Daybook

SENATE

COMMITTEE MEETINGS 10 a.m. HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS Full Committee. Hearing on nuclear terrorism. Irwin Redlener, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; Ira Helfand, co-founder and past president, Physicians for Social Responsibility; Joseph C. Becker, American Red Cross; John Ullyou, Hill and Knowlton Inc. Location: Room 342, Dirksen.

2 p.m. FOREIGN RELATIONS Full Committee. Hearing on U.S.-China relations. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte; Richard Haass, Council on Foreign Relations; Kurt Campbell, Center for a New American Security; Harry Harding, George Washington University. Location: Room 419, Dirksen.

2:30 p.m. ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES Full Committee. Hearing on oil shale resources. Assistant Interior Secretary C. Stephen Allred; Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter; Terry O’Connor, Shell Exploration & Production, Denver; Steve Smith, The Wilderness Society, Denver; Jim Hansen, representing Oil Shale Exploration Co., Farmington, Utah. Location: Room 366, Dirksen.

HOUSE

COMMITTEE MEETINGS 10 a.m. AGRICULTURE General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee. Hearing on the movement of commodity markets. Location: Room 1300, Longworth.

10 a.m. ENERGY AND COMMERCE Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. Hearing on nursing home safeguards. Lewis Morris, HSS; Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal; Luis Navas-Miguelos, Baltimore City Ombudsman; Susana Aceituno, wife of patient hurt at Connecticut facility; Tom Debruin, Pennsylvania Service Employees International Union; David Zimmerman, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Andrew Kramer, University of Colorado-Denver; Neil Pruitt, UHS-Pruitt Corp.; Mary Jane Koren, Commonwealth Fund; Kerry Weems, Acting Administrator, CMMS. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn.

10 a.m. ENERGY AND COMMERCE Health Subcommittee. Hearing on H.R. 5998 - Protecting Children’s Health Coverage Act of 2008. Lesley Cummings, Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board; Dayna Shah, GAO; Morton Rosenberg, CRS. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn.

10 a.m. FOREIGN AFFAIRS Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment Subcommittee. Hearing on U.S. responsibility to foreign Agent Orange victims. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scott Marciel; Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, director general, Ngoc Tam Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City; Catharin Dalpino, Georgetown University; Vaughan Turekian, American Association for the Advancement of Science; Rick Weidman, Vietnam Veterans of America; Jeanne Mirer, International Association of Democratic Lawyers. Location: Room 2172, Rayburn.

10 a.m. NATURAL RESOURCES Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans Subcommittee. Oversight hearing on the management of West Coast salmon fisheries. Rodney McInnis, NOAA; Michael Rode, California Fish and Game Dept.; Jack Williams, Trout Unlimited; consultant James Litchfield; Laura Anderson, Local Ocean Seafoods; Roger Thomas, Golden Gate Fishermen’s Association; Joel Kawahara, Washington Trollers Association; Richard Pool, Pro-Troll Fishing Products; Jason Peltier, San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority. Location: Room 1324, Longworth.

10 a.m. OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM Full Committee. Hearing on Defense Base Act Insurance. Joseph Mizzoni, DoD; James Ginman, DoD; William Moser, State Department; James Dalton, Corps of Engineers; Shelby Hallmark, Labor Department; John Neeham, GAO. Location: Room 2154, Rayburn.

11 a.m. JUIDICIARY Antitrust and Competition Policy Task Force. Hearing on the Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn.

2 p.m. FOREIGN AFFAIRS International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight Subcommittee. Hearing on UN Security Resolution 1325, recognizing women’s vitial roles in peace and security. Swanee Hunt, Hunt Alternatives Fund and former U.S. ambassador to Austria; Donald K. Steinberg, International Crisis Group and former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Angola; Rina Amiri, The Open Society Institute; Rebecca Joshua Okwaci, secretary general, Women Action for Development; Betty Bigombe, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Janice Crouse, Concerned Women for America Location: Room 2172, Rayburn.

2 p.m. HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia Subcommittee. Hearing on the State Department’s role in arms control, counterproliferation and nonproliferation. Thomas Graham, Jr., former acting Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; Norman Wulf former deputy assistant director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; Andrew Semmel, formerly of the State Department. Location: Room 342, Dirksen.

GENERAL CALENDAR

May 14 - 16 PETROLEUM MARKETERS The Petroleum Marketers Association of America holds its Washington Conference and Day on the Hill. Location: Washington Court Hotel, 525 New Jersey Ave. NW. Contacts: 703/351-8000

May 15 - 17 PHYSICIANS The American College of Physicians holds its annual scientific meeting. Location: Washington Convention Center, Mt. Vernon Square. Contacts: Steve Majewski, 215/351-2514

9:30 a.m. IRAQ VETS The Congressional Progressive Caucus holds a forum to hear testimony from more than a dozen veterans of the war in Iraq who will share eyewitness accounts of the ongoing military occupation. Location: Room 2261, Rayburn. Contacts: Chris Shields, 202/225-5187

9:30 a.m. - 12 p.m. CHINA The Jamestown Foundation hosts a discussion, “China 2008: Changes in the Chinese Leadership and Beijing’s New Policies on Reform, Tibet and Taiwan.” Participants: Glen E. Howard, President, The Jamestown Foundation; Ambassador James R. Lilley, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; Dr. Willy Wo-Lap Lam. Senior Fellow, The Jamestown Foundation; and Dr. Maochun Yu, Professor, U.S. Naval Academy. Location: Jamestown Foundation, 1111 16th St. NW, 7th Floor Conference Room. Notes: RSVP

10 a.m. COLOMBIA The Center for International Democracy holds a discussion on the hostage situation in Colombia, with Sen. Luis Eladio Perez, who was recently released, French Amb. Pierre Vimont, others. Location: Room 210, Cannon. Contacts: Adam Isacson, 202/232-3317

10 a.m. LEBANON The U.S. Institute of Peace holds a discussion on the possibility of civil war in Lebvanon, with Emile Hokayem of the Stimson Center, others. Location: 2nd floor conference room, 1200 17th St. NW. Contacts: Lauren Sucher, 202/429-3822

10 a.m. MEMORIAL DAY TRAVEL AAA holds a press conference to release its annual Memorial Day Weekend travel forecast. Topics to be covered: Will we see a decrease in the number of people traveling this weekend? Will record fuel prices result in fewer Americans traveling during the Memorial Day weekend? How many Americans will be flying and driving this holiday? Briefer: Mark Brown, Executive Vice President, Association and Club Services, AAA. Location: Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Upper Concourse, Door 6, at the north end of Terminal C, adjacent to the glass wall where the media outlets are located. Contacts: Michael Pina, 202/942-2079

12 p.m. MEDICARE REFORM The Cato Institute hosts a Policy Forum, “Whatever Happened to Medicare Reform? Participants: Thomas R. Saving, Medicare trustee, 2001-2007; Stuart Guterman, Commonwealth Fund; and (moderator) Michael F. Cannon, Cato Institute. Background: Research suggests the federal Medicare program spends as much as $100 billion per year on medical care that makes seniors no healthier or happier. Its payment system continues to reward low-quality and even harmful medical care. The trustees of the Medicare program have issued yet another annual report containing dire warnings about Medicares financial sustainability, including an unfunded liability of $86 trillion. The picture is far worse than it was when politicians were developing fundamental Medicare reforms 10 years ago. Location: Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Contacts: 202/789-5200 Notes: Luncheon follows presentation

12 p.m. - 2 p.m. GOD AND SCIENCE AEI and the John Templeton Foundation on religion in American public life co-sponsor a discussion, “Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete?” Background: The John Templeton Foundation recently invited 13 prominent thinkers to write short essays on the question, “Does science make belief in God obsolete?” Contributors range from atheistic Christopher Hutchins to Christoph Cardinal Schvnborn, lead editor of the catechism of the Catholic Church. Introduction: Henry Olson, AEI; and Gary Rosen, John Templeton Foundation. Discussants: William D. Phillips, University of Maryland; and Michael Shermer, Skeptic Magazine. Moderator: Michael Novak, AEI. Location: AEI’s Wohlstetter Conference Center, 12th floor, 1150 17th St. NW. Contacts: Veronique Rodman, 202/862-4870

1 p.m. ANTI PIRACY The Congressional International Anti-Piraqcy Caucus holds a news conference to unveil the top six countries on the 2008 priority watch list. Location: Room HC-7, Capitol. Contacts: Sean Black, 202/226-8348

2 p.m. NASA-CONSTELLATION PROGRAM NASA will hold a media teleconference to give an update on progress made in the last few months and work ahead for its Constellation program, which will build spacecraft to carry astronauts to the International Space Station and return human to the moon by 2020. A Q&A session follows. Notes: Reporters should contact Grey Hautaluoma at 202/358-0668 or Stephanie Schierholz at 202/358-4997 by 11 a.m. Thursday, May 15.

4:30 p.m. - 6 p.m. CASTANEDA-IMMIGRATION Former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge G. Castaqeda, a Global Distinguished Professor of Politics and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University, will discuss his recent book, “Ex Mex: From Migrants to Immigrants.” The discussion is sponsored by MPI and the Inter-American Dialogue. Location: MPI Conference Room, third floor, 1400 16th St. NW. Contacts: Michelle Mittelstadt, 202/266-1910

6 p.m. DIASPORAS George Washington University hosts a panel of experts on how diasporas can leverage political capital into generating development policies, with Fantu Cheru of the Nordic Africa Institute of Sweden, Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie of the Africa Foundation for Development, others. Location: Room 213, 1957 E St. NW. Contacts: Adela de la Torre, 202/994-6424

6:30 p.m. GATES Business Executives for National Security holds a gala honoring Defense Secretary Gates. Location: JW Marriott, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Contacts: Mike Doubleday, 202/296-2125

• Compiled by the Associated Press and The Washington Times