I am very pleased to have him on our NOAA team and hope that 

 we can continue to operate in that mode. 



I am pleased to be here with the NOAA management team in my 

 first appearance before you here and to thank you for your leader- 

 ship in providing help for NOAA over the years, and also to the 

 staff that is here, the congressional staff who have helped me so 

 much over the years when I was outside the system and providing 

 a lot of guidance as we try to get adjusted now to being on the in- 

 side. I would also like to say it is a pleasure for me to be on the 

 same set of panels with John Burris, who was a student of mine 

 at Harvard when I was assistant professor there. And I was 

 pleased to see how he has moved up through the system and is now 

 appearing, giving congressional testimony. 



Senator Kerry. Are you taking credit for his capability? [Laugh- 

 ter.] 



Dr. Baker. I am taking full credit for that. [Laughter.] 



As you know, the total NOAA request for fiscal year 1994 is 

 about $1.92 billion. Of that total, $1.76 billion are in the operations 

 research and facilities appropriations, about $79.1 million in con- 

 struction, $23.1 million in fleet modernization, shipbuilding, and 

 conversion appropriation, and $2.95 million are requested for fish- 

 eries funds. 



The budget includes a total transfer of $62.9 million from the ac- 

 count to promote and develop fisheries products and research, and 

 the damage assessment and restoration revolving fund as offsets to 

 the operations research and facility account. 



We believe that our budget request ensures that the agency con- 

 tinues to meet the urgent environmental needs of the 1990's as em- 

 bodied in four major areas: first, to continue modernization of the 

 Nation's weather services; second, to maintain critical operations in 

 fisheries, ocean and coastal management, oceanic and atmospheric 

 research, weather services, and satellites; third, to invest in global 

 change research and high-performance computing and communica- 

 tions; and, fourth, to implement administrative savings and reduc- 

 tions. 



The fiscal year 1994 request contains an investment increase of 

 about $217 million for weather service modernization that allows 

 NOAA to proceed with the Modernization and Associated Restruc- 

 turing Demonstration and Implementation, Next Generation 

 Weather Radar Program, Weather Forecast Office construction, the 

 Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System, the central com- 

 puter facility upgrade, the Automated Service Observing Systems, 

 our Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, and the 

 Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites. 



Our agenda for the 1990's will focus on environmental steward- 

 ship responsibilities, as well as improving our assessment and pre- 

 diction capabilities in an effort to protect and enhance the natural 

 and living marine resources of the Nation. This work, including re- 

 search to support science-based policy options, will become increas- 

 ingly important as Congress reauthorizes the Endangered Species 

 Act, the Magnuson Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, 

 and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. 



The fiscal year 1994 request includes increases totaling $46.5 

 million to maintain ongoing operations and fulfill basic responsibil- 



