D 515

Wednesday, April 26, 1995

Daily Digest

Senate

Chamber Action

Routine Proceedings, pages S5683–S5737

Measures Introduced: One bill and two resolutions

were introduced, as follows: S. 726, S. Res. 111, and

S. Con. Res. 11. Page S5726

Measures Passed:

Navajo-Hopi Authorization: Senate passed S.

349, to reauthorize appropriations for the NavajoHopi Relocation Housing Program. Page S5734

Aquaculture Inspections: Senate passed S. 268, to

authorize the collection of fees for expenses for

triploid grass carp certification inspections.

 Page S5734

Indian Child Protection Authorization: Senate

passed S. 441, to reauthorize appropriations for certain programs under the Indian Child Protection and

Family Violence Prevention Act. Page S5734

Death of Senator Stennis: Senate agreed to S.

Res. 111, relative to the death of the Honorable

John C. Stennis, late a Senator from the State of

Mississippi. Page S5734

Product Liability Fairness Act: Senate continued

consideration of H.R. 956, to establish legal standards and procedures for product liability litigation,

taking action on amendments proposed thereto, as

follows: Pages S5683–85, S5689–S5725

Adopted:

Abraham Modified Amendment No. 597 (to

Amendment No. 596), to provide for equity in legal

fees. (By 45 yeas to 52 nays (Vote No. 135), Senate

earlier failed to table the amendment.)

 Pages S5683, S5710–17

By 56 yeas to 37 nays (Vote No. 136), Gorton (for Brown) Amendment No. 599 (to Amendment

No. 596), to restore to rule 11 of the Federal Rules

of Civil Procedure the restrictions on frivolous legal

actions that existed prior to 1994.

 Pages S5683, S5689–92, S5717–25

Rejected:

Hollings Amendment No. 598 (to Amendment

No. 597), to establish a limitation on attorneys’ fees

in all civil actions to $50 per hour. (By 94 yeas to

3 nays (Vote No. 134), Senate tabled the amendment.) Pages S5683, S5716

Pending:

Gorton Amendment No. 596, in the nature of a

substitute. Page S5683

Senate will continue consideration of the bill on

Thursday, April 27, 1995.

Communications: Page S5726

Statements on Introduced Bills: Pages S5726–28

Additional Cosponsors: Pages S5728–30

Amendments Submitted: Pages S5730–32

Authority for Committees: Page S5732

Additional Statements: Pages S5732–33

Record Votes: Three record votes were taken today. (Total—136) Pages S5716, S5717, S5725

Recess: Senate convened at 10:30 a.m., and as a further mark of respect to the memory of the late Senator John C. Stennis, of Mississippi, in accordance

with S. Res. 111, recessed at 9:10 p.m., until 9:30

a.m., on Thursday, April 27, 1995. (For Senate’s

program, see the remarks of the Acting Majority

Leader in today’s RECORD on pages S5736–37.)

Committee Meetings

(Committees not listed did not meet)

APPROPRIATIONS—ENERGY

Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Interior

held hearings on proposed budget estimates for fiscal

year 1996 for the Department of Energy, focusing on

energy conservation programs, receiving testimony

from Christine A. Irvin, Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Subcommittee will meet again tomorrow.

FEDERAL FOREST MANAGEMENT

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Subcommittee on Forests and Public Land Management

resumed oversight hearings to review Federal forest

management issues, focusing on the coordination of

and conflicts between Federal forest management and

general environmental statutes, receiving testimony
D 516 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — DAILY DIGEST April 26, 1995

from Jack Ward Thomas, Chief, and Gray Reynolds,

Deputy Chief, both of the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture; George T. Frampton, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife,

and Parks; Rolland Schmitten, Director, National

Marine Fisheries Service; Dinah Bear, General Counsel, Council on Environmental Quality; Robert H.

Wayland, III, Director, Office of Wetlands, Oceans,

and Watersheds, Environmental Protection Agency;

William R. Murray, American Forest and Paper Association, and Mike Pieti, United Brotherhood of

Carpenters and Joiners of America, both of Washington, D.C.; Tom Geary, Idaho Farm Bureau Federation, Burley, on behalf of the American Farm Bureau

Federation; Nathaniel Lawrence, Natural Resources

Defense Council, San Francisco, California; Douglas

L. Honnold, Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Inc.,

Bozeman, Montana; Glen Spain, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Eugene, Oregon;

Olivia Falconer James, The River Company, Sun

Valley, Idaho; Sue Kupillas, Jackson County, Oregon; and Jerry Rust, Lane County, Oregon. Hearings were recessed subject to call.

CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM

Committee on Finance: Committee held hearings on the

implementation of the Child Welfare and Adoption

Assistance Act (P.L. 96–272), and related provisions

of H.R. 4, Personal Responsibility Act of 1995, receiving testimony from Peter M. DiBari, Child and

Family Services of Newport County, Newport,

Rhode Island; Peter Digre, Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, Los Angeles, California; Wade F. Horn, National Fatherhood

Initiative, Gaithersburg, Maryland; and Ernestine

Moore, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.

Committee will meet again tomorrow.

NOMINATION

Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee concluded

hearings, in open and closed session, on the nomination of John M. Deutch, of Massachusetts, to be Director of Central Intelligence, after the nominee, who

was introduced by Senators Domenici, Kerry, and

Kennedy, testified and answered questions in his

own behalf.