follow-up to a message posted to bionet.announce
In article <9206261901.AA19444 at rna.cshl.org>, roberts at cshl.org (Dr. Richard Roberts at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) writes...
>> NCBI in trouble
>>David Lipman and the NCBI are under attack from Congressman Natcher's
>Appropriations Sub-committee. It is being argued that they should stop
>producing Entrez, BLAST and other software products for distribution to
>the scientific community, because they compete unfairly with commercial
>enterprises that do the same thing. As a result there is a move to delete
>as much as 50% of their funding. This would wreck NCBI and cause the rest
This commercial software group's attack on the NCBI appears to be
significant in part because Congressman David Obey from Wisconsin is on
the appropriations committee. Two of the companies that are lobbying the
committee for a major reduction in funding are located in Wisconsin and
are putting pressure on the committee through their congressman Mr. Obey.
This could be very serious. Funding to the NCBI should not be decreased.
The NCBI has lots to do! They are involved in coordinating all the major
bio-molecular databases and facilitating the access and distribution of
this information through CD-ROM and the Internet.
A cut of the magnitude mentioned above would effect all users of
bio-molecular databases.
>Write before July 1st to:
>
FAXed letters should be sent soon. I understood from a conversion with
one of the aids in Mr. Natcher's office that the appropriations bill will
leave the committee the morning of July 1st.
>Congressman William H. Natcher
>Chairman
>Appropriations Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services,
>Education and Related Agencies
>2358, Rayburn House Office Building
>Washington DC 20515
>>FAX # (202) 225-3509
I believe the correct manner to address Mr. Natcher is:
The Honorable William H. Natcher, Chairman
The voice phone number is 202-225-3508
Here are the members of the Appropriations Committee on Labor, Health and
Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies.
Majority Members: Minority Members:
William H. Natcher (Ky) Chairman Carl D. Pursell (Mich) Ranking
Neal Smith (Iowa) John Edward Porter (Ill)
David Obey (Wisc) C.W.Bill Young (Fla)
Edward R. Roybal (Calif) Vin Weber (Minn)
Louis Stokes (Ohio)
Joseph D. Early (Mass)
Steny H. Hoyer (Md)
Robert J. Mrazek (NY)
