[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 191 (Wednesday, December 16, 2009)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D1475-D1478]
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 Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following business items:
  H.R. 310, to provide for the conveyance of approximately 140 acres of 
land in the Ouachita National Forest in Oklahoma to the Indian Nations 
Council, Inc., of the Boy Scouts of America;
  H.R. 511, to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to terminate 
certain easements held by the Secretary on land owned by the Village of 
Caseyville, Illinois, and to terminate associated contractual 
arrangements with the Village;
  S. Res. 374, recognizing the cooperative efforts of hunters, 
sportsmen's associations, meat processors, hunger relief organizations, 
and State wildlife, health, and food safety agencies to establish 
programs that provide game meat to feed the hungry;
  A resolution to authorize watershed projects in Massachusetts and 
West Virginia; and
  The nomination of Jill Long Thompson, of Indiana, to be a Member of 
the Farm Credit Administration Board, Farm Credit Administration.

Also, committee announced the following subcommittee assignments:
Subcommittee on Rural Revitalization, Conservation, Forestry and 
Credit: Senators Stabenow (Chair), Leahy, Harkin, Nelson (NE), Casey, 
Bennet, Cornyn, Cochran, McConnell, Grassley, and Thune.
Subcommittee on Energy, Science and Technology: Senators Bennet 
(Chair), Conrad, Nelson (NE), Brown, Klobuchar, Stabenow, Gillibrand, 
Thune, Lugar, Roberts, Johanns, Grassley, and Cornyn.
Subcommittee on Hunger, Nutrition, and Family Farms: Senators Brown 
(Chair), Leahy, Harkin, Baucus, Stabenow, Casey, Klobuchar, Bennet, 
Gillibrand, Lugar, Cochran, McConnell, and Cornyn.
Subcommittee on Production, Income Protection and Price Support: 
Senators Casey (Chair), Leahy, Harkin, Conrad, Baucus, Brown, Roberts, 
Cochran, Johanns, Grassley, and Thune.
Subcommittee on Domestic and Foreign Marketing, Inspection, and Plant & 
Animal Health: Senators Gillibrand (Chair), Conrad, Baucus, Nelson 
(NE), Klobuchar, Johanns, Lugar, McConnell, and Roberts.

Senator Lincoln and Senator Chambliss serve as ex officio members of 
all subcommittees.
JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER PROGRAM
Committee on Armed Services: Committee met in closed session to receive 
a briefing on the assessment by the Joint Estimating Team of the F-35 
Joint Strike Fighter Program, after receiving testimony from Ashton B. 
Carter, Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, 
Christine H. Fox, Director, and Frederick Janicki, Division Director, 
Weapons Systems Cost Analysis Division, both of the Office of Cost 
Assessment and Program Evaluation, and Major General David R. Heinz, 
USMC, Program Executive Officer, Joint Strike Fighter Program, all of 
the Department of Defense.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following business items:

[[Page D1476]]


  S. Res. 275, honoring the Minute Man National Historical Park on the 
occasion of its 50th anniversary;
  S. Res. 297, to recognize the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve as a 
unique and precious ecosystem;
  S. 409, to secure Federal ownership and management of significant 
natural, scenic, and recreational resources, to provide for the 
protection of cultural resources, to facilitate the efficient 
extraction of mineral resources by authorizing and directing an 
exchange of Federal and non-Federal land, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute;
  S. 522, to resolve the claims of the Bering Straits Native 
Corporation and the State of Alaska to land adjacent to Salmon Lake in 
the State of Alaska and to provide for the conveyance to the Bering 
Straits Native Corporation of certain other public land in partial 
satisfaction of the land entitlement of the Corporation under the 
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, with an amendment in the nature of 
a substitute;
  S. 555, to provide for the exchange of certain land located in the 
Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forests in the State of Colorado, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 721, to expand the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in the State of 
Washington, to designate the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River and Pratt 
River as wild and scenic rivers, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 782, to provide for the establishment of the National Volcano 
Early Warning and Monitoring System, with an amendment in the nature of 
a substitute;
  S. 853, to designate additional segments and tributaries of White 
Clay Creek, in the States of Delaware and Pennsylvania, as a component 
of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, with amendments;
  S. 874, to establish El Rio Grande Del Norte National Conservation 
Area in the State of New Mexico, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 940, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey to the 
Nevada System of Higher Education certain Federal land located in Clark 
and Nye counties, Nevada, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 1053, to amend the National Law Enforcement Museum Act to extend 
the termination date;
  S. 1139, to require the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into a 
property conveyance with the city of Wallowa, Oregon, with an amendment 
in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1140, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain 
Federal land to Deschutes County, Oregon, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute;
  S. 1369, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate 
segments of the Molalla River in the State of Oregon, as components of 
the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, with an amendment;
  S. 1405, to redesignate the Longfellow National Historic Site, 
Massachusetts, as the ``Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters 
National Historic Site'';
  S. 1453, to amend Public Law 106-392 to maintain annual base funding 
for the Bureau of Reclamation for the Upper Colorado River and San Juan 
fish recovery programs through fiscal year 2023;
  S. 1672, to reauthorize the National Oilheat Research Alliance Act of 
2000;
  S. 1757, to provide for the prepayment of a repayment contract 
between the United States and the Uintah Water Conservancy District;
  S. 1759, to authorize certain transfers of water in the Central 
Valley Project, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 689, to interchange the administrative jurisdiction of certain 
Federal lands between the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land 
Management, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 714, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to lease certain 
lands in Virgin Islands National Park, with amendments;
  H.R. 1121, to authorize a land exchange to acquire lands for the Blue 
Ridge Parkway from the Town of Blowing Rock, North Carolina;
  H.R. 1287, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to enter into a 
partnership with the Porter County Convention, Recreation and Visitor 
Commission regarding the use of the Dorothy Buell Memorial Visitor 
Center as a visitor center for the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore;
  H.R. 1376, to establish the Waco Mammoth National Monument in the 
State of Texas;
  H.R. 1442, to provide for the sale of the Federal Government's 
reversionary interest in approximately 60 acres of land in Salt Lake 
City, Utah, originally conveyed to the Mount Olivet Cemetery 
Association under the Act of January 23, 1909;
  H.R. 1593, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate a 
segment of Illabot Creek in Skagit County, Washington, as a component 
of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System;
  H.R. 1694, to authorize the acquisition and protection of nationally 
significant battlefields and associated sites of the Revolutionary War 
and the War of 1812 under the American Battlefield Protection Program, 
with amendments;

[[Page D1477]]


  H.R. 1945, to require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a 
study on the feasibility and suitability of constructing a storage 
reservoir, outlet works, and a delivery system for the Tule River 
Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation in the State of California 
to provide a water supply for domestic, municipal, industrial, and 
agricultural purposes;
  H.R. 2330, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to carry out a 
study to determine the suitability and feasibility of establishing Camp 
Hale as a unit of the National Park System, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 2802, to provide for an extension of the legislative authority 
of the Adams Memorial Foundation to establish a commemorative work in 
honor of former President John Adams and his legacy;
  H.R. 3113, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate a 
segment of the Elk River in the State of West Virginia for study for 
potential addition to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System; and
  H.R. 3276, to promote the production of molybdenum-99 in the United 
States for medical isotope production, and to condition and phase out 
the export of highly enriched uranium for the production of medical 
isotopes, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
ordered favorably reported the following business items:
  S. 1102, to provide benefits to domestic partners of Federal 
employees, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1830, to establish the Chief Conservation Officers Council to 
improve the energy efficiencies of Federal agencies, with an amendment 
in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2868, to provide increased access to the General Services 
Administration's Schedules Program by the American Red Cross and State 
and local governments;
  H.R. 2711, to amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for the 
transportation of the dependents, remains, and effects of certain 
Federal employees who die while performing official duties or as a 
result of the performance of official duties, with an amendment;
  S. 2865, to reauthorize the Congressional Award Act (2 U.S.C. 801 et 
seq.);
  S. 2872, to reauthorize appropriations for the National Historical 
Publications and Records Commission through fiscal year 2014, with 
amendments;
  H.R. 2877, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 76 Brookside Avenue in Chester, New York, as the 
``1st Lieutenant Louis Allen Post Office'';
  H.R. 3667, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 16555 Springs Street in White Springs, Florida, as 
the ``Clyde L. Hillhouse Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 3788, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 3900 Darrow Road in Stow, Ohio, as the ``Corporal 
Joseph A. Tomci Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 1817, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 116 North West Street in Somerville, Tennessee, as 
the ``John S. Wilder Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 3072, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 9810 Halls Ferry Road in St. Louis, Missouri, as the 
``Coach Jodie Bailey Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 3319, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 440 South Gulling Street in Portola, California, as 
the ``Army Specialist Jeremiah Paul McCleery Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 3539, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 427 Harrison Avenue in Harrison, New Jersey, as the 
``Patricia D. McGinty-Juhl Post Office Building'';
  H.R. 3767, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 170 North Main Street in Smithfield, Utah, as the 
``W. Hazen Hillyard Post Office Building''; and
  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.
TOOLS TO COMBAT DEFICITS AND WASTE
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal 
Services, and International Security concluded a hearing to examine 
tools to combat deficits and waste, focusing on enhanced rescission 
authority, including the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which was 
enacted to tighten congressional control over presidential impoundments 
and establish a procedure under which Congress could consider the 
merits of rescissions proposed by the President, after receiving 
testimony from Senator Feingold; Todd B. Tatelman, Legislative 
Attorney, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress; Susan A. 
Poling, Managing Associate General Counsel, Office of General Counsel, 
Government Accountability Office; Raymond C.

[[Page D1478]]

Scheppach, National Governors Association, Washington, D.C.; Robert L. 
Bixby, The Concord Coalition, Arlington, Virginia; and Thomas A. 
Schatz, Citizens Against Government Waste, Alexandria, Virginia.
HUMAN RIGHTS TREATIES
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law 
concluded a hearing to examine United States implementation of human 
rights treaties, after receiving testimony from Thomas E. Perez, 
Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice; Michael H. Posner, 
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; and 
Wade Henderson, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and 
Elisa Massimino, Human Rights First, both of Washington, DC.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nominations of James A. Wynn, Jr., of North Carolina, and Albert 
Diaz, of North Carolina, both to be a United States Circuit Judge for 
the Fourth Circuit, after the nominees, who were introduced by Senators 
Burr and Hagan, testified and answered questions in their own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the nomination of Robert A. Petzel, of Minnesota, to be Under Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs for Health.