>Is anyone familiar with pending legislation that will place a moritorium on
>federal spending?  A faculty member just called; he'd heard that all federal
>entities may end up temporarily suspending (through this June) their
>external funding programs.
>
>Do any of you have information, details, gossip?

One Department of Energy office under which we have a large grant sent us
our Notice of Award for the new grant year, but only obligated about 70% of
the approved budget.  The explanation was that there is a congressional
mandate to withhold 20% of their total budget pending congressional review,
the report for which is apparently due in March, but probably won't be
submitted until mid-summer.  Also, the American Institute of Physics posted
the following today in their FYI series:

>"In the House, the Energy and Water Development Appropriations
Subcommittee, which funds DOE,  held its first hearing on January 18 on the
department's programs.  The purpose, said new chairman John Myers (R-IN),
was to "review the government functions within the Department of Energy that
we could do without," and find areas in which to "make some recissions on
funds appropriated for this year [fiscal year 1995]."  (Recissions cancel
funds already provided by law.)"

Other agencies are apparently under similar constraints.
____________________________________________________
Randall Legeai (xxxxxx@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu)
Institutional Program Development & Government/Agency Affairs
Tulane University, 327 Gibson Hall
6823 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, Louisiana  USA
(phn) 504/865-5758 ---  (fax) 504/865-5274