Science and Technology Advice for Congress

Science and Technology Advice for Congress PDF Author: M. Granger Morgan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136526765
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
The elimination of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) in 1995 came during a storm of budget cutting and partisan conflict. Operationally, it left Congress without an institutional arrangement to bring expert scientific and technological advice into the process of legislative decisionmaking. This deficiency has become increasingly critical, as more and more of the decisions faced by Congress and society require judgments based on highly specialized technical information. Offering perspectives from scholars and scientists with diverse academic backgrounds and extensive experience within the policy process, Science and Technology Advice for Congress breaks from the politics of the OTA and its contentious aftermath. Granger Morgan and Jon Peha begin with an overview of the use of technical information in framing policy issues, crafting legislation, and the overall process of governing. They note how, as nonexperts, legislators must make decisions in the face of scientific uncertainty and competing scientific claims from stakeholders. The contributors continue with a discussion of why OTA was created. They draw lessons from OTA's demise, and compare the use of science and technological information in Europe with the United States. The second part of the book responds to requests from congressional leaders for practical solutions. Among the options discussed are expanded functions within existing agencies such as the General Accounting or Congressional Budget Offices; an independent, NGO- administrated analysis group; and a dedicated successor to OTA within Congress. The models emphasize flexibility--and the need to make political feasibility a core component of design.

Science and Technology Advice for Congress

Science and Technology Advice for Congress PDF Author: M. Granger Morgan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136526765
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Get Book Here

Book Description
The elimination of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) in 1995 came during a storm of budget cutting and partisan conflict. Operationally, it left Congress without an institutional arrangement to bring expert scientific and technological advice into the process of legislative decisionmaking. This deficiency has become increasingly critical, as more and more of the decisions faced by Congress and society require judgments based on highly specialized technical information. Offering perspectives from scholars and scientists with diverse academic backgrounds and extensive experience within the policy process, Science and Technology Advice for Congress breaks from the politics of the OTA and its contentious aftermath. Granger Morgan and Jon Peha begin with an overview of the use of technical information in framing policy issues, crafting legislation, and the overall process of governing. They note how, as nonexperts, legislators must make decisions in the face of scientific uncertainty and competing scientific claims from stakeholders. The contributors continue with a discussion of why OTA was created. They draw lessons from OTA's demise, and compare the use of science and technological information in Europe with the United States. The second part of the book responds to requests from congressional leaders for practical solutions. Among the options discussed are expanded functions within existing agencies such as the General Accounting or Congressional Budget Offices; an independent, NGO- administrated analysis group; and a dedicated successor to OTA within Congress. The models emphasize flexibility--and the need to make political feasibility a core component of design.

Congressional Record

Congressional Record PDF Author: United States. Congress
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 1452

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Book Description
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)

Scientific and Technical Advice for the U.S. Congress

Scientific and Technical Advice for the U.S. Congress PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description


The Politics of Expertise in Congress

The Politics of Expertise in Congress PDF Author: Bruce Allen Bimber
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791430590
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
Examines the relationship between technical experts and elected officials, challenging the prevailing view about how experts become politicized by the policy process.

Science Advice to NASA

Science Advice to NASA PDF Author: Joseph K. Alexander
Publisher: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of Communications NASA History Division
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
This book documents highlights of NASA's interactions with outside scientific advisors over the agency's full lifetime and draws lessons from that history for research managers, decision makers, and scientists.The book is divided into three parts--the first two being focused on history and the third on synthesis and analysis. Part 1 briefly examines early forerunner activities at NACA and in the decade leading up to NASA's formation, and it then considers NASA's use of outside advice during its first three decades. Part 2 picks up the story in 1988 and follows it up to 2016. Part 3 examines a sampling of case studies, discusses recurring characteristics of notably successful advisory activities, and provides a glimpse at what past experience might imply for the future of scientific advice at NASA. The last two chapters provide big-picture summaries of themes that have emerged from earlier discussions.

Legislative Effectiveness in the United States Congress

Legislative Effectiveness in the United States Congress PDF Author: Craig Volden
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521761522
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
This book explores why some members of Congress are more effective than others at navigating the legislative process and what this means for how Congress is organized and what policies it produces. Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman develop a new metric of individual legislator effectiveness (the Legislative Effectiveness Score) that will be of interest to scholars, voters, and politicians alike. They use these scores to study party influence in Congress, the successes or failures of women and African Americans in Congress, policy gridlock, and the specific strategies that lawmakers employ to advance their agendas.

The Pig Book

The Pig Book PDF Author: Citizens Against Government Waste
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 146685314X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
The federal government wastes your tax dollars worse than a drunken sailor on shore leave. The 1984 Grace Commission uncovered that the Department of Defense spent $640 for a toilet seat and $436 for a hammer. Twenty years later things weren't much better. In 2004, Congress spent a record-breaking $22.9 billion dollars of your money on 10,656 of their pork-barrel projects. The war on terror has a lot to do with the record $413 billion in deficit spending, but it's also the result of pork over the last 18 years the likes of: - $50 million for an indoor rain forest in Iowa - $102 million to study screwworms which were long ago eradicated from American soil - $273,000 to combat goth culture in Missouri - $2.2 million to renovate the North Pole (Lucky for Santa!) - $50,000 for a tattoo removal program in California - $1 million for ornamental fish research Funny in some instances and jaw-droppingly stupid and wasteful in others, The Pig Book proves one thing about Capitol Hill: pork is king!

Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence

Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Evidence, Expert
Languages : en
Pages : 652

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Book Description


Working with Congress

Working with Congress PDF Author: William G. Wells
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science, Pacific Division
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
"Shows scientists and engineers how to participate meaningfully in the inner workings of Congress, to initiate and maintain a productive dialogue, and to make their influence felt. It provides clear, detailed background information and step-by-step advice."--Back cover.

Science, the Endless Frontier

Science, the Endless Frontier PDF Author: Vannevar Bush
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069120165X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
The classic case for why government must support science—with a new essay by physicist and former congressman Rush Holt on what democracy needs from science today Science, the Endless Frontier is recognized as the landmark argument for the essential role of science in society and government’s responsibility to support scientific endeavors. First issued when Vannevar Bush was the director of the US Office of Scientific Research and Development during the Second World War, this classic remains vital in making the case that scientific progress is necessary to a nation’s health, security, and prosperity. Bush’s vision set the course for US science policy for more than half a century, building the world’s most productive scientific enterprise. Today, amid a changing funding landscape and challenges to science’s very credibility, Science, the Endless Frontier resonates as a powerful reminder that scientific progress and public well-being alike depend on the successful symbiosis between science and government. This timely new edition presents this iconic text alongside a new companion essay from scientist and former congressman Rush Holt, who offers a brief introduction and consideration of what society needs most from science now. Reflecting on the report’s legacy and relevance along with its limitations, Holt contends that the public’s ability to cope with today’s issues—such as public health, the changing climate and environment, and challenging technologies in modern society—requires a more capacious understanding of what science can contribute. Holt considers how scientists should think of their obligation to society and what the public should demand from science, and he calls for a renewed understanding of science’s value for democracy and society at large. A touchstone for concerned citizens, scientists, and policymakers, Science, the Endless Frontier endures as a passionate articulation of the power and potential of science.