[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 11, 2014)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D255-D257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS: GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE AND CONGRESSIONAL 
BUDGET OFFICE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Legislative Branch 
concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal 
year 2015 for the Congressional Budget Office and the Government 
Accountability Office, after receiving testimony from Gene L. Dodaro, 
Comptroller General of the United States, Government Accountability 
Office; and Douglas Elmendorf, Director, Congressional Budget Office.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nominations of General Paul J. Selva, USAF, for reappointment to 
the grade of general, and to be Commander, United States Transportation 
Command, and Vice Admiral Michael S. Rogers, USN, to be admiral and 
Director, National Security Agency, Chief, Central Security Services, 
and Commander, United States Cyber Command, who was introduced by 
Senator Kirk, both of the Department of Defense, after the nominees 
testified and answered questions in their own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Armed Services: Committee announced the following 
subcommittee assignments, effective March 28, 2014:
   Subcommittee on AirLand: Senators Blumenthal (Chair), Nelson, 
McCaskill, Manchin, Gillibrand, Donnelly, Wicker, McCain, Sessions, 
Chambliss, and Blunt.
   Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities: Senators Hagan 
(Chair), Reed, Nelson, Udall (CO), Manchin, Shaheen, Gillibrand, 
Fischer, McCain, Wicker, Graham, Vitter, and Cruz.
   Subcommittee on Personnel: Senators Gillibrand (Chair), Hagan, 
Blumenthal, Hirono, Kaine, King, Graham, Chambliss, Ayotte, Blunt, and 
Lee.
   Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support: Senators Shaheen 
(Chair), McCaskill, Udall (CO),

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Manchin, Donnelly, Hirono, Kaine, Ayotte, Chambliss, Fischer, Blunt, 
Lee, and Cruz.
   Subcommittee on Seapower: Senators Reed (Chair), Nelson, Hagan, 
Shaheen, Blumenthal, Hirono, Kaine, King, McCain, Sessions, Wicker, 
Ayotte, Graham, Vitter, and Cruz.
   Subcommittee on Strategic Forces: Senators Udall (CO) (Chair), Reed, 
McCaskill, Donnelly, King, Sessions, Fischer, Vitter, and Lee.
   Senators Levin and Inhofe are ex officio members of each 
subcommittee.
DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION REQUEST AND FUTURE YEARS DEFENSE PROGRAM
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and 
Capabilities concluded open and closed hearings to examine United 
States Special Operations Command in review of the Defense 
Authorization Request for fiscal year 2015 and the Future Years Defense 
Program, after receiving testimony from Admiral William H. McRaven, 
USN, Commander, United States Special Operations Command, and Michael 
D. Lumpkin, Assistant Secretary for Special Operations/Low-Intensity 
Conflict, both of the Department of Defense.
CAPITAL REGULATIONS FOR INSURERS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection concluded a hearing to 
examine finding the right capital regulations for insurers, including 
S. 1369, to provide additional flexibility to the Board of Governors of 
the Federal Reserve System to establish capital standards that are 
properly tailored to the unique characteristics of the business of 
insurance, and S. 2102, to clarify the application of certain leverage 
and risk-based requirements under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and 
Consumer Protection Act, after receiving testimony from Senator 
Collins; Michael W. Mahaffey, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, 
Columbus, Ohio; Gina Wilson, TIAA-CREF, Short Hills, New Jersey; H. 
Rodgin Cohen, Sullivan and Cromwell LLP, Irvington, New York; Aaron 
Klein, Bipartisan Policy Center, Silver Spring, Maryland; and Daniel 
Schwarcz, University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate 
Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing, done at the Food and 
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in Rome, Italy, on 
November 22, 2009 (the ``Agreement'') (Treaty Doc. 112-04);
  Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fishery 
Resources in the South Pacific Ocean, done at Auckland, New Zealand, 
November 14, 2009 (Treaty Doc. 113-01);
  Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fisheries 
Resources in the North Pacific Ocean, done at Tokyo on February 24, 
2012, and signed by the United States on May 2, 2012 (Treaty Doc. 113-
02);
  Amendment to the Convention on Future Multilateral Cooperation in the 
Northwest Atlantic Fisheries, adopted on September 28, 2007, at the 
twenty-ninth Annual Meeting of the North Atlantic Fisheries 
Organization (NAFO) (Treaty Doc. 113-03);
  S. Res. 361, recognizing the threats to freedom of the press and 
expression in the People's Republic of China and urging the Government 
of the People's Republic of China to take meaningful steps to improve 
freedom of expression as fitting of a responsible international 
stakeholder;
  S. Res. 365, deploring the violent repression of peaceful 
demonstrators in Venezuela, calling for full accountability for human 
rights violations taking place in Venezuela, and supporting the right 
of the Venezuelan people to the free and peaceful exercise of 
representative democracy;
  S. Res. 375, the crisis in the Central African Republic and 
supporting United States and international efforts to end the violence, 
protect civilians, and address root causes of the conflict, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. Res. 376, supporting the goals of International Women's Day;
  S. Res. 377, recognizing the 193rd anniversary of the independence of 
Greece and celebrating democracy in Greece and the United States; and
  The nominations of Bathsheba Nell Crocker, of the District of 
Columbia, to be Assistant Secretary for International Organization 
Affairs, Robert A. Wood, of New York, for the rank of Ambassador during 
his tenure of service as U.S. Representative to the Conference on 
Disarmament, Luis G. Moreno, of Texas, to be Ambassador to Jamaica, 
John L. Estrada, of Florida, to be Ambassador to the Republic of 
Trinidad and Tobago, Joseph William Westphal, of New York, to be 
Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Douglas Alan Silliman, of 
Texas, to be Ambassador to the State of Kuwait, Mark Gilbert, of 
Florida, to be Ambassador to New Zealand, and to serve concurrently and 
without additional compensation as Ambassador to the Independent State 
of Samoa, Matthew H. Tueller, of Utah, to be Ambassador to the Republic 
of Yemen, Deborah L. Birx, of Maryland, to be Ambassador at Large and 
Coordinator of United States Government

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Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally, Suzan G. LeVine, of Washington, 
to be Ambassador to the Swiss Confederation, and to serve concurrently 
and without additional compensation as Ambassador to the Principality 
of Liechtenstein, Maureen Elizabeth Cormack, of Virginia, to be 
Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Peter A. Selfridge, of 
Minnesota, to be Chief of Protocol, and to have the rank of Ambassador 
during his tenure of service, all of the Department of State.
HANFORD NUCLEAR SITE
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Financial and Contracting Oversight concluded a hearing to examine 
whistleblower retaliation at the Hanford nuclear site, after receiving 
testimony from William A. Eckroade, Principal Deputy Chief for Mission 
Support Operations, Office of Health, Safety and Security, and Matt 
Moury, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safety, Security, and Quality 
Programs for Environmental Management, both of the Department of 
Energy; James N. Taylor, URS Energy and Construction, Inc., San 
Francisco, California; and Michael Graham, Bechtel National, Inc., 
Washington, D.C.
MORE EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE GOVERNMENT
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Federal Programs and the Federal 
Workforce concluded a hearing to examine more efficient and effective 
government, focusing on improving the regulatory framework, including 
S. 1397, to improve the efficiency, management, and interagency 
coordination of the Federal permitting process through reforms overseen 
by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, S. 1390, to 
establish an independent advisory committee to review certain 
regulations, and S. 1029, to reform the process by which Federal 
agencies analyze and formulate new regulations and guidance documents, 
after receiving testimony from Senator King; Howard Shelanski, 
Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of 
Management and Budget; Michelle Sager, Director, Strategic Issues, 
Government Accountability Office; and Katherine McFate, Center for 
Effective Government, and C. Boyden Gray, Boyden Gray and Associates, 
PLLC, both of Washington, D.C.
U.S. HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Subcommittee on 
Primary Health and Aging concluded a hearing to examine what the United 
States health care system can learn from other countries, after 
receiving testimony from Tsung-Mei Cheng, Princeton University Woodrow 
Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New 
Jersey; Ching-chuan Yeh, Tzu-chi University College of Medicine School 
of Public Health, Hualien City, Taiwan; Jakob Kjellberg, KORA Danish 
Institute for Local and Regional Government Research, Copenhagen, 
Denmark; Sally C. Pipes, Pacific Research Institute, San Francisco, 
California; Danielle Martin, Women's College Hospital, Toronto, Canada; 
Victor G. Rodwin, New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School 
of Public Service, New York, New York; and David Hogberg, National 
Center for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
open government and freedom of information, focusing on reinvigorating 
the Freedom of Information Act for the digital age, after receiving 
testimony from Melanie Ann Pustay, Director, Office of Information 
Policy, Department of Justice; Miriam Nisbet, Director, Office of 
Government Information Services, National Archives and Records 
Administration; Amy Bennett, OpenTheGovernment.org, and Daniel J. 
Metcalfe, American University Washington College of Law, both of 
Washington, D.C.; and David Cuillier, The University of Arizona School 
of Journalism, Tucson, on behalf of The Sunshine in Government 
Initiative.
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.