NTIA has received $95 million in digital conversion requests for FY 2001.

The Federal Government has not committed to fully funding the conversion of public television. The Clinton Administration proposed a plan that, would have assisted each public television station in meeting the 2003 deadline. However, since 1999 the initiative has not been fully funded.

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Could you explain to me what does that mean then, that those that do not meet the deadline will lose their license?

Or, is something going to be proposed? Is it possible to extend the deadline?

Secretary EVANS. Yes, Congresswoman, I am not sure, but I will be glad to have my staff work with you and I will get back to you personally to make sure you are satisfied with our answer or at least you understand our answer. I am not sure of the details of the deadline date, and what the impact would be if you do not meet it by that deadline.

I cannot believe somebody would lose their license because we did not provide the funding that we had said we would provide. But, anyway, we will get back to you. We will be glad to visit with you about that issue.

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. I appreciate that.
Secretary EVANS. You bet.

[The following clarifying statement was subsequently submitted:] The Commission has granted numerous extensions for good cause to commercial stations that have been unable to meet the deadlines in the top 30 markets that have been passed so far. The same option of an extension would be available to a public broadcaster unable to meet the 2003 construction deadline. The Department continues to work through NTIA's Public Telecommunications Facilities Program to enable as many public stations as possible to convert to digital television in a timely

manner.

EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Last year, the Committee provided $15 million for the Educational Partnership Program with minority-serving institutions.

I was pleased that you have again included funding for the program in your budget request. And I understand that currently you have issued Requests for Proposals.

Can you tell me what your timetable is for getting these funds out and getting these partnerships running?

Secretary EVANS. I am not sure what the timing is. I know it has been a great program. I know it has been met with tremendous

success.

We are going to try and have selections by the end of this year. Okay, we are going to try and get them awarded in September, and the money would go out with the award, if not earlier.

The money will go out by the end of September.

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Okay. In your 2002 request, is it to provide additional funding for the partnerships that qualify for the 2001 money? Or is your intention to identify additional Secretary EVANS. It is additional, is it not?

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD [continuing]. Institutions?

Secretary EVANS. Yes, go ahead. Scott is very familiar with the program.

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Sure.

Secretary EVANS. Come here and use the mike.

Mr. GUDES. I'm Scott Gudes from NOAA. Under the minorityserving institution program, the $15 million in FY 2002 will continue the four Institutes of Excellence.

There is a program we have called Environmental Entrepreneurship, which is about $3 plus million.

That will be looking at a number of proposals from minority-serving institutions around the country-Hispanic-serving institutions, historically black colleges and universities, Native American tribal colleges.

That will be an ongoing program. They will look at different projects to fund.

But the four basic science institutes-Environmental Science, Marine Science, Atmospheric Science, Remote Sensing-will be selected this year and then be continued at about $2.5 million apiece. Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Okay, thank you.

Mr. Chairman, do I still have time for another question?
Mr. WOLF. Yes.

LATIN AMERICAN E-BUSINESS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. I received a copy of the correspondence that was provided, because I am a member of this Subcommittee, that outlines your plans in the International Trade Administration to implement a Latin American E-Business Fellowship Program.

Could you describe for this Committee those efforts and what you are hoping to accomplish through this?

Secretary EVANS. Sure, you bet. It is all part of improving education throughout the western hemisphere, trying to share our knowledge, our experience with our friends and neighbors throughout the western hemisphere.

Specifically, this is a program where we would invite individuals throughout the western hemisphere to come to America, spend a couple of days here in Washington, D.C. in the Department of Commerce, where we would give them an orientation as to e-business practices in America and how e-business works in America.

Then we have worked with, again, kind of my bias, I think, toward making sure we are engaging the private sector. We have a number of corporations throughout America. They are excited about bringing these individuals into their companies, into their back rooms, into their rooms where e-business actually happens, and spend four or five weeks there in those companies to kind of learn the value of this technology and how it can help improve productivity in their own small business or large business, or whatever it might be.

So we were starting it as a pilot program, at least our request is for it to be a pilot program this coming year. Hopefully, it will blossom into something much larger than a pilot program.

But again, it is a way of connecting the western hemisphereconnecting with our neighbors. It is all part of this connectivity issue.

I think we have a responsibility to share what we know with our neighbors and help them. So this is part of that effort.

It is not a large effort from a funding standpoint, because, one, the private sector is helping in providing a substantial amount of the funds, but I think in terms of benefits, they could be vast.

So, anyway, that is a brief explanation of it.

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Okay, thank you. It sounds like a good pro

gram.

Secretary EVANS. Thank you.

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Cramer.

Mr. CRAMER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, welcome to the Committee.

Secretary EVANS. Thank you.

STEEL DUMPING

Mr. CRAMER. I regret that I had to come into this Subcommittee hearing late this morning. I do not believe you have been asked questions regarding the American steel industry. If you would bear with me, I would like to make a few comments and then ask a couple of questions.

But I am sure you are aware that our American steel industry is in a crisis. We have suffered under an avalanche of illegallydumped foreign steel.

To date, some 18 domestic producers have gone into bankruptcy, two within the State of Alabama, and one of those two in my Congressional District.

So, consequently, we have had thousands of people losing their jobs.

Last year, in the final Omnibus Appropriations Bill, there was language in there that called on the President to initiate a Section 201 investigation under the Trade Act of 1974.

My question is, though, even though President Clinton signed that appropriations bill into law, President Bush has yet to act.

As spokesperson for the Administration, do you know if there will be a Section 201 investigation? Or if you do not know that yet, when might you know that?

Secretary EVANS. I guess my understanding is that President Clinton signed it into law, but he failed to act as well.

Mr. CRAMER. Correct.

Secretary EVANS. He did not start a 201.

Mr. CRAMER. Correct.

Secretary EVANS. And I am not sure exactly why he did not or what his reasons were after signing it into law. But the steel industry issue is of the highest priority to us. We have Cabinet-level principals that are very focused on this.

I would say to you that we will be making comments on this within the ensuing weeks. It has been a problem that has plagued the industry for not just the last several months. This has been an ongoing problem for the industry for the last 20 years.

You have got LTV in bankruptcy for the third time. You have got 14 steel companies in bankruptcy today. And so I think when we address this issue, we should address it in a very thoughtful, constructive kind of way and feel confident that the way it is being addressed is going to solve the problem permanently. And it is not

going to be a problem that we are going to deal with again in another two or three years.

As we look at this issue very thoughtfully and very thoroughly and totally understand it—and it is something that I understand well; I have spent a fair number of my years in the steel mills. I understand the nature of the business and I understand the overcapacity that we have in the world today. And I understand all the trade issues that relate to it.

I understand we have got 119 orders out there today that we are collecting on that are for anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders. I know we have got 39 others under investigation right now. So this is something that we are taking very seriously. It was left to us to deal with, and we are going to deal with it in a very, I think, constructive way.

Mr. CRAMER. Well, I hope so, and I look forward to further updates, and I realize that this is early in the Administration. But I hope that you will assess this and consider the Section 201 investigation as well as a Section 232 investigation that would determine the effect of imports on national security as well, because these are very important issues. So I would look forward to updates.

Secretary EVANS. You bet, Congressman. We will get you those updates. The 232, as you know, is being worked on in the Department of Defense. We are waiting to hear from them. We think we will hear from them sometime in the next several months. But that is in their department and not in ours.

Mr. CRAMER. Is that an ongoing? As far as you know, is that ongoing?

Secretary EVANS. Yes.

Mr. CRAMER. Very good. I have a National Weather Service issue that was a leftover issue from the last Administration as well, and I will not subject the Committee to hearing a history of that.

But I would alert you to the fact that your office already knows that we were inquiring about it and that we will be in touch with you fairly soon to get an update on what looks like could be a reasonable resolution of that issue.

Secretary EVANS. Good.

Mr. CRAMER. Thank you.

Secretary EVANS. Thank you, Congressman, very much.

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE ASSURANCE OFFICE

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Secretary, in your view, has the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office been successful in fulfilling its original mission to work with other agencies in developing a plan to prevent and respond to attacks against the nation's infrastructure?

Secretary EVANS. That is an ongoing effort, Mr. Chairman. As I mentioned early in my remarks, Commerce plays a very important role in this critical infrastructure protection issue.

We plan an important supporting role in that program. We have four different bureaus that are very much involved in that. I think we have made progress. I think we have developed some very strong and important partnerships with the private sector, working with them so they understand the important role that they are playing. I know we have got ongoing dialogue with them.

But as I said early in my remarks, this is an issue that is under full review now in the Administration as to how it should be structured. I know that in terms of the Critical Infrastructure Office itself, I am not sure we have even had any funding for it. We have had funding for it I know there is one piece inside of NTIA that we have not had funding for.

But we have got four different Commerce Department bureaus involved in critical infrastructure protection-I know that NIST plays a big role in this whole area. They have got capital committed to research and development, capital committed to grants, and capital committed to a team that goes out and reviews other agencies to see if their systems are protected.

Commerce, as I said, is playing a very important role, especially BXA, where the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office is located, does a fair amount of-actually does most of the coordination with the private sector. Finally NTIA is responsible for working with the information and communications sector in securing their systems. But, has it been successful? I would say to you that, I think there is a lot of work to do in this area. I think first and foremost is making sure there is real clarity as to responsibility, and real clarity as to what the organizational structure looks like relative to critical infrastructure protection.

Mr. WOLF. Who are the agencies that are involved?

Secretary EVANS. Well, we have got State involved in it, DoD is involved in it, Justice would be involved in it, the National Security Council is involved in it. Transportation is involved in it. Energy is involved in it. To name a few. I do not have the entire comprehensive list.

Mr. WOLF. But the lead is the Department of Commerce?

Secretary EVANS. Well, we are the lead coordinator I guess you would say. The responsibility lies in the National Security office. We support the program. We support the National Security, and we coordinate the program and coordinate the planning. We are the coordinator, but you might think of us, I guess, as the chief operating officer.

[The following was subsequently provided:]

We are the coordinator for national outreach and awareness programs across industry sectors, for preparing and developing the Administration's national plan, and for assisting Federal agencies to analyze their dependence on privately owned infrastructure. The responsibility for overall policy development and implementation lies with the White House and National Security.

Mr. WOLF. And will that continue? Commerce will continue that role?

Secretary EVANS. Well, again, this is under full review right now, and I am not sure what the final conclusion will be. But, we should play a very important role. I am not sure exactly what the role will be. I think that hopefully we should be prepared to discuss that in more detail in the not-too-distant future.

Commerce needs to participate because of our relationship with commerce and the private sector and the critical infrastructure that you deal with in that area, whether it is utilities or transportation or energy or whatever.

So we will continue to play a very important role. I just do not know exactly what we would be proposing that our role is exactly.