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Week of July 6th
PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS: I returned to Baltimore in time for July 4 after leading a bipartisan, 14-member Congressional Delegation to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lithuania and Belarus. In Vilnius, Lithuania, where we participated in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly's 18th annual session, I was re-elected to a second three-year term as Vice President of this multinational group. I was honored to be re-elected by my fellow parliamentarians and look forward to of strengthening the OSCE and expanding its use as a key international forum to tackle human rights, climate change, and a host of security concerns across Europe, Central Asia and North America. I currently serve as Chairman of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission).
ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY: Monday of this week, I will be in Frederick to see first-hand the planned clean-up sites at Fort Detrick. In June, the Maryland Department of the Environment announced that it had approved plans to cap six landfill sites on Area B, which are contaminated with biological waste, testing materials, and chemical and herbicidal waste. This contamination is historical in nature and is not related to current activities. Fort Detrick is our nation's premier biomedical research and development facility, and I am committed to ensuring that the contamination at Fort Detrick is fully addressed, that remediation efforts are ongoing, and that the community's health and safety is assured.
THREATENED WILDLIFE: On Wednesday, I will convene a hearing of the Environment and Public Works Water and Wildlife Subcommittee, which I chair. My colleagues and I will hear from federal and state/local officials and other experts about the threats of disease and invasive species on native wildlife, as well as oversight of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's administration of current programs to manage these threats. The recent emergence of snakehead fish in the Chesapeake Watershed and White Nose Syndrome in northeastern bat colonies, were among the new and persistent diseases and invasive species threatening the country's native wildlife populations. Healthy wildlife populations are integral to the health of America's natural ecosystems.
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Among the specific Constitutional duties assigned to the Senate is the Advice and Consent of the President's nominees for executive and judicial positions. Next week, as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I will participate in the nomination hearing for Judge Sonia Sotomayor to fill the current vacancy on the Supreme Court. This week, as a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, I will proudly introduce Robert Perciasepe, former Maryland Secretary of the Environment, to my fellow committee members for his hearing to become the Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Also the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of which I am a member, will hold hearings on the President's nominees to be ambassador to India, Oman, Tunisia, Denmark, The United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, France, Romania, Brazil and Mexico, as well as the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.
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