Hearings this week:

[TayTay]

3/7/06: Rural Telecommunications
Full Committee Hearing
Tuesday, March 7 2006 - 10:00 AM - D-562

Webcast: Click here to view a live webcast of this hearing. http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1710
Description: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Co-Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) have scheduled a Full Committee Hearing on Rural Telecommunications for 10am on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 in room 562 of the Dirksen Building.

Panel 1:

Mr. Thomas Dorr
Undersecretary, Rural Development Authority, United States Department of Agriculture

Mr. Mark K. Johnson
Commissioner, Regulatory Commission of Alaska

Mr. Ray Baum
Commissioner, Public Utility Commission of Oregon

Mr. Bill Squires
Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Blackfoot Telephone Cooperative

Mr. Larry Sarjeant
Vice President for Regulatory and Legislative Affairs, Qwest Communications

Mr. Craig Mundie
Senior Vice President of Advanced Strategies and Policy, Microsoft

Mr. Joe Garcia
President, National Congress of American Indians

Mr. Mark Goldstein
Director of Physical Infrastructure Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office

This is important stuff, but I don't know much about it. GV and Karynnj and others can comment. (And cover for my ignorance. In my own defense, hey, I'm willing to learn.)

[TayTay]

1. Finance Comm Hearing on Health Care Tax Policy

Taking a checkup on the nation's health care tax policy: a prognosis

March 8, 2006, at 10:00 a.m. in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building
http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearings.htm

Member Statements:
Charles Grassley, IA
Max Baucus, MT

Witness Statements:

Panel

The Honorable Paul H. O’Neill, Pittsburgh, PA

Dr. Leonard E. Burman, Senior Fellow, Co-Director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, Urban Institute, Washington, DC

Mr. Robert W. Lane, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Deere & Company, Moline, IL (on behalf of the Business Roundtable)
******************************

Paul O'Neill was Bush's first Secretary of the Treasury and the author of the book: The Price of Loyalty. This could actually be an interesting hearing. I hope that Sen. Kerry shows. I would love to see him question Paul O'Neill about this and see if O'Neill is still disgusted with the Bushies over their budgeting madness and lying.

Meanwhile, Sen. Icky Ricky Santorium decided that Health Savings Accounts should be adapted so that they cover making see-through carriers for still-born babies so that you can permanently mount them and display them to visitors in your Senate office. (Look, this was my child, look I use the death of my own child to garner sympathy from peope and get votes. What a guy!) Oh Ricky, what would we do without you. (I can't wait to find out.)

[TayTay]

3. Nomination hearing in SFRC: 3/7/06

Nomination
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HEARING
before the

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

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Tuesday, March 7, 2006

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Time: 9:30 AM
Place: 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Presiding: Senator Lugar
http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2006/hrg060307a.html

Nominee:
The Honorable Randall L. Tobias
To be Administrator of the U.S. Agency for
International Development
http://www.usaid.gov/

******************************

This could be very interesting. They are the 'money people' and do wield a lot of power. Okay, I'll put it up and listen. Meanwhile, Sen. Allen wants to shut this agency down. "If God had wanted them foreigners to have money, He'd a given them oil. We need to stop funding foreign welfare unless they promise to vote Republican."

[TayTay]

2. Hearing on Chiner and Counterfeiting 3/8

Piracy and Counterfeiting in China
Trade, Tourism, and Economic Development Hearing
Wednesday, March 8 2006 - 2:30 PM - D-562

Description: The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation's Subcommittee on Trade, Tourism, and Economic Development has scheduled a hearing on Piracy and Counterfeiting in China for Wednesday, March 8, 2006, at 2:30 p.m. in room 562 of the Dirksen building. The hearing will review China's growing piracy and counterfeit rings and their impacts on U.S. domestic industries and commerce. Witnesses will be announced when available.
http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1764

Panel 1:

Mr. Chris Israel
Coordinator for International Intellectual Property Enforcement, U.S. Department of Commerce

Panel 2:

Mr. Franklin Vargo
Vice President of International Economic Affairs, National Association of Manufacturers

Mr. Andy York
Vice President, Leupold & Stevens, Inc.

Professor William Alford
Director of East Asian Studies, Harvard Law School
**********************

Yup, Our John is on this sub-committee. (Of course he is. He knows what he's talking about when it comes to trade and port security and IP enforcement rules and stuff. He is 'wicked smaht' you know.) Plus, he really talked about this issue, even though the mere mention of 'trade law' and 'intellectual property' discussion can cause some people's eyes to glaze over.

Meanwhile, Sen. Allen asks the witnesses if he can get a pirated copy of Big Momma's House 2. He is waaaaay too busy to go to the movies these days, but he really wants to see this movie, on account of it sounding so sweet and wholesome. (What could be more wholesome than a movie about 'Momma's House?' You can't get more American than that.)

[TayTay]

4. SFRC Hearing on 3/8

The Impact on Latin America of the
Servicemembers' Protection Act
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HEARING
before the

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
http://foreign.senate.gov/hearing.html

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Wednesday, March 8, 2006

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Time: 2:30 PM
Place: 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Presiding: Senator Coleman

Witnesses:
Dr. Peter DeShazo
Director
Americas Program
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Washington, DC
Adam Isacson
Program Director
Center for International Policy
Washington, D.C.
Dr. Ruth Wedgwood
Director of the International Law and
Organization Program
The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced
International Studies (SAIS)
The Johns Hopkins University
Washington, DC
Additional witnesses may be added

**************

Sen. Kerry is on this sub-committee. But if I had to blow off a hearing, I think I would heavily factor in that Coleman, the man-weasel hybrid, is chairing this one and maybe consider that Fisheries rerun on C-Span instead.

[MH1]

5. What's this ? 3/9/06 - SBC - FY2007 Budget for SBA

Spotted at http://sbc.senate.gov/democrat/index.cfm

Beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday, click here to view the Committee hearing on the President's FY 2007 Budget Request and Legislative Proposals for the Small Business Administration.