[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 49 (Tuesday, March 24, 2015)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D324-D326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine waters of the United States, focusing on 
stakeholder perspectives on the impacts of the Environmental Protection 
Agency's proposed rule, after receiving testimony from Arkansas 
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, Little Rock; Donald R. van der Vaart, 
North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources 
Secretary, Raleigh; Susan Metzger, Kansas Department of Agriculture 
Assistant Secretary, Manhattan; Josh Baldi, Washington Department of 
Ecology Regional Director, Bellevue; Lynn Padgett, Ouray County 
Commissioner, Montrose, Colorado, on behalf of the National Association 
of Counties; T. Furman Brodie, Charles Ingram Lumber, Inc.,

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Effingham, South Carolina; Jason Kinley, Gem County Mosquito Abatement 
District, Emmett, Idaho, on behalf of the Northwest Mosquito and Vector 
Control Association; Mac McLennan, Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc., 
Grand Forks, North Dakota; Jeff Metz, Metz Land and Cattle Co., Bayard, 
Nebraska; and Kent Peppler, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Denver, 
Colorado.
APPROPRIATIONS: THE JUDICIARY
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Financial Services and 
General Government concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget 
estimates and justification for fiscal year 2016 for the Judiciary, 
after receiving testimony from Julia S. Gibbons, Chair, Committee on 
the Budget of the Judicial Conference of the United States; and James 
C. Duff, Director, Administrative Office of the United States Courts.
UNITED STATES MIDDLE EAST POLICY
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
United States Middle East policy, after receiving testimony from Ray 
Takeyh, Council on Foreign Relations, Kenneth M. Pollack, The Brookings 
Institution Center for Middle East Policy, and Dafna H. Rand, Center 
for a New American Security, all of Washington, D.C.; and Colonel Derek 
J. Harvey, USA (Ret.), University of South Florida Global Initiative 
for Civil Society and Conflict, Riverview.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported 2,360 
nominations in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.
REGULATORY REGIME FOR REGIONAL BANKS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the regulatory regime for regional banks, after 
receiving testimony from Oliver I. Ireland, Morrison and Foerster, and 
Mark Olson, Bipartisan Policy Center Financial Regulatory Reform 
Initiative's Regulatory Architecture Task Force, both of Washington, 
D.C.; Deron Smithy, Regions Bank, Birmingham, Alabama, on behalf of The 
Regional Bank Group; and Simon Johnson, Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology Sloan School of Management, Cambridge.
CAPITAL FORMATION AND REDUCING SMALL BUSINESS BURDENS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Securities, Insurance, and Investment concluded a hearing to examine 
capital formation and reducing small business burdens, including S. 
576, to increase the threshold for disclosures required by the 
Securities and Exchange Commission relating to compensatory benefit 
plans, after receiving testimony from Tom Quaadman, U.S. Chamber of 
Commerce Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, Marcus M. Stanley, 
Americans for Financial Reform, and John C. Partigan, Nixon Peabody 
LLP, all of Washington, D.C.; and William H. Spell, Spell Capital 
Partners, LLC, Minneapolis, Minnesota, on behalf of the Small Business 
Investor Alliance.
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION REAUTHORIZATION
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and 
Security concluded a hearing to examine surface transportation 
reauthorization, focusing on performance, not prescription, after 
receiving testimony from Peter M. Rogoff, Under Secretary of 
Transportation for Policy; David B. Nichols, Missouri Department of 
Transportation Director, Jefferson City, on behalf of the American 
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials; John D. 
Graham, Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, 
Bloomington; and Peter Sweatman, University of Michigan Transportation 
Research Center, Ann Arbor.
UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security concluded a hearing to 
examine unmanned aircraft systems, focusing on key considerations 
regarding safety, innovation, economic impact, and privacy, including 
status of test sites and international developments, after receiving 
testimony from Margaret Gilligan, Associate Administrator for Aviation 
Safety, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation; 
John B. Morris, Jr., Associate Administrator, Office of Policy Analysis 
and Development, National Telecommunications and Information 
Administration, Department of Commerce; Gerald L. Dillingham, Director, 
Physical Infrastructure Issues, Government Accountability Office; John 
Villasenor, Brookings Institution, and Paul Misener, Amazon.com, both 
of Washington, D.C.; and Jeff VanderWerff, American Farm Bureau 
Federation, Sparta, Michigan.
THE NATION'S FOREST SYSTEM
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine management reforms to improve forest health and 
socioeconomic opportunities on the nation's forest system, after 
receiving testimony from Robert Bonnie, Under Secretary of Agriculture; 
Brian Brown, Alcan Forest Products,

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LP, Ketchikan, Alaska; Carlton N. Owen, U.S. Endowment for Forestry and 
Communities, Greenville, South Carolina; Mark L. Peck, Lincoln County 
Montana County Commissioner, Libby; and Duane Vaagen, Vaagen Brothers 
Lumber Company, Colville, Washington.
SECURING THE BORDER
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine securing the border, focusing on 
assessing the impact of transnational crime, after receiving testimony 
from Elizabeth Kempshall, Executive Director, Arizona Region of the 
Southwest Border High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Office of 
National Drug Control Policy; Bryan Costigan, Montana Department of 
Justice Division of Criminal Investigation Supervisory Agent, Helena, 
on behalf of the National Fusion Center Association; Benny Martinez, 
Brooks County Chief Deputy Sheriff, Falfurrias, Texas; General Barry R. 
McCaffrey, USA (Ret.), former Director of the Office of National Drug 
Control Policy, Seattle, Washington; and John P. Torres, former Deputy 
Director, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland 
Security, Washington, D.C.
ADVANCING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FOR PATIENTS
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine continuing America's leadership, 
focusing on advancing research and development for patients, after 
receiving testimony from Bruce A. Sullenger, Duke University Medical 
Center Duke Translational Research Institute, Durham, North Carolina; 
Alexis Borisy, Third Rock Ventures, Boston, Massachusetts; Michael A. 
Mussallem, Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, California; and Allan Coukell, 
The Pew Charitable Trusts, Washington, D.C.
NOMINATION
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nomination of Sally Quillian Yates, of Georgia, to be Deputy 
Attorney General, Department of Justice, after the nominee, who was 
introduced by Senators Isakson and Perdue, and Representative Lewis, 
testified and answered questions in her own behalf.
VETERANS CHOICE ACT
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the Veterans Choice Act, focusing on exploring the distance 
criteria, after receiving testimony from Sloan Gibson, Deputy Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs; and Roscoe Butler, The American Legion, Peter B. 
Hegseth, Concerned Veterans for America, Joseph A. Violante, DAV, Bill 
Rausch, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and Carlos Fuentes, 
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, all of Washington, D.C.
INTELLIGENCE
  Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to 
receive a briefing on certain intelligence matters from officials of 
the intelligence community.