House science committee continues to target NSF grant process
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029275
Science : On Thursday, the House of Representatives’ science committee approved legislation that would increase the committee’s oversight of the NSF grant approval process. The bill is a shortened version of a bill that passed the full House in May but has not been taken up by the Senate. Both bills require NSF to explain why all approved grants are “in the national interest.” According to committee chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX), he has reviewed several past grants that don’t meet that definition. The support for the bills has been mostly partisan, with many Democrats believing that Smith just wants to suppress certain types of research. Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) thinks that the bill “substitutes the political process for the scientific process.”