Mark Warner: “I respectfully request if the chairman, Senator Domenici, would engage in a colloquy regarding the Jefferson Lab in…”

“I respectfully request if the chairman, Senator Domenici, would engage in a colloquy regarding the Jefferson Lab in Virginia with the Senators from Virginia? First, I would like to compliment the chairman of the Energy & Water Subcommittee, and the ranking member, Senator Reid, for an excellent job in preparing a good and balanced appropriations bill for consideration by the Senate. I particularly want to compliment the chairman and ranking member for providing increases for the Office of Science and for the several important programs within the Office of Science, including Nuclear Physics. I know the chairman is well acquainted with Jefferson Lab in Newport News, VA, which is one of our world-class basic research laboratories. My colleague from Virginia, Senator Allen, and I are both proud of the excellent scientific programs at Jefferson Lab, which is a credit to the commonwea1th of Virginia and to the Nation. The increase in funding provided by the subcommittee for nuclear physics will permit Jefferson Lab to increase its operational time so the Nation's return on this investment will be enhanced. In the 10 years since commissioning, Jefferson Lab has made groundbreaking discoveries on several scientific fronts. An important next step to insure we maintain the pace of scientific discovery, as recommended by the Department's November 2003 report, is to upgrade the energy of the Jefferson Lab electron beam.…”