Friday, 19 June 98 Washington, DC
1. DOE: WILL MOVE TO BOOST RENEWABLES TAKE IT OUT OF SCIENCE?
Sen. James Jeffords (R-VT) has dozens of cosponsors for an
amendment to increase funding for renewable energy programs.
Nothing wrong with that, but so far he has not publicly revealed
where he plans to find the offset. Rumors that he plans to take
it out of the increase in basic science
(WN 12 Jun 98)
has set off
alarm bells. If that's what he has in mind, some cosponsors say
they'll vote against the amendment when it comes to the floor.
Meanwhile, as expected, Bill Richardson has been picked to
replace Federico Pena as Secretary of Energy
(WN 8 May 98).
2. NSF: HOUSE APPROPRIATORS PROPOSE 8% INCREASE FOR RESEARCH.
Late yesterday, the VA, HUD, IA Appropriations Subcommittee
marked up its recommendations for FY 99. The bill calls for a 6%
increase for NSF, slightly less than the Senate bill
(WN 12 Jun 98)
overall, but with more going to research. Moreover, Jerry
Lewis (R-CA), the Subcommittee Chair, indicated that the science
programs might go still higher in full committee mark up of the
bill next week. The money to increase research came mostly from
education, possibly reflecting the reaction to yesterday's news
that Luther Williams, who heads the Education and Human Resources
Directorate, has paid a $25,000 settlement for violating federal
conflict-of-interest laws. Williams retains his position at NSF.
In 1994, at the prodding of Congress, NSF issued a new policy on
conflict of interest disclosure by grantees
(WN 22 Jul 94).
3. DOUBLING: GINGRICH VOWS TO DOUBLE SCIENCE IN EIGHT YEARS!
The Doomsday clock has been set closer to midnight
(WN 12 Jun 98),
the ISS launch clock is approaching zero asymptotically
(WN 29 May 98),
and now the dispute is over the "doubling clock." On
Tuesday, House Speaker Newt Gingrich declared that science should
be the second-highest priority -- number one is the war on drugs.
The Frist-Rockefeller doubling bill will be introduced next week
in the Senate as a replacement for Gramm-Lieberman (S.1305). It
will reportedly call for setting the doubling clock at twelve
years. Both Gramm and Lieberman have embraced the new bill.
4. CTBT: BUT WHO WILL THE RUSSIANS BLAME?
Well, If this is the administration's big push
(WN 12 Jun 98),
they're pushing on the
wrong end. Jesse Helms won't act on CTBT until the President
sends him the ABM treaty -- which he would like to destroy. On
Tuesday, Arms Control Under secretary John Holum said, "We would
give Helms ABM if Russia would ratify START II." So it's really
the Russians that are holding up CTBT? No word yet from Russia.
5. AMS TEST: DATA SAVED IN SPITE OF ANTENNA FAILURE.
It has been
pointed out to WN that, in spite of reports to the contrary, data
from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which was being tested on
shuttle Discovery
(WN 12 Jun 98),
was saved on disc and returned.
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