[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 16, 2007)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D690-D691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Financial Services and 
General Government concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget 
estimates for fiscal year 2008 for the United States Securities and 
Exchange Commission, after receiving testimony from Christopher Cox, 
Chairman, United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Defense received testimony 
from sundry public witnesses requesting funding for programs in the 
Department of Defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following business items:
  An original bill to ensure national security while promoting foreign 
investment and the creation and maintenance of jobs, to reform the 
process by which such investments are examined for any effect they may 
have on national security, to establish the Committee on Foreign 
Investment in the United States;
  An original bill to make technical corrections to SAFETEA-LU and 
other related laws relating to transit;
  An original bill to amend the penalty provisions in the International 
Emergency Economic Powers Act;
  H.R. 1675, to suspend the requirements of the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development regarding electronic filing of previous 
participation certificates and regarding filing of such certificates 
with respect to certain low-income housing investors;
  H.R. 1676, to reauthorize the program of the Secretary of Housing and 
Urban Development for loan guarantees for Indian housing;
  S. 254, to award posthumously a Congressional gold medal to 
Constantino Brumidi; and
  The nominations of David George Nason, of Rhode Island, to be an 
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions, Mario 
Mancuso, of New York, to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Export 
Administration, Michael W. Tankersley, of Texas, to be Inspector 
General, Export-Import Bank, Robert M. Couch, of Alabama, to be General 
Counsel of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Janis 
Herschkowitz, of Pennsylvania, and Nguyen Van Hanh, of California, and 
David George Nason, of Rhode Island, each to be a Member of the Board 
of Directors of the National Consumer Cooperative Bank.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following items:
  S. 1300, to amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize 
appropriations for the Federal Aviation Administration for fiscal years 
2008 through 2011, to improve aviation safety and capacity, to 
modernize the air traffic control system, with amendments;
  S. 694, to direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue 
regulations to reduce the incidence of child injury and death occurring 
inside or outside of light motor vehicles, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute; and
  The nomination of David James Gribbin, IV, of Virginia, to be General 
Counsel of the Department of Transportation and a promotion list in the 
United States Coast Guard.
MERCURY
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Subcommittee on Clean Air 
and Nuclear Safety concluded a hearing to examine the state of mercury 
regulation, science, and technology, after receiving testimony from 
Douglas P. Scott, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, 
Springfield; Alissa Wolfe, New Jersey Department of Environmental 
Protection, Trenton; David C. Schanbacher, Texas Commission on 
Environmental Quality, Austin; Martha Hastay Keating, Duke University 
Children's Environmental Health Initiative, Durham, North Carolina; Guy 
L. Pipitone, FirstEnergy Corporation, Akron, Ohio; David C. Foerter, 
Institute of Clean Air Companies, Washington, DC; and Leonard Levin, 
Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, California.

[[Page D691]]


U.S. TRADE PREFERENCE PROGRAMS
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the 
efficacy of United States trade preference programs, after receiving 
testimony from Meredith Broadbent, Assistant United States Trade 
Representative for Industry, Market Access, and Telecommunications; 
Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Eric Reinhardt, Emory 
University, Atlanta, Georgia; Marcos Iberkleid, Ametex, La Paz, 
Bolivia; and Katrin Kuhlmann, Women's Edge Coalition, Washington, DC.
INTERNET DRUG TRAFFICKING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
rogue online pharmacies, focusing on the growing problem of internet 
drug trafficking, including S. 980, to amend the Controlled Substances 
Act to address online pharmacies, and S. 399, to amend title XIX of the 
Social Security Act to include podiatrists as physicians for purposes 
of covering physicians services under the Medicaid program, after 
receiving testimony from Joseph T. Rannazzisi, Deputy Assistant 
Administrator, Office of Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement 
Administration, Department of Justice; Francine Hahn Haight, Ryan's 
Cause, Laguna Niguel, California; Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Columbia 
University, New York, New York; Philip B. Heymann, Harvard Law School, 
Cambridge, Massachusetts; and A. Thomas McLellan, Treatment Research 
Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Committee ordered 
favorably reported S. 1256, to amend the Small Business Act to 
reauthorize loan programs under that Act, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute.
NOMINATION
Committee on Veterans Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing on the 
nomination of Michael J. Kussman, of Massachusetts, to be Under 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health, after the nominee, who was 
introduced by Senator Akaka, testified and answered questions in his 
own behalf, and after receiving testimony from Darrell G. Kirch, 
Association of American Medical Colleges, and Robert E. Wallace, 
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, both of Washington, 
D.C.; Frederick J. Frese III, National Alliance on Mental Illness, 
Arlington, Virginia; and Douglas H. Mitchell, Jr., Association of VA 
Social Workers, Mesa, Arizona.
MEDICARE ADVANTAGE
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded an oversight hearing to 
examine the sales and marketing by Medicare health plans, including 
Medicare Advantage organizations and Medicare Part D prescription drug 
plan sponsors, after receiving testimony from Abby L. Block, Director, 
Center for Beneficiary Choices, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid 
Services, Department of Health and Human Services; Sean Dilweg, 
Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner, Madison; Kim Holland, Oklahoma 
Insurance Commissioner, and Albert Sochor, Old Surety Life Insurance 
Company, both of Oklahoma City; Sherry Mowell, Georgia Office of the 
Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner, Atlanta; Karen Ignagni, 
America's Health Insurance Plans, Washington, D.C.; Heidi Margulis, 
Humana Inc., Louisville, Kentucky; Peter J. Clarkson, UnitedHealth 
Group, Minnetonka, Minnesota; and Gary Bailey, WellCare Health Plans, 
Inc., Tampa, Florida.