[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 129 (Thursday, July 31, 2008)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D997-D1000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NORTH KOREAN SIX-PARTY TALKS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded open and closed 
hearings to examine the North Korean Six-Party Talks and implementation 
activities, after receiving testimony from Christopher R. Hill, 
Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific 
Affairs; William H. Tobey, Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear 
Nonproliferation, National Nuclear Security Administration, Department 
of Energy; and Joseph R. DeTrani, Mission Manager for North Korea, and 
Vann H. Van Diepen, National Intelligence Officer for Weapons of Mass 
Destruction and Proliferation, both of the Office of the Director of 
National Intelligence.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
nominations of General Norton A. Schwartz, USAF for reappointment to 
the grade of general and, to be Chief of Staff, United States Air 
Force, and General Duncan J. McNabb, USAF for reappointment to the 
grade of general and, to be Commander, United States Transportation 
Command, and 519 nominations in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine 
Corps, all of the Department of Defense.
NATION'S TRANSMISSION GRID
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the state of the nation's transmission grid, 
focusing on the implementation of the transmission provisions of the 
Energy Policy Act (Public Law 109-58), including reliability, siting, 
and infrastructure investment, after receiving testimony from Joseph T. 
Kelliher, Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Kevin

[[Page D998]]

M. Kolevar, Assistant Secretary of Energy for Electricity Delivery and 
Energy Reliability; Marsha H. Smith, Idaho Public Utilities Commission, 
Boise, on behalf of the National Association of Regulatory Utility 
Commissioners; James J. Hoecker, Working Group on Investment in 
Reliable and Economic Electric Systems (WIRES), Washington, D.C.; Colin 
Whitley, American Public Power Association, Wichita, Kansas; George C. 
Loehr, eLucem, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Terry Boston, PJM 
Interconnection, Norristown, Pennsylvania; and Susan Tomasky, American 
Electric Power, Columbus, Ohio.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following:
  S. 906, to prohibit the sale, distribution, transfer, and export of 
elemental mercury, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 3109, to amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to direct the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a 
hazardous waste electronic manifest system;
  S. 24, to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to require a health 
advisory and monitoring of drinking water for perchlorate, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 150, to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to protect the health of 
pregnant women, fetuses, infants, and children by requiring a health 
advisory and drinking water standard for perchlorate, with an amendment 
in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1911, to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to protect the health 
of susceptible populations, including pregnant women, infants, and 
children, by requiring a health advisory, drinking water standard, and 
reference concentration for trichloroethylene vapor intrusion;
  S. 1933, to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide grants to 
small public drinking water systems;
  S. 2549, to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency to establish an Interagency Working Group on Environmental 
Justice to provide guidance to Federal agencies on the development of 
criteria for identifying disproportionately high and adverse human 
health or environmental effects on minority populations and low-income 
populations;
  S. 642, to codify Executive Order 12898, relating to environmental 
justice, to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency to fully implement the recommendations of the Inspector General 
of the Agency and the Comptroller General of the United States;
  S. 199, to amend the Safe Drinking Water Amendments of 1996 to modify 
the grant program to improve sanitation in rural and Native villages in 
the State of Alaska;
  S. 2994, to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to provide 
for the remediation of sediment contamination in areas of concern.
HEALTH BENEFITS
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine health 
benefits in the tax code, focusing on government health expenditures 
and the increasing costs of health care plans, after receiving 
testimony from Edward D. Kleinbard, Chief of Staff, Joint Committee on 
Taxation, United States Congress; Jonathan Gruber, Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, Cambridge; and Katherine Baicker, Harvard 
University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
MILITARY ROLE IN FOREIGN POLICY
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine ways to define the military's role relative to foreign policy, 
after receiving testimony from John D. Negroponte, Deputy Secretary of 
State; Eric Edelman, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; George 
Rupp, International Rescue Committee, New York, New York; and Reuben E. 
Brigety, II, Center for American Progress, Robert M. Perito, United 
States Institute of Peace, and Mary Locke, all of Washington, D.C.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal 
Services, and International Security concluded a hearing to examine the 
state of information technology planning in the federal government, 
after receiving testimony from Karen S. Evans, Administrator, Office of 
E-Government and Information Technology, and Paul A. Denett, 
Administrator, Office of Federal Procurement Policy, both of the Office 
of Management and Budget; David A. Powner, Director, Information 
Technology Management Issues, Government Accountability Office; Tom 
Jarrett, Delaware Department of Technology and Information, Dover; Al 
Grasso, MITRE Corporation, McLean, Virginia; and Norm Brown, Center for 
Program Transformation, Arlington, Virginia.
FOREIGN ASSISTANCE BUREAUCRACY
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the 
District of Columbia concluded a hearing to examine the structures of 
the State Department responsible

[[Page D999]]

for coordinating U.S. foreign assistance, processes in place for 
implementing foreign assistance policy, the responsiveness of the 
organizational structures to the executive branch's foreign assistance 
policies, human capital issues, and any recommendations for improving 
the foreign assistance bureaucracy, after receiving testimony from 
Richard L. Greene, Deputy Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, 
Department of State; Leo Hindery, Jr., Commission on Helping to Enhance 
the Livelihood of People Around the Globe, New York, New York; and 
Gordon Adams, American University School of International Service, Anne 
C. Richards, International Rescue Committee, Samuel A. Worthington, 
InterAction, and Gerald F. Hyman, Center for Strategic and 
International Studies, all of Washington, D.C.
SURVIVORS OF CATASTROPHES
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Ad Hoc 
Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery concluded a joint hearing with the 
House Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency 
Communications, Preparedness to examine ways to ensure the delivery of 
donated goods to survivors of catastrophes, after receiving testimony 
from William Eric Smith, Assistant Administrator, Logistics Management 
Directorate, and Carlos J. Castillo, Assistant Administrator, Disaster 
Assistance Directorate, both of the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency, Department of Homeland Security; Barney L. Brasseux, Deputy 
Commissioner, Federal Acquisition Service, General Services 
Administration; Paul Rainwater, Louisiana Recovery Authorization, Baton 
Rouge; Bill Stallworth, East Biloxi Coordination and Relief Center, 
Biloxi, Mississippi; Valerie Keller, Outreach Center, Lafayette, 
Louisiana; and Oliver R. Davidson, Humane Society of the United States, 
Arlington, Virginia.
INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE MANAGEMENT
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded an oversight hearing 
to examine the management of the Indian Health Service, focusing on 
lost property, wasteful spending and document fabrication, after 
receiving testimony from Gregory D. Kutz, Managing Director, Forensic 
Audits and Special Investigations, Government Accountability Office; 
and Robert G. McSwain, Director, and Fernand R. Verrier, former Deputy 
Director of the Office of Finance and Accounting, and Chief Financial 
Officer, both of the Indian Health Service, Department of Health and 
Human Services.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following:
  S. 952, to amend the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in 
National Environmental and Native American Public Policy Act of 1992 to 
provide funds for training in tribal leadership, management, and 
policy; and
   S. 3192, to amend the Act of August 9, 1955, to authorize the Cow 
Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, the Coquille Indian Tribe, and 
the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians of Oregon to obtain 99-
year lease authority for trust land, with an amendment in the nature of 
a substitute.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following:
  S. 3155, to reauthorize and improve the Juvenile Justice and 
Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, with amendments;
  S. 3061, to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2008 through 
2011 for the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, to enhance 
measures to combat trafficking in persons, with an amendment;
  S. Res. 620, designating the week of September 14-20, 2008, as 
National Polycystic Kidney Disease Awareness Week, to raise public 
awareness and understanding of polycystic kidney disease, and to foster 
understanding of the impact polycystic kidney disease has on patients 
and future generations of their families;
  S. Res. 622, designating the week beginning September 7, 2008, as 
``National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week''; and
  S. Res. 624, designating August 2008 as ``National Truancy Prevention 
Month''.
PENNSYLVANIA HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition 
Policy and Consumer Rights concluded a hearing to examine consolidation 
in the Pennsylvania health insurance industry, after receiving 
testimony from Joseph A. Frick, Independence Blue Cross, and Sam 
Marshall, Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania, both of Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania; Kenneth R. Melani, Highmark Inc., Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania; Carolyn F. Scanlan, Hospital and Healthsystem Association 
of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg; David Balto, Center for American Progress, 
Washington, D.C.; Henry S. Allen, American Medical Association, 
Chicago, Illinois; Michael B. Laign, Holy Redeemer Health System, 
Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania; and Henry Miller, Navigant Consulting, 
Inc., Baltimore, Maryland, on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania 
Medical Center Health Plan.

[[Page D1000]]


INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on 
intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the 
intelligence community.
  Committee recessed subject to call.
HEALTH CARE
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
aging in rural areas of the United States, focusing on preserving 
elderly citizens' access to health care, after receiving testimony from 
John Hammarlund, Regional Administrator, Seattle and Chicago Regional 
Offices, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, and Tom Morris, Associate 
Administrator, Office of Rural Health Policy, Health Resources and 
Services Administration, both of the Department of Health and Human 
Services; Margaret Davidson, National Association of Area Agencies on 
Aging (n4a), LeGrande, Oregon; Bill Finerfrock, National Association of 
Rural Health Clinics, Washington, D.C.; Scott Ekblad, Oregon Health and 
Science University, Portland; Dennis E. Burke, Good Shepherd Health 
Care System, Hermiston, Oregon; and Tim Size, Rural Wisconsin Health 
Cooperative, Sauk City.