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Views from the Science and Technology Community on
the House Science Committee's Report
Unlocking Our Future: Toward a
New National Science Policy
On December 16, 1998, the Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy (COSEPP) of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) sponsored a symposium in response to the report of the House Science Committee, Unlocking Our Future: Toward a New National Science Policy. The Science Committee's report, prepared under the direction of vice chairman Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), was intended to begin the process of developing "a new, sensible, coherent long-range science and technology policy" for the 21st Century. Taking it as a framework for discussion, the 150 participants in the AAAS symposium held a series of spirited debates, the outcomes of which have been edited and organized by AAAS staff into the form of an S&T policy agenda for the 106th Congress.
That agenda, together with a brief summary of the symposium, is contained in the report below. The authors have sought to represent fairly the sense of the discussions at the symposium. The reader should be aware, however, that, like Congress itself, the participants in the AAAS symposium were not all of one mind on the issues discussed and, while each recommendation had substantial support, few participants would likely agree with all of them.
AAAS is grateful to the members of COSEPP and especially its ad hoc subcommittee on this symposium for their guidance and advice on the symposium and their review and comments on this report. Thanks are due, also, to the speakers, to the symposium participants, and to the AAAS staff who assisted in this effort. Finally, AAAS wishes to express its gratitude to Rep. Ehlers and the House Science Committee for the thought and effort they have invested in this important enterprise. It is our hope that this report will be of use to Congress in advancing the goals of the Science Committee study.
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