[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 176 (Wednesday, November 14, 2007)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D1523-D1526]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS AND PROXY ACCESS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine shareholder rights and proxy access, after receiving 
testimony from Christopher Cox, Chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange 
Commission; John J. Castellani, Business Roundtable, and Jeff Mahoney, 
Council of Institutional Investors, both of Washington, D.C.; Anne 
Simpson, International Corporate Governance Network, London, United 
Kingdom; and Dennis Johnson, California Public Employees Retirement 
System (CalPERS), Sacramento.
FOREIGN GOVERNMENT INVESTMENTS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine sovereign wealth fund acquisitions and other foreign 
government investments in the United States, focusing on assessing the 
economic and national security implications, after receiving testimony 
from David McCormick, Under Secretary of the Treasury for International 
Affairs; Alan Larson, Covington and Burling, LLP, New York, New York; 
Edwin M. Truman, Peterson Institute for International Economics, and 
Patrick Mulloy, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, both of Washington, D.C.; 
and Gerald Lyons, Standard Chartered Bank, London, United Kingdom.
FEDERAL CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH AND INFORMATION PROGRAM
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine ways to improve the Federal Climate Change 
Research and Information Program, after receiving testimony from John 
H. Marburger, III, Director, Office of Science

[[Page D1524]]

and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President; Jack A. Kaye, 
Director, Research Division, Office of Earth Science, National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration; Donald F. Boesch, University of 
Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge; Braxton C. Davis, 
Coastal States Organization, and Richard H. Moss, World Wildlife Fund, 
both of Washington, D.C.; Peter C. Frumhoff, Union of Concerned 
Scientists, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Lynne M. Carter, Adaptation 
Network, Berkeley Springs, West Virginia; and John R. Christy, 
University of Alabama Earth System Science Center, Huntsville.
GLOBAL NUCLEAR ENERGY PARTNERSHIP
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership relating to 
the United States policy on nuclear fuel management, after receiving 
testimony from Dennis R. Spurgeon, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear 
Energy, and Terry Wallace, Principal Associate Director for Science, 
Technology and Engineering, Los Alamos National Laboratory, both of the 
Department of Energy; Peter R. Orszag, Director, Congressional Budget 
Office; Neil E. Todreas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Matthew Bunn, 
Harvard University Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, 
both of Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Pattabi Seshadri, Boston 
Consulting Group, Dallas, Texas.
FEDERAL ESTATE TAX
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the 
federal estate and gift tax rules, focusing on uncertainty in planning 
under the current law, after receiving testimony from Nevada State 
Senator Dean Rhoads, Tusacarora; Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, 
Omaha, Nebraska; Conrad Teitell, Cummings and Lockwood LLC, Stamford, 
Connecticut; and Eugene Sukup, Sukup Manufacturing Company, Sheffield, 
Iowa.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
ordered favorably reported the following:
  S. 2324, to amend the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) 
to enhance the Offices of the Inspectors General, to create a Council 
of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, with an 
amendment;
  S. 2292, to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002, to establish the 
Office for Bombing Prevention, to address terrorist explosive threats, 
with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1667, to establish a pilot program for the expedited disposal of 
Federal real property, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1000, to enhance the Federal Telework Program, with an amendment 
in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2321, to amend the E-Government Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-347) 
to reauthorize appropriations;
  H.R. 390, to require the establishment of a national database in the 
National Archives to preserve records of servitude, emancipation, and 
post-Civil War reconstruction and to provide grants to State and local 
entities to establish similar local databases, with an amendment;
  H.R. 3571, to amend the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 to 
permit individuals who have served as employees of the Office of 
Compliance to serve as Executive Director, Deputy Executive Director, 
or General Counsel of the Office, and to permit individuals appointed 
to such positions to serve one additional term;
  S. 2174, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 175 South Monroe Street in Tiffin, Ohio, as the 
``Paul E. Gillmor Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 2089, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 701 Loyola Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana, as the 
``Louisiana Armed Services Veterans Post Office'';
  H.R. 3297, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 950 West Trenton Avenue in Morrisville, 
Pennsylvania, as the ``Nate DeTample Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 3308, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 216 East Main Street in Atwood, Indiana, as the 
``Lance Corporal David K. Fribley Post Office'';
  H.R. 3530, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 1400 Highway 41 North in Inverness, Florida, as the 
``Chief Warrant Officer Aaron Weaver Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 2276, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 203 North Main Street in Vassar, Michigan, as the 
``Corporal Christopher E. Esckelson Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 3325, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 235 Mountain Road in Suffield, Connecticut, as the 
``Corporal Stephen R. Bixler Post Office'';
  S. 2110, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 427 North Street in Taft, California, as the ``Larry 
S. Pierce Post Office'';
  H.R. 3382, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 200 North William

[[Page D1525]]

Street in Goldsboro, North Carolina, as the ``Philip A. Baddour, Sr. 
Post Office'';
  S. 2290, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 16731 Santa Ana Avenue in Fontana, California, as 
the ``Beatrice E. Watson Post Office Building'';
  S. 2272, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service known as the Southpark Station in Alexandria, Louisiana, as the 
John ``Marty'' Thiels Southpark Station, in honor and memory of Thiels, 
a Louisiana postal worker who was killed in the line of duty on October 
4, 2007;
  H.R. 3446, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 202 East Michigan Avenue in Marshall, Michigan, as 
the ``Michael W. Schragg Post Office Building'';
  S. 2150 and H.R. 3572, bills to designate the facility of the United 
States Postal Service located at 4320 Blue Parkway in Kansas City, 
Missouri, as the ``Wallace S. Hartsfield Post Office Building'';
  S. 2107 and H.R. 3307, bills to designate the facility of the United 
States Postal Service located at 570 Broadway in Bayonne, New Jersey, 
as the ``Dennis P. Collins Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 3518, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 1430 South Highway 29 in Cantonment, Florida, as the 
``Charles H. Hendrix Post Office Building''; and
  The nominations of W. Ross Ashley, III, of Virginia, to be an 
Assistant Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 
Department of Homeland Security, and Ellen C . Williams, of Kentucky, 
to be a Governor of the United States Postal Service.
MEDICAID PROVIDERS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Permanent 
Subcommittee on Investigations concluded a hearing to examine Medicaid 
providers, focusing on a recent study conducted by the Government 
Accountability Office on unpaid taxes, the extent of the problem, and 
possible solutions, after receiving testimony from Gregory D. Kutz, 
Managing Director, Forensic Audits and Special Investigations, 
Government Accountability Office; Linda Stiff, Acting Commissioner, 
Internal Revenue Service, and Kenneth R. Papaj, Commissioner, Financial 
Management Service, both of the Department of the Treasury; and Dennis 
G. Smith, Director, Centers for Medicaid and State Operations, Centers 
for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human 
Services.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following:
  S. 911, to amend the Public Health Service Act to advance medical 
research and treatments into pediatric cancers, ensure patients and 
families have access to the current treatments and information 
regarding pediatric cancers, establish a population-based national 
childhood cancer database, and promote public awareness of pediatric 
cancers, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1551, to amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to 
making progress toward the goal of eliminating tuberculosis, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1858, to amend the Public Health Service Act to establish grant 
programs to provide for education and outreach on newborn screening and 
coordinated followup care once newborn screening has been conducted, to 
reauthorize programs under part A of title XI of such Act, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1916, to amend the Public Health Service Act to modify the program 
for the sanctuary system for surplus chimpanzees by terminating the 
authority for the removal of chimpanzees from the system for research 
purposes, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1382, to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide the 
establishment of an Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Registry, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1970, to establish a National Commission on Children and 
Disasters, a National Resource Center on Children and Disasters, with 
an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 901, to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide additional 
authorizations of appropriations for the health centers program under 
section 330 of such Act, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute; and
  The nominations of Julie Fisher Cummings, of Michigan, Mark D. 
Gearan, of New York, Tom Osborne, of Nebraska, Alan D. Solomont, of 
Massachusetts, and Donna N. Williams, of Texas, all to be Members of 
the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community 
Service, Charles E. F. Millard, of New York, to be Director of the 
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and a promotion list in the 
Public Health Service.
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATORS
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law 
concluded a hearing to examine accountability for human rights 
violators in the United States, after receiving testimony from Sigal P. 
Mandelker, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, 
Department of Justice; Marcy M.

[[Page D1526]]

Forman, Director, Office of Investigations, U.S. Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security; David Scheffer, 
Northwestern University of School of Law Center for International 
Rights, Chicago, Illinois; Pamela Merchant, Center for Justice and 
Accountability, San Francisco, California; and Juan Romagoza Arce, La 
Clinica Del Pueblo, Washington, D.C.
NOMINATION
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the nomination of Michael W. Hager, of Virginia, to be an 
Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Human Resources and 
Management, after the nominee testified and answered questions in his 
own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following:
  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; 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;
  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; and
  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.