[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 79 (Thursday, May 21, 2015)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D592-D593]
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 an original bill entitled, ``United States Grain 
Standards Act Reauthorization Act of 2015''.
NOMINATION
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine the nomination of Jeffrey Michael Prieto, of 
California, to be General Counsel of the Department of Agriculture, 
after the nominee testified and answered questions in his own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING AND 302(b) ALLOCATIONS
Committee on Appropriations: Committee ordered favorably reported the 
following business items:
  An original bill entitled, ``Energy and Water Development 
Appropriations Act, 2016''; and
  An original bill entitled, ``Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, 
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016''.
  Also, committee completed its review of 302(b) subcommittee 
allocations of budget outlays and new budget authority allocated to the 
committee in S. Con. Res 11, setting forth the congressional budget for 
the United States Government for fiscal year 2016 and setting forth the 
appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2017 through 2025.
UNITED STATES POLICY IN IRAQ AND SYRIA
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
United States policy in Iraq and Syria, after receiving testimony from 
General John M. Keane, USA (Ret.), former Vice Chief of Staff of the 
Army, Frederick W. Kagan, American Enterprise Institute Criminal 
Threats Project, and Brian Katulis, Center for American Progress, 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 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered 
favorably reported an original bill entitled, ``The Financial 
Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015''.
NOMINATION
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine the nomination of Peter V. Neffenger, of Ohio, to 
be an Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, after the nominee, who 
was introduced by Representative Hahn, testified and answered questions 
in his own behalf.
ENERGY LEGISLATION
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Public 
Lands, Forests, and Mining concluded a hearing to examine S. 160, and 
H.R. 373, to direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
Agriculture to expedite access to certain Federal land under the 
administrative jurisdiction of each Secretary for good Samaritan 
search-and-recovery missions, S. 365, to improve rangeland conditions 
and restore grazing levels within the Grand Staircase-Escalante 
National Monument, Utah, S. 472, to promote conservation, improve 
public land, and provide for sensible development in Douglas County, 
Nevada, S. 583, to establish certain wilderness areas in central Idaho 
and to authorize various land conveyances involving National Forest 
System land and Bureau of Land Management land in central Idaho, S. 
814, to provide for the conveyance of

[[Page D593]]

certain Federal land in the State of Oregon to the Confederated Tribes 
of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians, S. 815, to provide for the 
conveyance of certain Federal land in the State of Oregon to the Cow 
Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, and S. 1240, to designate the 
Cerro del Yuta and Rio San Antonio Wilderness Areas in the State of New 
Mexico, after receiving testimony from Senator Heller; Leslie Weldon, 
Deputy Chief, National Forest System, Forest Service, Department of 
Agriculture; Timothy M. Murphy, Acting Assistant Director, National 
Conservation Lands and Community Partnerships, Bureau of Land 
Management, Department of the Interior; Rick Johnson, Idaho 
Conservation League, Boise; and Brett Stevenson, Wood River Bicycle 
Coalition, Hailey, Idaho, on behalf of the International Mountain 
Bicycling Association.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. 802, to authorize the Secretary of State and the Administrator of 
the United States Agency for International Development to provide 
assistance to support the rights of women and girls in developing 
countries, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. Res. 87, to express the sense of the Senate regarding the rise of 
anti-Semitism in Europe and to encourage greater cooperation with the 
European governments, the European Union, and the Organization for 
Security and Co-operation in Europe in preventing and responding to 
anti-Semitism;
  The nominations of Charles C. Adams, Jr., of Maryland, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Finland, Cassandra Q. Butts, of the 
District of Columbia, to be Ambassador to the Commonwealth of The 
Bahamas, Paul A. Folmsbee, of Oklahoma, to be Ambassador to the 
Republic of Mali, Stafford Fitzgerald Haney, of New Jersey, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Costa Rica, Mary Catherine Phee, of 
Illinois, to be Ambassador to the Republic of South Sudan, and Gentry 
O. Smith, of North Carolina, to be Director of the Office of Foreign 
Missions, and to have the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of 
service, all of the Department of State, Matthew T. McGuire, of the 
District of Columbia, to be United States Executive Director of the 
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for a term of two 
years, and routine lists in the Foreign Service.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to 
receive a briefing on certain intelligence matters from officials of 
the intelligence community.