[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 143 (Wednesday, September 10, 2008)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D1061-D1062]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Defense approved for full 
Committee consideration an original bill making appropriations for the 
Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009.
PREPAID CALLING CARD MARKET
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine ways to improve consumer protection in the prepaid 
calling card market, including S. 2998, to require accurate and 
reasonable disclosure of the terms and conditions of prepaid telephone 
calling cards and services, after receiving testimony from 
Representative Engel; William Kovacic, Chairman, Federal Trade 
Commission; Sally Greenberg, National Consumers League, and Gus West, 
Hispanic Institute, both of Washington, D.C.; and Patricia L. Acampora, 
New York State Public Service Commission, on behalf of the National 
Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, and Rosemary O'Brien, 
Military Marketing, both of New York, New York.
HIGHWAY BRIDGE PROGRAM
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine improving the Federal Highway Bridge Program, 
focusing on an assessment of S. 3338, to amend title 23, United States 
Code, to improve the safety of Federal-aid highway bridges, to 
strengthen bridge inspection standards and processes, to increase 
investment in the reconstruction of structurally deficient bridges on 
the National Highway System, and H.R. 3999, to amend title 23, United 
States Code, to improve the safety of Federal-aid highway bridges, to 
strengthen bridge inspection standards and processes, to increase 
investment in the reconstruction of structurally deficient bridges on 
the National Highway System, after receiving testimony from Thomas J. 
Madison, Jr., Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, Department 
of Transportation; Katherine Siggerud, Managing Director, Physical 
Infrastructure Issues, Government Accountability Office; Gary M. 
Ridley, Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Oklahoma City, on behalf 
of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation 
Officials; Andrew Herrmann, Hardesty and Hanover, LLP, New York, New 
York, on behalf of the American Society of Civil Engineers; and John 
Krieger, United States Public Interest Research Group, Washington, D.C.
BOTTLED WATER ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Subcommittee on 
Transportation Safety, Infrastructure Security, and Water Quality 
concluded a hearing to examine the quality and environmental impacts of 
bottled water, after receiving testimony from Emily Lloyd, New York 
City Department of Environmental Protection, Flushing, New York; Mae 
Wu, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Wenonah Hauter, Food and 
Water Watch, both of Washington, D.C.; Stephen C. Edberg, Yale 
University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; and Joseph K. 
Doss, International Bottled Water Association, Alexandria, Virginia.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Finance: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following:
  S. 3038, to amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to 
extend the adoption incentives program, to authorize States to 
establish a relative guardianship program, to promote the adoption of 
children with special needs, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 1070, to amend the Social Security Act to enhance the social 
security of the Nation by ensuring adequate public-private 
infrastructure and to resolve to prevent, detect, treat, intervene in, 
and prosecute elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, with an amendment 
in the nature of a substitute; and
  S. 1577, to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to 
require screening, including national criminal history background 
checks, of direct patient access employees of skilled nursing 
facilities, nursing facilities, and other long-term care facilities and 
providers, and to provide for nationwide expansion of the pilot program 
for national and

[[Page D1062]]

State background checks on direct patient access employees of long-term 
care facilities or providers, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute.
ALBANIA AND CROATIA
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 on the 
Accession of the Republic of Albania and the Republic of Croatia 
adopted at Brussels on July 9, 2008, and signed that day on behalf of 
the United States and the other Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty 
(Treaty Doc. 110-20), after receiving testimony from Daniel Fried, 
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs; and 
Daniel P. Fata, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and North 
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Policy, Department of Defense.

NOMINATIONS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the nominations of Sung Y. Kim, of California, for the rank of 
Ambassador during his tenure of service as Special Envoy for the Six 
Party Talks, C. Steven McGann, of New York, to be Ambassador to the 
Republic of the Fiji Islands, and to serve concurrently and without 
additional compensation as Ambassador to the Republic of Nauru, the 
Kingdom of Tonga, Tuvalu, and the Republic of Kiribati, and Carol Ann 
Rodley, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia, after 
the nominees testified and answered questions in their own behalf.
DEFENSE CONTRACT AUDIT AGENCY
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine audits at the Defense Contract Audit 
Agency, after receiving testimony from Diem Thi Le, Senior Auditor, 
Paul Hackler, Supervisory Auditor, and April G. Stephenson, Director, 
all of the Defense Contract Audit Agency, and Gordon S. Heddell, Acting 
Inspector General, all of the Department of Defense; and Gregory D. 
Kutz, Managing Director, Forensic Audits and Special Investigations, 
and Gayle L. Fischer, Assistant Director, Financial Management and 
Assurance Team, both of the Government Accountability Office.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TRANSITION
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 managing the 
challenges of the Federal government transition, focusing on assessing 
the readiness and planning for the transition and identifying critical 
needs for the next Administration to address, after receiving testimony 
from Gene L. Dodaro, Acting Comptroller General of the United States, 
Government Accountability Office; Clay Johnson, III, Deputy Director 
for Management, Office of Management and Budget; Robert I. Cusick, 
Director, United States Office of Government Ethics; and Gail T. 
Lovelace, Chief Human Capital Officer, General Services Administration.
COMBATING VIOLENT CRIME
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
new strategies for combating violent crime, focusing on drawing lessons 
from recent experience, after receiving testimony from Dean M. 
Esserman, Providence Police Department, Providence, Rhode Island; 
Alfred Blumstein, Carnegie Mellon University H. John Heinz III School 
of Public Policy and Management, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Jeremy 
Travis, City University of New York John Jay College of Criminal 
Justice, New York, New York; James A. Summey, English Road Baptist 
Church, High Point, North Carolina; and George L. Kelling, Rutgers 
University Manhattan Institute, Newark, New Jersey.