[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 185 (Thursday, December 10, 2009)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D1441-D1443]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SAFETY
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Housing, Transportation and Community Development concluded a hearing 
to examine the Federal role in overseeing the safety of public 
transportation systems, after receiving testimony from Senator 
Mikulski; Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation; David J. Wise, 
Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues, Government Accountability 
Office; Brian Cristy, Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, 
Boston; and John B. Catoe, Jr., Washington Metropolitan Area Transit 
Authority, and William Millar, American Public Transportation 
Association, Washington, D.C.
DATA-DRIVEN PERFORMANCE
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine data-
driven performance, focusing on using technology to deliver results, 
after receiving testimony from Aneesh Chopra, Chief Technology Officer 
and Associate Director for Technology, Office of Science and Technology 
Policy; Vivek Kundra, Federal Chief Information Officer, Administrator 
for Electronic Government and Information Technology, Office of 
Management and Budget; Roger W. Baker, Assistant Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs for Information and Technology; and Brad Douglas, Georgia 
Department of Administrative Services Commissioner, Atlanta.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security concluded an oversight 
hearing to examine aviation safety, focusing on Federal Aviation 
Administration (FAA) safety initiatives, after receiving testimony from 
Randolph Babbitt, Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration, 
Department of Transportation.
GRID-SCALE ENERGY STORAGE
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the role of grid-scale energy storage in meeting our 
energy and climate goals, after receiving testimony from Steven E. 
Koonin, Under Secretary for Science, Jon Wellinghoff, Chairman, Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, Robert McGrath, Deputy Laboratory 
Director, Science and Technology, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 
and Elliot Mainzer, Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy, 
Bonneville Power Administration, all of the Department of Energy; Ralph 
D. Masiello, KEMA, Inc., Chalfont, Pennsylvania; and Kenneth Huber, PJM 
Interconnection, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following business items:
  S. 373, to amend title 18, United States Code, to include constrictor 
snakes of the species Python genera as an injurious animal, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1214, to conserve fish and aquatic communities in the United 
States through partnerships that foster fish habitat conservation, to 
improve the quality of life for the people of the United States, with 
an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1421, to amend section 42 of title 18, United States Code, to 
prohibit the importation and shipment of certain species of carp;
  S. 1519, to provide for the eradication and control of nutria in 
Maryland, Louisiana, and other coastal States;
  S. 1965, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide 
financial assistance to the State of Louisiana for a pilot program to 
develop measures to eradicate or control feral swine and to assess and 
restore wetlands damaged by feral swine;
  H.R. 509, to reauthorize the Marine Turtle Conservation Act of 2004;
  H.R. 2188, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior, through the 
United States Fish and Wildlife Service, to conduct a Joint Venture 
Program to protect, restore, enhance, and manage migratory bird 
populations, their habitats, and the ecosystems they rely on, through 
voluntary actions on public and private lands;
  H.R. 3433, to amend the North American Wetlands Conservation Act to 
establish requirements regarding payment of the non-Federal share of 
the costs of wetlands conservation projects in Canada that are funded 
under that Act;

[[Page D1442]]


  H.R. 3537, to amend and reauthorize the Junior Duck Stamp 
Conservation and Design Program Act of 1994;
  S. 1397, to authorize the Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection Agency to award grants for electronic device recycling 
research, development, and demonstration projects, with an amendment in 
the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1660, to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to reduce the 
emissions of formaldehyde from composite wood products, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  A proposed resolution relating to Army Corps study for Espanola 
Valley, Rio Grande and Tributaries, New Mexico; and
  A proposed resolution relating to the General Services 
Administration.
DEFENSE TRADE COOPERATION TREATIES
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine Treaty Between the Government of the United States of America 
and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern 
Ireland Concerning Defense Trade Cooperation, done at Washington and 
London on June 21 and 26, 2007 (Treaty Doc. 110-07), and Treaty Between 
the Government of the United States of America and the Government of 
Australia Concerning Defense Trade Cooperation, done at Sydney, 
September 5, 2007 (Treaty Doc. 110-10), after receiving testimony from 
Andrew Shapiro, Assistant Secretary of State; and James A. Baker, 
Associate Deputy Attorney General, Department of Justice.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine the nominations of Grayling Grant 
Williams, of Maryland, to be Director of the Office of Counternarcotics 
Enforcement, and Elizabeth M. Harman, of Maryland, to be an Assistant 
Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, both of the 
Department of Homeland Security, after the nominees testified and 
answered questions in their own behalf.
NEEDS OF CHILDREN IN DISASTERS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Ad Hoc 
Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery concluded a hearing to examine 
children and disasters, focusing on a progress report on addressing 
needs, after receiving testimony from Craig Fugate, Federal Emergency 
Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security; Nicole Lurie, 
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, RADM, U.S. Public 
Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services; William 
Modzeleski, Associate Assistant Deputy Secretary, Office of Safe and 
Drug-Free Schools, Department of Education; Paul G. Pastorek, Louisiana 
State Superintendant of Education, Baton Rouge; Mark K. Shriver, 
National Commission on Children and Disasters, and Matt Salo, National 
Governors Association, both of Washington, D.C.; Melissa Reeves, 
National Association of School Psychologists, Bethesda, Maryland; and 
Douglas W. Walker, Project Fleur-de-lis, New Orleans, Louisiana.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the nominations of Jacqueline A. Berrien, of New 
York, Victoria A. Lipnic, of Virginia, and Chai Rachel Feldblum, of 
Maryland, each to be a Member, and P. David Lopez, of Arizona, to be 
General Counsel, all of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 
Patrick Alfred Corvington, of Maryland, to be Chief Executive Officer 
of the Corporation for National and Community Service, Adele Logan 
Alexander, of the District of Columbia, to be a Member of the National 
Council on the Humanities, Lynnae M. Ruttledge, of Washington, to be 
Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration, Department 
of Education, and Sara Manzano-Diaz, of Pennsylvania, to be Director of 
the Women's Bureau, Department of Labor.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. 448, to maintain the free flow of information to the public by 
providing conditions for the federally compelled disclosure of 
information by certain persons connected with the news media, with 
amendments; and
  The nominations of Rosanna Malouf Peterson, to be United States 
District Judge for the Eastern District of Washington, William M. 
Conley, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of 
Wisconsin, Denny Chin, of New York, to be United States Circuit Judge 
for the Second Circuit, Paul R. Verkuil, of Florida, to be Chairman of 
the Administrative Conference of the United States, and John Gibbons, 
to be United States Marshal for the District of Massachusetts, Richard 
G. Callahan, to be United States Attorney for the Eastern District of 
Missouri, and John Leroy Kammerzell, to be United States Marshal for 
the District of Colorado, all of the Department of Justice.
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.

[[Page D1443]]


BUSINESS MEETING
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the nominations of Caryn A. Wagner, of Virginia, to be Under Secretary 
of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis, and Philip S. 
Goldberg, of the District of Columbia, to be Assistant Secretary of 
State for Intelligence and Research.