Friday, 9 October 1992 Washington, DC
1. "THANK GOD FOR THE U.S. CONGRESS AND FOR THE
APPROPRIATORS,"
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), chair of the
Appropriations Committee, puffed in the final hours before
Congress left town. "It's not pork," he declared, "it's
infrastructure." It all began when the Conference Committee for
the Energy and Water Appropriations bill inserted earmarks
totaling $95M for 10 academic projects that weren't in the
versions passed by either chamber(WN 24 Sep
92). As usual, the loot was divided among the most powerful
members of the Appropriations Committees. By hiding their
intentions until the conference report came out, they made it
difficult to remove the earmarks. Nevertheless, an indignant
George Brown (D-CA) led a successful fight to strip the earmarks
from the legislation. But there are a lot of exits on the
Beltway. Two weeks later, the 10 projects miraculously reappeared
in the Conference Report for the Defense Appropriations bill--
just two hours before the floor debate on the report began. A
furious George Brown again sought to strip the pork, but this
time the Conferees had managed to get the bill considered under a
rule that blocked direct amendments.
2. SEN. MIKULSKI TRIED TO PREVENT NASA FROM CUTTING COST OF
EOS!
In her zeal to fully fund the space station, the chair
of the VA/ HUD/IA Appropriations Subcommittee had been siphoning
funds from the Earth Observing System. Somebody must have pointed
out to the Maryland senator that very few space station dollars
will go to her state; EOS, on the other hand, is centered in
Maryland. Not to worry! She inserted language into the
Conference report that would have required NASA to spend a
MINIMUM of $8B on EOS by the year 2000--whether it was needed or
not. Once again it was George Brown, a strong supporter of EOS,
who successfully led a fight in the House to delete the
"egregious" Mikulski language.
3. HOW CAN SCIENCE HELP INDUSTRY? KEEP DOING BASIC
RESEARCH!
A panel of seven CEOs and Research VPs from high-tech American
industries testified before the House Science Subcommittee in the
first of a year-long series of hearings examining ties between
academic research and industry. There was near unanimity on the
need for the government to continue funding good basic science,
even if it appears irrelevant. Arden Bement, VP at TRW, was the
lone dissenter. Bement, a member of the NSB, co-chaired the NSB
Committee on Industrial Support for R&D that called for stronger
ties between academic research and industry (WN 21 Aug 92). But the lopsided vote of
industry leaders may not register. A House staffer who helped
arrange the hearing expressed disappointment; "They were all
saying the same old thing," she complained.
4. WALTER MASSEY WILL SAY HIS THING AT THE NSF "TOWN
MEETING"
on Sunday 18 Oct 92. The original notice said the
Physics Advisory Committee would "hold" the meeting (WN 24 Sep 92). A new notice says only
that the Committee will be "present" at the meeting, which will
include "a discussion with Walter Massey" at 11 AM.
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