[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 120 (Wednesday, September 29, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H7812-H7813]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 AUTHORIZING BOARD OF REGENTS OF SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION TO CARRY OUT 
 CONSTRUCTION AND RELATED ACTIVITIES IN SUPPORT OF VERITAS ON KITT PEAK

  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 5105) to authorize the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 
Institution to carry out construction and related activities in support 
of the collaborative Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array 
System (VERITAS) project on Kitt Peak near Tucson, Arizona.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 5105

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. AUTHORIZING BOARD OF REGENTS OF SMITHSONIAN 
                   INSTITUTION TO CARRY OUT CONSTRUCTION AND 
                   RELATED ACTIVITIES IN SUPPORT OF VERITAS 
                   ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY PROJECT.

       The Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution is 
     authorized to carry out construction and related activities 
     in support of the collaborative Very Energetic Radiation 
     Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) project on Kitt Peak 
     near Tucson, Arizona.

     SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       There is authorized to be appropriated $1,000,000 for 
     fiscal year 2005 to carry out section 1.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia 
(Ms. Norton) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette).
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I want to begin this evening by congratulating the gentlewoman from 
the District of Columbia on the impending return of Major League 
Baseball to the Washington, D.C., area. I would only ask if she could 
use her considerable clout to get the new team located in the American 
League, and I could watch the Cleveland Indians play here in the 
Nation's Capital.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5105, introduced by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Ney), my good friend, authorizes site development and construction of 
support facilities for the VERITAS project at Kitt Peak National 
Observatory in Arizona.
  I want to pause for a minute because this particular piece of 
legislation has been sort of a tug of war with our good friends in the 
Parliamentarian's Office and our good friends in the Committee on House 
Administration, together with the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure. And I want to commend the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Ney), chairman of the Committee on House Administration, for working 
with us. Those of us who love and enjoy the jurisdiction of the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure believe that this is a 
piece of legislation and this is a project that belongs solely within 
our jurisdiction. We have an artistic difference with some of our 
friends, and we have worked through that. So, again, I want to thank 
the parliamentarians and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) for getting 
us to this point this evening.
  This project, carried out by the Smithsonian Institution in 
conjunction with nearly a dozen universities from the United States, 
U.K., Canada, and Ireland, the new telescopic array will

[[Page H7813]]

be able to see gamma rays, which are not visible from traditional 
earth-based telescopes.
  The ability to view gamma-ray radiation will allow scientists to 
learn new things about the universe including shedding light on 
previously unseen parts of the universe. Gamma rays are only produced 
with high-energy galactic events such as exploding stars, pulsars, 
quasars and black holes. The new telescopic array will be able to view 
these gamma rays by observing the secondary radiation created when the 
gamma rays hit the earth's atmosphere.
  The VERITAS telescope will increase the viewable power by a factor of 
ten, making it one of the most powerful gamma-ray telescopes on the 
planet. This is an important scientific project, and I encourage my 
colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  (Ms. NORTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend her 
remarks.)
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for his 
graciousness and good wishes. And he knows I would do almost anything 
for him, but as he knows, baseball has been well beyond my jurisdiction 
for 33 years. We think we have rectified that with today's 
announcement. I may have a little more to say about it than I have had 
since I was a child and the Senators were here. I want him to know that 
some wise guy called in, when we said, what should we name the 
Senators? And they said, noting my status on this floor, why do we not 
call them the Delegates?
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5105 authorizes the Board of Regents at the 
Smithsonian Institution to construct an astrophysical observatory 
located at Kitt Peak, Arizona, and to carry out related activities in 
support of the project. The bill was introduced by the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. Ney) and referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure.
  This construction project will support the work of the Very Energetic 
Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System, or VERITAS, the project that 
deals with radiation imaging. The bill authorizes $1 million for the 
construction and related activities. The construction will involve an 
inexpensive metal building which will be approximately 4,500 square 
feet to include a repair area, meeting rooms, general storage and 
kitchen. The building will be fire-resistant.
  The project is being conducted in partnership with the National 
Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. It is a very 
worthwhile project, and I urge passage of the bill.
  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, as ranking minority member of 
the House Administration Committee, which has primary jurisdiction over 
the Smithsonian Institution, I urge passage of H.R. 5105, a bill to 
authorize $1 million for the Smithsonian for site development and 
construction in support of the VERITAS project, an international 
astrophysical research consortium in which the Smithsonian 
Astrophysical Observatory SAO plays a principal role.
  VERITAS the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System 
will be located on Kitt Peak near Tucson, Arizona.
  The control building will house computers, electronics and other 
support required by astronomers to run the telescopes and cameras 
conducting the VERITAS observations and research, as well as a kitchen, 
storage space and meeting space for working astronomers. VERITAS is 
expected to come online in October 2006.
  The funds authorized by this bill were contained in the President's 
budget request and are included in the FY 2005 Interior Department 
Appropriations bill, which funds the Smithsonian. A nearly identical 
bill, S. 2362, passed the Senate on June 14 by voice vote and was 
referred to our committee.
  VERITAS is part of the continuing revolution in the science of 
astronomy. New discoveries, techniques and devices have dramatically 
reshaped our view of the universe, as well as the mechanics of studying 
it. Different types of phenomenon, and radiation from different 
portions of the spectrum are studied in unique ways, and astronomy has 
become increasingly specialized to facilitate such research.
  VERITAS is intended to study gamma radiation from some of the most 
exotic, high energy sources in space, such as supernovas, black holes, 
quasars and pulsars. Gamma radiation is very difficult to detect from 
the Earth's surface and VERITAS will employ new scientific techniques 
to do so.
  VERITAS is a collaboration of seven institutions in the U.S., 
including the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, along with three 
institutions in Canada, the U.K. and Ireland, to build an array of four 
40-foot diameter reflector which will give stereoscopic images of gamma 
rays.
  It represents the next generation of telescopes studying gamma 
radiation, which the Smithsonian has done since 1968 at the Whipple 
Observatory. The Department of Energy and the National Science 
Foundation each will provide 40 percent of the costs of equipment and 
construction, with the Smithsonian and overseas collaborators supplying 
the rest. The total cost of VERITAS would be about $17 million, and 
this authorization bill is necessary to allow the Smithsonian to use $1 
million in Federal funds to complete its financial contribution to the 
project.
  The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory SAO, a bureau of the 
Smithsonian, is the world's premier facility in the exploration of 
astrophysical phenomena from Earth to the edge of the known universe, 
employing more than 300 scientists. It was funded in Washington, D.C. 
in 1890 initially to focus on studying the Sun. In 1955 it relocated to 
Cambridge, Massachusetts to join with the Harvard College Observatory 
and in 1973 an umbrella entity, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for 
Astrophysics, was created.
  Mr. Speaker, we can look forward to the significant advances which 
VERITAS will bring to our understanding of some of the most fascinating 
objects, and most powerful and mysterious forces, in the universe, and 
I urge approval of the bill.
  Mr. NEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5105, which 
authorizes the Smithsonian Institution to construct an instrumentation 
support facility on Kitt Peak, Arizona.
  The Smithsonian Institution requires this base facility to support 
the ongoing collaborative VERITAS project.
  VERITAS, which is a high energy telescope research project, was 
listed as a priority for international ground and space research 
initiatives, in a report of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey 
Committee of the National Research Council.
  The goals of the VERITAS project are to further develop the field of 
high-energy gamma-ray astronomy. This project expands on work done 
through the Smithsonian's Astrophysical Observatory or SAO, and will 
help to maintain the Smithsonian's goal of excellence in scientific 
research.
  With the help of VERITAS, SAO astronomers will be able to produce the 
next levels of knowledge about gamma-ray astronomy, develop further 
scientific instrumentation to detect this highest energy form of light, 
and remain as one of the world's leading authorities on gamma-ray 
bursts.
  The VERITAS project enables astronomers to explore solar flares, 
supernovae, neutron stars, black holes and active galaxies. By 
exploring gamma rays, the SAO astronomers will gain further knowledge 
into the origins of the universe, the rate at which it is expanding, 
and its current size.
  This bill authorizes a total of $1 million for fiscal year 2005, for 
constructing a support facility and the necessary utilities and 
equipment housings.
  The balance of the $17 million dollars will come from other non-
Smithsonian sources, such as the U.S. Department of Energy, the 
National Science Foundation, and the international consortium, so the 
Smithsonian will get enormous value for its investment.
  The Smithsonian has been a leader in scientific research, and this 
project will go a long way in furthering this worthwhile endeavor. I 
urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5105.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the bill, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 5105.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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