[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 162 (Wednesday, October 24, 2007)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D1413-D1415]
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 Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee began 
markup of the 2007 Farm Bill, but did not complete action thereon, and 
will meet again on Thursday, October 25, 2007.
INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Securities, Insurance and Investment concluded a hearing to examine 
international accounting standards, focusing on opportunities, 
challenges, and global convergence issues, after receiving testimony 
from Conrad W. Hewitt, Chief Accountant, and John W. White, Director, 
Division of Corporation Finance, both of the U.S. Securities and 
Exchange Commission; David Tweedie, International Accounting Standards 
Board, London, United Kingdom; Robert H. Herz, Financial Accounting 
Standards Board, Norwalk, Connecticut; Charles E. Landes, American 
Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and Lynn E. Turner, Glass 
Lewis and Company, both of New York, New York; Jack T. Ciesielski, R.G. 
Associates, Inc., Folsom, California; and Teri Lombardi Yohn, Indiana 
University Kelley School of Business, Bloomington.
FUTURE OF RADIO
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine the important communication and broadcasting 
policy issues surrounding the future of the radio industry, including 
S. 1675, to implement the recommendations of the Federal Communications 
Commission report to the Congress regarding low-power FM service, after 
receiving testimony from Mac McCaughan, Merge Records, Chapel Hill, 
North Carolina; W. Russell Withers, Jr., Withers Broadcasting 
Companies, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on behalf of the National Association 
of Broadcasters; S. Derek Turner, Free Press, on behalf of the 
Consumers Union, and the Consumer Federation of America, and Dana Davis 
Rehm, National Public Radio (NPR), both of Washington, DC; and Carol 
Pierson, National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB), and Tim 
Westergren, Pandora Media, on behalf of the Digital Media Association, 
both of Oakland, California.
AMERICA'S CLIMATE SECURITY ACT
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Subcommittee on Private 
Sector and Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and Wildlife Protection 
concluded a hearing to examine S. 2191, to direct the Administrator of 
the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a program to decrease 
emissions of greenhouse gases, after receiving testimony from Kevin 
Anton, Alcoa, Inc., Knoxville, Tennessee; Frances Beinecke, Natural 
Resources Defense Council (NRDC), New York, New York; William R. 
Moomaw, Tufts University Fletcher School Center

[[Page D1414]]

for International Environment and Resource Policy, Medford, 
Massachusetts; Will Roehm, Montana Grain Growers Association, Great 
Falls; and Paul N. Cicio, Industrial Energy Consumers of America, 
Washington, DC
AFRICAN GREAT LAKES REGION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on African Affairs 
concluded a hearing to examine the United States role in consolidating 
peace and democracy in the African Great Lakes region, after receiving 
testimony from Jendayi E. Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for 
African Affairs; Katherine J. Almquist, Assistant Administrator for 
Africa, United States Agency for International Development; and Gayle 
E. Smith, Center for American Progress, Kevin Fitzcharles, CARE Uganda, 
and Mauro De Lorenzo, American Enterprise Institute, all of Washington, 
DC.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the nominations of Henrietta Holsman Fore, of Nevada, to be 
Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
Development, Robin Renee Sanders, of New York, to be Ambassador to the 
Federal Republic of Nigeria, Barry Leon Wells, of Ohio, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of The Gambia, Mark M. Boulware, of Texas, 
to be Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, James D. McGee, 
of Florida, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Zimbabwe, Ronald K. 
McMullen, of Iowa, to be Ambassador to the State of Eritrea, P. Robert 
Fannin, of Arizona, to be Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, 
Christopher Egan, of Massachusetts, to be Representative of the United 
States of America to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and 
Development, with the rank of Ambassador, Louis John Nigro, Jr., of 
Florida, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Chad, David T. Johnson, of 
Georgia, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (International Narcotics 
and Law Enforcement Affairs), Paul E. Simons, of Virginia, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Chile, Gail Dennise Mathieu, of New 
Jersey, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Namibia, Dan Mozena, of 
Iowa, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Angola, Eunice S. Reddick, of 
New York, to be Ambassador to the Gabonese Republic, and to serve 
concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador to the 
Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Daniel V. Speckhard, of 
Wisconsin, to be Ambassador to Greece, Thomas F. Stephenson, of 
California, to be Ambassador to the Portuguese Republic, Vincent 
Obsitnik, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Slovak Republic, William 
H. Frist, of Tennessee, and Kenneth Francis Hackett, of Maryland, both 
to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge 
Corporation, George E. Pataki, of New York, to be a Representative of 
the United States of America to the Sixty-second Session of the General 
Assembly of the United Nations, and Kelly G. Knight, of Kentucky, and 
Rodger D. Young, of Michigan, both to be an Alternate Representative of 
the United States of America to the Sixty-second Session of the General 
Assembly of the United Nations.
HIV/AIDS GLOBAL FIGHT
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine issues relative to the global fight against HIV/AIDS, after 
receiving testimony from Mark R. Dybul, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, 
Department of State.
TERRORIST SCREENING SYSTEM
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine ways to build an effective terrorist 
screening system and watch list, including standards for including 
individuals on the list, the outcomes of encounters with individuals on 
the list, potential vulnerabilities in screening processes and efforts 
to address them, and actions taken to promote effective terrorism-
related screening, after receiving testimony from Eileen R. Larence, 
Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues, Government 
Accountability Office; Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General, and Leonard 
Boyle, Director, Terrorist Screening Center, both of the Department of 
Justice; and Paul Rosenzweig, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Homeland 
Security for Policy.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nominations of Ronald Jay Tenpas, of Maryland, to be an Assistant 
Attorney General, who was introduced by Senator Specter, Joseph N. 
Laplante, to be United States District Judge for the District of New 
Hampshire, who was introduced by Senators Gregg and Sununu, Reed 
Charles O'Connor, to be United States District Judge for the Northern 
District of Texas, who was introduced by Senators Hutchison and Cornyn, 
Thomas D. Schroeder, to be United States District Judge for the Middle 
District of North Carolina, who was introduced by Senators Dole and 
Burr, and Amul R. Thapar, to be United States District Judge for the 
Eastern District of Kentucky, who was introduced by Senators McConnell 
and Bunning, after the nominees testified and answered questions in 
their own behalf.

[[Page D1415]]


FEDERALLY-FUNDED UNIVERSITY RESEARCH
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the role of federally-funded university research in the patent system, 
including the University and Small Business Patent Procedures Act 
(Public Law 96-517), after receiving testimony from Arti K. Rai, Duke 
University School of Law, Durham, North Carolina; Elizabeth Hoffman, 
Iowa State University Department of Economics, Ames; Robert Weissman, 
Essential Action, Washington, DC; and Charles F. Louis, University of 
California, Riverside.
VETERANS LEGISLATION
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine S. 2162, to improve the treatment and services provided by the 
Department of Veterans Affairs to veterans with post-traumatic stress 
disorder and substance use disorders, S. 2160, to amend title 38, 
United States Code, to establish a pain care initiative in health care 
facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs, S. 38, to require the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a program for the provision 
of readjustment and mental health services to veterans who served in 
Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, S. 2004, to 
amend title 38, United States Code, to establish epilepsy centers of 
excellence in the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs, and S. 2142, to amend title 38, United States Code, 
to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to reimburse veterans 
receiving emergency treatment in non-Department of Veterans Affairs 
facilities for such treatment until such veterans are transferred to 
Department facilities, after receiving testimony from Michael J. 
Kussman, Under Secretary for Health, and Walter Hall, Assistant General 
Counsel, both of the Department of Veterans Affairs; Carl Blake, 
Paralyzed Veterans of America, and Joy J. Ilem, Disabled American 
Veterans, both of Washington, DC; Brenda Murdough, American Pain 
Foundation, Baltimore, Maryland; Brien J. Smith, Henry Ford Hospital, 
Detroit, Michigan; and Captain Constance A. Walker, USN (Ret.), 
Southern Maryland Chapter of National Alliance on Mental Illness, 
Leonardtown.
RETIREMENT SECURITY
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
hidden 401(k) fees, focusing on ways that disclosure can increase 
retirement security, after receiving testimony from Barbara D. 
Bovbjerg, Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues, 
Government Accountability Office; Bradford P. Campbell, Assistant 
Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Administration; Jeff Love, 
American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), Washington, DC; Mercer 
E. Bullard, Fund Democracy, Inc., Oxford, Mississippi; Michael Kiley, 
Plan Administrators, Inc., De Pere, Wisconsin, on behalf of the 
American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA), and 
the Council of Independent 401(k) Recordkeepers (CIKR); and Robert G. 
Chambers, Helms Mulliss and Wicker, Charlotte, North Carolina, on 
behalf of sundry organizations.