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 Department of Interior was published in the Daily Digest section on pages D101-D102 on Jan. 30, 2018.
The Department oversees more than 500 million acres of land. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the department has contributed to a growing water crisis and holds many lands which could be better managed.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Committee Meetings
(Committees not listed did not meet)
INDO-PACIFIC REGION
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the situation on the Korean Peninsula and United States strategy in the Indo-Pacific region, after receiving testimony from Admiral Dennis C. Blair, USN (Ret.), Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Michael J. Green, Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Kelly E. Magsamen, Center for American Progress.
FINANCIAL STABILITY OVERSIGHT COUNCIL
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the Financial Stability Oversight Council Annual Report to Congress, including S. 2098, to modernize and strengthen the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to more effectively guard against the risk to the national security of the United States posed by certain types of foreign investment, S. 2155, to promote economic growth, provide tailored regulatory relief, and enhance consumer protections, S. 2147, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to create a Pension Rehabilitation Trust Fund to establish a Pension Rehabilitation Administration within the Department of the Treasury to make loans to multiemployer defined benefit plans, and S. 1591, to impose sanctions with respect to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, after receiving testimony from Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury.
DOMESTIC SEAFOOD AMD AQUACULTURE
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded a hearing to examine opportunities to support domestic seafood through aquaculture, after receiving testimony from Mark Luecke, Prairie AquaTech, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Kelly Lucas, University of Southern Mississippi Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center, Ocean Springs; Barton Seaver, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, South Freeport, Maine; and Donald B. Kent, Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute, San Diego, California.
AMERICAN INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVENESS ACT
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act one year later, after receiving testimony from France Cordova, Director, National Science Foundation; and Walter Copan, Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology, and Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology.
NATURAL HAZARD EVENTS
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee concluded an oversight hearing to examine the role of the Geological Survey and the Forest Service in preparing for and responding to natural hazard events, as well as the current status of mapping and monitoring systems, after receiving testimony from David Applegate, Associate Director for Natural Hazards, Geological Survey; Glenn Casamassa, Associate Deputy Chief, National Forest System, Forest Service, Department of Agriculture; David K. Norman, Washington Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey State Geologist, Olympia; Karen Berry, Colorado State Geologist and Colorado School of Mines Geological Survey Director, Golden, on behalf of the Association of American State Geologists; Michael West, Alaska Earthquake Center State Seismologist and University of Alaska Geophysical Institute, Fairbanks; and Mayor Pat Branson, Kodiak, Alaska.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Committee ordered favorably reported the nominations of Melissa F. Burnison, of Kentucky, to be an Assistant Secretary of Energy (Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs), Susan Combs, of Texas, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Douglas Nelson, of Idaho, to be Solicitor of the Department of the Interior, and Anne Marie White, of Michigan, to be an Assistant Secretary of Energy (Environmental Management).
Also, Committee announced the following subcommittee assignments:
Subcommittee on Energy: Senators Gardner (Chair), Risch, Flake, Daines, Alexander, Hoeven, Cassidy, Portman, Capito, Manchin, Wyden, Sanders, Heinrich, King, Duckworth, and Smith.
Subcommittee on National Parks: Senators Daines (Chair), Barrasso, Lee, Gardner, Alexander, Hoeven, Portman, King, Sanders, Stabenow, Heinrich, Hirono, and Duckworth.
Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining: Senators Lee
(Chair), Barrasso, Risch, Flake, Daines, Gardner, Alexander, Hoeven, Cassidy, Capito, Wyden, Stabenow, Manchin, Heinrich, Hirono, Cortez Masto, and Smith.
Subcommittee on Water and Power: Senators Flake (Chair), Barrasso, Risch, Lee, Cassidy, Portman, Capito, Cortez Masto, Wyden, Sanders, Manchin, Duckworth, and Smith.
Senators Murkowski and Cantwell are ex officio members of each subcommittee.
EPA OVERSIGHT
Committee on Environment and Public Works: Committee concluded an oversight hearing to examine testimony from the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, after receiving testimony from Scott Pruitt, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency.
ECONOMIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE U.S., CANADA, AND MEXICO
Committee on Foreign Relations: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the economic relationship between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, after receiving testimony from Brian Mulroney, former Prime Minister of Canada, Montreal, Quebec; Earl Anthony Wayne, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, D.C.; and Jaime Serra, former Secretary of Commerce and Industry of Mexico, Mexico City.
HIGHER EDUCATION ACT
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee concluded a hearing to examine reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, focusing on accountability and risk to taxpayers, after receiving testimony from Anthony P. Carnevale, Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy Center on Education and Workforce, Ben Miller, Center for American Progress, Jason D. Delisle, American Enterprise Institute, and Mamie Voight, Institute for Higher Education Policy, all of Washington, D.C.; and Jose Luis Cruz, City University of New York Lehman College, New York, New York.
SMALL BUSINESS HEALTH PLANS
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security concluded a hearing to examine small business health plans, after receiving testimony from Brad E. Johnson, Covenant Insurance Group, Inc., Casper, Wyoming; Mike Sturm, Milliman, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Christopher E. Condeluci, CC Law and Policy PLLC, Washington, D.C.; Jen Kimmich, The Alchemist, Stowe, Vermont; and Tess Kuenning, Bi-State Primary Care Association, Montpelier, Vermont.
INTELLIGENCE
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee met in closed session to receive a briefing on certain intelligence matters from officials of the intelligence community.
