House Science Committee, U.S.

The House Science Committee, more precisely known as the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives, was born in the reaction of the Congress and the American people to the shocking 1957 launch of Sputnik by the supposedly backward Soviet Union. A second factor was congressional realization that since World War II, federally funded research and development (R&D) had become continually larger and more important and that the Congress was not organized to deal comprehensively with this burgeoning activity. Since its inception, the committee has received information on scientific and technical matters, considered it, and communicated its import to a lay Congress.

The committee's original name was Science and Astronautics, recognizing the importance of both science and its jurisdiction over the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), an agency it formed and to which it gave the authority and resources to overtake the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in space. For years it was colloquially referred to as the Space Committee. Its internal organization has changed in response to events. In the beginning of the committee's history, three (out of six) subcommittees divided coverage of NASA, but during the 1970s energy crisis, it had two energy subcommittees and an environment subcommittee. It now has one space subcommittee, with energy and environment combined into another subcommittee, and it is referred to as the Science Committee.

The House Science Committee is one of 20 standing authorizing or legislative committees in the House (as opposed to appropriations, rules, and special purpose committees). For example, through legislation, these committees provide an agency such as NASA with legal authority to carry out a program along with general instructions on how to do it and an upper limit on spending, and sometimes with explicit programmatic limits—instructions not to do something.

Science Committee jurisdiction comprises diverse topics: energy R&D and demonstration projects and federal civilian energy laboratories; astronautical R&D; civil aviation R&D; environmental R&D; marine research; commercial application of energy technology; National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); NASA; National Space Council; National Science Foundation (NSF); National Weather Service; outer space, including exploration and control thereof; science scholarships; and scientific research, development, and demonstration. Arguably, the last item gives the committee the authority to set national science policy.

This is the only House committee focused on science, technology, and space. However, other committees' jurisdictions include R&D that support's [Page 370]their main focus. For example, Armed Services has jurisdiction over military R&D and military space. There is no equivalent Senate committee.

The committee deals with a variety of legislation in various ways. The Space Act (also known as the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958) creating NASA was its first authorization and is amended occasionally as needed. The committee passed an annual authorization of NASA funding for years, but multiyear authorizations now seem to be the rule. The same is true for other agencies such as NIST and NSF and for energy R&D programs. The Science Committee spars with the House Commerce Committee over energy legislation. Commerce has broad energy jurisdiction, including nuclear and alternate energy. Neither of these technologies is mature; more research is needed to improve each, and the Science Committee claims jurisdiction over this research; the two committees continue to quarrel over the jurisdictional dividing line.

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