Friday, 19 May 95 Washington, DC
1. HOUSE APPROVES KASICH BUDGET! HOW HARD
WOULD SCIENCE BE HIT?
George Brown calculates that
civilian science programs under the jurisdiction of the
Science Committee (that's everything except
NIH) would be down 34.7% by FY 2000! Technology would
be hardest hit, followed by energy and environment, but
basic research would also decline due to inflation, which
Kasich assumes to be 3% per year. Brown, ranking
minority member of the Committee, contends the plan
would "destroy the investment portfolio of the nation." The
Senate, meanwhile, began debating the Domenici version
(WN 12
May 95). Both plans would balance the budget by
2002--assuming optimistic economic projections are
realized. But one Congress cannot tie the hands of the
next--and seven years is a long time.
2. HOUSE ALSO PASSES A $16.4B RESCISSION
BILL--CLINTON VOWS VETO!
The measure would take
back funds already appropriated, but not yet spent. The
235-189 vote came during the Republican euphoria
following passage of the Kasich budget. The bill now goes
to the
Senate, where it is expected to pass next week. Declaring
the bill "cuts people instead of pork," however, the
President has promised a veto. Despite easy passage,
Republican leaders admit they don't have the votes to
override his veto. Among programs the President wants
restored are education programs, including the Goals 2000
education program, and safe drinking water grants.
3. MULTIYEAR SPACE STATION AUTHORIZATION
DERAILED BY DEMOCRATS!
As we reported last week, Bob Walker (R-PA), chair of the
House
Science Committee, dropped plans to authorize the station
through
2002 after George Brown told him not to count on support
from
Democrats (WN 7 Apr 95). Brown was angered by deep
cuts in NASA and other science programs to satisfy the
Kasich budget. He was particularly rankled by Walker's
plan to gut the Earth Observing
System. According to Space News, Brown charged that
Walker has an "ideological objection" to EOS. A year ago,
Brown threatened to oppose the station rather than accept
cuts in space science when he felt Clinton's NASA budget
was not big enough for both
(WN 11 Mar 94). But it's easy to oppose the space station in
the spring. Consider this a wake-up call for aerospace
lobbyists.
4. WALKER SINGLES OUT SOCIAL, BEHAVIORAL AND
ECONOMIC RESEARCH!
The chair of the Science
Committee seemed to say last week that under the Kasich
plan, social, behavioral and economic research would be
excluded from the 3% annual growth allowed other areas of
NSF research. Worse yet, according to Committee staffers,
if you do the numbers supplied by Walker, it looks like he
expects to zero SB&E out. By way of explanation, Walker
expressed the opinion that research in these areas had
become "politically correct." Explaining his explanation, he
allowed that physical sciences are a higher priority. The
total SB&E budget of NSF is only about $85M, which won't
do much to balance the budget.
THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY (Note: Opinions
are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the APS, but they should be.)
|
