[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 112 (Wednesday, July 31, 2013)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D803-D805]
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 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered 
favorably reported S. 1376, to improve the Federal Housing 
Administration and to ensure the solvency of the Mutual Mortgage 
Insurance Fund, with amendments.
ENERGY DRINKS
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine energy drinks, focusing on exploring concerns 
about marketing to youth, after receiving testimony from Senator 
Durbin; Marcie Beth Schneider, American Academy of Pediatrics, Elk 
Grove Village, Illinois; Jennifer L. Harris, Yale University Rudd 
Center for Food Policy and Obesity, New Haven, Connecticut; William R. 
Spencer, Suffolk County Legislator, Centerport, New York; Amy Taylor, 
Red Bull North America, Inc., Santa Monica, California; Rodney Sacks, 
Monster Beverage Corporation, Corona, California; Janet Weiner, 
Rockstar, Inc., Las Vegas, Nevada; and James R. Coughlin, Aliso Viejo, 
California.
NATIONAL PARKS BILLS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks concluded a hearing to examine S. 398, to establish the 
Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Women's 
History Museum, S. 524, to amend the National Trails System Act to 
provide for the study of the Pike National Historic Trail, S. 618, to 
require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct certain special 
resource studies, S. 702, to designate the Quinebaug and Shetucket 
Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor as ``The Last Green Valley 
National Heritage Corridor'', S. 781, to modify the boundary of 
Yosemite National Park, S. 782, to amend Public Law 101-377 to revise 
the boundaries of the Gettysburg National Military Park to include the 
Gettysburg Train Station, S. 869, to establish the Alabama Black Belt 
National Heritage Area, S. 925, to improve the Lower East Side Tenement 
National Historic Site, S. 995, to authorize the National Desert Storm 
Memorial Association to establish the National Desert Storm and Desert 
Shield Memorial as a commemorative work in the District of Columbia, S. 
974, to provide for certain land conveyances in the State of Nevada, S. 
1044, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to install in the area of 
the World War II Memorial in the District of Columbia a suitable plaque 
or an inscription with the words that President Franklin D. Roosevelt 
prayed with the United States on D-Day, June 6, 1944, S. 1071, to 
authorize the Secretary of the Interior to make improvements to support 
facilities for National Historic Sites operated by the National Park 
Service, S. 1138, to reauthorize the Hudson River Valley National 
Heritage Area, S. 1151, to reauthorize the America's Agricultural 
Heritage Partnership in the State of Iowa, S. 1157, to reauthorize the 
Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, the Lackawanna Valley National 
Heritage Area, the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, and 
the Schuylkill River Valley National Heritage Area, S. 1186, to 
reauthorize the Essex National Heritage Area, S. 1252, to amend the 
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate segments of the Missisquoi 
River and the Trout River in the State of Vermont, as components of the 
National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, S. 1253, to amend the Wild and 
Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain segments of the Farmington River 
and Salmon Brook in the State of Connecticut as components of the 
National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, S. 1328, to authorize the 
Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study of the 
archeological site and surrounding land of the New Philadelphia town 
site in the State of Illinois, S. 1339, to reauthorize the Ohio & Erie 
Canal National Heritage Canalway, H.R. 674, to authorize the Secretary 
of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating 
prehistoric, historic, and limestone forest sites on Rota, Commonwealth 
of the Northern Mariana Islands, as a unit of the National Park System, 
H.R. 885, to expand the boundary of the San Antonio Missions National 
Historical Park, H.R. 1033 and S. 916, bills 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, and H.R. 1158, to direct the 
Secretary of the Interior to continue stocking fish in certain lakes in 
the North Cascades National Park,

[[Page D804]]

Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and Lake Chelan National Recreation 
Area, after receiving testimony from Stephanie Toothman, Associate 
Director, Cultural Resources, Partnerships, and Science, National Park 
Service, Department of the Interior.
STRENGTHENING PUBLIC HEALTH PROTECTIONS BY ADDRESSING TOXIC CHEMICAL 
THREATS
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine strengthening public health protections by 
addressing toxic chemical threats, including S. 1009, to reauthorize 
and modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act, after receiving 
testimony from Michael A. Troncoso, Senior Counsel to the Attorney 
General of California, Nancy Buermeyer, Breast Cancer Fund, and Susan 
Vickers, Dignity Health, all of San Francisco, California; H. Michael 
Dorsey, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Homeland 
Security and Emergency Response Chief, Charleston; Ken Zarker, 
Washington State Department of Ecology Pollution Prevention and 
Regulatory Assistance Section Manager, Lacy; Daniel Rosenberg, Natural 
Resources Defense Council, Linda J. Fisher, DuPont, Mark N. Duvall, 
Beveridge and Diamond, PC, Kenneth A. Cook, Environmental Working 
Group, and Andrew R. Hackman, Toy Industry Association, all of 
Washington, DC; Thomas O. McGarity, University of Texas School of Law, 
Austin; Stephen A. Owens, Squire Sanders (US) LLP, Phoenix, Arizona; 
Linda Reinstein, Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, Redondo 
Beach, California; Robin L. Greenwald, Weitz and Luxenberg, Cecil D. 
Corbin-Mark, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, and Ansje Miller, Center 
for Environmental Health, all of New York, New York; Maureen F. Gorsen, 
Alston and Bird, LLP, Sacramento, California; Jonathan Borak, Yale 
School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, on behalf of the American 
College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine; and Dorothy Felix, 
Mossville Environmental Action Now, Westlake, Louisiana.
PRINCIPLES FOR ENERGY TAX REFORM
Committee on Finance: Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and 
Infrastructure concluded a hearing to examine principles for energy tax 
reform, after receiving testimony from Senators Coons and Moran; 
Phyllis Cuttino, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and Margo Thorning, 
American Council for Capital Formation, both of Washington, DC; Dan W. 
Reicher, Stanford University Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and 
Finance, Stanford, California; and Will Coleman, OnRamp Capital, San 
Francisco, California.
TURKEY
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on European Affairs 
concluded a hearing to examine where Turkey is headed, focusing on Gezi 
Park, Taksim Square, and the future of the Turkish model, after 
receiving testimony from former Representative Robert Wexler, S. Daniel 
Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, Kurt Volker, Arizona State 
University McCain Institute for International Leadership, and James F. 
Jeffrey, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, all of 
Washington, DC; and Jenny White, Boston University, Boston, 
Massachusetts.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
ordered favorably reported the following business items:
  S. 1398, to require the Federal Government to expedite the sale of 
underutilized Federal real property;
  S. 1360, to amend the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery 
Improvement Act of 2012, including making changes to the Do Not Pay 
initiative, for improved detection, prevention, and recovery of 
improper payments to deceased individuals;
  S. 1276, to increase oversight of the Revolving Fund of the Office of 
Personnel Management, strengthen the authority to terminate or debar 
employees and contractors involved in misconduct affecting the 
integrity of security clearance background investigations, enhance 
transparency regarding the criteria utilized by Federal departments and 
agencies to determine when a security clearance is required, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  H.R. 1162, to amend title 31, United States Code, to make 
improvements in the Government Accountability Office;
  S. 1348, to reauthorize the Congressional Award Act;
  H.R. 1171, to amend title 40, United States Code, to improve veterans 
service organizations access to Federal surplus personal property;
  S. 233, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service 
located at 815 County Road 23 in Tyrone, New York, as the ``Specialist 
Christopher Scott Post Office Building'';
  S. 668, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service 
located at 14 Main Street in Brockport, New York, as the ``Staff 
Sergeant Nicholas J. Reid Post Office Building'';
  S. 796, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service 
located at 302 East Green Street in Champaign, Illinois, as the ``James 
R. Burgess Jr. Post Office Building'';
  S. 885, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service 
located at 35 Park Street in

[[Page D805]]

Danville, Vermont, as the ``Thaddeus Stevens Post Office'';
  S. 1093, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 130 Caldwell Drive in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, as 
the ``First Lieutenant Alvin Chester Cockrell, Jr. Post Office 
Building''; and
  The nominations of John H. Thompson, of the District of Columbia, to 
be Director of the Census, Department of Commerce, and Katherine 
Archuleta, of Colorado, to be Director of the Office of Personnel 
Management.
NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Emergency Management, Intergovernmental Relations, and the District 
of Columbia concluded a hearing to examine how prepared the National 
Capital Region is for the next disaster, after receiving testimony from 
Representative Norton; Christopher T. Geldart, District of Columbia 
Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency Director, Washington, 
DC; Kenneth J. Mallette, Maryland Department of the Military Emergency 
Management Agency Executive Director, Reisterstown; and Barbara 
Donnellan, Arlington County Manager, on behalf of the Metropolitan 
Washington Council of Governments Chief Administrative Officers 
Committee Homeland Security Executive Committee, and James H. Schwartz, 
Arlington County Fire Department Chief, both of Arlington County, 
Virginia.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following business items:
  S. 1356, to amend the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to strengthen 
the United States workforce development system through innovation in, 
and alignment and improvement of, employment, training, and education 
programs in the United States, and to promote individual and national 
economic growth, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute; and
  The nominations of Robert F. Cohen, Jr., of West Virginia, and 
William Ira Althen, of Virginia, both to be a Member of the Federal 
Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, and Catherine Elizabeth 
Lhamon, of California, to be Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil 
Rights.
INDIAN AFFAIRS LEGISLATION
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
S. 235, to provide for the conveyance of certain property located in 
Anchorage, Alaska, from the United States to the Alaska Native Tribal 
Health Consortium, S. 920, to allow the Fond du Lac Band of Lake 
Superior Chippewa in the State of Minnesota to lease or transfer 
certain land, and S. 1352, the Native American Housing Assistance and 
Self-determination Reauthorization Act of 2013, after receiving 
testimony from Robert McSwain, Deputy Director for Management 
Operations, Indian Health Service, Department of Health and Human 
Services; Sarah Harris, Chief of Staff, Assistant Secretary--Indian 
Affairs, Department of the Interior; Sandra B. Henriquez, Public and 
Indian Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development; Andy 
Teuber, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Anchorage; and 
Jefferson Keel, National Congress of American Indians, Washington, DC.
STRENGTHENING PRIVACY RIGHTS AND NATIONAL SECURITY
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
strengthening privacy rights and national security, focusing on 
oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) 
surveillance programs, after receiving testimony from James M. Cole, 
Deputy Attorney General, and Sean M. Joyce, Deputy Director, Federal 
Bureau of Investigation, both of the Department of Justice; John C. 
Inglis, Deputy Director, National Security Agency; Robert S. Litt, 
General Counsel, Office of the Director of National Intelligence; James 
G. Carr, Senior United States District Judge for the Northern District 
of Ohio; Jameel Jaffer, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New 
York, New York; and Stewart A. Baker, Steptoe and Johnson LLP, 
Washington, DC.
PRESERVING RIGHTS IN THE FINANCIAL MARKETPLACE
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine preserving the rights of servicemembers, veterans, and their 
families in the financial marketplace, after receiving testimony from 
Hollister K. Petraeus, Assistant Director, Office of Servicemember 
Affairs, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Colonel Paul Kantwill, 
Director, Office of Legal Policy, Office of the Under Secretary of 
Defense for Personnel and Readiness; Eric Halperin, Acting Deputy 
Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Department of 
Justice; and Paul M. Leonard, Financial Services Roundtable Housing 
Policy Council, Washington, DC.