Friday, 16 August 1991 Washington, DC
1. A SECRET BUDGET DEAL TO FUND THE SPACE STATION IS
UNRAVELING!
The White House wanted full funding for Space Station Freedom;
the Senate was under pressure to protect science programs threat-
ened by Freedom; and the spending caps set by the budget summit
made it impossible to do both. What's the solution? Cheat! The
plan was to have the Defense Department forego reimbursement for
services rendered to NSF and NASA, such as Navy logistic support
for the NSF antarctic program. Wouldn't this violate the budget
agreement forbiding the transfer of funds between non-defense and
defense programs? Dick Darman of OMB, the official scorekeeper
of the budget agreement, ruled last year that it would, as What's
New pointed out a few weeks ago (WN 12 Jul
91). But according to a Wall Street Journal story, the plan
relys heavily on transfers from secret defense programs--and
Darman has agreed to look the other way this time. Sen. Barbara
Mikulski (D-MD), chair of the HUD/VA/IA Appropriations
Subcommittee, and the ranking minority member, Jake Garn (R-UT),
agreed to the plan. The White House even threw in a little extra
money for pork barrel projects in Maryland and Utah. In all, the
scheme would transfer about $500M. Budget leaders in the House,
however, carry bitter memories of Darman's refusal to allow such
transfers last year. Alerted by the Wall Street Journal article,
Leon Panetta (D-CA), chair of the House Budget Committee, and Dan
Rostenkowski (D-MI), powerful head of Ways and Means, sent angry
letters to Darman warning that the transfers abrogate the budget
agreement. The controversy is certain to dominate the
House/Senate Conference on the HUD/VA/IA appropriation. If the
transfers fall through, it will again pit NSF and NASA science
programs against Space Station Freedom.
2. READERS ACCUSE "WHAT'S NEW" OF USING PREHISTORIC
TECHNOLOGY!
When we reported survey results indicating that
most APS members have never heard of What's New (2 Aug 91), many of our readers snorted
that the problem comes AFTER you hear about it. Accessing WN,
they complain, seems to be an aptitude test for hackers. The APS
Bulletin tells you to first dial a local access number for a
carrier. Did we tell you where to get it? No! Call Telemail at
1-800-336-0437 and select option 2. If you got this far on your
own, you may also have figured out that the Bulletin lists the
wrong password (it should be APS692). If you are reading this
you must have already figured these things out. Congratulations.
3. BUT MANY OF OUR READERS PREFER NOT TO FOOL AROUND WITH
MODEMS.
Not to worry! They can get on our BitNet list by
writing us at CMR@AIP.BITNET. WN is also available on OmNet and
PiNet, and is copied onto dozens of bulletin boards. We
encourage that sort of thing--it saves us time and money. What's
New is not copyrighted.
4. THE TROUBLE-PLAGUED "SCIENCE RESOURCES DIVISION" OF THE
NSF
is being reviewed by the Inspector General's Office; a
report is due in September. Some annual SRS publications have
been cancelled.
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