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The Science Committee of the US House of Representatives has agreed to support funding to begin building the Advanced Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge in Tennessee, relieving fears that the project would fail to win money from Congress.

The committee voted unanimously last week to allocate $100 million to construction of the project, provided that the Department of Energy meets a list of conditions. Although the money allocated by the committee for the fiscal year 2000 is barely half the amount requested by the Clinton administration in February, the vote was interpreted as a reprieve for the project.

James Sensenbrenner (Wisconsin, Republican), chair of the committee, had previously wanted to withhold funds altogether (see Nature 398, 739; 1999).

On the same day last week, the Senate energy and water appropriations subcommittee, chaired by Pete Domenici (Republican, New Mexico), voted to provide $169 million for construction of the project, serving notice that it still has powerful support in Congress. Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico will build the accelerator that will drive the neutron source.

The Science Committee's compromise was struck after a heated debate on a Democrat amendment to restore $150 million to the project, during which it became clear that several Republicans were unhappy with Sensenbrenner's plan to withhold funding.

Republicans Connie Morella (Maryland), Judy Biggert (Illinois) and Vernon Ehlers (Michigan) each spoke for the project, but voted against the amendment to restore funding. Two moderate Republicans, Sherwood Boehlert (New York) and Roscoe Bartlett (Maryland), were absent for the vote, and a third, Joe Barton (Texas), voted with the Democrats.

The result was a vote tied at 17-17, causing the amendment to fail. But it was obvious that the committee did not want to pass a bill with no funding for the project, which has wide support in the scientific community. When the committee broke for lunch, staff thrashed out a compromise that would give the project $100 million.

Congressional staff say that the appropriations committees, which have the real budgetary power over the project, are likely to agree to provide at least $150 million next year, but will attach conditions to ensure proper management by the energy department.