[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 150 (Tuesday, November 19, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11579-S11580]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HOLLINGS:
  S. 3177. A bill to authorize appropriations for the programs of the 
Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and 
Technology, to amend the National Institute of Standards and Technology 
Act, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation.
  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, today I am pleased to introduce the 
National Institutes of Standards and Technology, NIST, Authorization 
Act. The bill is a routine authorization of appropriations for NIST. It 
includes some provisions to change the Institute's Advanced Technology 
Program that were the subject of hearings in the Commerce Committee 
earlier this year. In addition, the bill includes several technical 
changes to the NIST Act which the agency has requested.
  NIST is really a hidden treasure. Twice in the past five years, NIST 
Scientists have shared in the Physics Nobel Prize. Whether they are 
investigating the collapse of the World Trade Center, making small 
manufacturers better, sponsoring innovative research, or improving 
timekeeping, the people of this little-noticed agency continue to do 
amazing work, and I commend them.
  Nonetheless, we continue to be embroiled in an annual tug-of-war on 
funding for the Advanced Technology Program, known as ATP. I am 
encouraged that Secretary Evans and Deputy Secretary Bodman want to 
stabilize this program. I am introducing this bill to help them in that 
cause by including several of the Department's suggestions to improve 
the ATP.
  The benefits of the ATP are well-documented. The program has been 
studied thoroughly from individual case studies, to comprehensive 
examinations like the 2001 study by the National Academy of Sciences' 
National Research Council. The results are clear. ATP is stimulating 
collaboration, accelerating the development of high-risk technologies, 
and paying off for the nation.
  The Commerce Department has proposed several changes to the ATP. The 
bill includes provisions to allow universities to lead ATP projects and 
to have interest in the intellectual property developed under those 
projects, as well as provisions to further clarify that projects are to 
remove scientific and technical barriers and to evaluate ATP's review 
process.
  In addition, the bill would clarify that the program should operate 
free of political influence by ensuring that final project decisions 
are made by career NIST officials, as they have been since the 
program's inception.
  However, the Administration's proposal for recoupment of up to 5 
times the original amount of funding is not acceptable and is not 
included. The record on recoupment was made at our hearing in April of 
this year. It is an approach which the program has tried and failed. 
More importantly, recoupment discourages companies from participating 
in the program, imposing overwhelming accounting burdens that companies 
may be unable to fulfill.
  In the end, the bill hopes to build on ATP's tremendous successes. 
Since its inception in 1989 this industry-led, competitive, and cost-
shared program has helped the U.S. develop the next generation of 
breakthrough technologies in advance of its foreign competitors.
  The Commerce Committee heard testimony from Scott Donnelly of GE. His 
company, with ATP funding, developed a new method to produce the X-ray 
panels that are the heart of a new digital mammography system. This 
system is giving women and their doctors access to better, cheaper 
digital mammograms.
  A March 1999 study found that future returns from just three of the 
completed ATP projects, improving automobile manufacturing processes, 
reducing the cost of blood and immune cell production, and using a new 
material for prosthesis devices, would pay for all projects funded to 
date by the ATP.
  The bill also provides full funding for the Manufacturing Extension 
Partnership, MEP, Centers which the Administration has proposed to cut. 
Ironically,

[[Page S11580]]

these MEP Centers help fulfill one of the top priorities stated in the 
Administration's budget: ``revitalize the economy and create jobs.'' 
MEP helps small manufacturers stay competitive and, in 2000, helped 
these businesses attain $2.3 billion in increased or retained sales, 
save costs of $480 million, and create or retain more than 25,000 jobs.
  While the time remaining in this session is short, I want to 
introduce this NIST Authorization bill to stimulate the productive 
dialog that we have had with interested members and the Administration 
on the programs of NIST. I look forward to continuing this work during 
the 108th Congress.

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