Science and Technology Advice for Congress

Front Cover
Routledge, Sep 10, 2003 - Nature - 228 pages
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.

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Contents

Preface
1950
Analysis Governance and the Need for Better Institutional Arrangements
1957
Past Trends and Present Obstacles
The Origins Accomplishments and Demise of the Office of Technology
Insights from the Office of Technology Assessment and Other Assessment
The European Experience
Thinking about Alternative Models
An Expanded Analytical Capability in the Congressional Research Service
A Lean Distributed Organization To Serve Congress
A Dedicated Organization in Congress
An Independent Analysis Group That Works Exclusively for Congress
Where Do We Go from Here?
The Technology Assessment Act of 1972
Details on the National Academies Complex
An External Evaluation of the GAOs First Pilot Technology
Index

Expanded Use of the National Academies
Expanding the Role of the Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship

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About the author (2003)

M. Granger Morgan is professor and head of the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Lord Chair Professor in Engineering, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and professor in the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University.

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