[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 23, 2007)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D733-D735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Strategic Forces met in a 
closed session and approved for full committee consideration, those 
provisions which fall within the jurisdiction of the subcommittee, of 
the proposed National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2008.
AUTHORIZATION--DEFENSE
Committee on Armed Services: Committee met in closed session to make up 
proposed legislation authorizing appropriations for fiscal year 2008 
for military activities of the Department of Defense, but did not 
complete action thereon, and will meet again on tomorrow.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported 142 
nominations in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.
U.S. ECONOMIC RELATIONS WITH CHINA
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Security and International Trade and Finance concluded a hearing to 
examine United States economic relations with China, focusing on 
strategies and options on exchange rates and market access, after 
receiving testimony from Morris Goldstein, Peterson Institute for 
International Economics, Fairfax, Virginia; Robert S. Nichols, 
Financial Services Forum, and David A. Hartquist, China Currency 
Coalition, both of Washington, D.C.; Patrick A. Mulloy, George Mason 
University School of Law, Alexandria, Virginia, former Member, U.S 
China Economic and Security Review Commission; and John W. Nolan, Steel 
Dynamics, Inc., Fort Wayne, Indiana.
COMMUNICATIONS, TAXATION AND FEDERALISM
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine communications, taxation and federalism, focusing 
on the internet access tax moratorium and its impact on state and local 
government revenues, after receiving testimony from Senators Wyden and 
Enzi; Representative Eshoo; James R. White, Director, Tax Issues, 
Strategic Issues, Government Accountability Office; David C. Quam, 
National Governors Association, and Harley T. Duncan, Federation of Tax 
Administrators, both of Washington, D.C.; Annabelle Canning, Verizon 
Communications, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Jeff Dircksen, National 
Taxpayers Union, Alexandria, Virginia.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following items:
  S. Con. Res. 6, expressing the sense of Congress that the National 
Museum of Wildlife Art, located in Jackson, Wyoming, should be 
designated as the ``National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United 
States'';
  S. 126, to modify the boundary of Mesa Verde National Park, with an 
amendment;
  S. 175, to provide for a feasibility study of alternatives to augment 
the water supplies of the Central Oklahoma Master Conservancy District 
and cities served by the District, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 324, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study of 
water resources in the State of New Mexico;
  S. 542, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct 
feasibility studies to address certain water shortages within the 
Snake, Boise, and Payette River systems in the State of Idaho;
  S. 553, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain 
segments of the Eightmile River in the State of Connecticut as 
components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System;
  S. 580, to amend the National Trails System Act to require the 
Secretary of the Interior to update the feasibility and suitability 
studies of four national historic trails;
  S. 686, to amend the National Trails System Act to designate the 
Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historical Trail;
  S. 797, to amend the National Trails System Act to designate the 
Star-Spangled Banner Trail in the States of Maryland and Virginia and 
the District of Columbia as a National Historic Trail, with amendments;
  S. 890, to provide for certain administrative and support services 
for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission, with amendments;
  S. 1037, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to assist in the 
planning, design, and construction of the Tumalo Irrigation District 
Water Conservation Project in Deschutes County, Oregon;
  S. 1110, to amend the Reclamation Projects Authorization and 
Adjustment Act of 1992 to provide for the conjunctive use of surface 
and ground water in Juab County, Utah;
  S. 1139, to establish the National Landscape Conservation System, 
with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;

[[Page D734]]


  S. 1152, to promote wildland firefighter safety, with an amendment;
  H.R. 161, to adjust the boundary of the Minidoka Internment National 
Monument to include the Nidoto Nai Yoni Memorial in Bainbridge Island, 
Washington, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 235, to allow for the renegotiation of the payment schedule of 
contracts between the Secretary of the Interior and the Redwood Valley 
County Water District;
  H.R. 247, to designate a Forest Service trail at Waldo Lake in the 
Willamette National Forest in the State of Oregon as a national 
recreation trail in honor of Jim Weaver, a former Member of the House 
of Representatives;
  H.R. 276, to designate the Piedras Blancas Light Station and the 
surrounding public land as an Outstanding Natural Area to be 
administered as a part of the National Landscape Conservation System;
  H.R. 376, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a 
special resource study to determine the suitability and feasibility of 
including the battlefields and related sites of the First and Second 
Battles of Newtonia, Missouri, during the Civil War as part of Wilson's 
Creek National Battlefield or designating the battlefields and related 
sites as a separate unit of the National Park System;
  H.R. 482, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to transfer 
ownership of the American River Pump Station Project;
  H.R. 497, to authorize the Marion Park Project, a committee of the 
Palmetto Conservation Foundation, to establish a commemorative work on 
Federal land in the District of Columbia, and its environs to honor 
Brigadier General Francis Marion;
  H.R. 512, to establish the Commission to Study the Potential Creation 
of the National Museum of the American Latino to develop a plan of 
action for the establishment and maintenance of a National Museum of 
the American Latino in Washington, DC;
  H.R. 658, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to enter into 
cooperative agreements to protect natural resources of units of the 
National Park System through collaborative efforts on land inside and 
outside of units of the National Park System;
  H.R. 839, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the 
feasibility of enlarging the Arthur V. Watkins Dam Weber Basin Project, 
Utah, to provide additional water for the Weber Basin Project to 
fulfill the purposes for which that project was authorized;
  H.R. 866, to enhance ecosystem protection and the range of outdoor 
opportunities protected by statute in the Skykomish River valley of the 
State of Washington by designating certain lower-elevation Federal 
lands as wilderness;
  H.R. 902, to facilitate the use for irrigation and other purposes of 
water produced in connection with development of energy resources, with 
an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 1047, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a 
study to determine the suitability and feasibility of designating the 
Soldiers' Memorial Military Museum located in St. Louis, Missouri, as a 
unit of the National Park System; and
  The nominations of Joseph Timothy Kelliher, of the District of 
Columbia, to be a Member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 
and R. Lyle Laverty, of Colorado, to be Assistant Secretary of the 
Interior for Fish and Wildlife.
FUNDING SOCIAL SECURITY'S ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded hearings to examine funding 
Social Security's administrative costs, focusing on disability benefits 
and the claims process, after receiving testimony from Michael J. 
Astrue, Commissioner, Social Security Administration; Nancy G. Shor, 
National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives 
(NOSSCR), Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; Richard E. Warsinskey, National 
Council of Social Security Management Associations, Inc., Washington, 
DC; and Chuck Schimmels, National Association of Disability Examiners, 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
VIOLENT CRIME
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs concluded a 
hearing to examine rising crime in the United States, focusing on the 
federal role in helping communities prevent and respond to violent 
crime, including S. 368, to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 to enhance the COPS ON THE BEAT grant program, 
after receiving testimony from Mark Epley, Senior Counsel to the Deputy 
Attorney General, Department of Justice; Mayor Douglas H. Palmer, 
Trenton, New Jersey, on behalf of the United States Conference of 
Mayors; Ted Kamatchus, Marshall County, Marshalltown, Iowa, on behalf 
of the National Sheriffs' Association; Thomas J. Nee, National 
Association of Police Organizations, and James Alan Fox, Northeastern 
University, both of Boston, Massachusetts; Rick S. Gregory, New Castle 
County Police Department, New Castle, Delaware; and Russell B. Laine, 
Algonquin Police Department, Algonquin, Illinois, on behalf of the 
International Association of Chiefs of Police.

[[Page D735]]


WASHINGTON, DC: VOTER REPRESENTATION
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine S. 
1257, to provide the District of Columbia a voting seat and the State 
of Utah an additional seat in the House of Representatives, and H.R. 
1905, to provide for the treatment of the District of Columbia as a 
Congressional district for purposes of representation in the House of 
Representatives, focusing on ending taxation without representation, 
after receiving testimony from Representatives Cannon and Norton; John 
P. Elwood, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, 
Department of Justice; Patricia Wald, former Chief Judge, United States 
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; Kenneth R. 
Thomas, Legislative Attorney, American Law Division, Congressional 
Research Service, Library of Congress; Utah Attorney General Mark L. 
Shurtleff, Salt Lake City; Jonathan Turley, George Washington 
University Law School, and Richard B. Bress, Latham and Watkins LLP, 
both of Washington, DC9y008; and Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Harvard Law 
School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
HEALTH CARE LEGISLATION
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine health care legislation, after receiving testimony from Gerald 
M. Cross, Acting Principal Deputy, Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
for Health; Carl Blake, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Jerry Reed, 
Suicide Prevention Action Network USA, and Dennis M. Cullinan, Veterans 
of Foreign Wars of the United States, all of Washington, D.C.; Joy J. 
Ilem, Disabled American Veterans, Cold Spring, Kentucky; Shannon 
Middleton, American Legion, Indianapolis, Indiana; Bernard Edelman, 
Vietnam Veterans of America, Silver Spring, Maryland; Meredith Beck, 
Wounded Warrior Project, New York, New York; and John Booss, American 
Academy of Neurology, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
BUSINESS MEETING
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee ordered favorably reported 
an original bill authorizing funds for fiscal year 2008 for the 
intelligence community.