Friday, 12 July 1991 Washington, DC

1. SPACE STATION GAINS, NSF LOSES, IN SENATE APPROPRIATIONS BILL!
Wednesday, the Senate HUD/VA/Independent-Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee voted to fund the space station program at $2.02B in FY 92, the full amount requested by the President and $120M more than the House agreed to (WN 7 Jun 91). The subcommittee also restored some of the space science funds cut by the House. Where, you may ask, did the money come from? Housing for the elderly was the biggest loser, but some of the money was trimmed from the NSF request. On paper, NSF lost $35M out of the $2.722B request; bad enough, but the real cut would almost certainly be $140M. The subcommittee charged the Antarctic program's logistical support to the DOD. When Congress tried that last year, Richard Darman, who as director of OMB is the official scorekeeper, disallowed the charge (WN 1 Nov 91), and will again, as the committee must know. Worse yet, Darman's action came after the appropriations process was over, so there was no chance for relief. Yesterday, the full Appropriations Committee passed the bill without change.

2. SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES SPEAK OUT ON IMPACT OF THE SPACE STATION!
Fourteen scientific societies joined to send a letter to all members of the Senate, urging them not to fund Space Station Freedom at the expense of scientific programs. The letter, which was delivered on Tuesday, expressed particular concern about NSF and EPA funding in the coming years. It was signed by Presidents of the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, American Geophysical Union, Optical Society of America, American Crystallographic Association and the Acoustical Society among others, and has rekindled debate over the space station. Attempts to justify the station program seem to have undergone yet another change; supporters now describe it as a medical laboratory that will find cures for everything from Alzheimers to tennis elbow.

3. SUPERCOLLIDER SURVIVES ITS FIRST MAJOR SHOWDOWN IN THE SENATE,
but problems with international contributions worsen. During the debate on the FY 92 Energy Appropriations Bill, Senator Bumpers (D-AK), as expected, introduced an amendment to kill the SSC (WN 5 Jul 91). It was brushed aside 62 to 37. Indeed, Bumpers, who has consistently opposed megaprojects in this period of spending caps, predicted his arrow would fall short, "because the Energy Department has very thoughtfully contracted a piece of the SSC in 43 states." The Senate bill diverted $75M slated for clean-up of nuclear weapons facilities to the SSC, partially offsetting the $100M cut by the House (WN 31 May 91). But in Waxahachie, J. Fred Bucy, the Chairman of the Texas National Research Commission, resigned. TNRC is responsible for raising Texas' $1B contribution to the SSC. He indicated he thinks the project is in deep yogurt and wants to spend his time convincing Congress to forget about foreign contributions. Meanwhile, Deputy Energy Secretary Henson Moore was in Moscow trying to persuade the Soviets to join. Their contribution could just be deducted from American financial aid. Robert L. Park (202) 232-0189 The American Physical Society



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.