Walker: Science Committee has “Done What We Said We’d Do”
Two days before the House of Representatives recessed for the remainder of August, House Science Committee Chairman Robert Walker (R-PA) called a press briefing to summarize his committee’s accomplishments so far in the 104th Congress and preview plans for the rest of the year.
“For the first time in recent history,” Walker announced at the August 3 briefing, “we got all the authorization bills out of committee by the August recess.” He indicated that he might try to bring them to the House floor early in the fall as a single omnibus science bill. Authorization bills are intended to provide guidance and set spending ceilings for appropriators. Walker stated that, because his committee kept its authorizations in line with the Budget Resolution, they were able to have an influence on the appropriations process. “All too often,” he said, “authorizers throw all kinds of money at everything.”
Handed out at the briefing were charts showing the requested, authorized, and appropriated amounts for science programs under the Science Committee’s jurisdiction, including the following:
Agency* President’s Science Committee House-passed FY96 Request Authorization Appropriation (in millions)
NASA $14,260.0 13,662.2 13,671.8
DOE 5,477.5 4,250.0 4,366.7
NSF 3,360.0 3,126.0 3,160.0
NIST 1,023.0 337.7 404.1
*Not necessarily totals; includes only agency programs within the Science Committee’s jurisdiction.
Walker also noted that the House-passed appropriations reflected many of the policy directions he wanted: elimination of industry-assistance programs like NIST’s Advanced Technology Program (ATP); reduction in funding for NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth; encouragement of research into hydrogen energy; and a seven-year authorization for the space station. He added that he planned to continue working on issues related to establishing a Department of Science, of which he is a major proponent. He thought that bringing all of the science bills to the floor together would help Members see “how the pieces fit together,” and demonstrate how a science department might work. He called Congress’s current handling of science programs “disjointed and unhelpful.”
Asked whether he would pull the Department of Energy’s national laboratories into a hypothetical science department, Walker said he had not formed any final opinions on the structure of such a department. He was “less than positive” about the usefulness of a base-closing type of commission to review the labs. He added that he had found the testimony of former DOE deputy energy secretary Henson Moore, in a June 28 Science Committee hearing, “intriguing;" Moore had suggested transforming DOE into a Department of Energy, Science, Technology, and Environment (see FYI #94.) “The more I’ve thought about it, the more I think it could be” the right route, Walker mused.
Responding to downsizing plans by DOE and NASA, Walker suggested “we adopt those strategies,...and then push the envelope a little farther.” He had high praise for the reforms begun by NASA director Dan Goldin. Regarding NASA’s centers, he lauded Goldin’s plan to turn them into Centers of Excellence, saying “then we can decide [which functions] are important to the nation.” Walker also stressed the importance of the space station, but qualified his support: “At the expense of the rest of what goes on in NASA--Absolutely not!”
Asked about a “small glimmer of hope” for retention of OTA, Walker replied it was “not much of a glimmer.” He downplayed any chance of resurrecting the appropriations for NIST’s ATP in the House-Senate conference, and chastised NIST for plans to use existing ATP resources to fund new grants rather than continue grants already made. Both the House and Senate are scheduled to return from recess after Labor Day. While the House has passed their version of most of the 13 appropriations bills, the Senate has only completed work on one so far. The appropriations bills must be passed and signed by the President before the beginning of the new fiscal year on October 1. If this does not happen, a stop-gap “continuing resolution” will be needed to keep the federal government in operation.
