[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 111 (Thursday, July 12, 2007)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D965-D966]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
BUSINESS MEETING:
Committee on Appropriations: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following:
   An original bill making appropriations for the Departments of 
Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, 
for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008; and
  H.R. 2829, making appropriations for financial services and general 
government for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute.
CROSS-BORDER EXCHANGE MERGERS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Securities, Insurance and Investment concluded a hearing to examine 
cross-border exchange mergers, focusing on the global view, after 
receiving testimony from Erik Sirri, Director, Division of Market 
Regulation, and Ethiopis Tafara, Director, Office of International 
Affairs, both of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; Noreen 
Culhane, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Group, and Adena Friedman, 
National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations 
(NASDAQ) Stock Market, Inc., both of New York, New York; Allen Ferrell, 
Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Damon A. Silvers, 
AFL-CIO, Washington, D.C.
TELEPHONE NUMBER PORTABILITY
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine telephone number portability, including S. 1769, 
to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to facilitate number 
portability in order to increase consumer choice of voice service 
provider, after receiving testimony from Tony Clark, North Dakota 
Public Service Commission, Bismarck, on behalf of the National 
Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners; Ted Schremp, Charter 
Communications, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri; Jonathan Banks, United 
States Telecom Association, and Christopher Guttman-McCabe, CTIA-The 
Wireless Association, both of Washington, D.C.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the nominations of Clarence H. Albright, of South 
Carolina, to be Under Secretary, who was introduced by Senator DeMint, 
and Lisa E. Epifani, of Texas, to be Assistant Secretary for 
Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, both of the Department of 
Energy, and James L. Caswell, of Idaho, to be Director of the Bureau of 
Land Management, who was introduced by Senators Craig and Crapo, and 
Brent T. Wahlquist, of Pennsylvania, to be Director of the Office of 
Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, both of the Department of 
the Interior, after the nominees testified and answered questions in 
their own behalf.
LAND BILLS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks concluded a hearing to examine S. 488 and H.R. 1100, bills to 
revise the boundary of the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in 
the State of North Carolina, S. 617, to make the National Parks and 
Federal Recreational Lands Pass available at a discount to certain 
veterans, S. 824 and H.R. 995, bills to amend Public Law 106-348 to 
extend the authorization for establishing a memorial in the District of 
Columbia or its environs to honor veterans who became disabled while 
serving in the Armed Forces of the United States, S. 955, to establish 
the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area, S. 1148, to establish the 
Champlain Quadricentennial Commemoration Commission and the Hudson-
Fulton 400th Commemoration Commission, S. 1380, to designate as 
wilderness certain land within the Rocky Mountain National Park and to 
adjust the boundaries of the Indian Peaks Wilderness and the Arapaho 
National Recreation Area of the Arapaho National Forest in the State of 
Colorado, and S. 1182, to amend the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers 
Valley National Heritage Corridor Act of 1994 to increase the 
authorization of appropriations and modify the date on which the 
authority of the Secretary of the Interior terminates under the Act, 
and S. 1728, to amend the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 to 
reauthorize the Na Hoa Pili O Kaloko-Honokohau Advisory Commission,

[[Page D966]]

after receiving testimony from Senators Allard, Dole, and Thune; 
Representatives Mark Udall and Musgrave; Katherine H. Stevenson, Acting 
Assistant Director, Business Services, National Park Service, 
Department of the Interior; Mayor Judy Burke, Grand Lake, Colorado; 
Dennis Harmon, Water Supply and Storage Company, Fort Collins, 
Colorado; Dean Stoline, American Legion, Washington, D.C.; Heather 
Baker-Sullivan, Hudson Fulton Champlain Quadricentennial Commission, 
Katonah, New York; Tom Martin, Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition, 
Mt. Pulaski, Illinois; and Charlene Perkins Cutler, Quinebaug-Shetucket 
Heritage Corridor, Inc., Putnam, Connecticut.
AVIATION FINANCING
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the 
Airport Airways Trust Fund, focusing on the future of aviation 
financing, the extent to which the current funding structure can 
support the Federal Aviation Administration's activities, including the 
Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), and issues that 
could affect the overall cost of NextGen, the implications of selected 
provisions of proposals to fund aviation activities, after receiving 
testimony from Marion C. Blakey, Administrator, Federal Aviation 
Administration; Peter R. Orszag, Director, Congressional Budget Office; 
Gerald L. Dillingham, Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues, 
Government Accountability Office; and Mark M. Hansen, University of 
California Institute of Transportation Studies, Berkeley.
DIRTY BOMB VULNERABILITIES (PART 1)
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Permanent 
Subcommittee on Investigations concluded a hearing to examine certain 
vulnerabilities in the government's procedures for licensing 
radiological materials, focusing on the effectiveness of the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission's materials licensing policies and procedures, 
and the vulnerability of those licenses to counterfeiting, after 
receiving testimony from Gene Aloise, Director, Natural Resources and 
Environment, and Gregory D. Kutz, Managing Director, and John W. 
Cooney, Assistant Director, both of Forensic Audits and Special 
Investigations, all of the Government Accountability Office; and Edward 
McGaffigan, Jr., Commissioner, United States Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission.
PRIVATE SECTOR PREPAREDNESS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Ad Hoc 
Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and 
Integration concluded hearings to examine the state of public-private 
collaboration in preparing for and responding to national catastrophes, 
after receiving testimony from Colonel Robert B. Stephan, Assistant 
Secretary of Homeland Security for the Office of Infrastructure 
Protection; Eileen R. Larence, Director, Homeland Security and Justice 
Issues, Government Accountability Office; and Kenneth C. Watson, Cisco 
Systems, Inc., San Jose, California, on behalf of the Partnership for 
Critical Infrastructure Security.
NOMINATION
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine the nomination of James W. Holsinger, 
Jr., of Kentucky, to be Medical Director in the Regular Corps of the 
Public Health Service, subject to qualifications therefor as provided 
by law and regulations, and to be Surgeon General of the Public Health 
Service, Department of Health and Human Services, after the nominee, 
who was introduced by Senators Bunning and McConnell, testified and 
answered questions in his own behalf.
TRANSPORTATION ISSUES IN INDIAN COUNTRY
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded an oversight hearing 
to examine transportation issues in Indian country, after receiving 
testimony from Jerry Gidner, Deputy Bureau Director, Office of Indian 
Services, Department of the Interior; John R. Baxter, Associate 
Administrator for Federal Lands, Federal Highway Administration, 
Department of Transportation; Don Kashevaroff, Seldovia Village Tribe, 
Seldovia, Alaska; Pete Red Tomahawk, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Ft. 
Yates, North Dakota; Erin S. Forrest, Hualapai Tribe, Peach Springs, 
Arizona; and James Garrigan, Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Red 
Lake, Minnesota.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee began consideration of S. 1145, 
to amend title 35, United States Code, to provide for patent reform, 
but did not complete action thereon, and recessed subject to the call 
of the Chair.