Lamar Smith: “It is just inconceivable to me that any U.S. Representative would oppose requiring government grants funded by the U.S.…”

“It is just inconceivable to me that any U.S. Representative would oppose requiring government grants funded by the U.S. taxpayer to be spent in the national interest. Throughout its history, the National Science Foundation has played an integral part in funding breakthrough discoveries in fields as diverse as mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science, engineering, and biology. However, the NSF has approved a number of grants for which the scientific merits and national interest are not obvious, to put it politely. These include a climate change musical costing $800,000, evaluating animal photographs in National Geographic for at least $200,000, and studying early human-set fires in New Zealand, in the 1800s, for several hundred thousand dollars. The section this amendment strikes ensures that the NSF is transparent and accountable to the taxpayers about how their hard- earned dollars are spent. The bill requires that every NSF public announcement of a grant award be accompanied by a nontechnical explanation of the project's scientific merits and how it serves the national interest. The NSF itself has recognized the need for this transparency and accountability. Last January, the NSF released a new policy that acknowledges that the NSF must communicate clearly and in nontechnical terms the research projects it funds.…”