0.10 Resurrection? 1974-76  (Page 3/6)

Hearings on the two bills led to a compromise bill passed by the House in October. It established a national science policy and an OSTP with a larger staff and greater number of functions than envisioned by the White House. The proposed cabinet-level department was eliminated on the grounds that over-centralization of the federal R&D system would be cumbersome and counterproductive, and a proposed Science and Technology Information and Utilities Corporation was eliminated on the grounds that it needed further study. The bill replaced both with a Science and Technology Survey Committee that would assess the effectiveness of the government’s science and technology efforts in the context of broad-based national needs.

In June, the magazine Science predicted that cordial relations between the House committee and the White House would help get a new presidential science advisory system in place by year’s end. The Senate, however, had other ideas. Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Science Subcommittee of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, developed a strong interest in federal biomedical research policy, to the growing consternation of that community. News and Comment, Science (June 20, 1975), 1187-89. Kennedy suggested that the public, because of its sizeable investment in biomedical research, was entitled to a more substantial voice in research priorities and directions. He declared that public input was required not only for financial reasons but because of potential ethical and safety issues as well.

In October 1975, Kennedy convened committee hearings on what he called the OSTP Act. The Senate hearings featured testimony from a wider range of witnesses than had testified before the House; they included, in addition to the usual suspects, representatives of public interest groups, state and local governments, and non-university–oriented education groups. The Kennedy subcommittee bill, considerably more complex than the House measure, was passed by the Senate on February 4, 1976. The bill established a policy office in the Executive Office of the President, which it designated as the Office of Science, Engineering, and Technology Policy. The director of that office, who was to serve as the president’s science advisor, was designated as a member of the Domestic Council and a statutory adviser to the National Security Council, despite pleas from the White House to leave such arrangements flexible.

The administration also objected to provisions requiring the policy office to transmit to the Congress periodic, five-year investment forecasts and to prepare annual priority options for the OMB. It also opposed creation of a new federal-state science advisory committee and an accompanying provision to provide up to $200,000 to each state. Further, the White House opposed the bill’s establishment of an interagency Federal Coordinating Committee on Science, Engineering, and Technology (FCCSET) to replace the Federal Committee on Science and Technology (FCST), which had been established in 1959 and had survived the demise of PSAC. FCST consisted of the secretaries of all cabinet departments with science and technology responsibilities, and the heads of NASA and NSF. The ostensible objectives of FCST and FCCSET, as envisioned by the Congress, was to exchange information and coordinate programs, but neither functioned effectively, in part because the heads of the departments and independent agencies rarely attended meetings themselves.