[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 29, 2015)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D905-D908]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
JOINT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN OF ACTION
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the impacts of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on United 
States interests and the military balance in the Middle East, after 
receiving testimony from John F. Kerry, Secretary of State; Ashton B. 
Carter, Secretary, and General Martin E. Dempsey, USA, Chairman, Joint 
Chiefs of Staff, both of the Department of Defense; Jacob J. Lew, 
Secretary of the Treasury; and Ernest J. Moniz, Secretary of Energy.
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SHIPYARDS
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Readiness and Management 
Support concluded a hearing to examine best practices at public and 
private shipyards, after receiving testimony from Ray Bagley, 
Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, 
Virginia; and Paul O'Connor, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, 
Maine.
BANKRUPTCY REFORM
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection concluded a hearing to 
examine the role of bankruptcy reform in addressing too-big-to-fail, 
including S. 1840, to amend title 11, United States Code, to provide 
for the liquidation, reorganization, or recapitalization of a covered 
financial corporation, after receiving testimony from Randall D. Guynn, 
Davis Polk and Wardwell LLP, New York, New York, on behalf of the 
Bipartisan Policy Center Financial Regulatory Reform Initiative Failure 
Resolution Task Force; John B. Taylor, Stanford University Hoover 
Institution, Palo Alto, California; Thomas H. Jackson, University of 
Rochester, Rochester, New York; and Simon Johnson, MIT Sloan School of 
Management, Cambridge, Massachusetts, on behalf of the Peterson 
Institute for International Economics.
WIRELESS BROADBAND
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine wireless broadband and the future of spectrum 
policy, after receiving testimony from Jessica Rosenworcel, 
Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission; Meredith Attwell 
Baker, CTIA--The Wireless Association, and Thomas M. Lenard, Technology 
Policy

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Institute, both of Washington, D.C.; J. Pierre de Vries, University of 
Colorado Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and 
Entrepreneurship Spectrum Policy Initiative, Boulder; and Blair Levin, 
Brookings Institute Metropolitan Policy Program, Chevy Chase, Maryland.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee continued 
consideration of an original bill to provide for the modernization of 
the energy policy of the United States, but did not complete action 
thereon, and will meet again on Thursday, July 30, 2015.
  Committee recessed subject to the call.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the nominations of Vanessa Lorraine Allen Sutherland, of 
Virginia, to be Chairperson of the Chemical Safety and Hazard 
Investigation Board, Kristen Marie Kulinowski, of New York, to be a 
Member of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, Gregory 
Guy Nadeau, of Maine, to be Administrator of the Federal Highway 
Administration, Department of Transportation, and Eric Martin Satz, of 
Tennessee, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee 
Valley Authority.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. 284, to impose sanctions with respect to foreign persons 
responsible for gross violations of internationally recognized human 
rights, with an amendment;
  S. 1632, to require a regional strategy to address the threat posed 
by Boko Haram, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1875, to support enhanced accountability for United States 
assistance to Afghanistan, with an amendment; and
  The nominations of Michele Thoren Bond, of the District of Columbia, 
to be an Assistant Secretary (Consular Affairs), Sarah Elizabeth 
Mendelson, of the District of Columbia, to be Representative on the 
Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, with the rank of 
Ambassador, and to be an Alternate Representative to the Sessions of 
the General Assembly of the United Nations, Sheila Gwaltney, of 
California, to be Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic, Perry L. Holloway, 
of South Carolina, to be Ambassador to the Co-operative Republic of 
Guyana, Laura Farnsworth Dogu, of Texas, to be Ambassador to the 
Republic of Nicaragua, Peter F. Mulrean, of Massachusetts, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Haiti, Kathleen Ann Doherty, of New York, 
to be Ambassador to the Republic of Cyprus, James Desmond Melville, 
Jr., of New Jersey, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Estonia, Samuel 
D. Heins, of Minnesota, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Norway, Hans 
G. Klemm, of Michigan, to be Ambassador to Romania, Paul Wayne Jones, 
of Maryland, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Poland, all of the 
Department of State, Gayle Smith, of Ohio, to be Administrator, and 
Thomas O. Melia, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Administrator, both of 
the United States Agency for International Development, and routine 
lists in the Foreign Service.
JOINT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN OF ACTION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, after receiving 
testimony from Mark Dubowitz, Foundation for Defense of Democracies 
Center of Sanctions and Illicit Finance, Washington, D.C.; and Nicholas 
Burns, Harvard Kennedy School, Boston, Massachusetts.
FINANCIAL CRISIS IN GREECE
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on Europe and Regional 
Security Cooperation concluded a hearing to examine the financial 
crisis in Greece, focusing on implications and lessons learned, after 
receiving testimony from John B. Taylor, Stanford University Hoover 
Institution, Stanford, California; and Robert B. Kahn, Council on 
Foreign Relations, Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
ordered favorably reported the following business items:
  S. 1864, to improve national security by developing metrics to 
measure the effectiveness of security between ports of entry, at points 
of entry, and along the maritime border;
  S. 1846, to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to secure 
critical infrastructure against electromagnetic threats, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1869, to improve federal network security and authorize and 
enhance an existing intrusion detection and prevention system for 
civilian federal networks, with amendments;
  S. 1073, 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, with amendments;
  S. 1868, to extend by 15 years the authority of the Secretary of 
Commerce to conduct the quarterly financial report program, with an 
amendment;

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  S. 1808, to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct a 
Northern Border threat analysis, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 779, to provide for Federal agencies to develop public access 
policies relating to research conducted by employees of that agency or 
from funds administered by that agency, with an amendment in the nature 
of a substitute;
  S. 1170, to amend title 39, United States Code, to extend the 
authority of the United States Postal Service to issue a semipostal to 
raise funds for breast cancer research;
  H.R. 1531, to amend title 5, United States Code, to provide a pathway 
for temporary seasonal employees in Federal land management agencies to 
compete for vacant permanent positions under internal merit promotion 
procedures;
  S. 1596, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 2082 Stringtown Road in Grove City, Ohio, as the 
``Specialist Joseph W. Riley Post Office Building'';
  S. 1826, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 99 West 2nd Street in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, as the 
Lieutenant Colonel James ``Maggie'' Megellas Post Office; and
  The nomination of Denise Turner Roth, of North Carolina, to be 
Administrator of General Services.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported S. 
383, to provide for Indian trust asset management reform, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute.
ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE OVERSIGHT
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the true costs of alcohol and drug abuse in Native communities, after 
receiving testimony from Robert G. McSwain, Principal Deputy Director, 
Indian Health Service, and Mirtha Beadle, Director, Office of Tribal 
Affairs and Policy, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration, both of the Department of Health and Human Services; 
Melanie Benjamin, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Onamia, Minnesota; John P. 
Walters, Hudson Institute Center for Substance Abuse Policy Research, 
Washington, D.C.; and Sunny Goggles, White Buffalo Recovery Center, 
Arapahoe, Wyoming.
IRS TARGETING
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, 
Federal Rights and Federal Courts concluded a hearing to examine 
Internal Revenue Service targeting, focusing on progress of agency 
reforms and congressional options, including S. 273, to amend title 18, 
United States Code, to prohibit the intentional discrimination of a 
person or organization by an employee of the Internal Revenue Service, 
after receiving testimony from John Koskinen, Commissioner, Internal 
Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury; Cleta Mitchell, Foley and 
Lardner LLP, Stephen Spaulding, Common Cause, Lawrence M. Noble, 
Campaign Legal Center, Diana L. Aviv, Independent Sector, Gregory L. 
Colvin, Adler and Colvin, on behalf of the Bright Lines Project, and 
Jay Alan Sekulow, American Center for Law and Justice, all of 
Washington, D.C.; Edward D. Greim, Graves Garrett, LLC, Kansas City, 
Missouri; Toby Marie Walker, Waco Tea Party, Waco, Texas; and Jenny 
Beth Martin, Tea Party Patriots, Inc., Woodstock, Georgia.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the following business items:
  S. 1400, to amend the Small Business Act to direct the task force of 
the Office of Veterans Business Development to provide access to and 
manage the distribution of excess or surplus property to veteran-owned 
small businesses, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1756, to help small businesses take advantage of energy 
efficiency;
  S. 1857, to amend the Small Business Act to provide for expanded 
participation in the microloan program;
  S. 1866, to establish the veterans' business outreach center program, 
to improve the programs for veterans of the Small Business 
Administration, with an amendment;
  S. 1870, to amend the Small Business Act to require the Administrator 
of the Small Business Administration to carry out a pilot program on 
issuing grants to eligible veterans to start or acquire qualifying 
businesses, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute; and
  An original bill entitled, ``A Sense of the Committee on the Small 
Business Tax Compliance Relief Act of 2015''.
VETERAN HOMELESSNESS
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine ending veteran homelessness, after receiving testimony from 
Lisa Pape, Executive Director, Homeless Programs, Veterans Health 
Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs; Jennifer Ho, Senior 
Advisor on Housing and Services, Department of Housing and Urban 
Development; Lisa Tepper Bates, Connecticut Coalition to End 
Homelessness, Hartford; Michael Blecker, Swords to Plowshares, San 
Francisco, California; Baylee Crone, National Coalition for Homeless 
Veterans, and Jeff

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Steele, The American Legion, both of Washington, D.C.; and Edward 
Powers, HOPE Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia.