influence like anyone else. I hope all of you have written about the importance of scientific research, or called someone, or e-mailed somebody, but if you haven't done so, get the list of who is on those committees and start to influence them. It will make a difference. They need to understand.

It is so interesting: probably the strongest lobby in Washington is AARP. They don't have a PAC, but they have all the time in the world.

Keep this in mind. Try to do what AARP does. Keep the issues on the minds of those appropriators, because they have the final say-so. The President has really taken the lead in emphasizing the need for more scientific research and for more dollars going in that direction. So, he has taken the lead. Many of us help to spread the word; the push in that direction was a bipartisan effort. The Science Committee has supported that, but we only can authorize. We don't appropriate. So, it is the appropriations process that we must complete before we go home. That is the only really essential thing we have to do before we leave, and that is where you can help them understand the importance of keeping our country on course and keeping this prosperity going. The only way we can do that is with the help of people like you, and we cannot do it standing still.