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.
General
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