[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 66 (Tuesday, April 16, 2024)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D365-D367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
APPROPRIATIONS: USDA
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural 
Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies 
concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget estimates and 
justification for fiscal year 2025 for the Department of Agriculture, 
after receiving testimony from Thomas J. Vilsack, Secretary of 
Agriculture.
APPROPRIATIONS: NAVY AND MARINE CORPS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Defense concluded a 
hearing to examine proposed budget estimates and justification for 
fiscal year 2025 for the Navy and Marine Corps, after receiving 
testimony from Carlos Del Toro, Secretary of the Navy, Admiral Lisa 
Marie Franchetti, 33rd Chief of Naval Operations, and General Eric 
Smith, Commandant of the Marine Corps, all of the Department of 
Defense.
APPROPRIATIONS: HHS
Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human 
Services, and Education, and Related Agencies concluded a hearing to 
examine proposed budget estimates and justification for fiscal year 
2025 for the Department of Health and Human Services, after receiving 
testimony from Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services.
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE POSTURE
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded open and closed 
hearings to examine the posture of the Department of the Air Force in 
review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2025 and 
the Future Years Defense Program, after receiving testimony from Frank 
Kendall, Secretary of the Air Force, General David W. Allvin, USAF, 
Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and General B. Chance Saltzman, USSF, 
Chief of Space Operations, all of the Department of Defense.
PRESERVING THE U.S. HOUSING STOCK
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on 
Housing, Transportation, and Community Development concluded a hearing 
to examine challenges in preserving the U.S. housing stock, including 
S.2790, to reform rural housing programs, S.1557, to amend the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 to reform the low-income housing credit, S.3871, 
to establish a whole-home repairs program for eligible homeowners and 
eligible landlords, S.234, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
to permanently extend the new markets tax credit, S.3793, to 
reauthorize the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, S.1805, to amend 
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand housing investment with 
mortgage revenue bonds, and S.657, to amend the Internal Revenue Code 
of 1986 to establish a tax credit for neighborhood revitalization, 
after receiving testimony from Jesse Ergott, NeighborWorks Northeastern 
Pennsylvania, Scranton; Robin Wolff, Enterprise Community Partners, 
Washington, D.C.; and Christopher Volzke, Wyoming Community Development 
Authority, Casper.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY BUDGET
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded a 
hearing to examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal 
year 2025 for the Department of Energy, after receiving testimony from 
Jennifer M. Granholm, Secretary of Energy.
IRS FY 2025 BUDGET AND 2024 FILING SEASON
Committee on Finance: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the 
President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2025 for the 
Internal Revenue Service and the Internal Revenue Service 2024 filing 
season, after receiving testimony from Daniel Werfel, Commissioner, 
Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee ordered favorably reported 
the following business items:
  S. 3854, to combat transnational repression abroad, to strengthen 
tools to combat authoritarianism, corruption, and kleptocracy, to 
invest in democracy research and development, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute;
  S. 3235, to require a strategy to counter the role of the People's 
Republic of China in evasion of sanctions imposed by the United States 
with respect to Iran, with amendments;
  S. 1651, to encourage increased trade and investment between the 
United States and the countries in the Western Balkans, with 
amendments;
  S. 138, to amend the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 to modify certain 
provisions of that Act, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. 1829, to impose sanctions with respect to persons engaged in the 
import of petroleum from the Islamic Republic of Iran, with amendments;
  S. 3874, to impose sanctions with respect to foreign support for 
terrorist organizations in Gaza and the West Bank, with amendments;
  S. 2626, to impose sanctions with respect to the Supreme Leader of 
Iran and the President of Iran and

[[Page D366]]

their respective offices for human rights abuses and support for 
terrorism, with amendments;
  S. 2336, to address the threat from the development of Iran's 
ballistic missile program and the transfer or deployment of Iranian 
missiles and related goods and technology, including materials and 
equipment, with amendments;
  S. Res. 505, condemning the use of sexual violence and rape as a 
weapon of war by the terrorist group Hamas against the people of 
Israel;
  S. 618, to establish the United States Foundation for International 
Conservation to promote long-term management of protected and conserved 
areas, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
  S. 1881, to reauthorize and amend the Nicaraguan Investment 
Conditionality Act of 2018 and the Reinforcing Nicaragua's Adherence to 
Conditions for Electoral Reform Act of 2021, with an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute;
  S. Res. 357, recognizing the formation of the Alliance for 
Development in Democracy and urging the United States to pursue deeper 
ties with its member countries;
  S. Con. Res. 18, calling for the immediate release of Marc Fogel, a 
United States citizen and teacher, who was given an unjust and 
disproportionate criminal sentence by the Government of the Russian 
Federation in June 2022, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute;
  S. Res. 385, calling for the immediate release of Evan Gershkovich, a 
United States citizen and journalist, who was wrongfully detained by 
the Government of the Russian Federation in March 2023; and
  The nominations of Stephanie Sanders Sullivan, of Maryland, to be 
Representative of the United States of America to the African Union, 
with the rank and status of Ambassador, Pamela M. Tremont, of Virginia, 
to be Ambassador to the Republic of Zimbabwe, Elizabeth Rood, of 
Pennsylvania, to be Ambassador to Turkmenistan, Richard H. Riley IV, of 
California, to be Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Somalia, David 
J. Kostelancik, of Illinois, to be Ambassador to the Republic of 
Albania, Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir, of Connecticut, to be Ambassador to 
the Republic of Indonesia, Stephan A. Lang, of Virginia, to be U.S. 
Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, 
with the rank of Ambassador, Jennifer M. Adams, of Virginia, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Cabo Verde, Courtney Diesel O'Donnell, of 
California, to be United States Permanent Representative to the United 
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, with the 
rank of Ambassador, Dorothy Camille Shea, of North Carolina, to be 
Deputy Representative of the United States of America to the United 
Nations, with the rank and status of Ambassador and the Deputy 
Representative of the United States of America in the Security Council 
of the United Nations, and to be Representative of the United States of 
America to the Sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations, 
during her tenure of service as Deputy Representative of the United 
States of America to the United Nations, Dafna Hochman Rand, of 
Maryland, to be Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and 
Labor, Arthur W. Brown, of Pennsylvania, to be Ambassador to the 
Republic of Ecuador, Richard Mills, Jr., of Georgia, to be Ambassador 
to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mark Toner, of Pennsylvania, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of Liberia, Laura Stone, of Utah, to be 
Ambassador to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Lisa Peterson, of 
Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Burundi, and Donna Ann 
Welton, of New York, to be Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of 
Timor-Leste, all of the Department of State, Andrew William Plitt, of 
Maryland, to be an Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency 
for International Development, Richard L.A. Weiner, of the District of 
Columbia, to be United States Director of the European Bank for 
Reconstruction and Development, Elizabeth Shortino, of the District of 
Columbia, to be United States Executive Director of the International 
Monetary Fund, and routine lists in the Foreign Service.
USPS OVERSIGHT
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Committee 
concluded an oversight hearing to examine the United States Postal 
Service, after receiving testimony from Louis DeJoy, Postmaster General 
and Chief Executive Officer, Roman Martinez IV, Chairman, Board of 
Governors, and Tammy Hull, Inspector General, all of the United States 
Postal Service; and Michael Kubayanda, Chairman, Postal Regulatory 
Commission.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
eliminating the abuse of solitary confinement, focusing on a legacy of 
harm, after receiving testimony from Gretta L. Goodwin, Director, 
Homeland Security and Justice, Government Accountability Office; Roy 
Boyd, Goliad County Sheriff, Goliad, Texas; Nicole Davis, 
Talk2MeFoundation, Chicago, Illinois; and Katherine R. Peeler, Harvard 
Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
AI AND ELECTION DEEPFAKES
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and 
the Law concluded an oversight hearing to examine AI, focusing on 
election deepfakes, after receiving testimony from David

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Scanlan, New Hampshire Secretary of State, Concord; Zohaib Ahmed, 
Resemble AI, Santa Clara, California; Ben Colman, Reality Defender, New 
York, New York; and Rijul Gupta, Deep Media, Inc., Oakland, California.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to 
receive a briefing on certain intelligence matters from officials of 
the intelligence community.
LONG-TERM CARE WORKFORCE
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the long-term care workforce, focusing on addressing shortages and 
improving the profession, after receiving testimony from Nicholas 
Smith, SPIN, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Brooke Vogleman, TLC 
Management, Huntington, Indiana; Matthew Connell, Ivy Tech Community 
College of Indiana, Indianapolis; and Jasmine L. Travers, New York 
University Rory Meyers College of Nursing, New York, New York.