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 in the Daily Digest section section on pages D694-D697 on July 12.
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)
NOMINATION
Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the nomination of General Randy A. George, USA, for reappointment to the grade of general and to be Chief of Staff of the Army, after the nominee, who was introduced by Senator Ernst, testified and answered questions in his own behalf.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Committee ordered favorably reported the nominations of Philip Nathan Jefferson, of North Carolina, to be Vice Chairman, and Lisa DeNell Cook, of Michigan, and Adriana Debora Kugler, of Maryland, both to be a Member, each of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
BANK MERGERS
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Subcommittee on Economic Policy concluded a hearing to examine bank mergers and the economic impacts of consolidation, after receiving testimony from Morgan Harper, American Economic Liberties Project, and Alexa Philo, Americans for Financial Reform, both of Washington, D.C.; and Michael Faulkender, University of Maryland, College Park.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Committee on the Budget: Committee concluded a hearing to examine protecting Social Security for all, focusing on making the wealthy pay their fair share, after receiving testimony from Phillip L. Swagel, Director, Congressional Budget Office; Stephen C. Goss, Chief Actuary, Social Security Administration; and Kathleen Romig, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Amy Hanauer, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, and Andrew G. Biggs, American Enterprise Institute, all of Washington, D.C.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Committee ordered favorably reported the nominations of Anna M. Gomez, of Virginia, Geoffrey Adam Starks, of Kansas, and Brendan Carr, of Virginia, each to be a Member, and Fara Damelin, of Virginia, to be Inspector General, all of the Federal Communications Commission, Alvin Brown, of Florida, to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board, and routine lists in the Coast Guard.
LEGISLATION
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining concluded a hearing to examine S. 636, to establish the Dolores River National Conservation Area and the Dolores River Special Management Area in the State of Colorado, to protect private water rights in the State, S. 912, to require the Secretary of Energy to provide technology grants to strengthen domestic mining education, S. 1015, to require the Secretary of Agriculture to convey the Pleasant Valley Ranger District Administrative Site to Gila County, Arizona, S. 1088, to authorize the relinquishment and in lieu selection of land and minerals in the State of North Dakota, to restore land and minerals to Indian Tribes within the State of North Dakota, S. 1254, to designate and expand wilderness areas in Olympic National Forest in the State of Washington, and to designate certain rivers in Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park as wild and scenic rivers, S. 1405, to provide for the exchange of certain Federal land and State land in the State of Utah, S. 1622, to discourage speculative oil and gas leasing and to promote enhanced multiple use management of public land and National Forest System land, S. 1634, to provide for the designation of certain wilderness areas, recreation management areas, and conservation areas in the State of Colorado, S. 1657, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain land to La Paz County, Arizona, S. 1760, to amend the Apex Project, Nevada Land Transfer and Authorization Act of 1989 to include the city of North Las Vegas, Nevada, and the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association, S. 1776, to provide for the protection of and investment in certain Federal land in the State of California, S. 1890, to provide for the establishment of a grazing management program on Federal land in Malheur County, Oregon, S. 2020, to amend the Oregon Resource Conservation Act of 1996 to reauthorize the Deschutes River Conservancy Working Group, S. 2042, to amend the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area Act to adjust the boundary of the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area, S. 2136, to require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain Federal land to the State of Utah for inclusion in certain State parks, S. 2149, to sustain economic development and recreational use of National Forest System land in the State of Montana, to add certain land to the National Wilderness Preservation System, to designate new areas for recreation, and S. 2216, to release from wilderness study area designation certain land in the State of Montana, to improve the management of that land, after receiving testimony from Thomas Heinlein, Assistant Director, National Conservation Lands and Community Partnerships, Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior; Chris French, Deputy Chief, Forest Service, Department of Agriculture; Michelle McConkie, Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration Director, Salt Lake City; Joseph Heringer, North Dakota Department of Trust Lands Commissioner of University and School Lands, Bismarck; and John J. Entsminger, Southern Nevada Water Authority, Las Vegas.
BUSINESS MEETING
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Committee ordered favorably reported the nominations of Gwynne A. Wilcox, of New York, to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, and Loren E. Sweatt, of Virginia, to be a Member of the National Mediation Board.
INDIAN AFFAIRS LEGISLATION
Committee on Indian Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to examine S. 616, to amend the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation Restoration Act to provide for the transfer of additional Federal land to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, S. 1898, to amend the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act to make improvements to that Act, and S. 1987, to provide for the settlement of the water rights claims of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, after receiving testimony from Bryan Newland, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior; John Crockett, Associate Deputy Chief for State, Private, and Tribal Forestry, Department of Agriculture; Montana Lieutenant Governor Kristen Juras, Helena; Leonard Fineday, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Cass Lake, Minnesota; Buu Nygren, Navajo Nation, Window Rock, Arizona; and Jeffrey Stiffarm, Fort Belknap Indian Community, Hays, Montana.
NOMINATIONS
Committee on the Judiciary: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the nominations of Jerry Edwards, Jr., to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Louisiana, and Brandon S. Long, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, who were both introduced by Senators Cassidy and Kennedy, Matthew James Maddox, to be United States District Judge for the District of Maryland, who was introduced by Senators Cardin and Van Hollen, and Philip S. Hadji, of the District of Columbia, to be a Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims, who was introduced by Senators Brown, Cassidy, and Vance, after the nominees testified and answered questions in their own behalf.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Intellectual Property concluded a hearing to examine Artificial Intelligence and intellectual property, focusing on copyright, after receiving testimony from Jeff Harleston, Universal Music Group, Santa Monica, California; Ben Brooks, Stability AI, and Karla Ortiz, both of San Francisco, California; Matthew Sag, Emory University School of Law, Atlanta, Georgia; and Dana Rao, Adobe Inc., San Jose, California.
VETERANS AFFAIRS LEGISLATION
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Committee concluded a hearing to examine S. 449, to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the assignment of patient advocates at medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs, S. 495, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program to provide assisted living services for eligible veterans, S. 853, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish the Zero Suicide Initiative pilot program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, S. 928, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to prepare an annual report on suicide prevention, S. 1037, to prohibit the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from carrying out certain activities under the Electronic Health Record Modernization Program until certification of system stability improvements, S. 1040, to amend title 38, United States Code, to prohibit smoking on the premises of any facility of the Veterans Health Administration, S. 1125, to authorize an electronic health record modernization program of the Department of Veterans Affairs and increase oversight and accountability of the program to better serve veterans, medical professionals of the Department, and taxpayers, S. 1172, to amend title 28, United States Code, to make certain improvements relating to the eligibility of veterans to receive reimbursement for emergency treatment furnished to veterans in non-Department of Veterans Affairs facilities, S. 1315, to improve the provision of care and services under the Veterans Community Care Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, S. 1436, to expand and extend benefits available to veterans in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, S. 1545, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program to improve the ability of veterans to access medical care in medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs and in the community by providing veterans the ability to choose health care providers, S. 1612, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to publish a rule to implement the requirement that the Secretary be permitted to waive the limitation in law on reimbursement of veterans receiving domiciliary care in State homes, S. 1828, to amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to recognize nurse registries for purposes of the Veterans Community Care Program, S. 1951, to amend title 38, United States Code, to expand entitlement of veterans to care from the Department of Veterans Affairs and to guarantee health care benefits for veterans enrolled in the patient enrollment system of the Department, S. 1954, to improve the provision of health care furnished by the Department of Veterans Affairs for veterans diagnosed with diabetes and heart disease, S. 2067, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to award grants to nonprofit organizations to assist such organizations in carrying out programs to provide service dogs to eligible veterans, an original bill entitled, ``Making Community Care Work for Veterans Act'', an original bill entitled, ``Leveraging Integrated Networks in Communities for Veterans Act'', and an original bill entitled, ``Rural Vital Emergency Transportation Services Act'', after receiving testimony from Miguel LaPuz, Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Integrated Veteran Care, Veterans Health Administration, Matthew Miller, Director, Suicide Prevention Program, Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, Cynthia Gantt, Deputy Director of the Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation within Patient Care Services, and Leslie Sofocleous, Executive Director, EHRM-
Integration Office, all of the Department of Veterans Affairs; Jon Retzer, Disabled American Veterans, and Meggan Thomas, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, both of Washington, D.C.; and Lieutenant Colonel James Lorraine, USAF (Ret.), America's Warrior Partnership, Akin, South Carolina.
NOMINATIONS
Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee concluded a hearing to examine the nominations of Lieutenant General Timothy D. Haugh, USAF, to be the Director of the National Security Agency, and Michael Colin Casey, of Kentucky, to be Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, after the nominees testified and answered questions in their own behalf.