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May 1, 2003
This
morning:
- President Bush travels today to San Diego, from where he will
fly to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which is returning
from the Middle East. During an evening speech to the nation from
the warship, the President is expected to declare the end of "major
combat" in Iraq. Bush will fly from San Diego to the aircraft carrier
"aboard a four-seat Navy S-3B Viking jet," the Chicago Tribune reports.
Bush "will sit in the jet's copilot seat."
- Meanwhile, Newsweek is reporting that President Bush will announce,
perhaps as early as this week, "that L. Paul Bremer, a career State
Department official and counterterrorism and security expert, will
become civilian administrator of [Iraq] . . . Bremer, ambassador-at-large
for counterterrorism in the Reagan administration, will have authority
over retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, the current coordinator in charge
of humanitarian issues and reconstructing Iraq's infrastructure
. . . a senior administration official said."
- The House will wrap up its week with consideration of a bill that
would authorize $15 billion to fight the global spread of AIDS.
- In the news:
HOUSE PASSES
SPECIAL-EDUCATION REFORM
By George Archibald, Washington Times, May 1, 2003
Sweeping reform of the federal special-education program passed
the House yesterday, but two Republican efforts to allow taxpayer
support for handicapped students in private schools were defeated.
By a vote of 251-171, the House passed a $125.9 billion, seven-year
reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA), with reforms to reduce paperwork and limit the practice
of identifying children with reading and behavior problems as disabled.
Thirty-four Democrats joined 217 Republicans in passing the bill,
with seven Republicans and 163 Democrats in opposition.
Over a seven-year period, the bill would authorize increased federal
funding for special education from its current level of $8.9 billion
for fiscal year 2003 to $25.2 billion in fiscal 2010. But when federal
funding reaches that level, an estimated 40 percent federal share,
the bill would require states to limit their special-education programs
to 13.5 percent of the total student population in any jurisdiction.
Currently, 17 states and 28 of the largest city and county school
systems have more than 13.5 percent of their students in special-education
classes. Critics say tens of thousands of children are "misidentified"
as disabled only because they have reading and behavior problems
that should be remedied in regular classrooms.
*** Complete article at http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20030501-29046.htm
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SPECIAL
EDUCATION PROGRAM WOULD SEE CHANGES IN DISCIPLINE RULES
By Bill Swindell, CQ Staff, April 30, 2003
[CQ Today added the following to the IDEA story reported above .
. . ]
Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor
and Pensions Committee, said he intends to introduce a Senate version
before the Memorial Day recess. Gregg is working with ranking Democrat
Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts on the bill that will aim to
avoid some of the partisan disputes that surrounded the House legislation.
One major point of contention is over student discipline, an issue
that hung over the last reauthorization of IDEA in 1997. Current
law allows schools to remove disabled children from the classroom
for up to 45 days only for serious offenses, such as bringing weapons
or drugs to school. Schools must investigate a student's actions
to determine if they were a result of their disability.
The House bill would treat disabled students the same as non-disabled
students for any violation of school policy and would not require
school officials to determine if the violation was the result of
a student's disability. Advocates for the disabled contend that
a student could be unfairly punished because of an action caused
by their disability. For example, a student with Tourette's Syndrome
could be expelled for shouting in class. "This is going backward,"
said Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif.
*** CQ Today is available online to subscribers only.
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REPORT:
COLLEGES HAVE INCREASED FINANCIAL AID, MOSTLY FOR HIGHER-INCOME
STUDENTS
By Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 1, 2003
Four-year colleges have increased their financial-aid offerings
in the past decade, but students with the highest incomes have received
the largest increases, according to a new report by the U.S. Department
of Education. The report, titled "What Colleges Contribute," finds
that institutional aid to undergraduates -- the amount paid directly
by the colleges themselves, rather than from state, federal, or
other sources -- has increased at both public and private colleges.
At private colleges, 47 percent of students got financial aid in
1992-93, averaging $5,900 per student; the percentage rose to 58
percent in 1999-2000, with an average award of about $7,000.
Most of those increases appear to have gone to students with the
highest incomes, the report says. At private colleges, the proportion
of students in the highest income group receiving aid rose from
41 percent in 1995-96 to 51 percent in 1999-2000, while no noticeable
gains occurred in the lowest-income group. The average amount of
aid also increased far more for high-income students than for those
with low incomes. Most of the increases in financial-aid awards
at colleges have been given out based on merit rather than need,
according to the report.
*** The Chronicle of Higher Education is available online to subscribers
only.
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GREENSPAN
SAYS TAX CUT IS NOT NEEDED FOR GROWTH
By David E. Rosenbaum, New York Times, May 1, 2003
Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, told
Congress Wednesday that the economy was poised to grow without further
large tax cuts, and that budget deficits resulting from lower taxes
without offsetting reductions in spending could be damaging to the
economy. Opponents of the large cut favored by President Bush took
Greenspan's testimony as support for their position. Greenspan's
statements were made as new Treasury data showed that tax revenues
have arrived at a much slower pace than expected this spring. As
a consequence of the revenue shortfall and increased spending enacted
this month, government and private analysts said today, the budget
deficit this fiscal year will be at least $80 billion higher than
the Congressional Budget Office projected last month.
The combination of Greenspan's testimony and the prospects of a
higher deficit gave added ammunition to Bush's political opponents,
as the president continued today to press Congress to approve a
$550 billion, 10-year tax cut. "These deficit numbers are just the
latest reminder that what many of us have expressed concern about
is becoming even more of a problem," said Senate Minority Leader
Tom Daschle. Meanwhile, the president met today on the tax issue
with Republican Congressional leaders. Afterward, Senate Majority
Leader Bill Frist said that the president and all the leaders wanted
as large a tax cut as possible and that Congress might consider
more than one tax measure this year.
*** Complete article (registration required) at http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/01/politics/01TAXE.html
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SCHOOLS
PROFIT FROM PUBLICLY FUNDED RESEARCH
From the Associated Press, April 29, 2003
When a key patent on combining genetic material to create human
drugs expired three years ago, a spigot that had sent $200 million
in royalty payments to Columbia University was suddenly turned off.
So Columbia turned to a strategy the drug industry has turned to
high art -- winning another patent for the same invention -- and
began demanding payments anew. Now biotechnology titan Genentech
Inc. is suing the school, claiming the invention was already in
the public domain. The dispute highlights the thorny issue of university
patents, many of which stem from research paid for -- as in the
Columbia case -- with public funds.
"It's an embarrassment," Cleveland State University intellectual
law professor Michael Davis said of the law that allows universities
to patent and profit from government-supported research. "The government
paid for all of the research and development. Taxpayers are essentially
paying twice." Until 1980, the government retained title to inventions
created with federal funds, offering the technology for free. Lamenting
that universities had no incentive to commercialize publicly financed
inventions, Congress passed the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980, allowing
schools to patent and profit. Almost from the start, the law generated
strong emotions.
*** Complete article at http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/04/29/patent.universities.ap/index.html
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USDA
PROPOSES NEW MEDICAL RECORDS REQUIREMENTS FOR ANIMALS
From the Council on Governmental Relations, April 30, 2003
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service (APHIS) issued a proposed change to the Animal Welfare Act
that would require maintaining medical records as part of an adequate
program of veterinary care. Published in the Federal Register on
April 11, 2003 (68 FR 17752), APHIS describes the proposed rule
as establishing as a requirement what is implied in the current
regulations as an element of adequate medical care. The medical
records would include a variety of items including: the identity
of the animal, documentation of illnesses and injury, treatments
performed including surgical interventions and medications administered,
as well as additional care details including vaccinations, drug
sensitivities, etc.
Some university veterinarians have expressed concerns over the level
of detail that will be required in the medical records particularly
when large numbers of covered animals are used in the university's
teaching, research or testing activities. Some universities may
need to enhance communication strategies between the animal care
staff and veterinarians to ensure that the required medical record
is complete. USDA's deadline for comments is June 10, 2003.
*** The proposed rule can be accessed through the USDA web site
at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ac/medicalrecords.pdf or through Regulations.gov
at http://www.regulations.gov/
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BILL
AIMS TO BOOST FEDERAL SPENDING ON NANOTECHNOLOGY
By Joseph C. Anselmo, CQ Today, April 30, 2003
The House Science Committee is scheduled to mark up a bill Thursday
that would authorize a three-year, $2.1 billion nanotechnology research
program. The bill (HR 766), introduced by Chairman Sherwood Boehlert,
R-N.Y., and 10 cosponsors, aims to increase federally supported
research into nanotechnology, an emerging science that involves
observations, measurements and manufacturing at the scale of atoms
and molecules. The technology has the potential to prompt significant
advances in fields such as computing, medicine and manufacturing.
The Bush administration objects to a provision in the Boehlert bill
that would direct the president to establish a National Nanotechnology
Coordination Office. Administration officials instead want federal
nanotechnology efforts coordinated by an existing organization,
the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Boehlert
is aiming to bring the bill to the House floor for a vote as early
as next week. While Congress has funded nanotechnology budget initiatives
proposed by the Bush and Clinton administrations, this year's bills
mark the first major nanotechnology legislation to originate on
Capitol Hill, according to F. Mark Modzelewski, founder and executive
director of the NanoBusiness Alliance,
*** CQ Today is available online to subscribers only.
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DRUG
FIRMS BOOST BUSH'S AIDS PLAN
GOP Lobbying for Support of Africa Initiative
By Jim VandeHei, Washington Post, May 1, 2003
President Bush's $15 billion plan to fight AIDS internationally
is getting a big behind-the-scenes boost from drug companies and
other businesses with a financial stake in combating the disease
in Africa. Top White House officials have encouraged corporations,
especially those with direct business interests in Africa or AIDS
eradication, to support Republican lobbying efforts aimed at passing
Bush's AIDS initiative in Congress and winning funding for the program
later this year. The House is poised to pass the plan today. A Senate
vote will soon follow. Among the biggest backers of the pro-Bush
lobbying projects are pharmaceutical companies such as Bristol-Myers
Squibb and Abbott Laboratories, which are competing to promote their
AIDS medications domestically and abroad.
Several Republicans involved in the effort said drug companies and
other multinational firms are paying as much as $40,000 each to
join two pro-Bush groups backed by the president and his aides.
Abbott CEO Miles White said drug companies are heavily involved
because "we recognize the magnitude of the problem" that requires
a "magnitude of resources and attention that is way beyond the ability"
of one company. In addition to helping fight AIDS and expand the
market for some of their products, Republicans involved in the effort
said, the companies are eager to curry favor with Bush by backing
one of his pet projects.
*** Complete article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62526-2003Apr30.html
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LOS
ALAMOS CONTRACT OPEN FOR BIDS
University of California Blamed for Management Failures at Weapons
Lab
By Walter Pincus, Washington Post, May 1, 2003
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced yesterday that the government
will require competitive bids for the contract to manage the troubled
Los Alamos National Laboratory when the current pact expires in
2005. But, until then, the University of California will continue
to be in charge of the lab, located in New Mexico, as it has been
since the Manhattan Project designed the first atomic bombs there
in the early 1940s. Abraham said he is urging UC to bid for the
new contract. Abraham said the university "bears the responsibility
for the systemic management failures that came to light in 2002,"
a reference to the fraudulent purchases by lab employees and the
attempts by lab management to cover up those findings by firing
two investigators who had been hired to look into such activities.
UC's management role was already under fire for security failures
at Los Alamos in 2000 surrounding the case of scientist Wen Ho Lee,
who was originally charged with espionage but who eventually pleaded
guilty only to mishandling classified materials. Concerns were heightened
when it was discovered that one of the lab's most sensitive teams
had lost, for a period of time, a laptop computer hard drive that
contained highly classified information, and had failed to disclose
it to the lab director. But Abraham said he "categorically" rejects
the idea that the bid competition is a repudiation of the university.
UC, which also manages the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
has taken "vigorous action . . . to correct the problems uncovered
at Los Alamos," he said.
*** Complete article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62528-2003Apr30.html
*** Department of Energy press release at http://www.energy.gov/HQPress/releases03/aprpr/pr03091.htm
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DOE
TO COMPETE CONTRACTS AT NEW 'IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY'
From the U.S. Department of Energy, April 30, 2003
Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham announced today that the Department
of Energy will compete and award separate contracts to implement
the Department's plan to revitalize the nuclear energy mission at
its Idaho laboratory complex and to accelerate the environmental
cleanup of the site. The laboratory, which will be renamed the Idaho
National Laboratory, will specialize in developing advanced nuclear
energy technologies and other ways of responding to the Nation's
future energy and national security requirements. The Department's
Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology will manage the
lab.
Last year, Abraham announced plans to return the Idaho complex to
its historic mission of nuclear technology development in order
to support the Nation's expanding nuclear energy initiatives. Since
then, the Department has been engaged in comprehensive planning
for the site's future. These plans place Idaho at the center of
the Department's efforts to develop advanced Generation IV nuclear
energy systems, nuclear hydrogen production technology, advanced
fuel cycle technologies, as well as to assist NASA in the development
and testing of space power systems.
*** Department of Energy press release at http://www.energy.gov/HQPress/releases03/aprpr/pr03092.htm
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