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Science 24 November 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5803, p. 1229
DOI: 10.1126/science.314.5803.1229a
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ScienceScope

With Democrats assuming control of Congress, Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) is hoping its Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) will be revived. Holt says Congress needs the one-stop think tank, which the Republicans gutted after taking power in 1995, to help explain a variety of issues from electronic voting to nanotechnology, and that it could be reconstituted for $30 million a year. Holt hasn't yet asked for the support of Democratic leaders, but Representative Bart Gordon (D-TN), in line to become chair of the House Science Committee, likes the idea. Last summer, at a hearing on the topic, Gordon said, "We could use a service like OTA" to help legislators assess conflicting expert opinion. But the retiring chair of that panel, Representative Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), thinks OTA is "desirable but not essential" and that Congress is not lacking in objective data.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)