Lamar Smith: “What I would like to do is to give more examples of how the taxpayers' dollars actually should not be spent. These are…”

“What I would like to do is to give more examples of how the taxpayers' dollars actually should not be spent. These are grants that have been approved by the National Science Foundation in the past. Again, I want to give the current Director full credit. She has changed the standards. She has implemented the national interest as a part of their guidelines. But if we don't make these guidelines permanent, this is what could happen. This is how the taxpayers' dollars have been spent: $250,000 to survey public attitudes about the Senate filibuster rule; $276,000 to study the prehistory of Chiapas, Mexico; $246,000 to study migration and adoption between Peru and Spain; $136,000 to study life/history transitions among indigenous people of northern Argentina; $27,000 to study Mayan wooden architecture and the salt industry; $152,000 to analyze accountability and transparency in China's dairy industry; $300,000 to study Cyprus during the Bronze Age; $226,000 to study cultural dynamics in western Turkey; $119,000 to coordinate an international archaeological project in the South American Andes; $60,000 to study the Gamo caste system in southwestern Ethiopia; $300,000 to produce an experimental dance program about nature and physics. Speaking of that, I think there was another $516,000 to help amateurs create a video game, $516,000 to help amateurs create a video game called ``Relive Prom Night.'' There is no national interest that I am aware of.…”