Friday, 20 September 1991 Washington, DC
1. COLLAPSE OF SECRET BUDGET DEAL PITS NSF AGAINST SPACE
STATION!
Office of Management and Budget director Richard Darman has ruled
that $375M in payments from the Department of Defense to NASA,
factored into the Senate version of the FY 92 appropriation for
HUD/VA/IA, violate the Budget Enforcement Act ban on transfers of
funds between defense and civilian programs. The scheme to pad
the bill for NASA's satellite communications services as a way of
circumventing the BEA was cooked up between the leadership of the
Senate appropriations subcommittee and President Bush. Darman,
the official scorekeeper, was supposed to look the other way, but
when word of the deal leaked out, Leon Panetta (D-CA), chair of
the House Budget Committee, blew the whistle (WN 16 Aug 91). The Senate version of the
HUD/VA/IA appropriation bill must somehow be adjusted for the
loss of $375M. Another $105M in logistic support by the Navy for
NSF's Antarctic program will apparently be allowed. When the
Senate/House Conference meets in the next couple of weeks, the
missing $375M will again put the NSF and NASA's space science
programs into direct conflict with Freedom.
2. SPACE STATION VOTE GENERATES RECORD SPACE PAC
CONTRIBUTIONS.
According to a story in "Washington
Technology," the major NASA contractors for Space Station Freedom
contributed $445,000 to the campaign funds of key legislators in
the battle to save the space station. According to the Center
for Public Integrity, that is the biggest ever PAC contribution
related to a single issue--exceeding in just six months the
previous record of $340,000 set by the utility industry over a
period of four years. The top recipient, Sen. Mikulski (D-MD),
chair of the appropriations subcommittee responsible for NASA and
NSF, got $31,900. So far, to be fair, both Houses have done well
by NSF--which has no PAC.
3. DOE PANEL TO SET RESEARCH PRIORITIES IN A PERIOD OF
AUSTERITY. On the advice of Will Happer, the new director of
the Office of Energy Research, DOE hastily assembled a panel of
scientific Pooh-Bahs, led by Charles Townes, to assess research
priorities. The haste is presumably dictated by the
administration's schedule for preparation of the FY 93 budget
request. Yesterday, Secretary of Energy Watkins charged the 15-
member task force (all of whom seem to be physicists) to assume
ZERO budget growth in the next five years--not even inflation!
Current DOE research programs were undertaken on the basis of
very different assumptions about growth. According to "Inside
Energy," however, the SSC's status as a Presidential Initiative
is enough to keep it off the table.
4. FIVE MEMBERS OF THE APS RECEIVED THE NATIONAL MEDAL OF
SCIENCE
from President Bush in a sweltering ceremony in the
White House Rose Garden on Monday; 20 scientists were honored.
APS members included Arthur Schawlow, Glenn Seaborg, Guy Stever,
Ed Stone and Steven Weinberg. In addition, APS member James
Duderstadt was one of the 18 recipients of the National Medal of
Technology.
|
