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FYI
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News
Number 34: March 14, 2003

Key Hearings Completed on FY 2004 DOE Science Request

Two of the most important congressional hearings for the Department of
Energy's Office of Science were held this week.  On Wednesday, Office 
of Science Director Ray Orbach appeared before the Senate Energy and 
Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee.  The next day, Robert 
Card, who is the Under Secretary of Energy, Science and Environment, 
testified before the counterpart House subcommittee.  Both hearings 
were rather short, and neither provided clear indications about the 
outlook for FY 2004 Office of Science funding.

Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) is the longtime chairman of the Senate
subcommittee, and a well-known supporter of the Department of Energy.
Domenici's low-key hearing lasted about one hour, with few senators in
attendance.  Sharing the witness table with Orbach were two other 
officials heading up major DOE program offices.  Most of the hearing, 
as was true of Thursday's House hearing, revolved around energy issues 
outside of the Office of Science.  Regarding the Science request, 
Domenici said "It's only a little better than flat."  He added that he 
"remained concerned about the tremendous imbalance" in federal 
research funding for the physical and life sciences.

Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) centered most of his comments and questions 
on DOE's nuclear energy research program.  Craig told Orbach that the 
Office of Science was supporting very important work, and the senator 
explained that he had introduced, with Senator Dianne Feinstein 
(D-CA), an authorization bill for fusion research (S. 600).

Orbach's oral testimony ran about five minutes.   He began saying that 
he was starting his second year in office, and provided some 
impressive statistics about the number of researchers and university 
students that are supported by the Office of Science.  Orbach touched 
on a number of items:  ITER (the U.S. is "pleased to take our place"), 
DOE's approach on high performance computing, the Spallation Neutron 
Source ("on track and on budget"), and the new nanotechnology centers.  
Orbach also mentioned the genomics program and a new teacher education 
initiative.

Chairman Domenici's initial questions to Orbach revolved around 
ongoing research to improve  the understanding of how low levels of 
radiation affects human health.  Orbach replied that 53 projects are 
investigating this relationship.  Domenici also wanted to know about 
the status of the "very exciting nanoscience centers."  Five centers, 
all being managed by the Basic Energy Sciences program, are in various 
stages of development or construction.

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) expressed concern about the distribution 
of grants made by the Office of Science to various states.  Orbach 
agreed, saying "if we're not careful, we will leave states behind," 
explaining that the EPSCoR program and partnerships can help.

Domenici concluded the hearing by saying that he was very pleased with 
the way in which DOE was growing, but added that he wants to see more 
research on nuclear energy.

The House hearing the next day was about ninety minutes long, and had 
quite a few members in attendance.  The same DOE programs were 
discussed, with many of the questions again on energy research.  Rep. 
David Hobson (R-O) is the new subcommittee chairman.  He made several 
comments regarding the Office of Science, touching on the "enormous 
impact" that nanoscience could have, insufficient funding for advanced 
computation, and fusion research.  Hobson asked for a description of 
how the Office of Science selects its different funding priorities, 
and expressed concern about the long-term funding implications of 
major projects.  He was somewhat critical of the predominant role that 
the national laboratories play in conducting research, saying that he 
did not want them to become an "exclusive playground."  Research 
opportunities should be shared with universities, he said.

In his opening remarks, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) asked about the 
Department of Energy's nuclear energy research laboratory in Idaho.  
Rodney Frelinghuysen (D-NJ) asked Card about the importance of basic 
research and how it relates to the development of alternative energy.  
That gave Card, and Orbach, who was also at the witness table, an 
opportunity to discuss ITER.  Orbach described the FY 2004 fusion 
request as very modest, explaining it by saying that the costs for 
ITER in FY 2006 will increase significantly.  Orbach also said that it 
was important to provide strong support for the domestic fusion 
program.  Later in the hearing, Orbach told the committee that DOE 
would play a very active and aggressive role in fusion research.

Rep. Chet Edwards (D-TX) asked about DOE's programs in hydrogen, wind, 
and other alternative energy sources.  John Doolittle (R-CA) began by 
describing how the NIH budget has almost doubled, and proposed that 
energy and its direct relationship to the state of the nation's 
economy merited a similar percentage increase.  Zach Wamp (R-TN) asked 
about the  budget for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and then said 
that "I was disappointed" in the DOE request for advanced computing.  
What will you do, he said to Orbach, to increase the request in FY 
2005?  Orbach replied that the Office of Science was looking at 
various ways to regain international leadership.  Chairman Hobson said 
that it was "outrageous" that the U.S. has lost this leadership, and 
signaling his intentions, said that "assistance" was coming.  In a 
subsequent round of questions, Frelinghuysen also asked about advanced 
computing.

Ranking Minority Member Peter Visclosky (D-IN) held his questions 
until the end of the hearing.  He began by complimenting Orbach on how 
responsive the Office of Science had been to an earlier inquiry made 
by Visclosky.  Touching on a point Visclosky has made in previous 
hearings,  he said that he felt "very, very strongly" about increasing 
university competition for research funding.  He had similar questions 
about how the locations for the nanotechnology centers were 
determined.  Visclosky also told Orbach that he is interested in 
utilizing DOE's facilities to their maximum, and asked how much 
additional funding would be required.  Orbach replied that an 
additional $60 million would be required on top of the $1.25 billion 
request.  While this amount was not very large, priority decisions had 
to be made, Orbach said.

Hobson ended the hearing by asking about the status of the Spallation
Neutron Source, and was told that while it "will be tight," that there
should be no additional cost above that which is planned.  Chairman 
Hobson then concluded by challenging the DOE officials to select one 
or two areas to target that would represent a "quantum leap forward."  
Hobson said that he did not care where the resulting research would be 
conducted, or even what it was, "if it is the right thing to do."

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Richard M. Jones
Media and Government Relations Division
The American Institute of Physics
fyi{at}aip.org
(301) 209-3094
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