You may wish to forward this to your life science faculty, particularly
if you have a US Senator on the Senate Appropriations Committee...

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*ESA** Action Alert—NSF Research Priorities*

_Action needed:_ If your Senator is listed below, please call or email
your Senator TODAY regarding a proposed amendment by Senator Kay
Hutchinson (R-TX) that would instruct the National Science Foundation to
direct its resources primarily to the physical sciences.

_Message:_ Say you are a constituent and ask your Senator to vote NO on
the Hutchison amendment which will be taken up tomorrow, Thursday, May
18 when the Senate Commerce Committee marks up S. 2802, authorizing
legislation focused on American competitiveness. Ask your Senator to
vote YES to an amendment Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ) plans to introduce
that would eliminate the section of S. 2802 that prescribes priorities
to the National Science Foundation. Reason: NSF is the only federal
agency to support science and education across all the disciplines,
which has served this nation extremely well. Congress should not be
micromanaging this agency, which supports fundamental research in ALL
disciplines.

_Background:_ Since the National Academy of Sciences released its
report, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” last fall, there has been
congressional and Executive Branch attention focused on U.S. innovation
and competitiveness and numerous bills introduced aimed towards this
issue. This latest bill, S. 2802, is authorizing legislation but many of
the Senators who will be voting on it also serve on the Senate
Appropriations Committee which has spending authority for the National
Science Foundation. At issue is an amendment to be offered by Senator
Hutchison, which currently reads as follows: “The Director of the
National Science Foundation shall ensure that the assessment of research
awards and grant proposals submitted to the Foundation, and research
activity initiated by the Foundation, include consideration of the
degree to which such awards and activities contribute to the enhancement
of the Nation’s capabilities in the areas of physical science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics.” As noted above, Senator
Lautenberg will offer an amendment that would eliminate any language
prescribing research priorities to the NSF.

Senators on the Senate Commerce Committee who need to be contacted ASAP:

Ted Stevens (R-AK), phone : 202.224.3004

John McCain (R-AZ) phone: 202.224.2235

Conrad Burns (R-MT) phone: 202.224.2644

Trent Lott (R-MS) phone: 202.224.6253

Olympia Snowe (R-ME): phone: 202.224.5344

Gordon Smith (R-OR) phone: 202.224.3753

John Ensign (R-NV) phone: 202.224.6244

George Allen (R-VA) phone: 202.224.4024

John Sununu (R-NH) phone: 202.224.2841

Jim DeMint (R-SC) phone: 202.224.6121

David Vitter (R-LA) phone: 202.224.4623

Daniel Inouye (D-HI) phone: 202.224.3934

John Rockefeller (D-WVA) phone: 202.224.6472

John Kerry (D-MA) phone: 202.224.2742

Byron Dorgan (D-ND) phone: 202.224.2551

Barbara Boxer (D-CA) phone: 202.224.3553

Bill Nelson (D-FL) phone: 202.224.5274

Maria Cantwell (D-WA) phone: 202.224.3441

Ben Nelson (D-NE) phone: 202.224.6551

Mark Pryor (D-AR) phone: 202.224.2353

Any questions, please call ESA Director of Public Affairs Nadine Lymn
(202.833.8773. ext. 205) or ESA Policy Analyst Laura Lipps
(202.833.8773, ext. 224).

--
Barbara H. Gray
Director of Sponsored Research
Desert Research Institute
2215 Raggio Parkway
Reno, Nevada  89512-1095
Telephone:	775-673-7381
Fax:		775-673-7459
E-mail:	xxxxxx@dri.edu
www.dri.edu

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