IP: three NSF related items from Whats New

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

WHAT'S NEW by Robert L. Park   Friday, 26 Apr 96   Washington, DC


1. THE FY 96 BUDGET WAR IS OVER!  SCIENCE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME. 
Yesterday -- seven months, two government shutdowns, and thirteen
continuing resolutions after the start of the 1996 fiscal year --
Congress and the President agreed on a spending bill.  Neal Lane,
Director of NSF, expressed relief at the outcome, which included
an additional $40M for NSF above the level agreed to last fall. 
He tempered his joy by noting that the House Science Committee
approved an FY 97 authorization bill on Wednesday that cuts the
President's request for NSF by $75M.  Long-term funding prospects
are even gloomier (WN 19 Apr 96).  Science was not under attack
in the FY 96 budget war; it was simply left out of the debate. 
Scientists who would have choked on the word "lobby" just a few
years ago are fast becoming effective grass-roots lobbyists.


2. DOWNSIZING NSF: WALKER AMENDMENT ELIMINATES ONE DIRECTORATE.
An amendment to the Omnibus Science Bill, which was reported out
of the Science Committee yesterday, requires NSF to eliminate one
of its seven directorates.  Chairman Robert Walker (R-PA) insists
it will be left to the NSF to decide which, but most observers
think he has Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences in mind.  A
year ago, Walker singled out SBE for elimination, claiming that
research in these areas had become "politically correct" (WN 19
May 95).  The bill is expected to go to the House floor on May 9.


3. NSF OR NSEF? BARTON AMENDMENT REQUIRES NSF TO CHANGE ITS NAME. 
It's been ten years since Congress changed the organic document
creating the National Science Foundation to read "science and
engineering" instead of "science" everywhere except in the title;
now they want to change that too.  The amendment to the Omnibus
Science Bill, introduced by Joe Barton (R-TX), passed 23-22
following no discernable lines.  The only lobbying came from the
professional engineering community; no one took it very seriously
since the authorization bill is not likely to become law anyway.
But if it does, we at WN offer a suggestion: change the name to
National Science and Engineering Foundation, and then eliminate
the Engineering Directorate to conform to the Walker Amendment.