SCIENCE, RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, 1970-79 509 



Chairman Teague's absence, Hechler presided at two full committee 

 meetings in May and June, during which he threw a small monkey- 

 wrench in to the machinery by using a "slow gavel" to encourage full 

 airing of the constitutional and policy aspects of impoundment. 

 Hechler stated from the chair that he was concerned with fashioning a 

 formula for the NSF legislation which would mesh with the strong 

 Senate effort, led by Senator Sam Ervin (Democrat of North Carolina), 

 to pass anti-impoundment legislation across the board. Somewhere 

 along the line, the administration apparently sent a signal to several 

 Republican members of the committee who voiced their concern that 

 anti-impoundment legislation was a form of partisan attack. Wydler, 

 Bell, Winn, Goldwater, and Camp then signed "Additional Views" 

 appended to the committee report, sharply criticizing the effort to arrive 

 at a compromise on the issue which had plagued the committee for 

 three years. The "Additional Views" labeled the committee effort 

 "arbitrary and ill-conceived," adding that the committee recom- 

 mendation — 



drastically alters the Foundation's program authority and responsibility; it 

 affects the Foundation's relationship with the Administration; it presents the Founda- 

 tion with difficult and unwieldy operational problems and complexities; and finally, 

 converts a relatively small apolitical science agency into a political "guinea pig" to 

 test a broad major issue of fundamental national concern. 



The controversy bubbled over onto the floor of the House, where 

 Wydler demanded a rollcall on the controversial impoundment provi- 

 sion, which remained in the bill by a vote of 238-109. The committee 

 Republicans split 6-6 on the floor vote, with Mosher leading one camp 

 and Wydler the other. The issue then became somewhat academic when 

 the Senate during the battle in the conference committee refused to allow 

 the provision to survive, lest it not conform to the general anti-im- 

 poundment legislation then pending. 



The 1973 legislation also marked the first time the House had 

 agreed to increase the RANN program. The cautionary efforts by the 

 committee in the early 1970's forced NSF to get a tight hold on the 

 management of the RANN program, insuring that the rapidly expand- 

 ing funds were used for worthwhile projects and that the NSF not 

 simply substitute its administrative umbrella for programs which more 

 properly belonged to mission-oriented agencies. In 1973, the Senate 

 and conference committee also voted for expanded funds for earthquake 

 engineering and energy research in the RANN program. 



NSF AND THE ABORTION ISSUE 



1973 also marked the first major effort by "right to life" anti- 

 abortion forces to use the NSF authorization as a vehicle for test roll- 



35-120 



