[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 155 (Wednesday, September 25, 2019)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D1067-D1070]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY PERSPECTIVES
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine perspectives on the livestock and poultry sectors, 
after receiving testimony from Jennifer Houston, East Tennessee 
Livestock Center, Sweetwater, on behalf of the National Cattlemen's 
Beef Association; Ron Kardel, West Liberty Foods, Walcott, Iowa, on 
behalf of the National Turkey Federation; Jayson L. Lusk, Purdue 
University Department of Agricultural Economics, West Lafayette, 
Indiana; Burton Pfliger, Roselawn Legacy Hampshires, Bismarck, North 
Dakota, on behalf of the American Sheep Industry Association; Trent 
Thiele, Iowa Pork Producers Association, Elma, on behalf of the 
National Pork Producers Council; and Shane Eaton, Eaton Charolais, 
Lindsay, Montana, on behalf of the United States Cattlemen's 
Association.

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FACILITATING FASTER PAYMENTS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine facilitating faster payments in the United States, 
after receiving testimony from Esther George, President, Federal 
Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Missouri, on behalf of the Federal Reserve 
System; Robert Hunter, The Clearing House Payments Company, Robert A. 
Steen, Bridge Community Bank, on behalf of the Independent Community 
Bankers of America, and George Selgin, Cato Institute Center for 
Monetary and Financial Alternatives, all of Washington, D.C.; and 
Sheila C. Bair, former Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance 
Corporation, Independence, Kansas.
FISHERY FAILURES
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded 
a hearing to examine fishery failures, focusing on improving the 
disaster declaration and relief process, after receiving testimony from 
Chris Oliver, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 
Department of Commerce; Joe Spraggins, Mississippi Department of Marine 
Resources, Biloxi; Rachel Baker, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 
Juneau; Robert Spottswood, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation 
Commission, Key West; and Ron Warren, Washington State Department of 
Fish and Wildlife, Olympia.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following business items:
  S. 334, to authorize the construction of the Musselshell-Judith Rural 
Water System and study of the Dry-Redwater Regional Water Authority 
System in the States of Montana and North Dakota;
  S. 607, to amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to address 
insufficient compensation of employees and other personnel of the 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, with an amendment;
  S. 860, to amend the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to 
modify the terms of the Jackson Gulch rehabilitation project in 
Colorado, with an amendment;
  S. 990, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in 
the implementation of the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program 
First Increment Extension for threatened and endangered species in the 
Central and Lower Platte River Basin;
  S. 1570, to provide flexibility to allow greater aquifer recharge, 
with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1602, to amend the United States Energy Storage Competitiveness 
Act of 2007 to establish a research, development, and demonstration 
program for grid-scale energy storage systems, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute;
  S. 1751, to amend the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 to authorize 
pumped storage hydropower development utilizing multiple Bureau of 
Reclamation reservoirs, with an amendment;
  S. 1821, to amend the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to 
provide for research on, and the development and deployment of, marine 
energy, with an amendment;
  S. 1882, to make available the continued use of Pick-Sloan Missouri 
Basin Program project use power by the Kinsey Irrigation Company and 
the Sidney Water Users Irrigation District, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute;
  S. 1931, to require the Administrator of the Western Area Power 
Administration to establish a pilot project to provide increased 
transparency for customers;
  S. 2044, to amend the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to 
establish an Aging Infrastructure Account, to amend the Reclamation 
Safety of Dams Act of 1978 to provide additional funds under that Act, 
to establish a review of flood control rule curves pilot project within 
the Bureau of Reclamation, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 2094 and H.R. 2114, bills to amend the Energy Policy and 
Conservation Act to provide Federal financial assistance to States to 
implement, review, and revise State energy security plans, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2095, to provide for certain programs and developments in the 
Department of Energy concerning the cybersecurity and vulnerabilities 
of, and physical threat to, the electric grid;
  S. 2137, to promote energy savings in residential buildings and 
industry;
  S. 2300, to amend the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to 
establish a program to incentivize innovation and to enhance the 
industrial competitiveness of the United States by developing 
technologies to reduce emissions of nonpower industrial sectors, with 
an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 2332, to provide for the modernization of the electric grid;
  S. 2333, to provide for enhanced energy grid security;
  S. 2334, to require the Secretary of Energy to establish the 21st 
Century Energy Workforce Advisory Board;

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  S. 2335, to accelerate smart building development; and
  H.R. 1420, to amend the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 
to promote energy efficiency via information and computing 
technologies.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following business items:
  S. 2260, to provide for the improvement of domestic infrastructure in 
order to prevent marine debris, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 2099, to redesignate the Sullys Hill National Game Preserve in the 
State of North Dakota as the White Horse Hill National Game Preserve;
  The nominations of Aurelia Skipwith, of Indiana, to be Director of 
the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the 
Interior, and Katherine Andrea Lemos, of California, to be a Member and 
to be Chairperson of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation 
Board; and
  8 General Services Administration resolutions.
U.S. POLICY IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine United States policy in Mexico and Central America, focusing on 
ensuring effective policies to address the crisis at the border, after 
receiving testimony from Kirsten D. Madison, Assistant Secretary for 
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, and Michael Kozak, 
Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, both 
of the Department of State.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. 1590, to amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 
to authorize rewards for thwarting wildlife trafficking linked to 
transnational organized crime;
  S. 1678, to express United States support for Taiwan's diplomatic 
alliances around the world, with an amendment;
  S. 1838, to amend the Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, with an 
amendment;
  S. 2372, to enhance global engagement to combat marine debris, with 
an amendment;
  S. Res. 183, reaffirming the vital role of the United States-Japan 
alliance in promoting peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-
Pacific region and beyond;
  S. Res. 236, reaffirming the strong partnership between Tunisia and 
the United States and supporting the people of Tunisia in their 
continued pursuit of democratic reforms;
  S. Res. 277, remembering the 25th Anniversary of the bombing of the 
Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish Community Center 
in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and recommitting to efforts to uphold 
justice for the 85 victims of the attacks;
  S. Res. 318, to support the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis 
and Malaria, and the Sixth Replenishment, with an amendment;
  The nominations of Adam Seth Boehler, of Louisiana, to be Chief 
Executive Officer of the United States International Development 
Finance Corporation, and Adrian Zuckerman, of New Jersey, to be 
Ambassador to Romania, Department of State; and
  A routine list in the Foreign Service.
COUNTERING DOMESTIC TERRORISM
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded a hearing to examine countering domestic terrorism, focusing 
on the evolving threat, after receiving testimony from William Braniff, 
University of Maryland National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism 
and Responses to Terrorism, College Park; Clint Watts, Foreign Policy 
Research Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Robert Chesney, 
University of Texas Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security 
and Law, Austin; and George Selim, Anti-Defamation League, Washington, 
D.C.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nominations of Danielle J. Hunsaker, of Oregon, to be United States 
Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit, William Joseph Nardini, of 
Connecticut, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit, 
Jodi W. Dishman, to be United States District Judge for the Western 
District of Oklahoma, who was introduced by Senator Lankford, Sarah E. 
Pitlyk, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of 
Missouri, who was introduced by Senator Blunt, and Daniel Mack Traynor, 
to be United States District Judge for the District of North Dakota, 
who was introduced by Senator Hoeven, after the nominees testified and 
answered questions in their own behalf.
TOXIC EXPOSURE
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine toxic exposure, focusing on examining the Department of 
Veterans Affairs's presumptive disability decision-making process, 
after receiving testimony from Patricia R. Hastings, Chief Consultant, 
Post Deployment Health Services, and

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Drew Helmer, Director, War Related Illness and Injury Study Center, 
both of the Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans 
Affairs; Terry Rauch, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense 
(Health Affairs), Health Readiness Policy and Oversight; David A. 
Butler, Director, Office of Military and Veterans Health, National 
Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Shane L. Liermann, 
Disabled American Veterans, Washington, D.C.; and Robert F. Miller, 
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
PROMOTING HEALTHY AGING
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
promoting healthy aging, focusing on living your best life long into 
your golden years, after receiving testimony from Rudolph Tanzi, 
Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Susan Hughes, University 
of Illinois Center for Research on Health and Aging, Chicago; Diane 
Dickerson, Bangor Regional YMCA, Bangor, Maine; and Brian L. Long, 
Pennsylvania Link to Aging and Disability Resources, Lancaster.