[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 109 (Wednesday, August 5, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1549]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE, JUSTICE, AND STATE, AND JUDICIARY, AND RELATED 
                   AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. CONSTANCE A. MORELLA

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, August 4, 1998

       The House in Committee of the whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4276) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and 
     State, the Judiciary, and related agencies for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 1999, and for other purposes:


  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the Royce 
Amendment to zero funding for the Advanced Technology Program (ATP).
  Zeroing-out ATP would amount to the U.S. government turning its back 
on its obligations. The problem is that ATP funds long-term (three to 
five year) research grants. The funding for the remaining years of 
these multi-year grants is termed a ``mortgage.''
  According to the Administration, ATP is likely to have mortgages 
totaling just over $120 million in FY 1999. While these mortgages are 
not liabilities for the Federal Government, they represent commitments 
made by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to 
these research projects.
  Zeroing-out ATP would break NIST's commitments to its existing ATP 
partners. It would be like giving a four-year scholarship to a student, 
and then terminate it without cause after his or her freshman year.
  Similar efforts to eliminate ATP failed last year by votes of 163 to 
261 and 177 to 235. And this House earlier today rejected an amendment 
to reduce this year's funding. Further, both the House and Senate have 
passed legislation to specifically authorize the program.
  ATP has an important role in bringing companies together, in 
cooperation with the Federal Government, to bridge the gap between 
research that creates precompetitive technologies and the 
commercialization of those technologies.
  To date, ATP grants have helped to develop medical equipment that 
will assist in the fight against cancer and AIDS, increase the capacity 
of fiber optic cables, improve light-emitting diode (LED) displays, and 
create a method for combining textile weaving technology with human 
tissue growth to form biodegradable medical implants.
  Mr. Chairman, eliminating all ATP funding in H.R. 4276 is a bad idea. 
It will force NIST to back-out of commitment it has made to existing 
ATP grant recipients and it will end a program that has shown promise.
  I urge all my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the Royce amendment.

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