Zoe Lofgren: “I rise to oppose the bill H.R. 2405, the so-called Omnibus Civilian Science Authorization Act of 1995, as it exists now.…”

“I rise to oppose the bill H.R. 2405, the so-called Omnibus Civilian Science Authorization Act of 1995, as it exists now. The bill has a grandiose title to mask its pernicious effects on the Nation's research and development system. We will hear again and again in this debate how the majority supports research, especially basic research. Would that their rhetoric was matched by their legislative language. Otto von Bismarck once warned that those who liked laws and sausages should watch neither one being made. This bill offers a stellar example of this principle. The legislation we consider here is not the product of in-depth consideration by the Science Committee. It is, rather, a large muddle made up of a jumble of small messes--slapped together authorization bills for agencies under our jurisdiction to create the unwieldy morass we are about to debate. If the component titles were more than the product of little thought and even less deliberation, this might be acceptable. H.R. 2405, however, is in the unenviable position of being less than the sum of its parts.”