70 



there are some people in this Congress that would eliminate all 

 funding for it, which I think is absolutely ridiculous. 



But I share the Chairman's concern, and I think his caveat is 

 well taken. 



Mr. Schiff. I thank the gentleman. 



I did not time my own questions here. 



Mr. Cramer. I did. 



Mr. Schiff. So whatever 



[Laughter.] 



Mr. Cramer. I will get 30 minutes. 



Mr. SCHIFF. Dr. Lane, we are all watched somewhere. I just want 

 to make that very clear. 



[Laughter.] 



Mr. Schiff. Whatever time I took as chair, I happily grant to 

 Mr. Cramer. 



Mr. CRAMER. That is only fair, and I knew you would be, Mr. 

 Chairman. But just in case, I was keeping up with it. 



No, I do not have that much. You have in fact emphasized at 

 least some of the issues that I wanted to bring up. 



I do want to start with an overall budget issue. Your NSF budget 

 request for fiscal year 1997 I said in my opening statement pro- 

 vides real growth. 



Would you tell me how much growth over the expected appro- 

 priations level for the current fiscal year? 



Dr. Lane. I think — do you mean growth in the year just between 

 1996 and 1997? 



Mr. Cramer. Yes. 



Dr. Lane. Well if the inflator is — if you take 3 percent, then I 

 would say 2.6 percent real growth. It is probably a little more. It 

 depends on what inflation turns out to be. 



Mr. Cramer. In projecting down-the-line over the next six years, 

 what kind of growth will you experience there in your budget? 



Dr. LANE. I think if one measures it from 1997 onward, then our 

 current outyear numbers would not project any growth over that 

 period of time. In fact, they would be flat in current dollars, or rel- 

 atively flat, which would mean we would lose to inflation over that 

 period. 



Mr. Cramer. Dr. Lane, you have had to make tough choices dur- 

 ing a very confusing budget time, to say the least; and I want to 

 congratulate you on the progress the agency has made, and on hav- 

 ing to make those tough choices. 



Let me come back to a program that I talked about again in my 

 opening statement, EPSCOR, which I think is a wonderful partner- 

 ship arrangement with states like mine. 



Would you talk about EPSCOR's budget and NSF's commitment 

 to EPSCOR as we look currently and down-the-line? 



Dr. Lane. Well, Mr. Cramer, EPSCOR has I think been a model 

 success story. As I think I may have mentioned to you before in 

 our conversations, EPSCOR was not an idea that I thought sound- 

 ed terrific back when I was a university professor hearing about it 

 offhand; but when I had my first opportunity to make a site visit 

 and be involved in the review process, I of course was immediately 

 reminded of the high standards NSF applies to everything it does, 



