DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE BEGINS SHOOTING HOSTAGES

[David Farber <farber@central.cis.upenn.edu>]

        From: whatsnew@aps.org (What's New)
        WHAT'S NEW by Robert L. Park  Friday, 24 June 94  Washington, DC


        1. DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE BEGINS SHOOTING HOSTAGES!
        The war between Rep. George Brown (D-CA), nemesis of earmarkers,
        and John Murtha (D-PA), pork-barrel Hall of Famer (WN 26 Nov 93),
        has taken an ugly turn.  You will recall that Brown threatened to
        subpoena documents from the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee,
        which Murtha chairs, relating to academic pork in DOD spending.
        Brown got the documents (WN 27 May 94).  But last week, Murtha's
        subcommittee held a four-day closed door markup of the $243B FY95
        Defense spending bill.  There was panic when word leaked out that
        Murtha had stripped university research programs out of the bill
        amounting to some $900M.  Programs zeroed out include the
        University Research Initiative and the Technology Reinvestment
        Program.  The cuts may be restored, but Murtha has delivered a
        stern message to universities about choosing their friends.


        ...


        THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY  (Note:  Opinions are the author's
        and are not necessarily shared by the APS, but they should be.)