Friday, 1 July 94 Washington, DC

1. "ADJUSTMENTS" TO DEFENSE SPENDING BILL EXPECTED IN CONFERENCE!
In the frenzy to pass all 13 spending bills before adjourning for the Independence Day recess, the House unexpectedly took up the $240B Defense appropriation bill a day early. The measure strips $900M from university research programs (WN 24 Jun 94) -- that's about half of all academic research in the DOD request. Shortly before midnight on Wednesday, it passed after only 15 minutes of debate. Although legitimate research projects were savaged, $67M was earmarked for schools in the districts of the appropriators, including $23M for the University of Pittsburgh, the alma mater of Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) who also gave Pitt a $70M earmark last year (WN 26 Nov 93). Having made his point, Murtha now says he is prepared to make "adjustments" in conference with the Senate.

2. SENATE ENERGY BILL: JOHNSTON SENDS A MESSAGE TO DOE ON FUSION!
Last night, the Senate passed its version of an FY95 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill. Bennett Johnston (D-LA), chair of the Energy Appropriations Subcommittee, introduced an amendment to his own bill restoring construction funds for the Tokamak Physics Experiment. You will recall that Johnston singled out TPX last fall, insisting he first wanted action on ITER (WN 5 Nov 93). The bill he brought to the Senate contained no construction funds for TPX on the grounds that there was no commitment to ITER. Having made his point, he supported an amendment to start construction. The news was not that good for the Advanced Neutron Source. The House cut construction of the ANS from $27M to $10M (WN 3 Jun 94); the Senate eliminated construction completely, arguing that the project is "not mature enough." The Senate bill provides $631M for high-energy physics, $15M below the House, but still $10M above the request; both put the extra money into operations.

3. HOUSE APPROVES THE SPACE STATION BY A LOPSIDED 278-155 VOTE!
The VA/HUD/IA appropriations bill (WN 24 Jun 94) now goes to the Senate, where support for the space station seems assured even though Senator Mikulski (D-MD) cautions against taking anything for granted. There were the customary floor speeches invoking Columbus, and a Texas congressman implored his colleagues not to "take the sparkle out of our children's eyes," but it was the White House strategy of focusing on jobs and foreign policy that paid off. One could only wish that the White House, led by Vice- President Al Gore, would fight that hard for the NSF budget.

4. NATIONAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL HOLDS ITS FIRST MEETING!
The Council, composed of agency heads and such, was created by President Clinton last fall (WN 3 Dec 93). The up-beat meeting focused on the science policy white paper, "Science in the Public Interest," the release of which is expected in three weeks--as it has been for months. No need to hurry. Passage of the spending bills put science policy firmly in the hands of appropriators.



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.