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Show UNITED STATES SENATE A 39 percent cut in funds for the Kennedy-sponsored National Center for the Evaluation of Medical Technology has been credited to Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Senator Robert Dole (R-Kansas). The Hatch-Dole attack on the new federal agency was based on the proposition that its functions would duplicate existing federal -sponsored medical programs. As originally presented by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the National Center for the Evaluation of Medical Technology (NCEMT) would have cost the American taxpayers $125 million. By amendment it was reduced to $76 million. The Office of Health Technology, recently established by the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. Joseph Califano, "is already performing per-forming the kind of work Sen. Kennedy suggests needs to be done by NCEMT and is doing it for millions less. What we've created with NCEMT is a new level of 'bureaucratic blubber' on the already overweight Washington bureaucracy. I think it's a mistake," Hatch said. "That's why I voted no. We have so many agencies investigating and evaluating technology, that our advancement ad-vancement is stagnating. We already have the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, the new office in HEW, and several dozen other agencies assigned to this task. We have to draw the line somewhere. I hope these substantial budget cuts will help to control the duplication." Hatch added, "Unfortunately, we were not able to muster enough support to prevent the establishment of this organization, but we were able to cut its funding substantially." |