[Daily Digest]
[Pages D407-D408]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
NOMINATIONS
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nominations of Tina Westby Jonas, of Virginia, to be Under 
Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), Dionel M. Aviles, of Maryland, to 
be Under Secretary of the Navy, and Jerald S. Paul, of Florida, to be 
Principal Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs, National Nuclear 
Security Administration, who was introduced by Senator Nelson (FL), 
after each nominee testified and answered questions in their own 
behalf.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee held a 
hearing to examine telecommunications policy, focusing on lessons 
learned from the Telecommunications Act of 1996, including opening the 
telephone exchange market to competition, after receiving testimony 
from David Dorman, AT&T Corporation, Bedminster, New Jersey; Richard C. 
Notebaert, Qwest Communications, Denver, Colorado; and James Geiger, 
Cbeyond Communications, Atlanta, Georgia, on behalf of the Association 
for Local Telecommunications Services.
  Hearings recessed subject to the call.
INTERNATIONAL SPACE EXPLORATION PROGRAM
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Subcommittee on 
Science, Technology, and Space held a hearing to examine International 
Space Exploration Program, focusing on competition and cooperation in 
the space exploration arena globally, receiving testimony from Marcia 
S. Smith, Specialist in Aerospace and Telecommunications Policy, 
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress; Sven Grahn, 
Swedish Space Corporation, Solna, Sweden; John M. Logsdon, George 
Washington University Elliot School of International Affairs, 
Washington, D.C.; and James Oberg, Soaring Hawk Productions, Dickinson, 
Texas.
  Hearings recessed subject to the call.
ELECTRICITY GENERATION
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded an 
oversight hearing to examine sustainable, low emission, electricity 
generation, focusing on clean coal, wind, geothermal, and solar energy 
technologies, biomass, and nuclear waste management, after receiving 
testimony from David K. Garman, Assistant Secretary of Energy for 
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; Richard E. Smalley, Rice 
University, Houston, Texas; Ernest J. Moniz, Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology Laboratory for Energy and the Environment, Cambridge; 
Francis P. Burke, CONSOL Energy, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 
behalf of the National Mining Association.
NATIONAL PARKS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on National 
Parks concluded a hearing to examine S. 1064, to establish a commission 
to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, S. 1092, 
to authorize the establishment of a national database for purposes of 
identifying, locating, and cataloging the many memorials and permanent 
tributes to America's veterans, S. 1748, to establish a program to 
award grants to improve and maintain sites honoring Presidents of the 
United States, S. 2046, to authorize the exchange of certain land in 
Everglades National Park, S. 2052, to amend the National Trails System 
Act to designate El Camino Real de los Tejas as a National Historic 
Trail, and S. 2319, to authorize and facilitate hydroelectric power 
licensing of the Tapoco Project, after receiving testimony from 
Senators DeWine and Hutchison; Paul Hoffman, Deputy Assistant Secretary 
of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks; J. Mark Robinson, 
Director, Office of Energy Projects, Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission; Kathy Copeland, South Florida Water Management District, 
West Palm Beach; Brian Rooney, Remembering Veterans Who Earned Their 
Stripes, Northridge, California; Richard Moe, National Trust for 
Historic Preservation, Washington, D.C.; Randall M. Overbey, Alcoa, 
Inc., Knoxville, Tennessee; Faye Phillips, Louisiana State University, 
Baton Rouge; John L. Nau III, Texas Historical Commission, Houston, 
Texas on behalf of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND PHARMACEUTICALS
Committee on Finance: Subcommittee on International Trade and 
Subcommittee on Health Care held a joint hearing to examine 
international trade and

[[Page D408]]

pharmaceuticals, focusing on name-brand prescription drug prices, trade 
initiatives that promote innovation and ensure access to lifesaving 
medicines, importation of prescription drugs, drug counterfeiting, the 
Medicare Importation Study and Task Force, and making greater use of 
generics, receiving testimony from Grant D. Aldonas, Under Secretary of 
Commerce for International Trade; Josette Sheeran Shiner, Deputy U.S. 
Trade Representative; William K. Hubbard, Associate Commissioner for 
Policy and Planning, Public Health Service, Food and Drug 
Administration, Department of Health and Human Services; John E. 
Calfee, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C.; and Gerard 
Anderson, Johns Hopkins University School of Bloomberg of Public 
Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
  Hearings recessed subject to the call of the chair.
NOMINATION
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to 
examine the nomination of John D. Negroponte, of the District of 
Columbia, to be Ambassador to Iraq, after the nominee testified and 
answered questions in his own behalf.
NOMINATION
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
the nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh, of Maryland, to be a United 
States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit, after the 
nominee, who was introduced by Senator Cornyn, testified and answered 
questions in his own behalf.
INDEPENDENT AGING
Special Committee on Aging: Committee concluded a hearing to examine 
opportunities and challenges relating to assistive technologies for 
independent aging, focusing on how to accelerate and amplify the 
development of these technologies crucial to the nation's future 
security and economic well-being, after receiving testimony from Eric 
Dishman, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, Oregon, on behalf of the Center 
for Aging Services Technologies; Martha E. Pollack, University of 
Michigan Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Ann 
Arbor; Lydia Lundberg, Elite Care-Oatfield Estates, Milwaukie, Oregon; 
Joseph F. Coughlin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Age Lab & New 
England University Transportation Center, Cambridge; Stephen McConnell, 
Alzheimer's Association, Washington, D.C.; and Ronald Seiler, 
University of Idaho Center on Disabilities and Human Development, 
Moscow.