Update on S&T Issues Facing the 106th Congress

Although the impeachment trial commands center stage right now, a number of issues that may affect science and technology will be facing the 106th Congress this year. Below are highlights of some of those items:

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION: Education will be a hot topic in the 106th Congress. New House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) cited it as one of his top priorities, and President Clinton highlighted it in his State of the Union address. In addition, federal education programs under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act need to be reauthorized this year.

In the House, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman William Goodling (R-PA) has said that drafting and moving a reauthorization bill through Congress quickly is one of his goals. [It is worth noting that new Members of the House Education Committee include physicists Vern Ehlers (R-MI) and incoming Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ)]. On the Senate side, work has already begun as James Jeffords (R-VT), chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, held a January 24 hearing to gather proposals from Senators for a bill.

One main issue of contention in 1998 was over block granting of federal education funds. A number of Republicans proposed eliminating targeted federal programs and giving federal dollars to the states to use as they wish, on the theory that those closer to the schools know best what is needed. Many Democrats argued that the federal government should specify certain priorities for its dollars, and make sure the states use them for those purposes. One of the purposes targeted by a federal program is the training of math and science teachers, through the Eisenhower Professional Development Program. Last year “The Dollars to the Classroom Act,” an education authorization bill passed by the House but not the Senate, would have folded the Eisenhower funds into a block grant. The FY 1999 appropriations bill for education, however, preserved the Eisenhower program.

COMMERCE DEPARTMENT FUNDING: Last year, disagreement over the use of statistical sampling in the 2000 Census affected the entire FY 1999 Commerce-Justice-State appropriations bill, which funds NIST within the Commerce Department. The bill only provides FY 1999 funding through June 15 unless an agreement is reached on sampling, forcing the issue to be revisited this year. On January 25, the Supreme Court ruled to disallow sampling in the census for the purpose of apportioning congressional seats. The Court did not reject the use of sampling for purposes such as divvying up federal funds. How this will affect negotiations on continued funding for Commerce-Justice-State programs beyond June 15 remains to be seen. According to National Journal’s CongressDaily, new House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young (R-FL) and Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Harold Rogers (R-KY) have said that, based on the Court’s ruling, “the administration should agree to fund the Commerce-Justice-State spending bill for the entire year.” Speaker Hastert is known as a vocal opponent of the use of sampling.

R&E TAX CREDIT: New Mexican Senators Pete Domenici (R) and Jeff Bingaman (D) reportedly plan to introduce a bipartisan bill to expand, as well as extend, the Research and Experimentation (R&E) Tax Credit. The tax credit, which had expired last summer, was reauthorized retroactively for one year in last fall’s Omnibus appropriations bill. Unless it is extended again, it will expire on June 30, 1999. Vice President Gore, in his January 24 speech to AAAS, also stated that the Administration proposes to extend the credit.

DOD FUNDING INCREASE: House Armed Services Procurement Subcommittee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) has complained that President Clinton’s proposal to increase Defense Department spending is insufficient. Clinton has proposed $12 billion in new DOD funding for FY 2000, for readiness and modernization. Hunter claims that an increase of nearly twice that amount is needed. He hopes to produce an authorization bill calling for an FY 2000 DOD budget of almost $280 billion, which would reflect an increase twice as large as Clinton’s. According to reports, however, the Defense Department’s basic and applied research programs are unlikely to see any of the increase.

NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE: Changes to congressional committee rosters may affect the fate of a bill to build a temporary storage site for civilian nuclear waste in Nevada, near the proposed permanent site at Yucca Mountain. In the House, new Speaker Hastert is a strong supporter of the bill, and it is a priority of Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley (R-VA) and incoming Commerce Energy and Power Subcommittee Chair Joe Barton (R-TX). In the Senate, four opponents of the bill have retired: Dale Bumpers (D-AR), John Glenn (D-OH), Wendell Ford (D-KY), and Dan Coats (R-IN). Nevada’s two Senators continue to oppose the temporary storage measure, as does President Clinton. His Secretary of Energy, Bill Richardson, has promised to work with Congress on the issue. Meanwhile, DOE in December released an interim report favorable to continuing work on Yucca Mountain as a permanent site, with a final decision expected in 2001.

HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE PRIORITIES: NASA is likely to feel continued pressure from House Science Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) to remove the Russian Space Agency from a critical role in the international space station. Sensenbrenner has also raised concerns about waste, fraud and mismanagement at federal science agencies. He recently highlighted a series of GAO reports describing management problems at the Commerce Department, the Department of Energy, NASA, EPA, and the Department of Transportation. The Science Committee is losing the chair of its Basic Research Subcommittee, Charles Pickering (R-MS). The position is expected to go to either Committee Vice Chairman Vern Ehlers (R-MI) or Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD).