[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 154 (Thursday, October 31, 2013)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D1041-D1043]
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 Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
nominations of Jamie Michael Morin, of Michigan, to be Director of Cost 
Assessment and Program Evaluation, Michael D. Lumpkin, of California, 
to be Assistant Secretary for Special Operations and Low Intensity 
Conflict, and Jo Ann Rooney, of Massachusetts, to be Under Secretary of 
the Navy, all of the Department of Defense, Kenneth L. Mossman, of 
Arizona, to be a Member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, 
and 394 nominations in the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the nominations of Wanda Felton, of New York, to be 
First Vice President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, 
and Katherine M. O'Regan, of New York, to be Assistant Secretary of 
Housing and Urban Development.
HOUSING FINANCE REFORM
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine housing finance reform, focusing on a government 
guarantee for mortgage-backed securities, including S. 1217, to provide 
secondary mortgage market reform, after receiving testimony from Joseph 
Tracy, Executive Vice President and Special Advisor, Federal Reserve 
Bank of New York, New Canaan, Connecticut; Phillip L.

[[Page D1042]]

Swagel, University of Maryland School of Public Policy, College Park; 
Michael Canter, AllianceBernstein, Larchmont, New York, on behalf of 
the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association; and David H. 
Stevens, Mortgage Bankers Association, Washington, DC.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. Res. 268, condemning the September 2013 terrorist attack at the 
Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, and reaffirming United States support 
for the people and Government of Kenya;
  S. Res. 277, recognizing the religious and historical significance of 
the festival of Diwali; and
  The nominations of Gregory B. Starr, of Virginia, to be Assistant 
Secretary for Diplomatic Security, Mark Bradley Childress, of Virginia, 
to be Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania, Thomas Frederick 
Daughton, of Arizona, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Namibia, 
Matthew T. Harrington, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of 
Lesotho, Eunice S. Reddick, of the District of Columbia, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Niger, John Hoover, of Massachusetts, to 
be Ambassador to the Republic of Sierra Leone, Michael Stephen Hoza, of 
Washington, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Cameroon, Tomasz P. 
Malinowski, of the District of Columbia, to be Assistant Secretary for 
Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Crystal Nix-Hines, of California, 
for the rank of Ambassador during her tenure of service as the United 
States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Educational, 
Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Pamela K. Hamamoto, of Hawaii, 
to be Representative to the Office of the United Nations and Other 
International Organizations in Geneva, with the rank of Ambassador, 
Philip S. Goldberg, of the District of Columbia, to be Ambassador to 
the Republic of the Philippines, Robert O. Blake, Jr., of Maryland, to 
be Ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia, Karen Clark Stanton, of 
Michigan, to be Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, 
Timothy M. Broas, of Maryland, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of the 
Netherlands, Donald Lu, of California, to be Ambassador to the Republic 
of Albania, Robert A. Sherman, of Massachusetts, to be Ambassador to 
the Portuguese Republic, Anne W. Patterson, of Virginia, to be 
Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, Adam M. Scheinman, of 
Virginia, to be Special Representative of the President for Nuclear 
Nonproliferation, with the rank of Ambassador, Rose Eilene 
Gottemoeller, of Virginia, to be Under Secretary for Arms Control and 
International Security, Frank A. Rose, of Massachusetts, to be 
Assistant Secretary for Verification and Compliance, Dwight L. Bush, 
Sr., of the District of Columbia, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of 
Morocco, James Walter Brewster, Jr., of Illinois, to be Ambassador to 
the Dominican Republic, Brian A. Nichols, of Rhode Island, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Peru, and Carlos Roberto Moreno, of 
California, to be Ambassador to Belize, all of the Department of State.
SYRIA
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine Syria, after receiving testimony from Robert S. Ford, 
Ambassador to Syria, and Thomas M. Countryman, Assistant Secretary for 
International Security and Nonproliferation, both of the Department of 
State; Nancy Lindborg, Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for 
Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance, U.S. Agency for 
International Development; and Frederic C. Hof, Atlantic Council Rafik 
Hariri Center for the Middle East, and Leslie H. Gelb, Council on 
Foreign Relations, both of Washington, D.C.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the nominations of Daniel W. Yohannes, of Colorado, to be 
Representative of the United States of America to the Organization for 
Economic Cooperation and Development, with the rank of Ambassador, who 
was introduced by Senator Bennet, and Anthony Luzzatto Gardner, of New 
York, to be Representative of the United States of America to the 
European Union, with the rank and status of Ambassador, both of the 
Department of State, after the nominees testified and answered 
questions in their own behalf.
NAVY YARD TRAGEDY
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine government clearances and background 
checks, and the extent that executive branch agencies have metrics to 
help determine the quality of the security clearance process, focusing 
on the Navy Yard tragedy, after receiving testimony from Joseph G. 
Jordan, Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, Office of 
Management and Budget; Elaine Kaplan, Acting Director, Office of 
Personnel Management; Brian A. Prioletti, Assistant Director, Special 
Security Directorate, National Counterintelligence Executive, Office of 
the Director of National Intelligence; Stephen Lewis, Deputy Director 
for Personnel, Industrial and Physical Security Policy, Directorate of 
Security Policy and Oversight, Office of Under Secretary of Defense for 
Intelligence; and Brenda S.

[[Page D1043]]

Farrell, Director, Defense Capabilities and Management, Government 
Accountability Office.
ATTAINING A QUALITY DEGREE
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine attaining a quality degree, focusing on 
innovations to improve student success, after receiving testimony from 
Richard Kazis, Jobs for the Future, Boston, Massachusetts; William E. 
Kirwan, University System of Maryland, Adelphi; R. Scott Ralls, North 
Carolina Community College System, Raleigh; Tim Hall, Austin Peay State 
University, Clarksville, Tennessee; and Paul LeBlanc, Southern New 
Hampshire University, Manchester.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  S. 42, to provide anti-retaliation protections for antitrust 
whistleblowers, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 822, to protect crime victims' rights, to eliminate the 
substantial backlog of DNA samples collected from crime scenes and 
convicted offenders, to improve and expand the DNA testing capacity of 
Federal, State, and local crime laboratories, to increase research and 
development of new DNA testing technologies, to develop new training 
programs regarding the collection and use of DNA evidence, to provide 
post conviction testing of DNA evidence to exonerate the innocent, to 
improve the performance of counsel in State capital cases, with 
amendments; and
  The nominations of Robert Leon Wilkins, to be United States Circuit 
Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit, Brian J. Davis, to be 
United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida, 
Timothy L. Brooks, to be United States District Judge for the Western 
District of Arkansas, James Donato, and Beth Labson Freeman, both to be 
a United States District Judge for the Northern District of California, 
and Pedro A. Delgado Hernandez, to be United States District Judge for 
the District of Puerto Rico.
BUSINESS MEETING
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee ordered favorably reported 
an original bill entitled, ``FISA Improvements Act''.
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.