Committee hearings this week

[TayTay]

Don't know who will show, but anyway:

SUBCOMMITTEE ON LONG-TERM GROWTH AND DEBT REDUCTION
Gordon Smith, OR, Chairman
John F. Kerry, MA, Ranking Member
July 21, 2005, at 2:30 p.m. in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building
http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearing072105.htm

Member Statements:
Gordon Smith, OR
John F. Kerry, MA

Witness Statements:

Panel

Mr. Joseph M. Mikrut, Partner, Capitol Tax Partners, Washington, DC

Dr. Thomas S. Neubig, National Director, Quantitative Economics and Statistics, Ernst & Young LLP, Washington, DC

Dr. Jane Gravelle, Senior Specialist in Economic Policy, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

Mr. Kenneth D. Simonson, Chief Economist, Associated General Contractors of America, Alexandria, VA

Mr. Christopher R. Anderson, President, Massachusetts High Technology Council, Inc., Waltham, MA

[TayTay]

1. Global Climate Change

Two Dems on this sub-committee. Yup one of them is Kerry.

Global Climate Change Policy and Budget Review
Global Climate Change Hearing
Wednesday, July 20 2005 - 10:00 AM - SR-253


Webcast: http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1584
Description: The Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Global Climate Change and Impacts will hold a hearing on Wednesday, July 20 at 10 a.m. in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building. The hearing will feature a review of United States climate policy and the $5 billion budget request for climate-related science and technology in Fiscal Year 2006. Witnesses will be announced when available.

Panel 1:

The Honorable James Richard Mahoney
Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, U.S. Department of Commerce

Mr. Daniel Reifsnyder
Director, Office of Global Climate Change, U.S. Department of State

Mr. David W. Conover
Director, U.S. Climate Change Technology Program, U.S. Department of Energy

Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone
President, National Academy of Sciences

[TayTay]

2. Commerce Committe -The Kitchen Sink

Full Committee Mark-up
Full Committee Mark-up
Thursday, July 21 2005 - 10:00 AM - Russell 253

Webcast: http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1587
Description: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Co-Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) have scheduled a Full Committee Mark-up for Thursday, July 21 at 10:00 a.m. in room 253 of the Russell Building. The mark-up is open to the public. Please note, due to the overwhelming Member interest in identity theft legislation, it will be marked-up at a later time, which will be announced when available. Following is the agenda (not necessarily in order of consideration):

LEGISLATION:

S. 1392, The Federal Trade Commission Reauthorization Act of 2005

S. ____, The Maritime Administration Enhancement Act of 2005 (this will be an original Committee bill)

S. 360, The Coastal Zone Enhancement Reauthorization Act of 2005

S. 1390, The Coral Reef Conservation Amendments Act of 2005

S. 363, The Ballast Water Management Act of 2005

S. 1110, The Engine Coolant and Antifreeze Bittering Agent Act of 2005


NOMINATIONS:

PN 703 – Rebecca F. Dye, of North Carolina, to be Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission

PN 706 – Coast Guard officer

PN 707 – Coast Guard officer to be a member of the permanent teaching staff of the Coast Guard Academy

c

[TayTay]

3. Iraq Again in ForRel Comm

Accelerating Economic Progress in Iraq
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2005/hrg050720a.html

HEARING
before the

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, July 20, 2005

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time: 10:15 AM
Place: 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Presiding: Senator Lugar

Witnesses:
Dr. Keith Crane
Senior Economist
RAND Corporation
Arlington, VA
Mr. Fareed Mohamedi
Senior Director
Country Strategies Group
PFC Energy
Washington, DC
Mr. Frederick D. Barton
Senior Advisor
International Security Program
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Washington, DC

[TayTay]

4. And so Sen. Coleman can grandstand in Committee

United Nations Reform
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2005/hrg050721a.html

HEARING
before the

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, July 21, 2005

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time: 10:00 AM
Place: 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Presiding: Senator Lugar

Witnesses:
Panel 1
The Honorable Newt Gingrich
Co-Chairman
Task Force on the United Nations
U.S. Institute of Peace
Washington, DC
The Honorable George Mitchell
Co-Chairman
Task Force on the United Nations
U.S. Institute of Peace
Washington, DC
Panel 2
The Honorable R. Nicholas Burns
Under Secretary for Political Affairs
Department of State
Washington, DC

[MH1]

5. But nothing on S.967, Kerry's bill,

"Truth in Broadcasting" - tagging government VNR's to let public know they are produced by the government.

Maybe I don't get how this works. They had a hearing back in May. I thought I saw on Center for Media and Democracy that Stevens favored going forward with some minor amendments. I thought the next step might be a committtee mark-up. But no, not listed.

I just don't freaking understand why they can't process the no-brainer stuff like S.967.

Oh, duh. Oops, stupid me. It's a "Democrat" bill. What was I thinking? :sarcasm:

[TayTay]

6. This one could be intereesing.

kicking my own stuff, for information purposes only.

[globalvillage]

7. Do you have video of the Climate Change hearing?

I am getting audio only.

[Mass]

8. Me too.

Something is wrong with the video.

[globalvillage]

9. Thanks.

I'll stop fiddling with the controls now.
:hi:

[TayTay]

10. Sub-committee

Apparently only favored sub-committees get full video and everything. Geez, who know that Stevens would pick favorites.

(Or this committee room is only equipped with audio abilities. Maybe they gave them the old room.)

[TayTay]

11. Tax Policy (zzzzzz) meeting today

Kerry is ranking, so.....

SUBCOMMITTEE ON LONG-TERM GROWTH AND DEBT REDUCTION
Gordon Smith, OR, Chairman
John F. Kerry, MA, Ranking Member
July 21, 2005, at 2:30 p.m. in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building
http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearing072105.htm

[whometense]

12. Maybe I'll watch

just to get my Kerry fix. :loveya:

[TayTay]

13. It's about

To hold hearings to examine the Federal Tax Code's depreciation system focusing on how to amend the current depreciation system to provide simplification and updated guidance for areas such as emerging industries and technologies, and the role that depreciation should play in providing fiscal stimulus or encouraging economic growth for particular industries of the U.S. economy at large.


Okay, it's consistent with the stuff in Commerce from awhile ago. Pumping up manufacturing and giving incentives to those with US business who intend to invest in emerging technologies and such.

See it here: http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearings.htm

[TayTay]

14. OMG! That guy worked with my brother

My brother has a membership in MA High Tech. (Engulf and Devour Division.) Wow! Huh!

Of all the connections, to all of the people who testify in Congress, I have to know a tax guy. (And thus, given my ignorance of tax speech, can't converse in that language. Sigh!)

Wow! I wonder if he works with Kerry a lot. Small world.

[globalvillage]

15. I noticed his acknowledgement of Sen Kerry

in his opening remarks. Seemed at though there might be some connection. Cool "degrees of separation" thing, Tay Tay.

[whometense]

16. Staying late at work just to watch JK

I don't understand a word they're saying, but I'm drinking in the sight of a national leader who knows stuff about stuff and can speak in dignified sentences.

[TayTay]

17. So, I'm not the only one

I got some of it. (Business AMT, and how to do deprectiation on equipment that keeps up with the actual life of the equipment.)

Hmmmm, I'm tax illiterate. Sigh!

[karynnj]

19. I loved the way he interacted with the experts

It was interesting to see that they essentally agreed with his statement of the problem. Could you picture Bush trying to ask questions here?

[karynnj]

18. That's cool though

It was interesting seeing Kerry at this type of meeting. It was interesting that the experts didn't have straight forward answers to his questions. It does seem that his questions will lead to lots of staff work. Every time I 've seen Kerry on any of the committees I am angry again as to how badly the Republicans lied about Kerry's work in the Senate. (though I guess the debates really exposed that as he had clearly done something to learn everything he knew.)

[TayTay]

20. I am also deeply impressed with his knowledge

and how, after awhile, it all fits in as a cohesive and consistent package of views.

This points only to me, sigh! No doubt everyone else was on that page months ago. I have never really consistently followed any hearings. I sort of did and I sort of do now. They mostly occur when I am at work, so I listen then get interrupted and then try to pick them up again and so forth.

But after a while, the dense fog that surrounds my brain sort of parts and some stuff seeps in. (I wish it was a faster process, but you think with the brain you got, not the brain you wish you had. Sigh!) So I saw that consistent pattern at the tax hearing today. It echoed the pattern at the Commerce committee hearing from a month or so ago that talked about trying to get the workforce prepared for the age of global competition and how we are not funding what we need to fund. And in that hearing today there was the idea that the tax policies we have were written in a slower age when machines and computer-based devices didn't go obsolete so fast and we need to change that to be competitive. And that echoes the IT Health care committee hearing that stressed, in which Kerry stressed, in so many words, the same thing.

It's one thing to see it and explain it on the page where policy is explained from the top down, it's another thing to do this backward and assemble it from the pieces. Hmmm, I think I learned something. Huh!

Anyone else find this remarkable degree of consistency, even in disparate seeming things?