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WHAT'S NEW, Friday, 24 September 1992              Washington, DC

1. ENERGY AND WATER CONFERENCE COMMITTEE STAGES ANNUAL PIG-OUT!
The Senate bill contained a mere $0.3M in academic earmarks; the
House bill had zero.  The task of the Conference Committee was to
reach a compromise. The compromise arrived at was $95M! The money
went in mostly $10M chunks to 10 projects. First dibs went to the
subcommittee chairs: an energy center at LSU for Senator Johnston
(D-LA) and a biomedical facility at the University of Alabama for
Rep. Bevill (D-AL). Then the ranking minority members got theirs:
a research building at the Oregon Health Sciences University for
Sen. Hatfield (R-OR) and a cancer center at Indiana University
for Rep. Myers (R-IN).  By waiting until the conference to insert
their earmarks they avoid a big hassle, and the conference report
is almost impossible to amend.  Nevertheless, Rep. George Brown
(D-CA) succeeded with an "amendment in disagreement" on the floor
of the House that leaves $95M in the bill for academic projects,
but removes the earmarks.  Institutions would have to compete in
a merit review process to get a piece.  It is not clear what will
happen now.  The Senate will certainly oppose the House action.
The growth of academic pork, beginning with $11M in 1980, can be
described by an exponential with a doubling period of two years.
This year it reached $700M.  At this rate it will consume the
entire research budget of the US before the turn of the century.

2. THE HOUSE GETS MUGGED BY THE VA/HUD/IA CONFERENCE COMMITTEE.
On the space station, the House bill called for $1.7B, while the
Senate wanted $2.1B; they "compromised" at $2.1B.  The House had
called for a slight increase in research at NSF, while the Senate
preferred a modest cut; the conferees settled on the cut (it's a
big cut when you take into account inflation and new programs).
Language in the Senate report directed NSF to transform itself
into some sort of national competitiveness agency.  The conferees
agreed to let NSF wait for the report of the Commission on the
Future of the NSF--and then make the transformation.  "Strictly
basic research at the NSF is over," one Senate staffer crowed.
Why did the House conferees roll over?   The House conferees, led
by Bob Traxler (D-MI), who is not running for reelection, were
apparently willing to settle for a hefty serving of pork. It will
take awhile to track it all down, but one congressman put the
earmarks at $260M.  Traxler, the subcommittee chair in the House,
got several slices.  Sen. Mikulski (D-MD) got another $20M for
the Christopher Columbus Marine Research Center in Baltimore.
Last year the $20M came from NASA, this year it came out of EPA.

3. THE NSF ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON PHYSICS PLANS A "TOWN MEETING"
at which physicists and other interested persons can make their
views on the future of NSF known to the Foundation.  The meeting
will be held on Sunday, 18 October 1992, 10AM to 5PM in Room 540
at the National Science Foundation, 1800 G Street, Washington, DC
20550.  For further information call Robert Eisenstein (202) 357-
7985 or on internet reisenst@nsf.gov.  The public is welcome.



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