GOVERNMENT
Legislation
Farm, air, and budget bills await action At press time the 101st Congress was scheduled to adjourn sine die on Oct. 27, nearly a month after its originally scheduled departure date and only 14 days before all of the House members and one third of the Senators are due to face the voters. During its final week Congress had to complete work not only on a very contentious overall spending reduction and revenue enhancement package, but also on all 13 of the appropriations bills needed to tell the federal departments and agencies how much they can spend on what programs. Those are absolute necessities. Also on the agenda are a number of bills that had been passed by both branches of Congress and had been cleared in House-Senate conference committees. This list is headed by S. 1630, the first major rewrite of the Clean Air Act in over a decade that imposes stringent new controls on chemical emissions. Also on the list is the quinquennial rewrite of basic farm legislation, S. 2830, which this year includes a special research emphasis on alternative agricultural practices. Missing from that bill is a Senate-endorsed provision that would have banned the export of agricultural chemicals not approved for use in this country. Also in this category is a bill establishing new Congressional math and science scholarships and programs to combat scientific illiteracy. Legislation in this category is likely to be sent to President Bush for final approval. Then there are the bills that have been approved by both House and Senate, but are not yet out of conference. In this category early last week were the 1990 immigration bills, S. 358 and H.R. 4300, that would allow entry into the U.S. of larger numbers of people trained as scientists and technicians and provide easier entry for foreign nationals who work for U.S. multinational companies. Of course prior approval by a conference committee isn't always necessary for a bill to become law. For example, legislation to prohibit the transport of food products in trucks or railcars that also had been used to haul chemicals or garbage, bypassed a conference committee entirely. The House agreed to the Senate amendments to the original House bill and sent it to the White House. Even farther down the list are bills that have been approved by one branch but not the other, such as one establishing a Department of the Environment, or haven't been passed by either branch, such as those encouraging source reduction as a means of dealing with hazardous waste. Anything can happen at the end of a Congressional session, so some of these bills may still get enacted. But more likely they will become topics for the 102nd Congress. Then again there's the possibility of a postelection, lame-duck session of the 101st Congress. Janice Long 18
October 29, 1990 C&EN
Chemical weapons. (H.R. 3033, S. 195) Require U.S. to impose sanctions against countries that manufacture or use, companies that aid production of, chemical and biological weapons; incorporated into S. 2927 Education. (H.R. 996, S. 2114) Provide for annual award of four-year $20,000 college scholarships to one male and one female in each Congressional district for study of science or math; promote science literacy Environment. (H.R. 3030, S. 1630) Amend Clean Air Act to reduce emissions of acid rain precursors, toxic air pollutants, improve air quality
(H.R. 5115, S. 657) Require EPA to reduce threats to health posed by indoor air pollutants (H.R. 1056, S. 1140) Require federal agencies, departments to comply with federal, state, and local waste disposal laws, incorporated into H.R. 3847 (H.R. 1457, S. 585) Encourage source reduction of hazardous waste, recycling or treating of any waste that is generated Government. (H.R. 3847, S. 2006) Elevate EPA to Cabinetlevel position
Immigration. (H.R. 4300, S. 358) Permit entry into U.S. of some additional 100,000 immigrants per year who are employed by U.S. businesses or have advanced degrees in fields such as the sciences Patents. (H.R. 469, S. 270) Prohibit courts from applying presumption of market power to patent holder in antitrust cases
Pesticides. (H.R. 1725, 3292, S. 722) Establish "negligiblerisk" standard for setting tolerances for pesticide residues on food, streamline procedures for removing hazardous pesticides from market
Research. (H.R. 2984, 3332, S. 169) Give Federal Coordinating Council on Science, Engineering & Technology responsibility for developing, overseeing global-change research program (H.R. 2734, S. 203) Authorize five-year coordinated federal groundwater assessment, research program (H.R. 3950, S. 2830) Promote, fund new sustainable agriculture research programs; call for study of climate change on food crops, forests SSC. (H.R. 4380) Provides total of $5 billion for research, construction, testing of the Superconducting Super Collider; requires state of Texas to contribute $1 billion; sets limits on how and when money is to be spent Supercomputers. (H.R. 3 1 3 1 . S. 1067, 1976) Set up new, national supercomputer network by 1996
Transportation. (H.R. 3386, S. 2393) Prohibit use of refrigerated motor vehicles for transportation of solid waste, use of cargo tanks for both food and hazardous materials
House committee
House floor
Senate committee
Senate floor
Conference action
Outlook
Foreign Affairs. Reported, amended 11/7/89. Ways & Means. Reported, amended 11/8/89 (H. Rept. 101-334)
Passed 11/13/89
Judiciary. Reported, amended 10/17/89 (S. Rept. 101-166)
Repassed 9/13/90
Began 10/9/90
Enactment possible
Science, Space & Technology. Reported, amended 8/4/89 (H. Rept. 101-220)
Amended, passed 7/20/90
Labor & Human Resources. Reported, amended 8/1/90 (S. Rept. 101-412)
Passed 8/3/90
Agreement reached 10/22/90
Enactment possible
Energy & Commerce. Reported, amended 5/17/90. Public Works & Transportation, Ways & Means. Reported, amended 5/21/90 (H. Rept. 101-490, Pt. I-III)
Amended, passed 5/23/90
Energy & Natural Resources. Concluded hearings 1/25/90. Environment & Publie Works. Reported, amended 12/20/89 (S. Rept. 101-228)
Amended, passed 4/3/90
Agreement reached 10/21/90
Enactment likely
Environment & Public Works. Reported, amended 5/24/90 (S. Rept. 101304)
Passed 9/26/90
Science, Space & Technology. Reported, amended 10/10/90 (H. Rept. 101-826)
Enactment unlikely
Energy & Commerce. Reported, amended 7/11/89 (H. Rept. 101-141)
Reapproved 3/28/90
Environment & Public Works. Ordered reported, amended 10/4/90
Enactment unlikely
Energy & Commerce. Reported, amended 6/25/90 (H. Rept. 101-555)
Passed 6/25/90
Environment & Public Works. Reported 10/12/90 (S. Rept. 101-526)
Enactment unlikely
Government Operations. Reported, amended 3/22/90 (H. Rept. 101-428)
Amended, passed 3/28/90
Government Affairs. Reported, amended 4/2/90 (S. Rept. 101-262)
Enactment unlikely
Judiciary. Reported, amended 9/19/90 (H. Rept. 101-723)
Amended, passed 10/3/90
Judiciary. Reported, amended 6/19/89 (S. Rept. 101-55)
Amended, passed 7/13/89
Judiciary. Subcommittee on Economic & Commercial Law approved, amended for full committee actions 10/12/90
Judiciary. Reported, amended 3/15/89 (S. Rept. 101-8)
Passed 3/17/89
Agriculture. Subcommittee on Department Operations, Research & Foreign Agriculture began markup 3/14/90. Energy & Commerce. Subcommittee on Health & the Environment still plans markup
Labor & Human Resources. Ordered reported, amended 6/27/90
Merchant Marine & Fisheries. Reported 12/15/89 (KR. 101-394). Science, Space & Technology. Ordered reported, amended 4/18/90. Foreign Affairs. Ordered reported, amended 5/17/90
Commerce, Science & Transportation. Reported, amended 5/31/89 (S. Rept. 101-40)
Science, Space & Technology. Reported 10/1/90 (H. Rept. 101-775)
Environment & Public Works. Reported 6/28/90 (S. Rept. 101-350)
Conferees appointed 10/17/90
Enactment possible
Enactment unlikely
Enactment unlikely
Amended, passed 2/6/90
Enactment unlikely
Enactment unlikely
Agriculture. Reported, amended 7/12/90 (H. Rept. 101-569)
Amended, passed 8/1/90
Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry. Reported 7/6/90 (S. Rept. 101-357)
Science, Space & Technology. Reported, amended 4/12/90 (H. Rept. 101-448)
Amended, passed 5/2/90
Energy & Natural Resources. Subcommittee on Energy R&D began hearings 4/24/90
Enactment unlikely
Commerce, Science & Transportation. Reported (S. 1067), amended 7/23/90 (S. Rept. 101-387). Energy & Natural Resources. Reported S. 1976, amended 7/19/90 (S. Rept. 101-377)
Enactment unlikely
Science, Space & Technology. Subcommittee on Science, Research & Technology concluded hearings 3/14/90
Energy & Commerce. Reported, amended 3/15/90. Public Works & Transportation. Reported 12/1/89 (H. Rept. 101-390)
Passed 3/27/90
Commerce, Science & Transportation. Reported, amended 6/13/90 (S. Rept. 101-332)
Amended, passed 7/27/90
Passed 9/20/90
Conference report filed 10/20/90
Cleared for President 10/19/90
Enactment probable
Enactment certain
October 29, 1990 C&EN
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