🚀 go-pugleaf

Date: Fri,  7 Aug 92 13:37:55 PDT
To: ichihara@rikvax.riken.go.jp
From: "Janice Smith" <VP.APS@STANFORD.BITNET>
Subject: What's New for August 7, 1992

WHAT'S NEW, Friday, 7 August 1992                  Washington, DC

1. SENATE OVERWHELMINGLY APPROVES SSC AS DEFICIT ISSUE SUBSIDES.
The deficit hasn't shrunk, but it seems to have declined as an
issue; maybe it's just that Ross Perot is out of the race.  By a
vote of 62 to 32, the Senate rejected the Bumpers amendment to
delete the SSC from the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill.  A
second Bumpers amendment to make support for the SSC contingent
on international commitments fell by the same margin.  Sen. Boren
(D-OK) predicted that the SSC "...will revolutionize the computer
industry, the medical community, and transform our industrial and
technological base.  Economic opportunities never anticipated
will arise, scientific advancements never predicted will proceed,
and educational worlds never explored will emerge."  All this, he
said, even if the scientific goals are not met! Sen. Gramm (D-TX)
drawled, "I doubt if there is a Member of the Senate who really
understands what the SSC is all about." As if to prove his point,
he claimed that, "Between 20 and 30 percent of the gross national
product of the United States comes from high-energy physics."  In
the House, which is expected to reconsider the SSC following the
August break, prospects are much brighter than they were in June.

2. SENATE JOINS HOUSE IN CALL FOR SUSPENSION OF NUCLEAR TESTING.
The House had already voted to cut off money for testing for one
year.  Monday, the Senate, which had always blocked test limits,
voted to suspend tests through June 93, in spite of a veto threat
by President Bush who called for six tests in FY 93.  But scien-
tists who would have welcomed a total ban a few years ago are now
ambivalent.  In 1990, the Drell panel concluded that "unintended
nuclear detonations present a greater risk than previously esti-
mated."  In March, Drell testified that some safety measures can
be taken without testing, such as retiring older weapons, but to
design safer weapons, testing is needed.  Beginning in July 93,
the Senate measure would allow limited tests for reliability and
safety for three years, followed by a total ban after Sept. 96.

3. SENATE VA/HUD/IA APPROPRIATIONS BILL CASTS A CLOUD OVER NSF!
Never mind the numbers; NSF would be directed to shift its focus
toward industrial support.  The Appropriations Committee approved
the bill last Friday (WN 31 Jul 92). Language in the report calls
on the Foundation to take a "more activist role in transferring
the results of basic research to the market place."  NSF is told
to open up applied research programs to industry and tailor its
education programs to industry's needs.  But to divert scarce
research funds to industry--at the very time Congress is intent
on shrinking the NSF research budget--would have a devastating
effect on academic research, which is already pretty shaky.  The
bill could be voted on by the full Senate as early as Monday.

4. CORRECTION: SEN. DOMENICI (R-NM) SUPPORTS LAMPF AS A CIVILIAN
FACILITY. According to his office, he had no hand in the shift of
funding to defense accounts, as implied in WHAT'S NEW 24 July 93.

Robert L. Park  (202) 662-8700      The American Physical Society
.

To:  WHATSNEW(Personal Dist. List)