Dept. of Energy FY 1994 Budget Bill Moves to House Floor - SSC

On Thursday, June 24, the House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 2445, the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 1994. Accompanying this bill is a 162-page report spelling out the House Appropriations Committee’s recommendations on spending. This and following FYIs provide selections from the committee’s report of interest to the physics community.

SUPERCONDUCTING SUPER COLLIDER:

Current funding: $517,000,000

Administration Request: $640,000,000

House committee bill: $620,000,000

The committee report states:

“Because of severe budget restraints, the Committee recommends funding the SSC at $20,000,000 less than the budget proposal. The total recommendation is $620,000,000 in fiscal year 1994 for the SSC.

“The SSC became the top priority of high energy physicists in the early 1980’s because it was deemed necessary to assure the next major step in understanding the nature of the world around us.

“The SSC is nearly one-fifth complete. There are no scientific, technical or management reasons to doubt that the SSC can be successfully completed.

“The SSC has already contributed over $500,000,000 to defense conversion, which represents nearly 30 percent of all SSC project subcontract dollars. The Department of Energy estimates that more than 7,0000 men and women are now working full-time on the SSC at the Laboratory itself, at more than 100 universities and at industrial enterprises in 47 states and the District of Columbia.

“To date, every significant project milestone has been met either on time or ahead of schedule. A noteworthy example occurred in August of 1992 -- six weeks ahead of schedule -- when the Laboratory successfully tested the basic subsystem of superconducting magnets that will form the main accelerators of the SSC.

“The Committee supports the Administration’s request to continue funding the SSC project in fiscal year 1994 and recommends a level of $620,000,000. Even though this is reduced from the Administration’s request, the amount will enable the Laboratory to make continued and significant progress next fiscal year. The amount is less than had been planned for in anticipation of a previously scheduled competition date of September 1999 and a related cost estimate of $8,249,000,000. The Committee realizes that this decreased funding level will have an unavoidable effect on the project’s timetable and its total cost. The implications of a stretched-out schedule are currently being studied by the Department of Energy.”