NEWS OF THE WEEK
1984 ELECTIONS: Little impact on science policies The re-election of Ronald Reagan and the relatively minor changes in the makeup of the House and Sen ate resulting from last week's elec tion give this Administration a green light to go ahead with the same policies it has promoted for the past four years. In the science and technology area, the President probably will move forward with his program of budgeting more money to defense R&D. Smaller relative gains will go to the rest of the research com munity. The portion of R&D funds spent on defense-related work has risen from 50% to 70% in the past four years, and this trend, although it may slow, will continue. Outside of defense, Reagan's policy will be to continue to stress basic research, leaving developmental work to be done by the private sector. The em phasis on budget cuts during the campaign may mean smaller gains than those experienced in the past couple of years. In the Senate, the Republicans lost two seats and will have a 53-47 majority, m a k i n g that chamber slightly less conservative than it was in the past Congress. One reason is the election of Democrat Albert Gore Jr. in Tennessee. Gore will take the seat of retiring majority leader Howard Baker. A popular Congress man with eight years of service in the House, Gore took a lot of inter est in matters such as chemical waste disposal and recombinant DNA technology when he was in the House. He can be expected to con tinue to pursue these interests when he comes to the Senate. Several other new Senators were Representatives in the last Congress. Republican Phil Gramm was elect ed to the Senate from Texas and will be a proponent of the Presi dent's budget policies, as he was in 4
November 12, 1984 C&EN
Voters returned Brown (above) to House; Martin, a former Congressman, is new governor of North Carolina the House (where he was first elect ed as a Democrat). Democrat Paul Simon scored somewhat of an upset victory in Illinois over Republican Charles H. Percy to become a fresh man Senator after five terms in the House. Simon is not a nationally known Congressman, but has had an impact on the budget and educa tion committees in the House. Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin defeated Re publican Roger W. Jepson and prob ably will move from the House agri culture to the Senate agriculture committee. Gore, Simon, and Harkin all had seats on the House Science & Technology Committee. In the House, the Democrats lost only 15 seats, leaving them with a 84-seat majority over the Republi cans. However, three races were still undecided at press time. Scientists running did fairly well. Democrat George E. Brown in California won by a wider margin this year than in
1982 and will return to his chair manship of the agriculture research subcommittee. Pennsylvania Repub lican Don Ritter, the former metal lurgy professor, won his district easily. In Connecticut, Democrat Bruce A. Morrison won a second term after squeaking by a challenge from Lawrence J. DeNardis, who was his predecessor in the House. Morrison has a masters degree in organic chemistry but chose to be come an attorney instead of a prac ticing chemist. Finally, Congress' only Ph.D. chemist, Republican James G. Mar tin, left Congress and was elected governor of North Carolina. Martin won the ACS Charles Lathrop Par sons award two years ago and was an effective member of the taxwriting Ways & Means Committee. He also served as a Republican spokesman on such issues as the nuclear freeze. Π
