Bergman, Commander, Marine Forces Reserve; Lieutenant General 
John A. Bradley, Chief, Air Force Reserve; Lieutenant General H. Steven 
Blum, Chief, National Guard Bureau; Lieutenant General Clyde Vaughn, 
Vice Chief, Army National Guard; and Lieutenant General Craig McKinley, 
Vice Chief, Air National Guard.
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Energy and Water 
Development concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget estimates 
for fiscal year 2008 for the Department of Energy, and the Energy 
Policy Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-58), after receiving testimony from 
Kevin Kolevar, Director, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy 
Reliability, Alexander Karsner, Assistant Secretary, Office of Energy 
Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Dennis R. Spurgeon, Assistant 
Secretary, Office of Nuclear Energy, and Thomas D. Shope, Assistant 
Secretary, Office of Fossil Energy, all of the Department of Energy.
APPROPRIATIONS: OMB
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Financial Services and 
General Government concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget 
estimates for fiscal year 2008 for the Office of Management and Budget, 
after receiving testimony from Robert J. Portman, Director, and Robert 
Shea, Associate Director for Management, both of the Office of 
Management and Budget.
BUDGET: DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and 
Capabilities concluded a hearing to examine nonproliferation programs 
at the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Cooperative 
Threat Reduction Program and the Proliferation Security Initiative at 
the Department of Defense in the

[[Page D483]]

review of the Defense Authorization Request for fiscal year 2008 and 
the Future Years Defense Programs, after receiving testimony from 
Senator Lugar and former Senator Nunn; William H. Tobey, Deputy 
Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, National Nuclear 
Security Administration, Department of Energy; and Joseph A. Benkert, 
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Security 
Affairs.
BUDGET: DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Strategic Forces concluded 
a hearing to examine Ballistic Missile Defense Programs in review of 
the Defense Authorization Request for fiscal year 2008 and the Future 
Years Defense Program, after receiving testimony from Lieutenant 
General Henry A. Obering III, USAF, Director, Missile Defense Agency, 
Lieutenant General Kevin T. Campbell, USA, Commanding General, United 
States Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Charles E. McQueary, 
Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, and Brian R. Green, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for Strategic Capabilities, all of the Department 
of Defense; and Paul L. Francis, Director, Acquisition and Sourcing 
Management, Government Accountability Office.
PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the availability and affordability of property and 
casualty insurance in the Gulf Coast and other coastal regions, after 
receiving testimony from Senator Nelson (FL); Edward P. Lazear, 
Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers; Florida Governor Charlie Crist, 
Tallahassee; Walter A. Bell, Alabama Insurance Commissioner, 
Montgomery; Marc Racicot, American Insurance Association, Franklin W. 
Nutter, Reinsurance Association of America, Charles Chamness, National 
Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, and James M. Loy, 
ProtectingAmerica.org, all of Washington, D.C.; Robert P. Hartwig, 
Insurance Information Institute, New York, New York; David Guidry, 
Guico Machine Works, on behalf of Greater New Orleans, Inc., New 
Orleans, Louisiana; and Harold Polsky, Bedford, Virginia.
PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE INDUSTRY
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
an oversight hearing to examine the property and casualty insurance 
industry, after receiving testimony from Mississippi Attorney General 
Jim Hood, Jackson; Julie Benafield Bowman, Arkansas Insurance 
Commissioner, Little Rock, on behalf of the National Association of 
Insurance Commissioners; and J. Robert Hunter, Consumer Federation of 
America, and David W. Regan, National Automobile Dealers Association, 
both of Washington, D.C.
AIRLINE SERVICE IMPROVEMENTS
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine airline service improvements, including S. 678, to 
amend title 49, United States Code, to ensure air passengers have 
access to necessary services while on a grounded air carrier and are 
not unnecessarily held on a grounded air carrier before or after a 
flight, after receiving testimony from Michael Reynolds, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary, and Calvin L. Scovel III, Inspector General, both 
of the Department of Transportation; Edmund Mierzwinksi, U.S. Public 
Interest Research Group, Paul Hudson, Aviation Consumer Action Project, 
and James C. May, Air Transport Association of America, Inc., all of 
Washington, D.C.; Kevin P. Mitchell, Business Travel Coalition, Radnor, 
Pennsylvania; Kate Hanni, Coalition for Airline Passengers' Bill of 
Rights, Napa, California; and Rahul Chandran, Center on International 
Cooperation, New York, New York.
MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PROGRAM
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the 
Medicare Advantage Program, after receiving testimony from Peter R. 
Orszag, Director, Congressional Budget Office; Glenn M. Hackbarth, 
Chairman, Medicare Payment Advisory Commission; Debra A. Draper, Center 
for Studying Health System Change, Washington, D.C.; and I. Steven 
Udvarhelyi, Independence Blue Cross, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
DARFUR
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine an alternative plan to stop genocide relating to Darfur, after 
receiving testimony from Andrew S. Natsios, President's Special Envoy 
to Sudan, Department of State; and Susan E. Rice, The Brookings 
Institution, Lawrence G. Rossin, Save Darfur Coalition, and J. Stephen 
Morrison, Center for Strategic and International Studies, all of 
Washington, D.C.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nominations of Debra Ann Livingston, of New York, to be United 
States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit, Roslynn Renee Mauskopf, to 
be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York, 
Richard Sullivan, to be United States District Judge for the Southern 
District of New York, who were each introduced by Senator Feingold, and 
Joseph S. Van Bokkelen, to be

[[Page D484]]

United States District Judge for the Northern District of Indiana, who 
was introduced by Senator Lugar, after the nominees testified and 
answered questions in their own behalf.
IMPROPER USE OF NATIONAL SECURITY LETTERS
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on the Constitution concluded 
a hearing to examine the Inspector General's findings of improper use 
of National Security Letters by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 
after receiving testimony from former Representative Barr; George 
Christian, Library Connection, Inc., Windsor, Connecticut, on behalf of 
the American Library Association; and Suzanne E. Spaulding, Bingham 
Consulting Group, and Peter P. Swire, Center for American Progress, 
both of Washington, D.C.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Committee on Rules and Administration: Committee concluded an oversight 
hearing to examine the operations and governance of the Smithsonian 
Institution, focusing on the condition of the Smithsonian's facilities 
and whether the Smithsonian has taken steps to maximize facility 
resources, including the current estimated costs of the needed 
facilities projects, and the extent to which the Smithsonian developed 
and implemented strategies to fund these projects, after receiving 
testimony from Mark L. Goldstein, Director, Physical Infrastructure 
Issues, Government Accountability Office; and Roger W. Sant, Patricia 
Q. Stonesifer, Cristian Samper, and Anne Sprightley Ryan, all of the 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.