The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Senate Committee Meetings” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Daily Digest section on pages D857-D860 on July 29, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
AGRICULTURE REORGANIZATION
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry: Committee concluded oversight hearings to examine the Department of Agriculture's progress in consolidating and downsizing its operations, after receiving testimony from Richard E. Rominger, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture; and Lawrence J. Dyckman, Director, Food and Agriculture Issues, Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division, General Accounting Office.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered favorably reported the following business items:
The nominations of Kelley S. Coyner, of Virginia, to be Administrator of the Research and Special Programs Administration, Department of Transportation, and Diane D. Blair, of Arkansas, and Ritajean H. Butterworth, of Washington, each to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting;
S. 2107, to enhance electronic commerce by promoting the reliability and integrity of commercial transactions through establishing authentication standards for electronic communications, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
S. 2217, to provide for continuation of the Federal research investment in a fiscally sustainable way, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. (As approved by the committee, the amendment authorizes funds for fiscal years 1999 through 2010.);
S. 2120, to improve the ability of Federal agencies to license federally-owned inventions, with an amendment;
S. 2119, to amend the Amateur Sports Act to strengthen provisions protecting the right of athletes to compete, recognize the Paralympics and growth of disabled sports, and improve the U.S. Olympic Committee's ability to resolve certain disputes, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
S. 1802, to authorize funds for programs of the Surface Transportation Board, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute.
(As approved by the committee, the amendment authorizes $16,190,000 for fiscal year 1999.); and
S. 2360, to authorize funds for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with amendments. (As approved by the committee, the bill will authorize funds for fiscal years 1999 through 2003.)
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably reported the following business items:
The nomination of Bill Richardson, of New Mexico, to be Secretary of Energy;
S. 1978, to designate the auditorium located within the Sandia Technology Transfer Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as the ``Steve Schiff Auditorium'';
H.R. 2493, to establish a mechanism by which the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior can provide for uniform management of livestock grazing on Federal lands;
S. 1719, to direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to exchange land and other assets with Big Sky Lumber Co., with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
H.R. 3830, to provide for the exchange of certain lands within the State of Utah;
H.R. 2886, to provide for a demonstration project in the Stanislaus National Forest, California, under which a private contractor will perform multiple resource management activities for that unit of the National Forest System, with an amendment;
H.R. 3796, to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to convey the administrative site for the Rogue River National Forest and use the proceeds for the construction or improvement of offices and support buildings for the Rogue River National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management, with an amendment;
H.R. 1663, to clarify the intent of the Congress in Public Law 93-632 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to continue to provide for the maintenance of 18 concrete dams and weirs that were located in the Emigrant Wilderness at the time the wilderness area was designated as wilderness in that Public Law;
S. 2087, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain works, facilities, and titles of the Gila Project, and designated lands within or adjacent to the Gila Project, to the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District, with an amendment;
S. 1398, to extend certain contracts between the Bureau of Reclamation and irrigation water contractors in Wyoming and Nebraska that receive water from Glendo Reservoir, with an amendment;
S. 2171, to extend the deadline under the Federal Power Act applicable to the construction of a hydroelectric project in the State of Arkansas;
S. 2232, to establish the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site in the State of Arkansas, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
S. 1016, to authorize funds through fiscal year 2004 for the Coastal Heritage Trail Route in New Jersey;
S. 1333, to amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to allow national park units that cannot charge an entrance or admission fee to retain other fees and charges, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
S. 2039, to designate the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, 404-mile trail from the Rio Grande River near El Paso, Texas, to San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico, as a component of the National Trails System;
S. 2106, to expand the boundaries of Arches National Park, Utah, to include portions of certain drainages that are under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management, and to include a portion of Fish Seep Draw owned by the State of Utah, with an amendment;
S. 2129, to eliminate restrictions on the acquisition of certain land contiguous to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park;
S. 469, to designate a portion of the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Rivers as a component of the National Wild and Scenic River System, with an amendment;
H.R. 2186, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide assistance to the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming;
S. 1408, to establish the Lower East Side Tenement National Historic Site;
S. 1665, to authorize funds for programs of the Delaware and Lehigh Navigation Canal National Heritage Corridor Act, with amendments;
S. 1718, to amend the Weir Farm National Historic Site Establishment Act of 1990 to authorize the acquisition of additional acreage for the historic site to permit the development of visitor and administrative facilities and to authorize the appropriation of additional amounts for the acquisition of real and personal property, with an amendment;
S. 1990, to authorize expansion of Fort Davis National Historic Site in Fort Davis, Texas;
S. 2109, to provide for an exchange of lands located near Gustavus, Alaska, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
S. 2272, to amend the boundaries of Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in the State of Montana; and
S. 2276, to amend the National Trails System Act to designate El Camino Real de los Tejas as a National Historic Trail, with amendments.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee ordered favorably reported the following bills:
S. 2131, to provide for the conservation and development of water and related resources, and to authorize the Secretary of the Army to construct various projects for improvements to rivers and harbors of the United States, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
S. 2364, to authorize funds for fiscal years 1999 through 2003 and make reforms to programs authorized by the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965;
S. 2361, to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to authorize programs for predisaster mitigation, to streamline the administration of disaster relief, and to control the Federal costs of disaster assistance, with amendments;
S. 2359, to authorize funds for fiscal years 1999 through 2004 for programs of the National Environmental Education Act;
S. 2317, to improve the National Wildlife Refuge System, with an amendment; and
H.R. 3453, to designate the Federal Building and Post Office located at 100 East B Street, Casper, Wyoming, as the ``Dick Cheney Federal Building''.
WORK INCENTIVES IMPROVEMENT ACT
Committee on Finance: Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy held hearings on S. 1858, to amend the Social Security Act to provide individuals with disabilities with incentives to become economically self-sufficient, focusing on health care barriers that prevent citizens with disabilities from working, receiving testimony Senators Harkin and Kennedy; former Senator Dole; Cynthia M. Fagnoni, Director, Income Security Issues, Health, Education, and Human Services Division, General Accounting Office; Paul Van de Water, Assistant Director, Budget Analysis Division, Congressional Budget Office; T. Jeff Bangsberg, Becklund Home Health Care, Minneapolis, Minnesota, on behalf of the Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities; Allan I. Bergman, United Cerebral Palsy Associations, Inc., Washington, D.C.; Brian Irish, Burlington, Vermont; and Nancy Becker Kennedy, Los Angeles, California.
Hearings were recessed subject to call.
SATELLITE EXPORT LICENSING
Committee on Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services concluded hearings to examine the process by which commercial communications satellites are licensed for launch by foreign countries, after receiving testimony from C. Michael Armstrong, AT&T, Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and Chairman, President's Export Council; and Steven D. Dorfman, Hughes Electronics Corporation, Arlington, Virginia.
PUNITIVE DAMAGE AWARDS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee held hearings on S. 1554, to provide for relief from excessive punitive damage awards in cases involving primarily financial loss by establishing rules for proportionality between the amount of punitive damages and the amount of economic loss, receiving testimony from Senator Lieberman; Mark E. Dapier, Mercury Finance Company, Lake Forest, Illinois; Timothy A. Lambirth, Ivanjack & Lambirth, Los Angeles, California; Peter D. Zeughauser, ClientFocus, Newport Beach, California; George L. Priest, Yale University Law School, New Haven, Connecticut; and Jeff Jinnett, LeBoeuf Computing Technologies, New York, New York.
Hearings were recessed subject to call.
INS REFORM
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Immigration concluded oversight hearings to examine the structure of the law enforcement activities of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, after receiving testimony from Doris Meissner, Commissioner, and Ron Sanders, Chief Patrol Agent, United States Border Patrol (Tucson, Arizona), on behalf of the Chief Patrol Agents' Association, both of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice; and Richard J. Gallo, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, East Northport, New York.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Labor and Human Resources: Committee ordered favorably reported S. 1380, to authorize funds for titles VI and X of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to expand the implementation of public charter schools, with an amendment.
Also, committee resumed markup of S. 2213, to allow all States to participate in activities under the Education Flexibility Partnership Demonstration Act, but did not complete action thereon, and will meet again tomorrow.
WENDELL H. FORD GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS REFORM ACT
Committee on Rules and Administration: Committee concluded hearings on S. 2288, to provide for the reform and continuing legislative oversight of the production, procurement, dissemination, and permanent public access of the Government's publications, after receiving testimony from Michael F. DiMario, Public Printer, and George E. Lord, Chairman, Joint Council of GPO Unions, both of the Government Printing Office; Barbara J. Ford, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, on behalf of the American Library Association; Daniel P. O'Mahony, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, on behalf of the Inter-Association Working Group on Government Information Policy; Benjamin Y. Cooper, Printing Industries of America, Inc., Alexandria, Virginia; and Robert L. Oakley, Georgetown University Law Center, on behalf of the American Association of Law Libraries, Daniel C. Duncan, Information Industry Association, Patrice McDermott, OMB Watch, and William J. Boarman, Communications Workers of America/AFL-CIO, all of Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported the following bills:
S. 1905, to provide for equitable compensation for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
H.R. 3069, to extend the Advisory Council on California Indian Policy to allow the Advisory Council one year to advise Congress on the implementation of its recommendations, with an amendment;
S. 1770, to elevate the position of Director of the Indian Health Service to Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, and to provide for the organizational independence of the Indian Health Service within the Department of Health and Human Services, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute;
S. 391, to provide for the disposition of certain funds appropriated to pay judgment in favor of the Mississippi Sioux Indians, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute; and
S. 1419, to deem the activities of the Miccosukee Tribe on the Tamiani Indian Reserve to be consistent with the purposes of the Everglades National Park, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee held closed hearings on intelligence matters, receiving testimony from officials of the intelligence community.
Committee recessed subject to call.
