[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 7, 2018)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D130-D132]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
COUNTERING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and 
Capabilities concluded a hearing to examine defending the homeland, 
focusing on Department of Defense's role in countering weapons of mass 
destruction, after receiving testimony from Kenneth P. Rapuano, 
Assistant Secretary for Homeland Defense and Global Security, and 
Lieutenant General Joseph L. Osterman, USMC, Deputy Commander, United 
States Special Operations Command, both of the Department of Defense.
ARMY MODERNIZATION
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Airland concluded a 
hearing to examine Army modernization, after receiving testimony from 
Lieutenant General Joseph Anderson, USA, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/
7, Lieutenant General John M. Murray, USA, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8, 
Lieutenant General Paul A. Ostrowski, USA, Principal Military Deputy to 
the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and 
Technology), and Director of the Army Acquisition Corps, and Major 
General Robert M. Dyess Jr., USA, Acting Director, Army Capabilities 
Integration Center, all of the Department of Defense.
PUBLIC LANDS LEGISLATION
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Public 
Lands, Forests, and Mining concluded a hearing to examine S. 414 and 
H.R. 1107, bills to promote conservation, improve public land 
management, and provide for sensible development in Pershing County, 
Nevada, S. 441, to designate the Organ Mountains and other public land 
as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System in the 
State of New Mexico, S. 507, to sustain economic development and 
recreational use of National Forest System land in the State of 
Montana, to add certain land to the National Wilderness Preservation 
System, to designate new areas for recreation, S. 612 and H.R. 1547, 
bills to provide for the unencumbering of title to non-Federal land 
owned by the city of Tucson, Arizona, for purposes of economic 
development by conveyance of the Federal reversionary interest to the 
City, S. 1046, to facilitate certain pinyon-juniper related projects in 
Lincoln

[[Page D131]]

County, Nevada, to modify the boundaries of certain wilderness areas in 
the State of Nevada, and to fully implement the White Pine County 
Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act, S. 1219 and H.R. 3392, 
bills to provide for stability of title to certain land in the State of 
Louisiana, S. 1222, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to 
convey certain land to La Paz County, Arizona, S. 1481, to make 
technical corrections to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, S. 
1665 and H.R. 2582, bills to authorize the State of Utah to select 
certain lands that are available for disposal under the Pony Express 
Resource Management Plan to be used for the support and benefit of 
State institutions, S. 2062, to require the Secretary of Agriculture to 
convey at market value certain National Forest System land in the State 
of Arizona, S. 2206, to release certain wilderness study areas in the 
State of Montana, S. 2218, to provide for the conveyance of a Forest 
Service site in Dolores County, Colorado, to be used for a fire 
station, S. 2249, to permanently reauthorize the Rio Puerco Management 
Committee and the Rio Puerco Watershed Management Program, H.R. 995, to 
direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior 
to modernize terms in certain regulations, and H.R. 1404, to provide 
for the conveyance of certain land inholdings owned by the United 
States to the Tucson Unified School District and to the Pascua Yaqui 
Tribe of Arizona, after receiving testimony from Senators Heller, 
Tester, and Udall; Glenn Casamassa, Associate Deputy Chief, National 
Forest System, Forest Service, Department of Agriculture; and Brian 
Steed, Deputy Director for Policy and Programs, Bureau of Land 
Management, Department of the Interior.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the nomination of Andrew Wheeler, of Virginia, to be Deputy 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
IMPACT OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS ON FARMING AND RANCHING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the impact of Federal environmental regulations and 
policies on American farming and ranching communities, after receiving 
testimony from Michael T. Scuse, Delaware Secretary of Agriculture, 
Dover; Zippy Duvall, American Farm Bureau Federation, and Donn Teske, 
National Farmers Union, both of Washington, D.C.; Niels Hansen, PH 
Livestock, Rawlins, Wyoming, on behalf of the National Cattlemen's Beef 
Association and the Public Lands Council; and Howard Hill, National 
Pork Producers Council, Cambridge, Iowa.
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. 2286, to amend the Peace Corps Act to provide greater protection 
and services for Peace Corps volunteers, with an amendment;
  S. 2060, to promote democracy and human rights in Burma, with 
amendments;
  H.R. 1625, to amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 
1956 to include severe forms of trafficking in persons within the 
definition of transnational organized crime for purposes of the rewards 
program of the Department of State, with an amendment in the nature of 
a substitute;
  S. Res. 92, expressing concern over the disappearance of David 
Sneddon;
  H.R. 535, to encourage visits between the United States and Taiwan at 
all levels; and
  The nominations of Peter Hendrick Vrooman, of New York, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Rwanda, and Eric M. Ueland, of Oregon, to 
be an Under Secretary (Management), both of the Department of State.
TURKEY
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee received a closed briefing on 
Turkey from A. Wess Mitchell, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of 
European and Eurasian Affairs; Robert Karem, Assistant Secretary of 
Defense, International Security Affairs; and Michael Lieberman, Senior 
Policy Advisor, Department of the Treasury.
REAUTHORIZING THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine reauthorizing the Department of Homeland 
Security, focusing on positioning DHS to address new and emerging 
threats to the Homeland, including H.R. 2825, to amend the Homeland 
Security Act of 2002 to make certain improvements in the laws 
administered by the Secretary of Homeland Security, and H.R. 3359, to 
amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize the Cybersecurity 
and Infrastructure Security Agency of the Department of Homeland 
Security, after receiving testimony from Elaine Duke, Deputy Secretary, 
Claire M. Grady, Under Secretary for Management, Christopher C. Krebs, 
Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary for the 
National Protection and Programs Directorate, and John V. Kelly, Acting 
Inspector General, all of the Department of Homeland Security; and 
George A. Scott, Managing Director, Homeland Security and Justice, and 
Chris Currie, Director, Emergency Management and National Preparedness 
Issues, both of the Government Accountability Office.

[[Page D132]]


RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS THERAPIES
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
cost and competition among rheumatoid arthritis therapies, after 
receiving testimony from William F. Harvey, Tufts Medical Center, 
Boston, Massachusetts; Jack Hoadley, Georgetown University McCourt 
School of Public Policy Health Policy Institute, and Terry G. Mahn, 
Fish and Richardson P.C., both of Washington, D.C.; and Patricia 
Bernard, Falmouth, Maine.