Re: the implications of Republican control of the Congress

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

To: farber () central cis upenn edu (David Farber)
From: rick () cra org (Rick Weingarten)
Subject: Re: the implications of Republican control of the Congress


Dave,


The Republican Contract has to be put in some context.


First, the Senate had nothing to do with it. Dole is on record saying that
it will take some time to pass the contract, if it ever is passed. He has
also told Newsweek that he doubts if the avereage voter went into the
voting booth knowing anything about the contract.


Second, the numbers are not part of the contract, they are an addendum-- if
you will, an existence proof that cuts can be made, but only examples.
Senator Gramm has said clearly, for instance, that his main target for cuts
is welfare. Clearly there is no consensus on the part of the Republicans on
where spending cuts should be made.


That said, there is certainly reason for great concern. The pressures on
discretionary spending due to a tax cut and promise to balance the budget
will be real and horrifically strong.  But, I would not go into this
thinking that the Republicans have unanimously decided to slash R&D. They
actually have a history of being pretty good to research. They will, for
sure, go after anything that smells of "industrial policy," the ATP program
of NIST for example. Their reactions to HPCC will, in some sense depend on
the degree to which it has been transformed politically over the last
couple of years from a research program into a short-term industrial policy
program. The new critical report from GAO will not help!


Internal pressures will also develop within real science to recover money
that has gone to "strategic" programs such as HPCC and put it back into
physics, where it obviously(?)  belongs.


Those who care had better start making their voices heard.


Rick