FISCAL YEAR 1994 NOAA BUDGET REQUEST THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 1993 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY, SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE, The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 9:39 a.m., in Room 2318, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ralph M. Hall [chairman of the subcommittee] presiding. Mr. HALL. All right, the committee will come to order. And I say to you good morning. Today the Subcommittee on Space will consider the Fiscal Year 1994 budget request of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, more informally known as NOAA. And the administration has requested a total of $1.9-plus billion for the activities of NOAA during Fiscal Year 1994, which is a 12 percent increase over 1993, and I expect that's part of the things that we'll be talking about today. For NOAA programs under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, the administration has requested approximately $1.48 billion, and that reflects an increase of about 20 percent over Fiscal Year 1993 levels. This year's budget request clearly represents a new beginning for NOAA, and I think we as a subcommittee intend to do all that we can to support NOAA as it seeks to achieve a proper leadership role in the global environmental sciences. We're particularly pleased to have Dr. Baker, Dr. James Baker, who is the new Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, with us today, with a long and colorful and successful career. Dr. Baker is the former president of Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Incorporated, a nonprofit research management corporation representing the 10 largest oceanographic institutions. He's also a co-founder and past president of the Oceanography Society and former member of the Council of the American Meteorology Society. Dr. Baker received his Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University and has been a member of the faculty of Harvard University and a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Rhode Island. He has published more than 80 papers, and he's the author of the book, "Plant Earth-the View from Space." And I had a pleasant visit with Dr. Baker this morning and made the statement about Harvard University and Cal Berkeley, that he's done all that and he's overcome it. [Laughter.] Why, we're very, very happy to have you here with us today. (1) And, by the way, he has been confirmed without any back-talk from anybody. They were proud to have you. Dr. Baker, the subcommittee certainly welcomes you here today, and I look forward to an interesting and informative hearing. At this time I would recognize anyone who wants to make an opening statement. Mr. Calvert, would you-do you have an opening statement? Mr. CALVERT. [Shakes his head indicating he has no statement.] Mr. HALL. Tom Lewis, the gentleman from Florida, from the beautiful area that if Texas ever redistricts again, I want them to put part of his district in mine. [Laughter.] Mr. LEWIS. [Shakes his head indicating he has no statement.] Mr. ROEMER. Mr. Chairman, I think I did enough talking yesterday for a whole year, but I will say welcome to the distinguished panel of witnesses today and I'm extremely interested in particularly the modernization of the weather services and how that impacts my state of Indiana by Lake Michigan and the lake effect there, and also, just in reading through your testimony this morning, I'm very happy to see that you combine economic growth with environmental protection, and anxious to hear about some of the ways by which you and the Clinton administration are achieving that. Thank you. Mr. HALL. All right, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Geren. Mr. GEREN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was hoping you'd say something nice about Ft. Worth, as you did about that area in Florida. But I'd just like to welcome the panel. I look forward to your testimony and appreciate the fine work you do. Mr. HALL. If they redistrict, I'll probably end up with the stockyards in my district. [Laughter.] Mr. GEREN. We might work a trade. Mr. HALL. All right, Dr. Baker, we recognize you—and now we have Mr. Sensenbrenner, who is a very valuable member of this committee, and we recognize him at this time for any opening statement. Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and I'm happy to see that you're still here today after reading the paper. I don't have an opening statement, and I apologize to the witnesses that the dean of the Texas delegation has summoned me to participate in the Judiciary Committee most of the morning. So I will review the testimony and wish you well. Thank you. Mr. HALL. Dr. Baker, we recognize you at this time, and you can summarize your testimony and I'm sure there will be no objection. And, without any objection, your entire statement will be put of record, as will the entire statements of any of the staff or associates that you have with you. We recognize you at this time. STATEMENT OF JAMES BAKER, UNDER SECRETARY FOR OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, WASHINGTON, D.C.; ACCOMPANIED BY DIANA JOSEPHSON, DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY; JOHN HUSSEY, ACTING ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE DATA AND INFORMATION SERVICE; LOUIS J. BOEZI, DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE; GREGORY W. WITHEE, ACTING ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR SATELLITE AND INFORMATION SERVICES; ALAN R. THOMAS, DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH; AND ANDREW MOXAM, COMPTROLLER Mr. BAKER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's a pleasure to be here in my first congressional testimony and I'm pleased that it is, in fact, before this committee with its distinguished members. I'm pleased to be here today in support of the President's 1994 budget request. As you can see, I'm accompanied here today by a number of the NOAA senior management, including Diana Josephson, the Deputy Under Secretary; Andrew Moxam, sitting to my right, our Comptroller. Also, we have John Hussey, who is the Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service; Lou Boezi, Deputy Assistant Administrator for the National Weather Service; and Alan Thomas, Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. As you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, the total NOAA request for 1994 is $1.92 billion. Of that total, $1.76 are billion in the "Operations, Research, and Facilities appropriation; $79 million are in the Construction" appropriation; $23 million are in "fleet modernization, shipbuilding, and conversion"; and about $3 million are for fisheries funds. We should note that the budget includes a total transfer of about $63 million from the "Promote and Develop Fisheries Product and Research" account and the "Damage Assessment and Restoration Revolving Fund" as offsets to the "operations, Research, and facilities appropriation". The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration FY 1994 budget request ensures that the agency continues to meet the urgent environmental needs of the nineties, as embodied in four broad priorities; that is, to continue the modernization of the Weather Service; to maintain critical operations in fisheries, ocean. and coastal management, oceanic and atmospheric research, weather services, and satellites; third, to invest in global change research and high performance computing and communications; and, fourth, to implement administrative savings and reductions. The 1994 request includes an investment increase of about $217 million for Weather Service modernization that allows NOAA to proceed with the modernization and the associated restructuring, demonstration, and implementation program; the Next Generation Weather Radar program, Weather Forecast Office construction, the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System, also known as the AWIPS program; central computer facility upgrades; the Automated Surface Observing System program; and the satellite pro grams, Geostationary, Operational, Environmental Satellite, and polar-orbiting environmental satellites. The 1994 request includes about $46 million to maintain ongoing operations and fulfill basic responsibilities in fisheries, ocean services, weather and satellite services. Without these funds, NOAA's ability to address natural and living marine resource issues will be severely reduced. The 1994 request includes about $20 million for Weather Service operations funding in order to maintain the current level of weather services to the public as required by Public Law 102-567, which addresses the Weather Service modernization. Our request also includes, $12 million needed to maintain essential ongoing operations in the National Marine Fisheries Service, the total there being about $224 million. Program increases of $3.5 million in the 1994 budget request for the National Oceans Service are essential for maintaining current operations and staffing for the National Oceans Service, a total request there of $149 million. Increased funding totaling $7.7 million in the ocean and atmospheric research program of a total request of $214 million would be used to maintain ongoing activities in several areas. Included in these is a request of $2 million for activities of a new regional marine research program. Looking to the future, our 1994 request includes an increase of $23 million for the climate and global change program of NOAA, to continue high priority research programs that were supported in 1993 with monies appropriated to the Department of State and subsequently transferred to NOAA, and to begin implementing U.S. support for the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction, a commitment the United States made at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the UNCED Conference held in June 1992. Our 1994 request for investment also includes $2.6 million for the high performance computing and communications program of the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology, the FCCSET program. As part of the President's commitment to cutting the cost of Federal Government and the size of the workforce, NOAA will also achieve savings of about $25 million in 1994. In order for us to develop and deliver more focused service, the 1994 budget includes $67 million in program decreases for programs that we view benefit only small groups, are not NOAA's statutory responsibilities, are one-time expenditures whose purpose has been achieved, are lower priority activities, or construction projects that no longer require funding. This is NOAA's package. Our priorities evidence what NOAA offers the Nation and how the agency can fulfill President Clinton's goal of a sound economy and exemplary service. Given the correct resources, NOAA can meet the President's challenge for a more efficient and effective government serving the people into the 21st century. In order to fulfill its mission to the best of its abilities and meet the challenge of the 1990s, NOAA must have adequate financial re |