[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 26, 2023)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D375-D378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS: VETERANS AFFAIRS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Military Construction, 
Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies concluded a hearing to examine 
proposed budget estimates and justification for fiscal year 2024 and 
advance appropriations requests for fiscal year 2025 for the Department 
of Veterans Affairs, after receiving testimony from Denis McDonough, 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
APPROPRIATIONS: ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS AND BUREAU OF RECLAMATION
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Energy and Water 
Development concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget estimates 
and justification for fiscal year 2024 for the Army Corps of Engineers 
and the Bureau of Reclamation, after receiving testimony from Michael 
L. Connor, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, and 
Lieutenant General Scott A. Spellmon, Chief of Engineers and Commanding 
General, Army Corps of Engineers, both of the Department of Defense; 
and Camille Calimlim Touton, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation, 
Department of the Interior.
APPROPRIATIONS: DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, 
Science, and Related Agencies concluded a hearing to examine proposed 
budget estimates and justification for fiscal year 2024 for the

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Department of Commerce, after receiving testimony from Gina M. 
Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Armed Services: Committee ordered favorably reported 1,279 
nominations in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Space 
Force.
DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION REQUEST AND FUTURE YEARS DEFENSE PROGRAM
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded open and closed 
hearings to examine the Department of Energy and National Nuclear 
Security Administration atomic energy defense activities in review of 
the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2024 and the Future 
Years Defense Program, after receiving testimony from Jennifer 
Granholm, Secretary, and Jill Hruby, Under Secretary for Nuclear 
Security, National Nuclear Security Administration, both of the 
Department of Energy.
DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION REQUEST AND FUTURE YEARS DEFENSE PROGRAM
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Airland concluded a 
hearing to examine Air Force modernization in review of the Defense 
Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2024 and the Future Years Defense 
Program, after receiving testimony from Andrew P. Hunter, Assistant 
Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, 
Lieutenant General S. Clinton Hinote, USAF, Deputy Chief of Staff for 
Strategy, Integration, and Requirements, Lieutenant General Richard G. 
Moore, Jr., USAF, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs, and 
Lieutenant General James C. Slife, USAF, Deputy Chief of Staff for 
Operations, all of the Department of Defense.
ANTI-CORRUPTION LAWS
Committee on Armed Services: Subcommittee on Personnel concluded a 
hearing to examine public integrity and anti-corruption laws at the 
Department of Defense, after receiving testimony from Colonel Lawrence 
B. Wilkerson, USA (Ret.), Caroline Krass, General Counsel, Carrie F. 
Ricci, General Counsel, Department of the Army, John P. Coffey, General 
Counsel, Department of the Navy, and Peter J. Beshar, General Counsel, 
Department of the Air Force, all of the Department of Defense; and 
Danielle Brian, Project On Government Oversight.
HOUSING CHALLENGES
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine building consensus to address housing challenges, 
including S. 735, to strengthen the United States Interagency Council 
on Homelessness, and S.32, to increase the number of landlords 
participating in the Housing Choice Voucher program, after receiving 
testimony from Lou Tisler, National NeighborWorks Association, Vanessa 
Brown Calder, Cato Institute, and Diane Yentel, National Low Income 
Housing Coalition, all of Washington, D.C.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the 
health costs of climate change, after receiving testimony from Maryland 
Delegate Stephanie Smith, Annapolis; Katelyn Moretti, Brown Emergency 
Medicine, Providence, Rhode Island; Michael Greenstone, University of 
Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Carl J. Schramm, Syracuse University, 
Syracuse, New York; and Michael Shellenberger, Environmental Progress, 
Albany, California.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably 
reported the following business items:
  S. 1189, to establish a pilot grant program to improve recycling 
accessibility;
  S. 1194, to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency to carry out certain activities to improve recycling and 
composting programs in the United States; and
  The nominations of David M. Uhlmann, of Michigan, and Joseph Goffman, 
of Pennsylvania, both to be an Assistant Administrator of the 
Environmental Protection Agency.
CLEANER AND STRONGER ECONOMY
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine opportunities to improve project reviews for a 
cleaner and stronger economy, after receiving testimony from Christy 
Goldfuss, Natural Resources Defense Council, Dana Johnson, WE ACT for 
Environmental Justice, Jay Timmons, National Association of 
Manufacturers, and Martin J. Durbin, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global 
Energy Institute, all of Washington, D.C.; and Christina Hayes, 
Americans for a Clean Energy Grid, Arlington, Virginia.
USAID BUDGET
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2024 
for the United States Agency for International Development, after 
receiving testimony from Samantha Power, Administrator, United States 
Agency for International Development.
TUNISIA
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, 
Central Asia, and Counterterrorism

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concluded hearings to examine U.S. policy on Tunisia, after receiving 
testimony from Joshua Harris, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, 
Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs; and Megan Doherty, Deputy Assistant 
Administrator, Bureau for the Middle East, United States Agency for 
International Development.
BOSTON MARATHON BOMBINGS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight concluded a hearing to 
examine 10 years since the Boston Marathon bombings, focusing on 
lessons learned, after receiving testimony from Richard Serino, Harvard 
University National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, former Deputy 
Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Abington, 
Massachusetts; Kerry Sleeper, Secure Community Network, Suffield, 
Connecticut; and Edward F. Davis III, Edward Davis Company, former 
Commissioner of the Boston Police Department, Boston, Massachusetts.
INCREASED MIGRATION ALONG SOUTHERN BORDER
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee 
on Government Operations and Border Management concluded a hearing to 
examine the effects of increased migration on communities along the 
southern border, after receiving testimony from Mayor Douglas J. 
Nicholls, Yuma, Arizona; Mayor Clea McCaa II, Sierra Vista, Arizona; 
Francisco Garcia, Pima County Deputy County Administrator and Chief 
Medical Officer, Tucson, Arizona; and Chief Kevin Hearod, McAlester 
Police Department, McAlester, Oklahoma.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the nomination of Julie A. Su, of California, to be 
Secretary of Labor.
POST-DOBBS AMERICA
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine a 
post-Dobbs America, after receiving testimony from Michele Bratcher 
Goodwin, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Nisha Verma, 
Physicians for Reproductive Health, Atlanta, Georgia; Ingrid Skop, 
Lozier Institute, San Antonio, Texas; Monique Chireau Wubbenhorst, 
University of Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, South 
Bend, Indiana; and Amanda Zurawski, Austin, Texas.
SBA OVERSIGHT
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Committee concluded 
an oversight hearing to examine the SBA's implementation of final rules 
to expand access to capital, after receiving testimony from Patrick 
Kelley, Associate Administrator, Office of Capital Access, and Sheldon 
Shoemaker, Deputy Inspector General, Office of Inspector General, both 
of the Small Business Administration; Hilda Kennedy, AmPac Tri-State 
CDC, Inc., dba AmPac Business Capital, Ontario, California; and Chris 
Pilkerton, Accion Opportunity Fund, Tilghman, Maryland.
VETERANS AFFAIRS LEGISLATION
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine S. 280, to ensure that only licensed health care professionals 
furnish disability examinations under a certain Department of Veterans 
Affairs pilot program for use of contract physicians for disability 
examinations, S. 291, to amend title 38, United States Code, to 
establish in the Department of Veterans Affairs the Veterans Economic 
Opportunity and Transition Administration, S. 350, to amend title 38, 
United States Code, to expand eligibility for the Marine Gunnery 
Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship to include spouses and children of 
individuals who die from a service-connected disability within 120 days 
of serving in the Armed Forces, S. 414, to amend title 38, United 
States Code, to improve and to expand eligibility for dependency and 
indemnity compensation paid to certain survivors of certain veterans, 
S. 498, to reauthorize and improve a grant program to assist 
institutions of higher education in establishing maintaining, 
improving, and operating Student Veteran Centers, S. 572, to require 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide answers to questions 
submitted for the record to the Secretary by members of the Committee 
on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs of the House of Representatives within 45 business days, S. 
656, to amend title 38, United States Code, to revise the rules for 
approval by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs of commercial driver 
education programs for purposes of veterans education assistance, S. 
740, to amend title 38, United States Code, to reinstate criminal 
penalties for persons charging veterans unauthorized fees relating to 
claims for benefits under the laws administered by the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs, S. 774, to direct the Secretary of Homeland Security 
to establish a pilot program to hire transitioning servicemembers to be 
Border Patrol agents, S. 897, to amend title 38, United States Code, to 
make a permanent increase in the number of judges presiding over the 
United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, S. 1090, to direct 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to update the payment system of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs to

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allow for electronic fund transfer of educational assistance, 
administered by the Secretary, to a foreign institution of higher 
education, an original bill entitled, ``Student Veterans Transparency 
and Protection Act'', an original bill entitled, ``Love Lives On Act'', 
and an original bill entitled, ``Veterans Second Amendment Protection 
Act'', after receiving testimony from Joseph Garcia, Executive 
Director, Education Service, Kevin Friel, Deputy Director, Pension and 
Fiduciary Service, and Nick Pamperin, Executive Director, Veteran 
Readiness and Employment Service, all of the Veterans Benefits 
Administration, and David Barrans, Chief Counsel, Benefits Law Group, 
Office of General Counsel, all of the Department of Veterans Affairs; 
and Shane L. Liermann, Disabled American Veterans, Tammy Barlet, 
Student Veterans of America, Ashlynne Haycock-Lohmann, Tragedy 
Assistance Program for Survivors, and Diane Boyd Rauber, National 
Organization of Veterans' Advocates, Inc., 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.