Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) assumed a new position this week when
he became the Senate's new Majority Leader. First elected in
November 1994, Frist is now in the second half of what he said
would be his only two terms in the Senate.
Type "Frist" into FYI's archival search engine and it will
locate
more than 30 issues dating back to July 1997. Senator Frist has
long been involved in science budget and policy issues, and is
well-known as a friend of science.
The senator graduated from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson
School of Public and International Affairs, specializing in
health care policy. In 1978, Frist graduated from Harvard
Medical School. Before coming to Washington, he was known
internationally for his practice at Vanderbilt University Medical
Center, specializing in heart and lung transplants.
Frist has long served on Senate committees with oversight on
science and technology issues. He was also one of the founders
of the Senate Science and Technology Caucus. Senator Frist has
been active politically, serving as the head of the National
Republican Senatorial Committee which works to elect and reelect
Republicans to the Senate. He has a strong relationship with
President Bush.
FYI first cited the senator in 1997 with coverage of two hearings
he chaired on an all-too-familiar topic: the problems and
progress of the international space station. In 1998, he became
active in the movement to double federal funding for research and
development. Frist and Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced
legislation that modified a bill earlier authored by Senators
Phil Gramm (R-TX) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT). Under this bill,
federal civilian R&D funding would have effectively doubled in 12
years. The bill contained provisions calling for prioritization
and evaluation of federal research programs. While the Senate
passed the bill, the House took no action. Late that year,
Frist was one of 24 senators who signed a letter to President
Clinton recommending a 6 - 7% increase in R&D funding in the
forthcoming budget.
In January 1999, Frist reintroduced his doubling bill in the new Congress.
On the floor, he stated, "if we are to dedicate ourselves to advancement
of biotechnology and all the benefits that it will afford, we must support
it with solid funding for the basic sciences. One truly depends upon
the other." In another few weeks, following the release of President
Clinton's budget request, Frist outlined his support for the civilian
R&D numbers, but criticized the defense numbers as too low. He also
expressed concern about how defense testing and similar programs were
now being included in long-term R&D budget projections. In late
July, the Senate approved the doubling bill.
In the spring of 2000, FYI reported on a Senate subcommittee
hearing chaired by Frist on NASA. While he described his
support of NASA and the challenges it faces, he also told the
NASA administrator that "for $14 billion a year, the American
taxpayers deserve better." Frist also spoke of the difficulties
in getting good cost projections from the agency. In May, he was
one of 12 senators to sign a letter to Senate appropriators
stating, "Shortchanging science in this year's appropriations
process would be worrisome since much of our current economic
success results from past federal investment in basic research."
The letter also spoke of the need for a balanced research
portfolio. That fall, he was one of 38 senators to sign a letter
to the Senate's leadership advocating a five year doubling of the
NSF budget. He was also one of 36 senators who sent a letter to
the Senate leadership in support of a substantial increase in
funding for the Department of Energy's Office of Science. A
similar letter was sent to the President that autumn stressing
the importance of DOE's Office of Science's research in the
physical sciences. Finally, that fall there was a somewhat
unusual publicized exchange of rather sharp letters between Frist
and House Science Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
regarding Sensenbrenner's refusal to move the doubling bill
through the House.
In 2001, Frist was one of seven cosponsors of an amendment,
during the Senate's consideration of the budget resolution, that
would increase the overall amount of money available for science
funding. Last year, the senator was one of five original
cosponsors of legislation to award competitive grants to academic
institutions with programs to increase the number of students in
S&T fields. Late last year, with the strong leadership of the
new chairman of the House Science Committee, Sherwood Boehlert
(R-NY), and his colleagues, a bill was passed that realized, in
part, the goal first set forth in 1997 with the introduction of
the first doubling bill. This legislation, now signed into law
by President Bush, authorizes a doubling of the budget for the
National Science Foundation.
With his ascendance to the Majority Leader's position, Frist is
very likely to find that his strategies and objectives will
necessarily align closely with those of the Bush Administration.
The outlook for funding for the current fiscal year, which still
remains unsettled, and for the year beginning next October 1 is -
not surprisingly - tight. Senate Majority Leader Frist will have
far more demands placed on him, with pressures from both ends of
Pennsylvania Avenue. Frist has demonstrated that he values
research, supports it, and has worked for it - and that should be
very helpful.
Enlarge text
Shrink text
Print
E-mail
Digg this
Del.icio.us
Furl