Political Quotes

“My amendment, which I understand has been introduced, would strike section 106 of the bill, which, in my view, adds a dangerous political filter to NSF's gold-standard merit review process. I do not stand alone in this view. The overwhelming majority of my colleagues in the scientific community are still quite uncomfortable with this language that would, as the American Society for Microbiology stated, ``have an adverse impact on NSF's peer review process, which is essential to funding meritorious research.'' All of us here want to be good stewards of taxpayer money. This is also true of the National Science Foundation, which currently already requires that the NSF public award abstract consist of a nontechnical component which will include ``a public justification for NSF funding by articulating how the project serves the national interest,'' as stated by NSF's mission: to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; or to secure the national defense. As the Biophysical Society has pointed out: ``NSF is committed to . . . offering the public a better understanding of a research project's intent, which will satisfy this section's objective.'' The whole intent of this mystifies me a little bit. I serve on two committees--the Financial Services Committee and the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.…”