2007 Committee Meetings

Hearings & Markups

Meetings are listed in reverse chronological order. Not all witness statements are provided. Prepared testimony is in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Web casts are in Windows Media Format.

All Committee meetings are available LIVE on the Internet; check Schedule for times

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Transcripts from the Government Printing Office (GPO)

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Thursday, December 13, 2007
CBO's Long-Term Budget Outlook

Witness:

Dr. Peter Orszag
Director, Congressional Budget Office

Web Casts (1 hours, 38 minutes): Video (324mb) | Audio (24mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-26,
CBO'S Long-Term Budget Outlook, December 13, 2007 - TEXT 239K | PDF 701K

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Wednesday, December 5, 2007
State of the U.S. Economy and Implications for the Federal Budget

Witnesses:
Dr. Peter Orszag
Director, Congressional Budget Office

Dr. Martin Feldstein
George F. Baker Professor of Economics, Harvard University, and President and CEO, National Bureau of Economic Research

Dr. C. Fred Bergsten
Director, Peterson Institute for International Economics

Web Casts (2 hours, 20 minutes): Video (334mb) | Audio (33mb)
Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-25,
State of the U.S. Economy and Implications for the Federal Budget, December 5, 2007 - TEXT 239K | PDF 701K
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Thursday, November 1, 2007
Counting the Change: Accounting for the Fiscal Impacts of Controlling Carbon Emissions

Witnesses:

Dr. Peter Orszag
Director, Congressional Budget Office

Robert Greenstein
Executive Director, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
David D. Doniger
Policy Director, Natural Resources Defense Council

Anne E. Smith, Ph.D.
Vice President, CRA International

Hearing Summary on Counting the Change

Web Casts (1 hour, 32 minutes): Video (211mb) | Audio (22mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-24,
Counting the Change: Accounting for the Fiscal Impacts of Controlling Carbon Emissions, November 1, 2007 - TEXT 239K | PDF 701K
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Thursday, October 25, 2007
Surface Transportation: Investment Needs and the Budget

Witnesses:

Panel I
The Honorable Mary E. Peters
Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation
Panel II
Robert A. Sunshine
Deputy Director, Congressional Budget Office
Janet F. Kavinoky
Director of Transportation Infrastructure, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Robert Puentes
Fellow, The Brookings Institution

Web Casts (1 hours, 57 minutes): Video (271mb) | Audio (xxmb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-23,
Surface Transportation: Investment Needs and the Budget, October 25, 2007 - TEXT 253K | PDF 926K

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Wednesday, October 24, 2007
The Growing Budgetary Costs of the Iraq War

Witnesses:

Panel I
Dr. Peter Orszag
Director, Congressional Budget Office

Panel II
Amy Belasco
Congressional Research Service

Professor Linda Bilmes
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Web Casts (2 hours, 53 minutes): Video (402mb) | Audio (xxmb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-22,
The Growing Budgetary Costs of the Iraq War, October 24, 2007 - TEXT 298K | PDF 1.2M

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Thursday, October 18, 2007
The Tax Code and Health Insurance Coverage

Witnesses:

Leonard E. Burman, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow and Director of the Tax Policy Center, Urban Institute
Grace-Marie Turner
President, Galen Institute

Hearing Summary on The Tax Code and Health Insurance Coverage

Web Casts (2 hours, 2 minutes): Video (285mb) | Audio (29mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-21,
The Tax Code and Health Insurance Coverage, October 18, 2007 - TEXT 212K | PDF 1.6M
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Thursday, October 4, 2007
Issues in Federal Government Financial Liabilities: Commercial Nuclear Waste

Witnesses:

Kim P. Cawley
Unit Chief, Natural and Physical Resources Cost Estimates Unit, Congressional Budget Office

The Honorable Edward F. Sproat III
Director, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, U.S. Department of Energy

Michael F. Hertz
Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Web Casts (1 hours, 8 minutes): Video (163mb) | Audio (17mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-20,
Issues in Federal Government Financial Liabilities: Commercial Nuclear Waste, October 4, 2007 - TEXT 127K | PDF 338K
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Thursday, September 20, 2007
Using Taxpayers' Dollars Most Efficiently: Perspectives on Performance Budgeting

Witnesses:

The Honorable Clay Johnson, III
Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget

The Honorable David M. Walker
Comptroller General of the United States, U. S. Government Accountability Office

Dr. Peter R. Orszag
Director, Congressional Budget Office

Web Casts (1 hours, 28 minutes): Video (202mb) | Audio (21mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-19,
Using Taxpayers' Dollars Most Efficiently: Perspectives on Performance Budgeting, September 20, 2007 - TEXT 150K | PDF 2.9M
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Thursday, August 2, 2007
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: What will be the long-term effect on the Federal budget?

Witnesses:

Stanley Czerwinski
Government Accountability Office

Donald E. Powell
Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding

Reverend Donald Boutte
Pastor, St. John Baptist Church, New Orleans, Louisiana

Summary of Hearing on Impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the Federal Budget

Web Casts (1 hours, 20 minutes): Video (185mb) | Audio (22mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-18,
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: What will be the Long Term Effect on the Federal Budget?, August 2, 2007 - TEXT 184K | PDF 1.7M
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Tuesday, July 31, 2007
The Costs of Military Operations and Reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan

Witnesses:
Panel I
The Honorable Gordon England
Deputy Secretary of Defense

Accompanied by:
Tina Jonas
Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)
and
Lieutenant General John F. Sattler
Director for Strategic Plans and Policy, The Joint Staff

Panel II
Robert Sunshine
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis, Congressional Budget Office

Stuart W. Bowen, Jr.
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction

The Honorable Joseph Saloom
Ambassador of the United States and Senior Transition Advisor, U.S. Department of State

The Honorable John A. Gastright, Jr.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, U.S. Department of State

Hearing Summary on The Costs of Military Operations and Reconstruction

Web Casts (2 hours, 24 minutes): Video (384mb) | Audio (39mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-17,
The Costs of Military Operations and Reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, July 31, 2007 - TEXT 247K | PDF 2M

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Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Perspectives on Renewing Statutory PAYGO

Witnesses:
Panel I
Dr. Peter Orszag
Director, Congressional Budget Office
The Honorable David M. Walker
Comptroller General of the United States, Government Accountability Office
Panel II
Robert L. Bixby
Executive Director, Concord Coalition
Robert Greenstein
Executive Director, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Maya MacGuineas
President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
The Honorable Pat Toomey
President and CEO, Club for Growth
Web Casts (2 hours, 45 minutes): Video (404mb) | Audio (34mb)
Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-16,
Perspectives on Renewing Statutory Paygo, July 25, 2007 - TEXT 241K | PDF 2.6M
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Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Budgeting to Fight Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
Witnesses:
Panel 1
The Honorable Michael O. Leavitt
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Panel 2
Linda Stiff
Deputy Commissioner of Operations Support, Internal Revenue Service
Stephen C. Goss
Chief Actuary, Social Security Administration
Timothy B. Hill
Chief Financial Officer, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
M. Patricia Smith
Commissioner, New York Department of Labor
Hearing Summary on Waste, Fraud and Abuse
Web Casts (2 hours, 17 minutes): Video (337mb) | Audio (33mb)
Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-15,
Budgeting to Fight Waste, Fraud and Abuse, July 17, 2007 - TEXT 284K | PDF 246K
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Thursday, June 28, 2007
Medicare Advantage and the Federal Budget
Witnesses:
Panel I
Dr. Peter R. Orszag
Director, Congressional Budget Office
Dr. Mark E. Miller
Executive Director, Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
Panel II
Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D.
Visiting Senior Fellow, AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, Associate Professor of Economics and of Medicine, Stanford University
The Honorable Barbara B. Kennelly
President and Chief Executive Officer, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
Patricia Neuman, Sc.D.
Vice President, Director, Medicare Policy Project, Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Robert M. Wah, MD
Member, Board of Trustees, American Medical Association
Catherine Schmitt
Vice President, Federal Programs, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
Hearing Summary on Medicare Advantage
Web Casts (3 hours, 17 minutes): Video (454mb) | Audio (45mb)
Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-14,
Medicare Advantage and the Federal Budget, June 28, 2007 - TEXT 300K | PDF 3.1M
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Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Foreign Holdings of U.S. Debt: Is Our Economy Vulnerable?
Witnesses:
Panel I
Dr. Peter Orszag
Director, Congressional Budget Office
Panel II
Dr. Robert D. Hormats
Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs (International)
Dr. Mickey Levy
Chief Economist, Bank of America
Dr. Kenneth Rogoff
Professor of Economics and Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University
Dr. Brad Setser
Senior Economist, Roubini Global Economics
Hearing Summary on Foreign Held Debt
Web Casts (2 hours, 59 minutes): Video (425mb) | Audio (xxmb)
Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-13,
Foreign Holdings of U.S. Debt: Is Our Economy Vulnerable?, June 26, 2007 - TEXT 297K | PDF 1.7M

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Thursday, May 17, 2007
Adoption of the Conference Report - Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2008

(Report 110-153) 133 pages - TEXT 323K | PDF 10MB

Passed 214-209.



Click on photo to see the video of Rep. Spratt's closing remarks during House debate on the conference report on May 17, 2007.

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Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Markup of H.Con.Res.99 ,
revising the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2007, establishing the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2008, and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2009 through 2012.

Web Casts (14 hours, 51 minutes): Video Opening Remarks (30 minutes, 59mb) | Audio (xxmb)

Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2008 (H.Rpt. 110-69) 135 pages - TEXT 394K | PDF 1.08MB | HTML 794K

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Tuesday, March 6, 2007
The Department of Defense and the Fiscal Year 2008 Budget

Witness: The Honorable Gordon England
Deputy Secretary of Defense

Accompanied by:
Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani, Jr., Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
and
The Honorable Tina W. Jonas, Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)

Web Casts (2 hours, 35 minutes): Video (311mb) | Audio (37mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-12,
The Department of Defense and the Fiscal Year 2008 Budget, March 6, 2007 - TEXT 166K | PDF 357K

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Thursday, March 1, 2007
Department of Veterans Affairs, Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Priorities

Witness:

The Honorable R. James "Jim" Nicholson
Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Accompanied by:
Michael J. Kussman, MD, MS, MACP, Acting Under Secretary for Health
The Honorable Daniel L. Cooper, Under Secretary for Benefits
The Honorable William F. Tuerk, Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs
The Honorable Robert J. Henke, Assistant Secretary for Management. 
Robert T. Howard, Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology

Web Casts (2 hours, 38 minutes): Video (318mb) | Audio (37mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-11,
The Department of Veterans Affairs Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Priorities, March 1, 2007 - TEXT 195K | PDF 545K

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Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Fiscal Challenges and the Economy in the Long Term

Witness:

The Honorable Ben S. Bernanke
Chairman, Board of Governors, of the Federal Reserve System

Web Casts (2 hours, 24 minutes): Video (293mb) | Audio (19mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-10,
Fiscal Challenges and the Economy in the Long Term, February 28, 2007 - TEXT 158K | PDF 235K

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Friday, February 16, 2007
IRS and the Tax Gap

Witnesses:

Panel I
The Honorable Mark W. Everson
Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service

Panel II
Michael Brostek
Director, Tax Issues, Strategic Issues Team, U.S. Government Accountability Office

Nina E. Olson
National Taxpayer Advocate, Internal Revenue Service

The Honorable J. Russell George
Inspector General for Tax Administration, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Chris Edwards
Director of Tax Policy Studies, CATO Institute

Web Casts (2 hours, 45 minutes): Video (121mb) | Audio (25mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-9,
IRS and the Tax Gap, February 16, 2007 - TEXT 399K | PDF 2.1M

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Thursday, February 15, 2007
U.S. Department of Agriculture Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Priorities

Witnesses:

Panel I
The Honorable Mike Johanns
Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Accompanied by:
Deputy Secretary Charles F. Conner, Budget Officer
W. Scott Steele, Chief Economist
Keith Collins

Panel II
Deborah Frank, M.D.
Director, Grow Clinic for Children, Boston Medical Center
and
Denise Holland
Executive Director, Harvest Hope Food Bank, Columbia, SC

Web Casts (3 hours, 45 minutes): Video (161mb) | Audio (25mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-8,
U.S. Department of Agriculture Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Priorities, February 15, 2007 - TEXT 528K | PDF 434K

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Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Members’ Day

Witnesses:

Members of the 110^th Congress

Collin C. Peterson, MN Bob Goodlatte, VA Dennis Cardoza, CA Norman Dicks, WA Julia Carson, IN Vernon Ehlers, MI Rush Holt, NJ Nancy Boyda, KS Vern Buchanan, FL Rick Larsen, WA Frank Wolf, VA Robin Hayes, NC Jim Matheson, UT

Brian Higgins, NY Michael Turner, OH Donna Christensen, Virgin Islands Bob Filner, CA James Oberstar, MN Michael Honda, CA Jason Altmire, PA Timothy Walz, MN Brad Ellsworth, IN John Boozman, AR Diane Watson, CA Rob Bishop, UT

Web Casts (4 hours, 45 minutes): Video (205mb) | Audio (35mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-7,
Members' Day, February 14, 2007 - TEXT 528K | PDF 434K

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Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Department of Health and Human Services FY 2008 Budget

Witness:

The Honorable Michael O. Leavitt
Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services

Web Casts (2 hours, 30 minutes): Video (108mb) | Audio (22mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-6,
Department of Health and Human Services Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Request, February 13, 2007 - TEXT 168K | PDF 176K

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Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Treasury Department Fiscal Year 2008 Budget

Witness:

The Honorable Henry M. Paulson, Jr.
Secretary, Department of the Treasury

Web Casts (2 hours, 45 minutes): Video (121mb) | Audio (22mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-5,
Treasury Department Fiscal Year 2008 Budget, February 7, 2007 - TEXT 159K | PDF 549K

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Tuesday, February 6, 2007
The President’s Fiscal Year 2008 Budget

Witness:

The Honorable Robert J. Portman
Director, Office of Management and Budget

Web Casts (3 hours, 35 minutes): Video (155mb) | Audio (29mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-4,
The President's Fiscal Year 2008 Budget, February 6, 2007 - TEXT 266K | PDF 457K

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Tuesday, January 30, 2007
The Congressional Budget Office's Budget and Economic Outlook

Witness:

Dr. Peter Orszag
Director, Congressional Budget Office

Charts

Web Casts (2 hours, 35 minutes): Video (105mb) | Audio (19mb)

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial Number 110-3
The Congressional Budget Office's Budget and Economic Outlook, January 30, 2007 - TEXT 165K | PDF 463K

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Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Why Deficits Matter

Witnesses:

The Honorable David M. Walker
Comptroller General of the United States, Government Accountability Office

Dr. Edward M. Gramlich
Richard B. Fisher Senior Fellow, Urban Institute

Dr. Edwin M. Truman
Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics

Web Casts (2 hours, 24 minutes): Video (101mb) | Audio (19mb)

Hearing Summary on Why Deficits Matter

Fiscal Year 2006 Financial Report of the United States Government,172 pages

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-2,
Why Deficits Matter, January 23, 2007 - TEXT 224K | PDF 1.7M

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Thursday, January 18, 2007
Budgeting for War

Witnesses:

The Honorable Gordon England
Deputy Secretary of Defense

Accompanied by:
Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani, Jr., Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
and
The Honorable Tina W. Jonas, Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)

Steven M. Kosiak
Center on Strategic and Budgetary Assessments

Robert A. Sunshine
Congressional Budget Office

Web Casts (3 hours, 15 minutes): Video (142mb) | Audio (26mb)

Hearing Summary on War Costs

Printed Hearing/Transcript Serial No. 110-1,
Budgeting for War Costs, January 18, 2007 - TEXT 257K | PDF 471K

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2008 Committee Meetings