Friday, 8 February 1991 Washington, DC

1. PRESIDENT PROPOSES BIG INCREASE FOR SCIENCE IN FY 1992 BUDGET!
About the only way science could have done better would be to get into the chapter titled "Off-Budget Entities," along with the S&L bailout and the Gulf War. As it is, the big increases requested for basic research will be the target of less favored programs. Some highlights culled from the 7-lb., 2,029- page budget:

o DOE: The FY 92 request for the SSC is $534M, nearly double the current year; the budget document states that "this increase will not come at the expense of other science programs." There must be some other explanation for the fact that other DOE programs are being cut: CEBAF is set to lose $20M, extending construction time by one year; when the Administration's estimate of 4.1% for FY 92 inflation is applied to Basic Energy Sciences, it shows a 3.7% drop; Biological and Environmental Research goes down 19.3%.

o NSF: The request is for $2.72B dollars, up 13.4% corrected for inflation; the research share would go up 11.8%. According to the document, "The President remains committed to doubling the NSF budget between 1987 and 1994." The request, it says, "would restore the doubling path." Anyone who can remember his phone number may also recall that the President used to be committed to doubling NSF's budget in five years. Nevertheless, it is a good request and gives special attention to individual investigators. Walter Massey took note of the Administration's support of NSF in his confirmation hearing on Thursday before the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, chaired by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D- MA).

2. BUSH ADMINISTRATION ACKNOWLEDGES THE THREAT OF GLOBAL WARMING!
A White House spokesman told a U.N.-sponsored conference that the threat "justifies taking action now." The Administration agreed to stabilize production of greenhouse gases at the 1987 level by the turn of the century. What "action" does the US have in mind? The phaseout of CFC's agreed to last summer will be contined and the Clean Air Act passed by Congress in October will do the rest! The National Energy Strategy due out in a few weeks should help with conservation measures. It's not bold, but it's a plan. Mean-while, 1990 appears to have been the warmest year in recorded weather history. NOTE! A short course on global warming will be conducted by the APS Forum, 19-21 April 1991 in Washington, DC. For information contact David Hafemeister at (202) 224-4447.

3. NAVY IG EXONERATES STANFORD IN OVERHEAD CONTROVERSY--SORT OF.
Stanford President Donald Kennedy announced he is "very pleased" with a Navy Inspector General's finding that charges of a $200M overpayment to Stanford cannot be supported (WN 25 Jan 91). But the IG recommended audits at Stanford and all other universities that receive indirect-cost reimbursement. Stanford's accounting was admittedly sloppy. Kennedy promises improvements that will make Stanford a "model" in accounting for taxpayer dollars.

Bob Park can be reached via email at whatsnew@bobpark.org

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the University, but they should be.