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PREPARED STATEMENT OF Don I. Phillips 

 Executive Director, GUIR Roundtable 

 National Academy of Sciences 

 Page 9 



• The process is ad hoc. 



Many, if not all, of the projects that have received 



earmarked funds have some merit. That is not the issue. 



The issue is that earmarking does not allow for the 



determination of whether they are the best vehicles for 



achieving national objectives. 



2. Inappropriate Division of Labor among the Congress, the 

 Executive Agencies, and the Science and Engineering 

 Community. Earmarking skews the effective interaction among 

 Congress, the executive agencies, and members of the science 

 and engineering community that has been so essential to the 

 success of the research enterprise. 



While the agricultural research community argued vigorously 

 for the establishment of the National Research Initiative, 

 the decision is one that belongs to Congress, and no one in 

 the science community thinks otherwise. It is only in the 

 political arena of Congress that broad national priorities 

 and resource allocations can be debated and established. 



By the same token, the executive agencies of government are 

 best equipped to judge which specific activities and 

 projects most effectively service the objectives established 

 by Congress. 



