Bill to Authorize DOE High Energy & Nuclear Physics Programs Introduced

“Federal funding for high-energy and nuclear physics has taken a roller-coaster ride. To expect progress under these conditions is ridiculous.” --Rick Boucher (D-Virginia)

Rick Boucher, chairman of the House subcommittee on science, on June 30 introduced a bill to authorize the Department of Energy’s high energy and nuclear physics programs for fiscal years 1996 through 1999. Cosponsors of the bill, H.R. 4684, include full committee chairman George Brown (D-California), and subcommittee ranking minority member Sherwood Boehlert (R-New York).

Basing its provisions on recent advisory committee reports for high energy and nuclear physics, (see FYIs #72, 73, 80, 81, 87, 92, and 93), the bill would recommend modest funding increases for both programs, and urge U.S. participation in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project to be built at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Further details of the bill’s provisions will be provided in FYI #105.

After cancelling the SSC last year, Congress seems inclined to be generous to high energy physics. Both the House and Senate versions of the fiscal year 1995 energy and water appropriations bill call for an increase over the President’s request. Boucher remarked that “The termination of the Superconducting Super Collider destroyed the long-range plans of high-energy physicists, whether or not they were planning to work at the facility. Congress and DOE have been working quickly to put the high-energy and nuclear physics fields back on track. This bill is a significant step in that direction.” He added that “High-energy physics paid deficit-reduction dues with the termination of the SSC; nuclear physics has also contributed through substantial reductions in its budget, from $355 million in FY 1993 to $301 million in the President’s budget request for FY 1995.”

One of the most significant indications of the change of heart among Members of Congress is the attitude of Boehlert: The most vocal foe of the SSC, Boehlert has become one of the cosponsors of H.R. 4684. In his response to the recommendations of Sidney Drell’s panel on the future of high-energy physics, Boehlert said, “The Drell panel has drawn an appealing picture of the future of high-energy physics-- a future that foresees an active American presence in the field, international cooperation and continued scientific progress. Not only that, but the Drell panel seems to have found a way to accomplish all this at what are, quite frankly, bargain basement prices.... I particularly want to endorse the idea of Congressional authorizations for large, multi-year projects. If the House-passed 1990 authorization for the SSC had been taken seriously, the debate over the SSC would never have degenerated into the unfortunate donnybrook that left so many scientists and political figures injured or bruised.” Boehlert said the authorization bill “would provide the U.S. high-energy and nuclear physics programs with the foundation for a vision, and it deserves to be implemented.”