147 



I do not agree with this view. Consider the enormous, 

 publicly funded efforts invested in agricultural research and the 

 potentially substantial impacts those efforts have on our future. 

 It is inconceivable to me that research should remain unplanned and 

 haphazard. 



Rather than defining, or even admitting to, this root cause, 

 interested parties have become players in what I call the blame 

 game. The rules? Policy makers and scientists alike point fingers 

 at one another in order to explain the facilities crisis, all the 

 while aware of their own actions in fostering that crisis. 



It starts when scientists and Administrators ask for a general 

 facility fund — no strings attached. Congress responds by 

 earmarking money for specific projects. No one is happy with the 

 outcome . 



The scientific community then blames Congress for pork barrel 

 spending. Congress is quick to blame U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture (USDA) administrators for failing to make decisions. 

 Those administrators are just as quick to blame Congress for 

 rewriting the department's budget. The general public may accept 

 any one of these arguments uncritically — and the most popular by 

 far is congressional pork barreling. 



I urge this Subcommittee to expose the blame game to public 

 scrutiny. We need to know all that is happening with research 

 facilities and ask the players to take responsibility for their 

 actions. Most importantly, we need a process that brings 

 scientists, USDA administrators, and congressional decision makers 

 into one room to come to agreement over the nature of the crisis in 

 research facilities and develop a common solution. 



