[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 150 (Thursday, October 4, 2007)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D1325-D1326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
SUBPOENA ISSUANCE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human 
Services, Education, and Related Agencies approved authorizing a 
subpoena for the testimony of Robert E. Murray, Chairman, President and 
Chief Executive Officer of Murray Energy, Inc., related to the Crandall 
Canyon Mine Disaster in Utah.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nominations of Douglas A. Brook, of California, to be an Assistant 
Secretary of the Navy, John J. Young, Jr., of Virginia, to be Under 
Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, who 
was introduced by Senators Stevens and Inouye, and Robert L. Smolen, of 
Pennsylvania, to be Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs, National 
Nuclear Security Administration, after the nominees testified and 
answered questions in their own behalf.
INDUSTRIAL LOAN COMPANIES
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the regulation and supervision of industrial loan 
companies, financial institutions in the United States that lend money, 
and may be owned by non-financial institutions, after receiving 
testimony from Scott G. Alvarez, General Counsel, Board of Governors of 
the Federal Reserve System; John F. Bovenzi, Chief Operating Officer 
and Deputy to the Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; 
Scott M. Polakoff, Senior Deputy Director, Office of Thrift 
Supervision, Department of the Treasury; Erik Sirri, Director, Division 
of Market Regulation, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; G. 
Edward Leary, Utah Commissioner of Financial Institutions, Salt Lake 
City; Edward L. Yingling, American Bankers Association, Arthur E. 
Wilmarth, Jr., George Washington University Law School, and Peter J. 
Wallison, American Enterprise Institute, all of Washington, D.C.; Marc 
E. Lackritz, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, New 
York, New York; Brigid Kelly, United Food and Commercial Workers 
International Union, Monroe, Ohio; and Jagjit Singh, Transportation 
Alliance Bank, Ogden, Utah, on behalf of the Utah Association of 
Financial Services.
NATION'S SEAPORTS
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine the security of our nation's seaports, focusing on 
the SAFE Port Act (Public Law 109-347), after receiving testimony from 
Rear Admiral David Pekoske, Assistant Commandant for Operations, United 
States Coast Guard, Maurine Fanguy, Program Director, Transportation 
Security Administration, and Thomas S. Winkowski, Assistant 
Commissioner, Office of Field Operations, United States Customs and 
Border Protection (CBP), all of the Department of Homeland Security; 
Stephen L. Caldwell, Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues, 
Government Accountability Office; and Anthony Coscia, Port Authority of 
New York and New Jersey, New York, New York.
CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION REFORM
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Consumer Affairs, Insurance, and Automotive Safety concluded a hearing 
to examine S. 2045, to reform the Consumer Product Safety Commission to 
provide greater protection for children's products, to improve the 
screening of noncompliant consumer products, to improve the 
effectiveness of consumer product recall programs, after receiving 
testimony from Senator Durbin; Nancy A. Nord, Acting Chairman, and 
Thomas H. Moore, Commissioner, both of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety 
Commission; Edmund Mierzwinski, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, 
Travis Plunkett, Consumer Federation of America, Alan Korn, Safe Kids 
USA, and Joseph M. McGuire, Association of Home Appliance 
Manufacturers, on behalf of the National Association of Manufacturers, 
all of Washington, D.C.; and Al Thompson, Retail Industry Leaders 
Association, Arlington, Virginia.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Finance: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following:
  An original bill entitled, ``The Heartland, Habitat, Harvest, and 
Horticulture Act of 2007''; and
  A bill to implement the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement.
LAW OF THE SEA TREATY
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, with 
Annexes, done at Montego Bay, December 10, 1982 (the ``Convention''), 
and the Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the 
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982, 
with Annex, adopted at New York, July 28, 1994 (the Agreement''), and 
signed by the United States, subject to ratification, on July 29, 1994 
(Treaty Doc. 103-39), after receiving testimony from Admiral Vernon

[[Page D1326]]

Clark, USN (Ret.), former Chief of Naval Operations, Phoenix, Arizona; 
Bernard H. Oxman, University of Miami School of Law, Miami, Florida; 
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., Center for Security Policy, Fred Smith, 
Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Joseph J. Cox, Chamber of 
Shipping of America, all of Washington, D.C.; Paul L. Kelly, Rowan 
Companies, Inc., Houston, Texas, on behalf of sundry organizations; and 
Douglas R. Burnett, North American Submarine Cable Association (NASCA), 
New York, New York.
OVERSEAS INFECTIOUS DISEASE SURVEILLANCE
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the 
District of Columbia concluded a hearing to examine forestalling the 
coming pandemic, focusing on infectious disease surveillance overseas 
including the obligations, goals, and activities of these programs, and 
the United States agencies' monitoring of the programs' progress, after 
receiving testimony from David Gootnick, Director, International 
Affairs and Trade, Government Accountability Office; Ray Arthur, 
Director, Global Disease Detection Operations Center, Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human 
Services; Kimothy Smith, Acting Director, National Biosurveillance 
Integration Center, Chief Scientist, Office of Health Affairs, 
Department of Homeland Security; Colonel Ralph L. Erickson, USA, 
Director, Emerging Infectious Disease Surveillance and Response System, 
Department of Defense; Kent R. Hill, Assistant Administrator for Global 
Health, U.S. Agency for International Development; Nathan Flesness, 
International Species Information System, Apple Valley, Minnesota; 
Daniel A. Janies, The Ohio State University Department of Biomedical 
Informatics, Columbus; and James M. Wilson, Georgetown University 
Imaging Science and Information Systems Center, Washington, D.C.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BACKLOGS
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded an oversight hearing 
to examine the backlogs at the Department of the Interior, focusing on 
land into trust applications, environmental impact statements, probate, 
and appraisals and lease approvals, after receiving testimony from Carl 
J. Artman, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs; Ron 
His Horse Is Thunder, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Fort Yates, North 
Dakota; William R. Rhodes, Gila River Indian Community, Sacaton, 
Arizona; Frank Bigelow, Madera County, Madera, California; Douglas 
Nash, Seattle University School of Law Institute for Indian Estate 
Planning and Probate, Seattle, Washington; and Robert Chicks, 
Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, Bowler, Wisconsin, on 
behalf of the National Congress of American Indians.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following:
  S. 1640, to amend chapter 13 of title 17, United States Code 
(relating to the vessel hull design protection), to clarify the 
definitions of a hull and a deck;
  S. 2035, to maintain the free flow of information to the public by 
providing conditions for the federally compelled disclosure of 
information by certain persons connected with the news media, with 
amendments;
  S. Res. 326, supporting the goals and ideals of a National Day of 
Remembrance for Murder Victims;
  H. Con. Res. 193, recognizing all hunters across the United States 
for their continued commitment to safety; and
  The nominations of Thomas P. O'Brien, to be United States Attorney 
for the Central District of California, Edward Meacham Yarbrough, to be 
United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, and Robert 
M. Dow, Jr., to be United States District Judge for the Northern 
District of Illinois.
HOMETOWN HEROES SURVIVORS BENEFITS ACT
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the implementation of the Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act, 
(Public Law 108-182) and S. 459, to require that health plans provide 
coverage for a minimum hospital stay for mastectomies, lumpectomies, 
and lymph node dissection for the treatment of breast cancer and 
coverage for secondary consultations, after receiving testimony from 
Domingo S. Herraiz, Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of 
Justice Programs, Department of Justice; Athena Schwantes, National 
Fallen Firefighter's Foundation, Fayetteville, Georgia; Jo Ann Tilton, 
Katy, Texas; and Susan Falkouski, Rensselaer, New York.