NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION FY 1997 

 AUTHORIZATION 



FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 1996 



U.S. House of Representatives, 

 Subcommittee on Basic Research, 



Committee on Science, 



Washington, DC. 



The Subcommittee met at 9:38 a.m. in Room 2318 of the Ray- 

 burn House Office Building, the Honorable Steven H. Schiff, Chair- 

 man of the Subcommittee, presiding. 



Mr. Schiff. I am going to call the subcommittee meeting to 

 order, please. 



Today the Subcommittee is convening to receive testimony from 

 Director Neal Lane and Deputy Director Anne Petersen of the Na- 

 tional Science Foundation on NSF's budget request for fiscal year 

 1997 and beyond. 



As most in the audience know, the National Science Foundation 

 is an independent federal agency established in 1950 to promote 

 and advance scientific progress in the United States. 



It accomplishes this principally by funding research and edu- 

 cation activities at more than 2000 colleges, universities, and other 

 research institutions throughout the United States. 



NSF provides about 25 percent of basic research funding at uni- 

 versities and over 50 percent of the Federal funding for basic re- 

 search in certain fields of science including math and computer 

 sciences, environmental sciences, and the social sciences. 



Moreover, NSF plays an important role in precollege and under- 

 graduate science and mathematics education through programs of 

 model curriculum development, teacher preparation, and enhance- 

 ment, and informal science education. 



As I mentioned at our Subcommittee's hearing this past Tuesday 

 on NSF's Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure 

 Program, as this Congress continues to find new ways to balance 

 the budget, government agencies are looking to maximize the value 

 of each taxpayer dollar. 



Of the Federal Government agencies, the National Science Foun- 

 dation is one of the best at running a lean and efficient organiza- 

 tion. 



I extend my compliments to Dr. Lane, Dr. Petersen, and all their 

 employees. 



The National Science Foundation Research Programs are better 

 off in fiscal year 1996 than they were in fiscal year 1995, and the 

 other bellwether of the basic research community, the National In- 



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