The Week Ahead (Feb. 11-15)
February 8, 2008
05:12 PM
- On Wednesday, Feb. 13, the full committee will welcome Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne at an oversight hearing on the President’s proposed FY 2009 budget for the U.S. Department of the Interior. (Dirksen 366 at 9:45 a.m.)
- On Thursday, Feb. 14, the full committee will hold an oversight hearing on the President’s proposed FY 2009 budget for the USDA Forest Service. Witnesses include Abigail Kimbell, U.S. Forest Chief; Mark Rey, under secretary for natural resources and environment, U.S. Department of Agriculture. (Dirksen 366 at 9:30 a.m.)
Weekly Bonus …
We bring to your attention an analysis that Energy Secretary Bodman provided this week to Chairman Bingaman regarding the impacts of last year’s omnibus appropriations act on some of the basic science programs of the Department. Sen. Bingaman, a champion for science research and education, had asked Mr. Bodman for the analysis last December, after the budget bill passed. The DOE identified delays and cancellations to important research initiative and projects, layoffs of hundreds of scientists and technical positions across the country, and negative impacts affecting more than 300 public and private research universities that currently receive basic research funding from DOE. If you cover science issues or report on America’s long-term economic competitiveness, Secretary Bodman’s response to Sen. Bingaman’s request is a sobering must-read. (For the record, Sen. Bingaman is joined in his concern about these cuts by several of his colleagues, and hopes to find a bipartisan opportunity to work with other Senate advocates of DOE science programs try to ameliorate these cuts.)
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