Friday, 4 September 98 Washington, DC

1. STAR WARS II: NORTH KOREAN MISSILE LANDS IN THE U.S. SENATE.
Democrats have filibustered the American Missile Protection Act of 1998(S.1873)since May. It seemed Republicans would be able to cut off debate after India carried out nuclear tests, but they lost by one vote (WN 15 May 98). Now, another vote on cloture has been scheduled, which must mean they have picked up more Democratic defectors. They may pick up more still as a result of the North Korean test of a two-stage medium-range missile. The bill is expected to reach the floor sometime next week.

2. CTBT: ADMINISTRATION WINS A VOTE -- AND FAILS THE TEST.
Timing, they say, is everything, and this was not the time. The vote was on an amendment approving a $29M U.S. contribution to Prepcom, the international commission established to monitor compliance with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The money is needed to upgrade the monitoring system that detected the May 11 Indian test. Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) was only too happy to have a vote on Prepcom, which he declared to be a test vote on CTBT. If it failed to get the 67 votes need to ratify CTBT, Lott said, there was no point in bothering with the treaty. In fact, it was more of test vote on Bill Clinton. He lost. The measure, which would aid U.S. intelligence at a bargain price, should have been noncontroversial, but it got only 49 votes. If there was any doubt, CTBT will not come up in this session.

3. SPACE STATION: COUNTING, YES, BUT IS IT COUNTING UP OR DOWN?
This morning, the launch clock for the first ISS element said "76 days and counting," but with the Russian economy in meltdown, few people believe it. NASA is urging the White House to eliminate dependence on Russia, and James Sensenbrenner, Science Committee chair, is offering to push a supplemental appropriation through Congress, but the White House says it's "premature." Part of the problem is that no one has figured out what it would cost. It's not just the still-unfinished Service Module, but also concern over whether Russia can deliver enough Progress and Soyuz flights to carry out the monthly reboosts needed to keep ISS in orbit. NASA plans to modify shuttles for the job. Maybe they should just put the space station in space instead of the upper atmosphere, and concentrate on reboosting the Russian economy.

4. NIH: SENATE BILL BOOSTS NIH TO $15.6B -- CREATES DILEMMA.
The Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee marked up its FY 99 funding bill this week. It calls for a pulse-quickening $2B increase over last year. The bipartisan measure was crafted by the chairman, Arlen Specter (R-PA) and ranking member, Tom Harkin (D-IA), two of the Senate's leading advocates of quack medicine. The bill elevates the Office of Alternative Medicine to a Center of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, while increasing its budget from $20M to $50M. None of this is in the House bill.



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.