[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 83 (Tuesday, May 20, 2008)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D631-D633]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Defense concluded a 
hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2009 for 
the Department of Defense, after receiving testimony from Robert M. 
Gates, Secretary, and Admiral Michael G. Mullen, USN, Chairman, Joint 
Chiefs of Staff, both of the Department of Defense.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following:
  H.R. 634, to require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in 
commemoration of veterans who became disabled for life while serving in 
the Armed Forces of the United States, with an amendment;
  An original bill entitled ``Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform 
Act''; and
  An original bill to make certain technical corrections to Title III 
of SAFETEA-LU.
ECONOMIC IMPACTS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine energy and related economic effects of global 
climate change legislation, including S. 1766, to reduce greenhouse gas 
emissions from the production and use of energy, and S. 2191, to direct 
the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a 
program to decrease emissions of greenhouse gases, focusing on 
containing the costs of a cap-and-trade program for carbon dioxide 
emissions, after receiving testimony from Brent Yacobucci and Larry 
Parker, both Specialists in Energy and Environmental Policy, Resource, 
Science, and Industry Division, Congressional Research Service, Library 
of Congress; Howard Gruenspecht, Deputy Administrator, Energy 
Information Administration, Department of Energy; Brian J. McLean, 
Director, Office of Atmospheric Programs, Office of Air and Radiation, 
Environmental Protection Agency; and Peter R. Orszag, Director, 
Congressional Budget Office.
TREATIES
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the Agreement on Extradition between the United States of 
America and the European Union (EU), signed on June 25, 2003 at 
Washington, together with twenty-two bilateral instruments which 
subsequently were signed between the United States and each European 
Union Member State in order to implement the Agreement with the EU. The 
Agreement includes an explanatory note which is an integral part of the 
Agreement (Treaty Doc.109-14), Extradition Treaty between the United 
States of America and the Government of the Republic of Latvia, signed 
on December 7, 2005, at Riga (Treaty Doc.109-15), Extradition Treaty 
between the United States of America and the Government of the Republic 
of Estonia, signed on February 8, 2006, at Tallinn (Treaty Doc.109-16), 
Extradition Treaty between the United States of America and the 
Government of Malta, signed on May 18, 2006, at Valletta, that includes 
an exchange of letters that is an integral part of the treaty (Treaty 
Doc.109-17), Extradition Treaty between the United States of America 
and Romania (the ``Extradition Treaty'' or the ``Treaty'') and the 
Protocol to the Treaty between the United States of America and Romania 
on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (the ``Protocol''), both 
signed at Bucharest on September 10, 2007 (Treaty Doc.110-11), 
Extradition Treaty between the Government of the United States of 
America and the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria (the 
``Extradition Treaty'' or the ``Treaty'') and the Agreement on Certain 
Aspects of Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between the 
Government of the United States of America and the Government of the 
Republic of Bulgaria (the ``MLA Agreement''), both signed at Sofia on 
September 19, 2007 (Treaty Doc.110-12), Treaty Between the Government 
of the United States of America and the Government of the Kingdom of 
Sweden on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, signed at 
Stockholm on December 17, 2001 (Treaty Doc.107-12), Mutual Legal 
Assistance between the United States of America and the European Union 
(EU), signed on June 25, 2003, at Washington, together with 25 
bilateral instruments that subsequently were signed between the United 
States and each European Union Member State in order to implement the 
Agreement with the EU, and an explanatory note that is an integral part 
of the Agreement (Treaty Doc.109-13), and Treaty between the United 
States of America and Malaysia on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal 
Matters, signed on July 28, 2006, at Kuala Lumpur (Treaty Doc.109-22), 
after receiving testimony from Susan Biniaz, Deputy Legal Adviser, 
Department of State;

[[Page D632]]

and Bruce C. Swartz, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal 
Division, Department of Justice.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following:
  H.R. 3913, to amend the International Center Act to authorize the 
lease or sublease of certain property described in such Act to an 
entity other than a foreign government or international organization if 
certain conditions are met;
  S. Res. 550, expressing the sense of the Senate regarding provocative 
and dangerous statements made by the Government of the Russian 
Federation that undermine the territorial integrity of the Republic of 
Georgia;
  S. 3024, to authorize grants to the Eurasia Foundation; and
  The nominations of Gillian Arlette Milovanovic, of Pennsylvania, to 
be Ambassador to the Republic of Mali, Janice L. Jacobs, of Virginia, 
to be an Assistant Secretary (Bureau of Consular Affairs), T. Vance 
McMahan, of Texas, to be an Alternate Representative of the United 
States of America to the Sessions of the General Assembly of the United 
Nations, during his tenure of service as Representative of the United 
States of America on the Economic and Social Council of the United 
Nations, William J. Burns, of the District of Columbia, to be an Under 
Secretary (Political Affairs), Robert Stephen Beecroft, of California, 
to be Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, James B. 
Cunningham, of New York, to be Ambassador to Israel, Richard E. 
Hoagland, of the District of Columbia, to be Ambassador to the Republic 
of Kazakhstan, Joseph Evan LeBaron, of Oregon, to be Ambassador to the 
State of Qatar, 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, 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, Patricia McMahon Hawkins, of 
Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Togolese Republic, 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, Richard A. Boucher, of Maryland, for the 
personal rank of Career Ambassador in recognition of especially 
distinguished service over a sustained period, Anne Woods Patterson, of 
Virginia, for the personal rank of Career Ambassador in recognition of 
especially distinguished service over a sustained period, and C. David 
Welch, of Virginia, for the personal rank of Career Ambassador in 
recognition of especially distinguished service over a sustained 
period, all of the Department of State, and certain promotion lists in 
the Foreign Service.
PAKISTAN
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South 
and Central Asian Affairs concluded a hearing to examine the terrorist 
threat in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), 
focusing on securing one of the world's most dangerous regions, after 
receiving testimony from John D. Negroponte, Deputy Secretary of State; 
and Gene L. Dodaro, Acting Comptroller General, Government 
Accountability Office.
COMMODITY MARKETS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine financial speculation in commodity 
markets, focusing on whether institutional investors and hedge funds 
are contributing to food and energy price inflation, after receiving 
testimony from Jeffrey Harris, Chief Economist, Commodity Futures 
Trading Commission; Michael W. Masters, Masters Capital Management, 
LLC, Atlanta, Georgia; Thomas Erickson, Commodity Markets Council, and 
Tom Buis, National Farmers Union, both of Washington, D.C.; and Benn 
Steil, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, New York.
WORKERS RIGHTS/WARN ACT
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine plant closings, focusing on workers 
rights and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) 
(Public Law 100-379) Act's 20th anniversary, after receiving testimony 
from John C. Philo, Maurice and Jane Sugar Law Center for Economic and 
Social Justice, Detroit, Michigan; Richard L. Trumka, American 
Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), 
Washington, D.C.; Stefan Jan Marculewicz, Miles and Stockbridge, P.C., 
Baltimore, Maryland; and Joe Aguiar, Fall River, Massachusetts.
GLOBAL INTERNET FREEDOM
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law 
concluded a hearing to examine global internet freedom, focusing on 
corporate responsibility and the rule of law, after receiving testimony 
from Nicole Wong, Google, Inc., Mountain View, California; Michael 
Samway, Yahoo! Inc., Miami, Florida; Arvind Ganesan, Human Rights

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Watch, Washington, D.C.; Mark Chandler, Cisco Systems, Inc., San Jose, 
California; and Shiyu Zhou, Global Internet Freedom Consortium, 
Bethesda, Maryland.
AMERICANS' RIGHT TO VOTE
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
protecting the constitutional right to vote for all Americans, after 
receiving testimony from J. Bradley King, Office of the Secretary of 
State of Indiana Election Division, Indianapolis; Jonah H. Goldman, 
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Cleta Mitchell, Foley 
and Lardner, LLP, both of Washington, D.C.; Pamela S. Karlan, Stanford 
Law School, Stanford, California; and John Payton, National Association 
for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and 
Educational Fund, Inc., New York, New York.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on 
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the 
intelligence community.
  Committee recessed subject to the call.