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WHAT'S NEW, Friday, 9 October 1992                 Washington, DC

1. "THANK GOD FOR THE U.S. CONGRESS AND FOR THE APPROPRIATORS,"
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), chair of the Appropriations Committee,
puffed in the final hours before Congress left town.  "It's not
pork," he declared, "it's infrastructure."  It all began when the
Conference Committee for the Energy and Water Appropriations bill
inserted earmarks totaling $95M for 10 academic projects that
weren't in the versions passed by either chamber (WN 24 Sep 92).
As usual, the loot was divided among the most powerful members of
the Appropriations Committees.  By hiding their intentions until
the conference report came out, they made it difficult to remove
the earmarks.  Nevertheless, an indignant George Brown (D-CA) led
a successful fight to strip the earmarks from the legislation.
But there are a lot of exits on the Beltway. Two weeks later, the
10 projects miraculously reappeared in the Conference Report for
the Defense Appropriations bill--just two hours before the floor
debate on the report began.  A furious George Brown again sought
to strip the pork, but this time the Conferees had managed to get
the bill considered under a rule that blocked direct amendments.

2. SEN. MIKULSKI TRIED TO PREVENT NASA FROM CUTTING COST OF EOS!
In her zeal to fully fund the space station, the chair of the VA/
HUD/IA Appropriations Subcommittee had been siphoning funds from
the Earth Observing System. Somebody must have pointed out to the
Maryland senator that very few space station dollars will go to
her state; EOS, on the other hand, is centered in Maryland.  Not
to worry!  She inserted language into the Conference report that
would have required NASA to spend a MINIMUM of $8B on EOS by the
year 2000--whether it was needed or not.  Once again it was
George Brown, a strong supporter of EOS, who successfully led a
fight in the House to delete the "egregious" Mikulski language.

3. HOW CAN SCIENCE HELP INDUSTRY?  KEEP DOING BASIC RESEARCH!
A panel of seven CEOs and Research VPs from high-tech American
industries testified before the House Science Subcommittee in the
first of a year-long series of hearings examining ties between
academic research and industry.  There was near unanimity on the
need for the government to continue funding good basic science,
even if it appears irrelevant.  Arden Bement, VP at TRW, was the
lone dissenter.  Bement, a member of the NSB, co-chaired the NSB
Committee on Industrial Support for R&D that called for stronger
ties between academic research and industry (WN 21 Aug 92).  But
the lopsided vote of industry leaders may not register.  A House
staffer who helped arrange the hearing expressed disappointment;
"They were all saying the same old thing," she complained.

4. WALTER MASSEY WILL SAY HIS THING AT THE NSF "TOWN MEETING" on
Sunday 18 Oct 92.  The original notice said the Physics Advisory
Committee would "hold" the meeting (WN 24 Sep 92).  A new notice
says only that the Committee will be "present" at the meeting,
which will include "a discussion with Walter Massey" at 11 AM.

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

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