ASME International Capitol Update
January 24, 2002

1. Congress Back in Session
   -Economy, Energy Still on the Agenda 

2. President Bush to Release Budget February 4
   -Administration Releases Downgraded Surplus Forecast

3. ICCFR&D Meeting to Address Bush FY2003 Budget
   -Concern over Non-Defense R&D Funding

4. A Day at the Capitol to be Held in California
   -Agenda Will Focus on Energy, Transportation, and Engineering Licensing

5. EPA Addressing Power Plant Emissions
   -Legislative Plan Almost Ready on Three Pollutants	       

6. Council on Bioethics Named
   -Priorities Include Biomedical Technologies

7. Terrorism Reinsurance Legislation Re-emerging
   -Efforts at Federal and State Level
	

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CONGRESS BACK IN SESSION

This week Congress returned to face a tough election year agenda on issues such as the economy, energy, trade and campaign finance.  The ability of both parties will be tested to overcome fierce partisan battles that stalled action last year.  
President Bush will help set the tone with Congress in his State of the Union address next Tuesday night, where lawmakers will watch to see if he outlines a confrontational or cooperative approach to key issues such as taxes and spending.
More information about the Congressional agenda can be found at:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21833-2002Jan22.html
For further information, please contact Melissa Murray at murraym@asme.org.


PRESIDENT BUSH TO RELEASE BUDGET FEBRARY 4
While President Bush does not send his $2 trillion FY2003 budget to Congress until February 4, the Administration and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office severely downgraded their surplus forecasts this week.
While President Bush's budget will propose big boosts for defense and homeland security and a renewed drive for an economic stimulus bill, Bush will propose budgets cuts in the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Interior and Labor as well as Army Corps of Engineers' water projects.  Only a small overall increase for most remaining federal programs will be proposed.  Also projects such as the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and Advanced Technology are slated to be eliminated in the Bush FY2003 budget.
A recent article on the surplus forecast and the upcoming budget can be found at: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020124/ap_on_go_pr_wh/budget_19&cid=536
For more information, please contact Melissa Murray at murraym@asme.org.


ICCFR&D MEETING TO ADDRESS BUSH FY2003 BUDGET

ASME's Inter-Council Committee on Federal R&D (ICCFRD) of the Council on Engineering (COE) will meet February 13-14, 2002 in Washington, D.C., the week following the President's budget request for FY2003.
The ICCFR&D provides the mechanical engineering profession with a voice in the federal R&D budget process that incorporates the industrial and academic perspectives, the interaction of R&D and engineering education, and changing societal needs. 
Task Force Chairmen will participate in providing an analysis for their issue area of the President's FY2003 budget, which will be released to the Congress in early February 2002. That analysis will be used as ASME's contribution to an annual report prepared by the American Association for the Advancement of Science on research and development in the federal budget. In addition, the analysis will be used to prepare written or oral testimony on the agency budgets for Congressional hearings and for other purposes.
  
For more information, please contact Reese Meisinger at meisingerr@asme.org. 


A DAY AT THE CAPITOL TO BE HELD IN CALIFORNIA

ASME's Region IX will host the 5th Annual Day at the Capitol in Sacramento, California on February 5.   The program will focus on three issues: energy, transportation, and engineering licensing.  Visits will also be scheduled for the participants with Chairmen and Ranking Members of the appropriate committees of jurisdiction, as well as some individual visits with Assemblymen and Senators.  

For program and registration details, go to http://www.asme.org/gric
Additional information is available from Melissa Murray at murraym@asme.org.


EPA ADDRESSING POWER PLANTS EMISSIONS
A legislative plan to control power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury will be released no later than mid-February by the Environmental Protection Agency, answering a request by the Bush Administration's National Energy Policy Development Group (NEPDG).  Around that time, the Senate is scheduled to begin action on competing legislation by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman, James Jeffords (I-VT).  
The two proposals is provision differ on strategies for controlling carbon dioxide.  The EPA legislation is not expected to contain such a provision; NEPDG had specified that the reductions be phased in and that EPA develop market-based incentives to assist utilities in complying.  An official from the Agency said the regulated community could save 25 percent to 30 percent more than the current regulatory structure, due to new technologies and greater flexibility for meeting environmental targets. 
Information about Jeffords' legislation, S. 556, can be found at:  http://thomas.loc.gov
More information can be found on the agency's web site in mid-February at http://www.epa.gov/airmarkets/emissions/index.html
For more information, contact Kathryn Holmes at holmesk@asme.org. 


COUNCIL ON BIOETHICS NAMED

President Bush has appointed an 18-member Council of Bioethics to address some of the more controversial aspects of the biotechnology field.  Last week the council held its first two-day meeting in Washington, D.C., which focused on human cloning as its first issue.  
The Council will consider a range of bioethical matters connected with specific biomedical and technological activities, such as embryo and stem cell research, assisted reproduction, cloning, uses of knowledge and techniques derived from human genetics or the neurosciences, and end-of-life issues. Broader ethical and social issues, such as the appropriate uses of biomedical technologies and the protection of human subjects in research, may also be considered.
A list and description of the Council members is available from the following White House press release: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020116-9.html
For more information, please contact Melissa Murray at murraym@asme.org.


TERRORISM REINSURANCE LEGISLATION RE-EMERGING

Last week leadership from the Financial Services Roundtable, a group comprised of top executives with 100 large banking, insurance, and investment companies, met with President Bush and other top Administration officials to discuss its Congressional agenda, which includes enactment of a federal terrorism reinsurance bill.  

The House of Representatives passed H.R. 3210 on November 29, 2001.  The bill addresses key issues affecting civil litigation arising out of future terrorist attacks.  The bill currently awaits Senate consideration.   H.R.3210 would bar punitive damages, non-economic damages in excess of the defendant's direct proportion of responsibility for the plaintiff's physical harm, and suits against companies, building owners, security firms, or other businesses on the grounds that those entities were negligent and failed to protect people against attack, while capping attorney fees.
 
The House Financial Services Committee will be examining the economic impacts of the failure to enact terrorism reinsurance legislation.  More information about the hearing can be found at its web site at http://www.house.gov/financialservices/

States debating similar types of legislation are Alabama, California, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Washington, and West Virginia.  For more information, please contact Melissa Murray at murraym@asme.org.
 

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Melissa R. Murray
Government Relations
ASME International
1828 L Street, NW, Suite 906
Washington, DC  20036
Phone:  202.785.7380
Fax:  202.429.9417
Email:  murraym@asme.org 



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