[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 87 (Friday, July 1, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
    H.R. 4684, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY HIGH ENERGY AND NUCLEAR PHYSICS 
                       AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1994

                                 ______


                           HON. RICK BOUCHER

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 30, 1994

  Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Department of 
Energy High Energy and Nuclear Physics Authorizing Act of 1994, along 
with the chairman of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, 
George E. Brown, Jr., the ranking Republican member of the Science 
Subcommittee, Sherwood Boehlert, and other members of the committee. 
The bill would provide for authorization of appropriations and program 
direction for the Department of Energy's [DOE's] high energy and 
nuclear physics programs.
  Mr. Speaker, high energy and nuclear physics have proven their worth 
to society, time and time again. For example, modern technological 
developments, such as electronics, take advantage of early discoveries 
in these fields. In addition, the DOE laboratories which provide the 
facilities for high energy and nuclear physics research and the 
research and development conducted at these facilities supply other 
scientific fields with valuable equipment and engineering insights. For 
example, accelerator and detector development has spurred advances in 
proton cancer therapy, radioactive isotope production, advanced 
materials research, high-speed data acquisition and analysis, and 
computer architecture.
  Most importantly, the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake 
undergirds our definition of Western civilization. High energy and 
nuclear physics seek a fundamental understanding of matter, energy, and 
the universe; and the public follows each high energy and nuclear 
physics discovery--such as the recent evidence for the top quark--
because these discoveries help us to understand the origin of the 
things we see around us. We must maintain our commitment, therefore, to 
such fundamental research.


 recent developments in the federal support of high energy and nuclear 
                                physics

  Last year, the House of Representatives orchestrated the termination 
of the superconducting super collider [SSC]. The demise of the SSC 
reduced the Federal budget for high energy physics by 50 percent and 
thwarted the aspirations of high energy physicists for a new frontier 
in high energy physics research. Thus, at the beginning of this year, 
the high energy physics community went back to the drawing board to 
develop a new long-range plan.
  We now have the product of their work--a masterful and responsible 
plan for the future of high energy physics through the beginning of the 
next century. The report--the DOE High Energy Physics Advisory Panel's 
[HEPAP's] Vision for the Future of High Energy Physics--allows for 
exciting, promising physics within a very modest budget. HEPAP's policy 
proposals deserve our support. They include recommendations for 
specific funding levels for high energy physics in each of the next 4 
years, for U.S. participation in the large hadron collider [LHC] 
project at the European Organization for Nuclear Research [CERN], for 
HEPAP to review the field in its entirety every 2 years, and for DOE to 
assess, immediately, its governance of the field.

  The Nuclear Physics Program at DOE has also suffered in recent years, 
although bold, high profile projects like the SSC were never pursued. 
For instance, in the fiscal year 1995 budget request, DOE reduced the 
nuclear physics budget from $349 to $301 million. The Department then 
admitted that this request was in error and directed the joint DOE and 
National Science Foundation Nuclear Science Advisory Committee [NSAC] 
to detail reasonable funding requests in time for consideration by the 
Appropriations Committees in the fiscal year 1995 budget cycle. As a 
result, the House Appropriations Committee restored $34 million in 
nuclear science funding.
  In the meantime, unsure of the final nuclear physics budget for 
fiscal year 1995, physicists developed contingency plans. In 
particular, Brookhaven National Laboratory delayed construction of the 
relativistic heavy ion collider, and scientists at the Los Alamos Meson 
Physics Facility agreed to terminate experiments before the end of 
fiscal year 1995, which is the last year of the facility's operations.


                    authorization of appropriations

  The bill follows the recommendations of DOE's HEPAP report for the 
authorization of the DOE high energy physics program to provide an 
extra $50 million for 3 years from fiscal year 1996-98 to the 
President's fiscal year 1995 request, plus inflation. The additional 
$150 million over 3 years will help the field to recover from the loss 
of the SSC and allow better utilization of DOE high energy physics 
facilities. In fiscal year 1999, the request drops the $50 million add-
on. In fiscal year 1995, the President's budget request was $621.9 
million. The authorized level would be $695.4 million in fiscal year 
1996, $744.9 million by fiscal year 1998, and $713.6 million in fiscal 
year 1999.
  For nuclear physics, the bill follows the recommendation of the 
Nuclear Science Advisory Committee to provide for appropriate 
utilization of existing facilities and the construction of the 
relativistic heavy ion collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and 
is consistent with the fiscal year 1995 budget level reported by the 
House for the DOE Nuclear Physics Program. Over the 4-year 
authorization, the bill adjusts for closure of the Los Alamos Meson 
Physics Facility plus inflation. The authorized level would be $377.1 
million in fiscal year 1996 and rise to $373.7 million by fiscal year 
1999.


                     international science projects

  The SSC and other international science collaborations have proved 
that the United States is not a reliable international partner. The 
international science community views the United States with skepticism 
and suspicion whenever the U.S. Government joins in international 
science collaborations. In particular, the international community 
views the United States as unwilling to assume any role except the lead 
in major collaborations and unable to commit to long-term fiscal and 
scientific plans.
  The United States must prove itself a reliable scientific partner, 
especially in fields like high energy and nuclear physics where next 
generation scientific experiments are too expensive for one country to 
afford. As recommended by the HEPAP report, the bill would direct the 
Secretary of Energy to negotiate with CERN on U.S. participation in the 
planning and construction of the LHC. The LHC will enable physicists to 
conduct some of the experiments that were planned for the SSC. In 
addition, the high energy physics community is anticipating the 
successor to the LHC, a linear collider which could be located in the 
United States. A successful experience in international collaboration 
at CERN would enhance the prospects for a post-2000 linear collider 
project in the United States.


                           program governance

  The physics community lacks confidence in DOE's management of its 
high energy and nuclear physics programs. Scientists charge that DOE 
does not adequately consider scientific needs in its high energy and 
nuclear physics funding and staff allocations; that waste results from 
the inappropriate application of administrative, environment, health, 
and safety regulations; and that the DOE Advisory Panels, especially 
for high energy physics, are not truly representative of the community. 
In response, the bill would instruct DOE to contract with an 
independent entity to review and address these problems. DOE must 
present a report to Congress within 9 months of the passage of the act.
  In addition, while the nuclear physics community regularly sets and 
updates long-range plans for the field, long-range planning in the high 
energy physics community does not follow a predictable timetable. One 
of the recommendations of the HEPAP report is to initiate a 2-year 
planning cycle for high-energy physics. The bill would institute such a 
long-range planning process with the goal of including the first long-
range plan with the President's fiscal year 1997 budget request to 
Congress.


                                summary

  The Department of Energy High Energy and Nuclear Physics Act of 1994 
seeks reasonable funding levels for high energy and nuclear physics 
research. Authorized budget levels derive from reports by scientific 
advisory panels as well as current funding trends. In addition, the 
bill would direct the Secretary of Energy to pursue negotiations on 
international collaboration in the LHC project at CERN and specifies 
provisions that must be included in any final agreement.
  While forming part of the backbone for technological development in 
this Nation, high energy and nuclear physics pursue the purest of 
scientific quests--the study of the origin and interaction of matter, 
energy, space, and time. After much consensus-building in the physics 
community concerning the responsible direction of these two fields in 
this budget-driven time, the Congress can support this bill with the 
knowledge that the hard choices have been made. High energy physics 
paid its deficit-cutting dues with the termination of the SSC. This 
bill sets high energy and nuclear physics on a proper course toward the 
future.
  I urge my colleagues to join us in cosponsoring this legislation.

                          ____________________