Tina Smith: “as chairman of the Acquisition and Technology Subcommittee, I have been charged with overseeing of the technology base…”

“as chairman of the Acquisition and Technology Subcommittee, I have been charged with overseeing of the technology base programs in the defense budget request for fiscal year 1996. The technology base budget includes funding for the basic research, exploratory development, and advanced development accounts, the so-called 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 accounts of the budget. In addition the subcommittee also has responsibility for the so-called RDT&E infrastructure accounts. These accounts fund the maintenance of laboratories, R&D centers, and test and evaluation facilities. The portion of the accounts allocated to the Acquisition and Technology Subcommittee in fiscal year 1996 budget request amounted to a total of $9.5 billion. As the incoming subcommittee chairman, I faced a number of challenges. The budget request for fiscal year 1996 was already reduced from the amounts appropriated for these accounts in fiscal year 1995. Unlike other portions of the budget, the technology base programs are spread out among 250 separate program elements complicating a systematic review of the programs. Finally, it was clear that we needed to undertake a thorough review of each of these programs in order to ensure that defense relevance be the most important test for their continued funding. I was determined to understand the details of the programs under my purview.”