Friday, 6 May 88
1.
RESTRICTIONS ON SPENDING FOR PHASE I OF SDI,
contained in the
Defense Authorization Bill passed Wednesday by the House, have
produced a threat by Secretary of Defense Carlucci to recommend a
Presidential veto. The Administration request for SDI called for
increasing the percentage of SDI funds to be spent on development
of a Phase I Strategic Defense System (SDS) to 50%. Phase I
involves space and ground-based interceptors to be deployed in
the mid-90's. The Spratt-Hochbrueckner-McCloskey Amendment, which
passed by a resounding 244-174, freezes the overall percentage of
funding available for near-term options at the current level of
40%. The authors of the amendment are concerned that basic
research that might lead to more advanced technologies, such as
directed energy weapons, is being slighted. The restrictions
came as a surprise. The President's horoscope for Wednesday says
"restrictions are lifted, enabling you to make a new start."
2
. "STAR WARS" CUTS ARE BEING REDIRECTED TO THE "DRUG WARS."
The House version of the Defense Authorization Bill calls for
spending $3.5B on SDI in FY 89. That is somewhat below the level
of this year's spending on SDI and a good deal less than the
$4.9B requested by the Administration. It is also about $600M
less than the House Armed Services Committee recommended, but
paradoxically that really means the House accepted the Committee
recommendation. They are betting that the Senate will approve
the $4.55B recommended by the Senate Armed Services Committee,
setting the stage for a compromise at around $4.1B. The House
applied $350M of the funds they had "saved" from Star Wars to
fight "Drug Wars." They directed the Defense Department to join
in the effort to interdict drugs entering the country.
3. THE WALKER AMENDMENT REQUIRING A DRUG FREE WORK PLACE
(WN 29 Apr 88) has been expanded
from 5 lines to 5 pages, and now graces
the DOE, NSF and NBS Authorization Bills reported out of the
House Science, Space and Technology Committee. Under this
amendment no organization shall receive a grant unless it has
certified that it will provide a drug free work place. In
yesterday's debate, which went on for hours, Rep. Tim Valentine
(D-NC) referred inadvertently to a "work free drug place."
4. THE SUPER COLLIDER WAS AUTHORIZED FOR THREE YEARS
in the DOE
bill reported out by the House SS&T Committee yesterday,
including $585M for construction in FY 90 and $618M in FY 91.
The bill calls for $147M for development and other expenses in FY
89, but nothing for construction. In an unexpected display of
nationalism the Committee adopted a provision limiting foreign
participation to 25%. A second provision forbids more than
one-third of any major component or system to be manufactured in
a foreign country, with the exception of joint ventures. A
sore-losers requirement that the state selected to host the SSC
be required to contribute $500M to the project was defeated.
|
