[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 113 (Thursday, July 10, 2008)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D869-D870]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
COMMODITY EXCHANGE ACT AMENDMENTS
Committee on Agriculture: Continued hearings to review legislation 
amending the Commodity Exchange Act. Testimony was heard from public 
witnesses.
  Hearings continue tomorrow.
CFTC
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural 
Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies held a 
hearing on the CFTC. Testimony was heard from Walter L. Lukken, Acting 
Chairman, CFTC; and public witnesses.
ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE ATTACK THREAT
Committee on Armed Services: Held a hearing on threat posed by 
Electromagnetic Pulse Attack. Testimony was heard from William R. 
Graham, Chair, Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States 
from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack.
AIR FORCE AERIAL REFUELING TANKER REPLACEMENT
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces held a 
hearing on the source selection and path forward regarding the Air 
Force KC-(X) Program. Testimony was heard from the following officials 
of the GAO: Daniel Gordon, Deputy General Counsel; and Michael Golden, 
Managing Associate General Counsel, Procurement Law Division; and John 
J. Young, Jr., Under Secretary, Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, 
Department of Defense.
PRISONER OF WAR/MISSING PERSONNEL ACTIVITIES
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Military Personnel held an 
oversight and status hearing of POW-MIA activities. Testimony was heard 
from .the following officials of the Department of Defense: RADM Donna 
L. Crisp, USN, Commander, Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command; and Charles 
A. Ray, Deputy Assistant Secretary, POW/Missing Personnel Affairs.
CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE EARLY DEPLOYMENT ACT
Committee on Energy and Commerce: Subcommittee on Energy and Air 
Quality held a hearing on H.R. 6258, Carbon Capture and Storage Early 
Deployment Act. Testimony was heard from James Y. Kerr II, 
Commissioner, Utilities Commission, State of North Carolina; and public 
witnesses.
FINANCIAL MARKETS
Committee on Financial Services: Held a hearing entitled ``Systemic 
Risk and the Financial Markets.'' Testimony was heard from Henry M. 
Paulson, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury; and Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman, 
Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System.
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT POLITICIZATION
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Commercial and 
Administrative Law held a hearing on the Politicization of the Justice 
Department and Allegations of Selective Prosecution. Karl Rove, former 
White House Deputy Chief of Staff, refused to appear to answer 
questions in accordance with his obligations under the subpoena served 
on him on May 22, 2008, based on claims of Executive Privilege.
  The Chair ruled that those claims are not legally valid and that Mr. 
Rove is required pursuant to the subpoena to be present at this hearing 
and to answer questions or to assert privilege with respect to specific 
questions.
IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT AMENDMENTS; PRIVATE RELIEF MEASURES
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, 
Refugees, Border Security, and International Law approved for full 
Committee action H.R. 6034, To amend the Immigration and Nationality 
Act to provide for relief to surviving spouses and children.
  The Subcommittee also approved private relief measures.
GLOBAL BIRD POPULATION DECLINE
Committee on Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and 
Oceans held an oversight hearing entitled ``Going, Going, Gone? An 
Assessment of the Global Decline in Bird Populations.'' Testimony was 
heard from Paul R. Schmidt, Assistant Director, Migratory Birds and 
State Programs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the 
Interior; David Erickson, Assistant Director, Department of 
Conservation, State of Missouri; and public witnesses.
MISCELLANEOUS MEASURES
Committee on Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests 
and Public Lands held a hearing on the following bills: H.R. 160, 
Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Battlefield Protection Act; H.R. 
1847, National Trails System Willing Seller Act; H.R. 2933, Civil War 
Battlefield Preservation Act of

[[Page D870]]

2007; H.R. 3299, To provide for a boundary adjustment and land 
conveyance involving Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado, to correct 
the effects of an erroneous land survey that resulted in approximately 
7 acres of the Crystal Lakes Subdivision, Ninth Filing, encroaching on 
National Forest System land; H.R. 3336, Camp Hale Historic District 
Study Act; H.R. 3849, Box Elder Utah Land Conveyance Act; H.R. 5263, 
Forest Landscape Restoration Act; H.R. 5751, Walnut Canyon Study Act of 
2008; and H.R. 6177, Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River Extension Act of 
2008. Testimony was heard from Representatives Pastor, Rodriguez, Gary 
G. Miller of California, and Musgrave; Sally Collins, Associate Chief, 
Forest Service, USDA; Stephen E. Whitesell, Associate Director, Park 
Planing, Facilities, and Lands, National Park Service, Department of 
the Interior; former Representative J. Alex McMillan III, of North 
Carolina; and public witnesses.
THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN/MINORITY OPPORTUNITIES
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: Subcommittee on Federal 
Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia held a hearing 
on Investing in the Future: Minority Opportunities and the TSP. 
Testimony was heard from Gregory T. Long, Executive Director, Federal 
Retirement Thrift Investment Board; and public witnesses.
REDUCING CENSUS 2010 UNDERCOUNT
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: Subcommittee on 
Information Policy, Census, and National Archives held a hearing on 
2010 Census: Using the Communication Campaign to Effectively Reduce the 
Undercount. Testimony was heard from Stephen H. Murdock, Director, 
Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce; and public witnesses.
COASTLINES' HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS
Committee on Science and Technology: Subcommittee on Energy and 
Environment held a hearing on Harmful Algal Blooms: The Challenges on 
the Nation's Coastlines. Testimony was heard from Robert Magnien, 
Director, Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research, NOAA, Department 
of Commerce; Dan Ayres, Coastal Shellfish Manager and Lead Biologist, 
Department of Fish and Wildlife Region Six Office, State of Washington; 
and public witnesses.
GREEN TECHNOLOGIES SPURRING ECONOMIC GROWTH
Committee on Small Business: Held a hearing on the Role of Green 
Technologies in Spurring Economic Growth. Testimony was heard from 
public witnesses.
VETERAN INDEPENDENT LIVING
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity 
held a hearing on Independent Living. Testimony was heard from Ruth 
Fanning, Director, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service, 
Veterans Benefits Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs; 
representatives of veterans organizations; and public witnesses.
VETERANS HEALTH MEASURES
Committee on Veterans Affairs: Subcommittee on Health approved for full 
Committee action the following bills: H.R. 1527, amended, Rural 
Veterans Access to Care Act; H.R. 6114, Simplifying and Updating 
National Standards to Encourage Testing of the Human Immunodeficiency 
Virus of 2008; H.R. 6122, Veterans Pain Care Act of 2008; H.R. 6366, 
Veterans Revenue Enhancement Act of 2008; H.R. 6439, Mental Health for 
Heroes' Families Act of 2008; and H.R. 6445, To amend title 38, United 
States Code, to prohibit the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from 
collecting certain copayments from veterans who are catastrophically 
disabled.
BRIEFING--IC HUMINT
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence: Subcommittee on Terrorism, 
Human Intelligence, Analysis and Counterintelligence met in executive 
session to receive a briefing on IC HUMINT. The Subcommittee was 
briefed by departmental witnesses.
EXTREME WEATHER--GLOBAL WARMING EFFECTS
Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming: Held a 
hearing entitled ``Global Warming Effects on Extreme Weather.'' 
Testimony was heard from Angela Licata, Deputy Commissioner, Bureau of 
Environmental Planning and Analysis, New York City; and public 
witnesses.

Joint Meetings
RETIREMENT SECURITY
Joint Economic Committee: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
public pension plans, focusing on the need to strengthen retirement 
security and economic growth, after receiving testimony from Barbara D. 
Bovbjerg, Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security, 
Government Accountability Office; William Pryor, Los Angeles County 
Employees Retirement Association Board of Investments, Pasadena, 
California, on behalf of the National Conference on Public Employee 
Retirement Systems; Sherrill Neff, Quaker BioVentures, Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania; and Christian E. Weller, University of Massachusetts 
Boston, on behalf of the Center for American Progress.