Success: US funding for LHC included in FY 98 appropriations.

[Brant Johnson <brant@rsgi01>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 18:30:47 GMT
From: Messages from APS <messages@aps.org>
To: BRANT@BNL.GOV
Subject: Announcements

Message to Members of DPF, from R. Michael Barnett, DPF Congressional
and Public Information Coordinator.  Authorized by J. Bagger, DPF S-T.

======================================================================

Dear Colleagues,

As you may know, the House and Senate have completed action on the
FY98 appropriations for high energy physics.  We should give credit
to all those who have helped assure Congressional support for high
energy physics in FY98.  A few months ago, a significant cut in the
base program and elimination of funds for the LHC seemed a real
possibility.  Now both Houses have passed appropriations bills that
we should be pleased with.  The small differences will be settled in
a House-Senate conference committee.

The Senate bill states:
 "The Committee has provided the full amount of the request for high
  energy physics and strongly endorses U.S. participation in the large
  hadron collider."  It also says:
 "The Committee is concerned that the level of funding requested by
  the Department for science is inadequate to make full use of
  research facilities..." and suggests that the FY99 request from
  DOE should more fully support the laboratories and the "university
  researchers conducting experiments at these facilities."

The House bill added an additional $5 million to the Senate bill
(for a total of $680 million, about $10 million over this year)
and states:
 "The Committee recognizes the importance of this new machine to the
  physics community. The nation's scientists who have played a vital
  role in the recent cutting edge discoveries at Fermilab and other
  US facilities, including the discovery of what may be the top quark
  certainly should have an opportunity to participate in the cutting
  edge science that will be possible upon completion of the world's
  most powerful accelerator."

This change in fortune is undoubtedly due to the valiant efforts
of many people.  Large numbers of physicists visited or contacted
Members of Congress and explained the role of high energy physics
in our nation's science and technology endeavor.  At the DPF
Congressional reception and on many other occasions, physicists doing
experiments at SLAC, Brookhaven, and Fermilab played strong roles
in communicating our unified concerns about maintaining the vitality
of our field.  The reception and other activities had the strong
support of the APS (in particular, Judy Franz and Michael Lubell)
and of the URA.

The leadership of the Division of Particles and Fields (and Paul
Grannis in particular) played an outstanding role in coordinating
much of the communication.  University and laboratory congressional
liaison personnel and university presidents and laboratory directors
were very active in defending our research.  The leadership of the
U.S. LHC effort including George Trilling and the leaders of ATLAS
and CMS were persistent and energetic in explaining the importance
of LHC for the future of our field.  We also benefitted from the
strong support of NSF Director Neal Lane and the President's
Science Advisor, John Gibbons.  Within Congress (in both parties),
there are Members who truly understand the importance of basic
science on the frontier and came to our aid.  Undoubtedly there are
others not known to us who helped defend our field.

Finally, in the period when our prospects seemed grim, the DOE's
Office of Energy Research, Office of High Energy and Nuclear
Physics, and Division of High Energy Physics were outstanding in
responding to Congressional concerns and finding solutions that
satisfied our critics.  They worked with our community to assure
that we too would be satisfied.  Their activist response was a major
contributor to the happy outcome.

Clearly it is the responsibility of all scientists to bring the
case for enlightened support to the Congress.  Just as clearly, that
support rests upon an appreciation of the general public that what
we do has value.  While being pleased at the strong and effective
effort this year, we must continue to bring the case for all of
science to the public and will need to work again next year to make
our elected representatives aware of of this case.

                  R. Michael Barnett
                  DPF Congressional and Public Information Coordinator