[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4260-4261]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      NOTICES OF HEARINGS/MEETINGS


                PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS

  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, I would like to announce for the 
information of the Senate and the public that the Permanent 
Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental affairs 
will hold a hearing entitled ``Profiteering In a Non-Profit Industry: 
Abusive Practices in Credit Counseling.'' The subcommittee intends to 
hold this hearing to address the problems facing the credit counseling 
industry. Once community-based and consumer-friendly, the credit 
counseling industry has undergone significant transformation during the 
past several years. New and aggressive profit-driven participants have 
entered the market, causing a rash of consumer complaints about high 
fees, misleading advertising, and poor service. The proliferation of 
for-profit, ``back-office'' servicing companies is threatening to 
change the industry into a debt collection mill instead of an industry 
whose focus should be on consumer counseling and education. The 
subcommittee's March 24 hearing will review the most egregious cases 
for misconduct among credit counseling agencies and their for-profit 
service providers and examine what solutions may be available to repair 
the industry.
  The hearings will take place on Wednesday, March 24, 2004, at 9 a.m., 
in room 342 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. For further 
information, please contact Raymond V. Shepherd III, Staff Director and 
Chief Counsel to the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, at 224-
3721.


                subcommittee on public lands and forests

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I would like to announce for the 
information of the Senate and the public that a hearing has been 
scheduled before the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests of the 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  The hearing will be held on Wednesday, March 24, at 2:30 p.m., in 
room SD-366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
  The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on the following 
bills: S. 433, a bill to provide for enhanced collaborative forest 
stewardship management within the Clearwater and Nez Perce National 
Forests in Idaho, and for other purposes; S. 2180, a bill to direct the 
Secretary of Agriculture to exchange certain lands in the Arapaho and 
Roosevelt National Forests in the

[[Page 4261]]

State of Colorado; and H.R. 1964, a bill to assist the States of 
Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania in conserving 
priority lands and natural resources in the Highlands region, and for 
other purposes.
  Because of the limited time available for the hearing, witnesses may 
testify by invitation only. However, those wishing to submit written 
testimony for the hearing record should send two copies of their 
testimony to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, U.S. 
Senate, Washington, DC 20510-6150.
  For further information, please contact Frank Gladics at 202-224-
2878.

                          ____________________