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NGI Initiative
September 10, 1997
On Thursday, Sept. 10, 1997, the House Science Committee
held a hearing on the Administration's NGI Initiative.
Testifying for the Clinton Administration was Dr.
John H. Gibbons, Director of OSTP. Other witnesses
included: David J. Farber - member, Presidential Advisory
Committee for NGI; Larry H. Landweber - University
of Wisconsin-Madison; Joe F. Thompson - NSF Engineering
Research Center, Mississippi State University; Steve
S. Wolff - Cisco Systems; Edward H. Shortliffe - Stanford
University School of Medicine.
In a hearing cut short by repeated votes on the House
floor, Committee members voiced support for the NGI
concept, but criticized the Administration for it's
delay presenting a detailed plan for NGI. Due to this
delay, Chairman James Sensenbrenner said, "many misconceptions
have surfaced regarding the NGI program" and these
misperceptions have made it "unlikely that the NGI
will received requested appropriations for this year".
Sensenbrenner suggested that the Congress would look
favorably upon a FY 99 request for NGI, if the President's
budget request were accompanied by a legislation detailing
the NGI initiative. However, he severly chastised
the Administration for not working hard enough to
undo some of the damage caused by the disarray surrounding
NGI during this year's budget cycle. Sensenbrenner
asked Henry Kelly, Assistant OSTP Director for Technology,
what steps the Administration was taking to restore
funds for the NGI in the FY 98 appropriations process.
Kelly responed by saying that the Administration was
strongly supporting the House mark for NSF in the
VA/HUD bill, which would fully fund NSF's portion
of the NGI. However, Kelly admitted that the prospect
of restoring the $50 million request for DoE was unlikely
for this year since both the House and the Senate
approved no DoE NGI funds.
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