Zoe Lofgren: “I have yet to hear in my 18 months in Congress any hint from any Member of this body that this is a highly politicized…”

“I have yet to hear in my 18 months in Congress any hint from any Member of this body that this is a highly politicized organization. In fact, quite to the contrary, I have heard from both sides of the aisle a great deal of comment about the excellent work done through the auspices of the NSF, the fine science they have produced. So I have a sense that this is a good organization and that we ought to listen to the director of the organization. So I would like to quote the director, Neal Lane, who has commented on the bill, and which I think my amendment speaks to. He says that he is very disappointed with the proposed reduction, and says, ``Our analysis of the committee's reduction in this area shows that it would require the elimination of 120 FTE's, roughly 10 percent of our work force--in 1 year.'' He goes on to say that: A reduction of this kind would demoralize our highly talented and dedicated work force. If we fail to provide sufficient resources to adequately staff and support NSF, the result will be less coordination, less oversight, less efficiency, and a real degradation in the integrity of the merit review process and the quality of our programs and operations.”