[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 75 (Wednesday, May 7, 2008)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D561-D565]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human 
Services, Education, and Related Agencies concluded a hearing to 
examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2009 for the 
Department of Labor, after receiving testimony from Elaine L. Chao, 
Secretary of Labor.
APPROPRIATIONS: UNITED STATES INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Defense concluded a closed 
hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2009 for 
the United States intelligence community, after receiving testimony 
from Mike McConnell, Director, National Intelligence; and James 
Clapper, Jr., Under Secretary for Intelligence, Department of Defense.
APPROPRIATIONS: COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION AND THE SECURITIES 
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Financial Services and 
General Government concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget 
estimates for fiscal year 2009 for the Commodity Futures Trading 
Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, after receiving 
testimony from Walter L. Lukken, Acting Chairman, Commodity Futures 
Trading Commission; and former Representative Christopher Cox, 
Chairman, United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
REGULATION OF INVESTMENT BANKS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Securities, Insurance and Investment concluded a hearing to examine 
United States credit markets, focusing on the regulation of investment 
banks by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, after 
receiving testimony from Erik Sirri, Director, Division of Trading and 
Markets, and Arthur Levitt, Jr. and David S. Ruder, both former 
Chairmen, all of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
NASA REAUTHORIZATION
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Space, Aeronautics, and Related Agencies concluded a hearing to examine 
issues relative to the upcoming reauthorization of the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), after receiving testimony 
from Gene Kranz, Coalition for Space Exploration, Seabrook, Texas; Joan 
Johnson-Freese, Naval War College National Security Decision Making 
Department, Newport, Rhode Island; Frederick A. Tarantino, Universities 
Space Research Association, Columbia, Maryland; Major General Robert 
Dickman, USAF (Ret.), American Institute of Aeronautics and 
Astronautics (AIAA), Reston, Virginia; and George T. Whitesides, 
National Space Society, Washington, D.C.
AIRLINE MERGER
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security concluded a hearing to 
examine the financial state of the airline industry, focusing on the 
impact of the Delta Airlines, Inc.-Northwest Airlines, Inc., merger, 
after receiving testimony from Richard H. Anderson, Delta Air Lines, 
Inc., Atlanta, Georgia; Mark Cooper, Consumer Federation of America, on 
behalf of Consumers Union, Patricia A. Friend, Association of Flight 
Attendants--CWA, AFL-CIO, and Patrick V. Murphy, Jr., Gerchick-Murphy 
Associates, LLC, all of Washington, D.C.; Ray Neidl, Caylon Securities, 
New York, New York; Robert

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Roach, Jr., International Association of Machinists and Aerospace 
Workers, Upper Marlboro, Maryland; and Douglas M. Steenland, Northwest 
Airlines, Inc., Saint Paul, Minnesota.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably 
reported:
  S. 27, to authorize the implementation of the San Joaquin River 
Restoration Settlement, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 570, to designate additional National Forest System lands in the 
State of Virginia as wilderness or a wilderness study area, to 
designate the Kimberling Creek Potential Wilderness Area for eventual 
incorporation in the Kimberling Creek Wilderness, to establish the Seng 
Mountain and Bear Creek Scenic Areas, to provide for the development of 
trail plans for the wilderness areas and scenic areas, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 617, to make the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands 
Pass available at a discount to certain veterans, with an amendment in 
the nature of a substitute;
  S. 662, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a 
special resource study to evaluate resources at the Harriet Beecher 
Stowe House in Brunswick, Maine, to determine the suitability and 
feasibility of establishing the site as a unit of the National Park 
System, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 783, to adjust the boundary of the Barataria Preserve Unit of the 
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in the State of 
Louisiana, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 827, to establish the Freedom's Way National Heritage Area in the 
States of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute;
  S. 832, to provide for the sale of approximately 25 acres of public 
land to the Turnabout Ranch, Escalante, Utah, at fair market value, 
with an amendment;
  S. 868, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate segments 
of the Taunton River in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a 
component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 900, to authorize the Boy Scouts of America to exchange certain 
land in the State of Utah acquired under the Recreation and Public 
Purposes Act, with an amendment;
  S. 1171, to amend the Colorado River Storage Project Act and Public 
Law 87-483 to authorize the construction and rehabilitation of water 
infrastructure in Northwestern New Mexico, to authorize the use of the 
reclamation fund to fund the Reclamation Water Settlements Fund, to 
authorize the conveyance of certain Reclamation land and 
infrastructure, to authorize the Commissioner of Reclamation to provide 
for the delivery of water, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 1281, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain 
rivers and streams of the headwaters of the Snake River System as 
additions to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  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, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute;
  S. 1633, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a 
special resource study to determine the suitability and feasibility of 
including the battlefield and related sites of the Battle of 
Shepherdstown in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, as part of Harpers Ferry 
National Historical Park or Antietam National Battlefield, with an 
amendment;
  S. 1929, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior, acting through 
the Commissioner of Reclamation, to conduct a feasibility study of 
water augmentation alternatives in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed;
  S. 2124, to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain 
land in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, Montana, to Jefferson 
County, Montana, for use as a cemetery;
  S. 2207, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to study the 
suitability and feasibility of designating Green McAdoo School in 
Clinton, Tennessee, as a unit of the National Park System, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2229, to withdraw certain Federal land in the Wyoming Range from 
leasing and provide an opportunity to retire certain leases in the 
Wyoming Range, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2254, to establish the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area in 
the State of Mississippi, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 2262, to authorize the Preserve America Program and Save America's 
Treasures Program, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2370, to clear title to certain real property in New Mexico 
associated with the Middle Rio Grande Project;
  S. 2379, to authorize the Secretary of Interior to cancel certain 
grazing leases on land in Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument that are 
voluntarily waived by the lessees, to provide for the exchange of

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certain Monument land in exchange for private land, to designate 
certain Monument land as wilderness, with an amendment in the nature of 
a substitute;
  S. 2512, to establish the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area in 
the State of Mississippi, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 2513, to modify the boundary of the Minute Man National Historical 
Park;
  S. 2593, to establish a program at the Forest Service and the 
Department of the Interior to carry out collaborative ecological 
restoration treatments for priority forest landscapes on public land, 
with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2604, to establish the Baltimore National Heritage Area in the 
State of Maryland, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2804, to adjust the boundary of the Everglades National Park, with 
an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2814, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide 
financial assistance to the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water Authority 
for the planning, design, and construction of the Eastern New Mexico 
Rural Water System;
  S. 2833, to provide for the management of certain public land in 
Owyhee County, Idaho, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 123, to authorize appropriations for the San Gabriel Basin 
Restoration Fund;
  H.R. 189, to establish the Paterson Great Falls National Historical 
Park in the State of New Jersey, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  H.R. 356, to remove certain restrictions on the Mammoth Community 
Water District's ability to use certain property acquired by that 
District from the United States, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  H.R. 523, to require the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain 
public land located wholly or partially within the boundaries of the 
Wells Hydroelectric Project of Public Utility District No. 1 of Douglas 
County, Washington, to the utility district;
  H.R. 1285, to provide for the conveyance of a parcel of National 
Forest System land in Kittitas County, Washington, to facilitate the 
construction of a new fire and rescue station;
  H.R. 1311, to provide for the conveyance of the Alta-Hualapai Site to 
the Nevada Cancer Institute;
  H.R. 1483, to amend the Onmibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act 
of 1996 to extend the authorization for certain national heritage 
areas, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 1528, to amend the National Trails System Act to designate the 
New England National Scenic Trail, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  H.R. 1725, to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study 
and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to 
participate in the Rancho California Water District Southern Riverside 
County Recycle/Non-Potable Distribution Facilities and 
Demineralization/Desalination Recycled Water Treatment Facility 
Project;
  H.R. 1855, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior, acting through 
the Bureau of Reclamation to enter into a cooperative agreement with 
the Madera Irrigation District for purposes of supporting the Madera 
Water Supply Enhancement Project;
  H.R. 2085, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey to 
the McGee Creek Authority certain facilities of the McGee Creek 
Project, Oklahoma;
  H.R. 2197, to modify the boundary of the Hopewell Culture National 
Historical Park in the State of Ohio;
  H.R. 2515, to authorize appropriations for the Bureau of Reclamation 
to carry out the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation 
Program in the States of Arizona, California, and Nevada, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 2627, to establish the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in 
the State of New Jersey as the successor to the Edison National 
Historic Site, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 3332, to provide for the establishment of a memorial within 
Kalaupapa National Historical Park located on the island of Molokai, in 
the State of Hawaii, to honor and perpetuate the memory of those 
individuals who were forcibly relocated to the Kalaupapa Peninsula from 
1866 to 1969;
  H.R. 3998, to establish a National Commission on the Infrastructure 
of the United States, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 5151, to designate as wilderness additional National Forest 
System Lands in the Monongahela National Forest in the State of West 
Virginia, with amendments; and
  The nominations of Kameran L. Onley, of Washington, to be an 
Assistant Secretary of the Interior, and Jeffrey F. Kupfer, of 
Maryland, to be Deputy Secretary of Energy.
SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATORY DECISIONS
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Subcommittee on Public 
Sector Solutions to Global Warming, Oversight, and Children's Health 
Protection concluded an oversight hearing to examine science and 
environmental regulatory decisions, after receiving testimony from 
George Gray, Assistant Administrator for Research and Development, 
Environmental Protection Agency; Francesca T. Grifo, Union of Concerned 
Scientists, David Michaels,

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George Washington University Department of Environmental and 
Occupational Health, and John M. Balbus, Environmental Defense Fund, 
all of Washington, D.C.; Paul Gilman, Covanta Energy, Fairfield, New 
Jersey; George D. Thurston, New York University School of Medicine, 
Tuxedo, New York, on behalf of the American Lung Association; Lorenz R. 
Rhomberg, Gradient Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Roger O. 
McClellan, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the nominations of Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat, of New 
Jersey, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Senegal, and to serve 
concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador to the 
Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Gillian Arlette Milovanovic, of 
Pennsylvania, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Mali, who was 
introduced by Representative Pomeroy, Donald Gene Teitelbaum, of Texas, 
to be Ambassador to the Republic of Ghana, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, of 
Louisiana, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Liberia, Peter William 
Bodde, of Maryland, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Malawi, Donald 
E. Booth, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Zambia, 
Marianne Matuzic Myles, of New York, to be Ambassador to the Republic 
of Cape Verde, Stephen James Nolan, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to 
the Republic of Botswana, and Patricia McMahon Hawkins, of Virginia, to 
be Ambassador to the Togolese Republic, all of the Department of State, 
after the nominees testified and answered questions in their own 
behalf.
TREATIES
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of 
Nuclear Terrorism (the ``Convention''), adopted by the United Nations 
General Assembly on April 13, 2005, and signed on behalf of the United 
States of America on September 14, 2005 (Treaty Doc. 110-04), Amendment 
to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (the 
``Amendment''). A conference of States Parties to the Convention on the 
Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, adopted on October 28, 1979, 
adopted the Amendment on July 8, 2005, at the International Atomic 
Energy Agency in Vienna (Treaty Doc. 110-06), and the Protocol of 2005 
to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the 
Safety of Maritime Navigation (the ``2005 SUA Protocol'') and the 
Protocol of 2005 to the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts 
against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf 
(the ``2005 Fixed Platforms Protocol'') (together, ``the Protocols''), 
adopted by the International Maritime Organization Diplomatic 
Conference in London on October 14, 2005, and signed by the United 
States of America on February 17, 2006 (Treaty Doc. 110-08), after 
receiving testimony from John C. Demers, Deputy Assistant Attorney 
General, National Security Division, Department of Justice; Patricia A. 
McNerney, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for 
International Security and Nonproliferation; and Richard Douglas, 
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counter-Narcotics, Counter-
Proliferation and Global Threats.
FUEL SUBSIDIES
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine fuel subsidies relating to food supply 
and prices, after receiving testimony from Andrew Siegel, When Pigs 
Fly, Inc., York, Maine; Bruce A. Babcock, Iowa State University Center 
for Agricultural and Rural Development, Ames; and David Beckmann, Bread 
for the World, and Mark W. Rosegrant, International Food Policy 
Research Institute, both of Washington, D.C.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded open and closed 
hearings to examine the nominations of Helene N. White, and Raymond M. 
Kethledge, both of Michigan, each to be a United States Circuit Judge 
for the Sixth Circuit, and Stephen Joseph Murphy, III, to be United 
States District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan, who were 
introduced by Senators Levin and Stabenow, after each nominee testified 
and answered questions in their own behalf.
ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT IN AGRICULTURE
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition 
Policy and Consumer Rights concluded a hearing to examine antitrust 
enforcement in the agriculture marketplace, focusing on recent 
acquisitions, challenges and opportunities in international markets, 
major technological changes, and major concerns of the business 
relationships between the producers and processors, including S. 1759, 
to provide for the review of agricultural mergers and acquisitions by 
the Department of Justice, after receiving testimony from Douglas Ross, 
Special Counsel for Agriculture, Antitrust Division, Department of 
Justice; Peter C. Carstensen, University of Wisconsin Law School, 
Madison; Wesley M. Batista, JBS Swift and Company, Greeley, Colorado; 
Steven D. Hunt, United States Premium Beef, Ltd., Kansas City, 
Missouri; Bill Bullard, Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United 
Stockgrowers of America

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(R-CALF USA), Billings, Montana; Dillon M. Feuz, Utah State University, 
Logan; Michael Stumo, Organization for Competitive Markets, Lincoln, 
Nebraska; and David A. Balto, Center for American Progress, Washington, 
D.C.
VETERANS BENEFITS LEGISLATION
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine pending veterans benefits legislation, including S. 22, to 
amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a program of 
educational assistance for members of the Armed Forces who serve in the 
Armed Forces after September 11, 2001, S. 961, to amend title 46, 
United States Code, to provide benefits to certain individuals who 
served in the United States merchant marine (including the Army 
Transport Service and the Naval Transport Service) during World War II, 
and S. 2674, to amend titles 10 and 38, United States Code, to improve 
and enhance procedures for the retirement of members of the Armed 
Forces for disability and to improve and enhance authorities for the 
rating and compensation of service-connected disabilities in veterans, 
after receiving testimony from Senators Nelson (NE) and Thune; 
Representative Filner; Keith R. Pedigo, Associate Deputy Under 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Policy and Program Management; Carl 
Blake, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and Richard Paul Cohen, National 
Organization of Veterans' Advocates, Inc., both of Washington, D.C.; 
Eric A. Hilleman, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Kansas 
City, Missouri; Raymond C. Kelley, AMVETS, Lanham, Maryland; Steve 
Smithson, American Legion, Indianapolis, Indiana; Joseph A. Violante, 
Disabled American Veterans, Cold Spring, Kentucky; Richard Weidman, 
Vietnam Veterans of America, Silver Spring, Maryland; H. Gerald 
Starnes, Saint Augustine, Florida; and Charles Dana Gibson, Camden, 
Maine.