From the Floor: House Debate on NSF, NASA Funding Bill
The House debate last week on H.R. 2684, the VA, HUD, Independent Agencies Appropriations Bill for FY 2000, provides a good perspective on congressional sentiment regarding R&D. Some selections follow:
“Unfortunately, putting this bill together and expecting passage is a tremendous balancing act, and we do not get there by playing favorites with a small set of programs at the expense of others.”- Rep. James Walsh (R-NY), Chairman of House VA, HUD Appropriations Subcommittee.
“I might understand all of the cuts made by this bill if we were in a time of fiscal crisis.... But we are not. Rather, we are in a period of unprecedented prosperity. The federal budget deficit has declined steadily every year since 1992, and last year it turned into a surplus for the first time in 3 decades. Every projection shows that surplus continuing to grow. Yet we are told by the majority leadership that we do not even have enough money to continue many programs in the VA-HUD bill at the current year’s level. I find that incredible. If we cannot adequately meet the needs of veterans’ programs, affordable housing, and scientific research during these prosperous times, then when can we?”- Rep. Allan Mollohan (D-WV), Ranking Minority Member of the VA, HUD Appropriations Subcommittee.
“I would also point out that Business Week carried a very interesting article which states in part: ‘We have demonstrated that scientific research has created the New Economy, but now we are concerned that we are being trampled on as a reward for creating the economy that made the surplus possible.’ Those where the words of a scientist in describing the need to continue to invest in science programs that have been at the root of our ability to continue to expand this economy. Politicians brag a lot about what we have done to keep the economy going, but mostly what keeps the economy going is the right investment decisions both by the private sector and by the Government. And we are falling far short in meeting those obligations in science. Allan Bromley, former science advisor to President Bush says, ‘Congress has lost sight of the critical role science plays in expanding the economy.’ I would very much agree with that.”- Rep. David Obey, Ranking Minority Member of House Appropriations Committee (D-WI).
“NASA is an agency and an institution within the United States which has made immeasurable contributions to the betterment of our society. We have gone forward with a space program which I applaud; but in the process, the administration, year after year, has submitted budgets proposed for NASA which are pitifully inadequate and have starved all the other programs and agencies within NASA to an extent that it is shameful.”- Rep. Herbert Bateman (R-VA).
“One-fifth of every dollar is going to be eaten up by the Space Station when there are so many other important programs within NASA that are doing magnificent work, whether it be Mars or Jupiter, whether it by follow-ups to our Cassinis and Rovers. These programs are legitimate science and helpful science, and we have a Space Station that continues to massively vacuum up every available dollar.”- Rep. Tim Roemer (D-IN).
“It would be a colossal waste of money to stop the Space Station at this late date just as we are starting to assemble it. At the same time, crippling the space station would really cripple our ability to conduct the important biomedical and research plan for the Space Station.”- Rep. Ralph Hall (D-TX), Ranking Minority Member on Committee on Science.
“To continue the cuts further [to NSF] would jeopardize our commitment to scientific discovery and innovation, a commitment that has been crucial to maintaining and increasing our current prosperity and quality of life.” “While I sympathize with the plight of those suffering from AIDS and admire my colleagues for their efforts to help, I believe this amendment is not the right solution. In fact, cutting funding at NSF will in the long run only hurt the very people we are trying to help.”
- Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI), Chairman of Basic Research Subcommittee, during debate on a successful amendment to transfer $10 million in NSF funding to assist people with AIDS.
“I will work with all Members to try to find a way, including with the administration and the Senate, to try to find a way to provide those needed funds for NASA to provide the research and development and the technology products they have worked on for so many years and that have provided so many benefits to humanity.”- Appropriations subcommittee chairman Walsh.
”...space science is an example of good government and good science. It’s also the kind of good government that we need to encourage by showing NASA’s other enterprises and the rest of the federal bureaucracy that success is rewarded, not punished. As passed by [the Appropriations] Committee, the appropriations bill sends the wrong signal and makes the wrong kind of cuts.” - Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Chairman of House Science Committee.
“We are at a dangerous crossroads. This bill gives our engineers and our science academics a vote of no confidence. It tells them that we will not reward Americans who spend their lifetimes studying and researching on behalf of space exploration. I urge my colleagues to join me in my effort to stop the bleeding.”- Rep. Shelia Jackson-Lee (D-TX).
“The national nondefense R&D as a percentage of gross domestic product is now lower in this Nation than it is in Japan and Germany, and the rate at which Japan is increasing is greater than our rate. The main difficulty of this is that, as is currently estimated, over half of the economic development of this Nation comes from developments resulting from research in science and technology, and if we do not do this research in science and technology, we are ruining the seed corn for our future economic growth; we are also doing a great disservice to our children and grandchildren by doing that.” - Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI).
