[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 119 (Wednesday, July 12, 2023)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D694-D697]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NOMINATION
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nomination of General Randy A. George, USA, for reappointment to 
the grade of general and to be Chief of Staff of the Army, after the 
nominee, who was introduced by Senator Ernst, testified and answered 
questions in his own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the nominations of Philip Nathan Jefferson, of North 
Carolina, to be Vice Chairman, and Lisa DeNell Cook, of Michigan, and 
Adriana Debora Kugler, of Maryland, both to be a Member, each of the 
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
BANK MERGERS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Economic Policy concluded a hearing to examine bank mergers and the 
economic impacts of consolidation, after receiving testimony from 
Morgan Harper, American Economic Liberties

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Project, and Alexa Philo, Americans for Financial Reform, both of 
Washington, D.C.; and Michael Faulkender, University of Maryland, 
College Park.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
protecting Social Security for all, focusing on making the wealthy pay 
their fair share, after receiving testimony from Phillip L. Swagel, 
Director, Congressional Budget Office; Stephen C. Goss, Chief Actuary, 
Social Security Administration; and Kathleen Romig, Center on Budget 
and Policy Priorities, Amy Hanauer, Institute on Taxation and Economic 
Policy, and Andrew G. Biggs, American Enterprise Institute, all of 
Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the nominations of Anna M. Gomez, of Virginia, 
Geoffrey Adam Starks, of Kansas, and Brendan Carr, of Virginia, each to 
be a Member, and Fara Damelin, of Virginia, to be Inspector General, 
all of the Federal Communications Commission, Alvin Brown, of Florida, 
to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board, and routine 
lists in the Coast Guard.
LEGISLATION
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Public 
Lands, Forests, and Mining concluded a hearing to examine S. 636, to 
establish the Dolores River National Conservation Area and the Dolores 
River Special Management Area in the State of Colorado, to protect 
private water rights in the State, S. 912, to require the Secretary of 
Energy to provide technology grants to strengthen domestic mining 
education, S. 1015, to require the Secretary of Agriculture to convey 
the Pleasant Valley Ranger District Administrative Site to Gila County, 
Arizona, S. 1088, to authorize the relinquishment and in lieu selection 
of land and minerals in the State of North Dakota, to restore land and 
minerals to Indian Tribes within the State of North Dakota, S. 1254, to 
designate and expand wilderness areas in Olympic National Forest in the 
State of Washington, and to designate certain rivers in Olympic 
National Forest and Olympic National Park as wild and scenic rivers, S. 
1405, to provide for the exchange of certain Federal land and State 
land in the State of Utah, S. 1622, to discourage speculative oil and 
gas leasing and to promote enhanced multiple use management of public 
land and National Forest System land, S. 1634, to provide for the 
designation of certain wilderness areas, recreation management areas, 
and conservation areas in the State of Colorado, S. 1657, to authorize 
the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain land to La Paz County, 
Arizona, S. 1760, to amend the Apex Project, Nevada Land Transfer and 
Authorization Act of 1989 to include the city of North Las Vegas, 
Nevada, and the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association, S. 1776, to 
provide for the protection of and investment in certain Federal land in 
the State of California, S. 1890, to provide for the establishment of a 
grazing management program on Federal land in Malheur County, Oregon, 
S. 2020, to amend the Oregon Resource Conservation Act of 1996 to 
reauthorize the Deschutes River Conservancy Working Group, S. 2042, to 
amend the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area Act to adjust the 
boundary of the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area, S. 2136, to 
require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture 
to convey certain Federal land to the State of Utah for inclusion in 
certain State parks, S. 2149, 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, and S. 2216, to release 
from wilderness study area designation certain land in the State of 
Montana, to improve the management of that land, after receiving 
testimony from Thomas Heinlein, Assistant Director, National 
Conservation Lands and Community Partnerships, Bureau of Land 
Management, Department of the Interior; Chris French, Deputy Chief, 
Forest Service, Department of Agriculture; Michelle McConkie, Utah 
School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration Director, Salt Lake 
City; Joseph Heringer, North Dakota Department of Trust Lands 
Commissioner of University and School Lands, Bismarck; and John J. 
Entsminger, Southern Nevada Water Authority, Las Vegas.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee ordered 
favorably reported the nominations of Gwynne A. Wilcox, of New York, to 
be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, and Loren E. Sweatt, 
of Virginia, to be a Member of the National Mediation Board.
INDIAN AFFAIRS LEGISLATION
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
S. 616, to amend the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation Restoration 
Act to provide for the transfer of additional Federal land to the Leech 
Lake Band of Ojibwe, S. 1898, to amend the Northwestern New Mexico 
Rural Water Projects Act to make improvements to that Act, and S. 1987, 
to provide for the settlement of the water rights claims of the Fort 
Belknap Indian Community, after receiving testimony from Bryan Newland, 
Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior;

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John Crockett, Associate Deputy Chief for State, Private, and Tribal 
Forestry, Department of Agriculture; Montana Lieutenant Governor 
Kristen Juras, Helena; Leonard Fineday, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Cass 
Lake, Minnesota; Buu Nygren, Navajo Nation, Window Rock, Arizona; and 
Jeffrey Stiffarm, Fort Belknap Indian Community, Hays, Montana.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nominations of Jerry Edwards, Jr., to be United States District 
Judge for the Western District of Louisiana, and Brandon S. Long, to be 
United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, who 
were both introduced by Senators Cassidy and Kennedy, Matthew James 
Maddox, to be United States District Judge for the District of 
Maryland, who was introduced by Senators Cardin and Van Hollen, and 
Philip S. Hadji, of the District of Columbia, to be a Judge of the 
United States Court of Federal Claims, who was introduced by Senators 
Brown, Cassidy, and Vance, after the nominees testified and answered 
questions in their own behalf.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Intellectual Property 
concluded a hearing to examine Artificial Intelligence and intellectual 
property, focusing on copyright, after receiving testimony from Jeff 
Harleston, Universal Music Group, Santa Monica, California; Ben Brooks, 
Stability AI, and Karla Ortiz, both of San Francisco, California; 
Matthew Sag, Emory University School of Law, Atlanta, Georgia; and Dana 
Rao, Adobe Inc., San Jose, California.
VETERANS AFFAIRS LEGISLATION
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine S. 449, to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the 
assignment of patient advocates at medical facilities of the Department 
of Veterans Affairs, S. 495, to require the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to carry out a pilot program to provide assisted living 
services for eligible veterans, S. 853, to direct the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs to establish the Zero Suicide Initiative pilot program 
of the Department of Veterans Affairs, S. 928, to require the Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs to prepare an annual report on suicide prevention, 
S. 1037, to prohibit the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from carrying 
out certain activities under the Electronic Health Record Modernization 
Program until certification of system stability improvements, S. 1040, 
to amend title 38, United States Code, to prohibit smoking on the 
premises of any facility of the Veterans Health Administration, S. 
1125, to authorize an electronic health record modernization program of 
the Department of Veterans Affairs and increase oversight and 
accountability of the program to better serve veterans, medical 
professionals of the Department, and taxpayers, S. 1172, to amend title 
28, United States Code, to make certain improvements relating to the 
eligibility of veterans to receive reimbursement for emergency 
treatment furnished to veterans in non-Department of Veterans Affairs 
facilities, S. 1315, to improve the provision of care and services 
under the Veterans Community Care Program of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs, S. 1436, to expand and extend benefits available to veterans 
in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, S. 1545, to direct the Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program to improve the ability 
of veterans to access medical care in medical facilities of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs and in the community by providing 
veterans the ability to choose health care providers, S. 1612, to 
require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to publish a rule to 
implement the requirement that the Secretary be permitted to waive the 
limitation in law on reimbursement of veterans receiving domiciliary 
care in State homes, S. 1828, to amend title 38, United States Code, to 
direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to recognize nurse registries 
for purposes of the Veterans Community Care Program, S. 1951, to amend 
title 38, United States Code, to expand entitlement of veterans to care 
from the Department of Veterans Affairs and to guarantee health care 
benefits for veterans enrolled in the patient enrollment system of the 
Department, S. 1954, to improve the provision of health care furnished 
by the Department of Veterans Affairs for veterans diagnosed with 
diabetes and heart disease, S. 2067, to require the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs to award grants to nonprofit organizations to assist 
such organizations in carrying out programs to provide service dogs to 
eligible veterans, an original bill entitled, ``Making Community Care 
Work for Veterans Act'', an original bill entitled, ``Leveraging 
Integrated Networks in Communities for Veterans Act'', and an original 
bill entitled, ``Rural Vital Emergency Transportation Services Act'', 
after receiving testimony from Miguel LaPuz, Assistant Under Secretary 
for Health for Integrated Veteran Care, Veterans Health Administration, 
Matthew Miller, Director, Suicide Prevention Program, Office of Mental 
Health and Suicide Prevention, Cynthia Gantt, Deputy Director of the 
Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation within 
Patient Care Services, and Leslie Sofocleous, Executive Director, EHRM-
Integration Office, all of

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the Department of Veterans Affairs; Jon Retzer, Disabled American 
Veterans, and Meggan Thomas, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United 
States, both of Washington, D.C.; and Lieutenant Colonel James 
Lorraine, USAF (Ret.), America's Warrior Partnership, Akin, South 
Carolina.
NOMINATIONS
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the nominations of Lieutenant General Timothy D. Haugh, USAF, 
to be the Director of the National Security Agency, and Michael Colin 
Casey, of Kentucky, to be Director of the National Counterintelligence 
and Security Center, after the nominees testified and answered 
questions in their own behalf.