Federal Science Gets More Politicized

amigoro writes to let us know about the noise a group of scientists is making to call attention to Executive Order 13422, going into effect today, that gives political appointees final say regarding science-based federal agency regulations. The Union of Concerned Scientists wrote a letter to two Senate committee chairs urging that questions about this executive order be asked at the confirmation hearings for the nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget. "UCS urged the Senate committee to ask [the nominee] Mr. Nussle how he would ensure that political appointees would not interfere with the work of agency scientists." Late last month the House voted to prohibit the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs from spending federal money on Executive Order 13422. Democrats called the order a "power grab."

Comments

The group that politicized science complains...

[Attila Dimedici]

because science has become politicized. They started promoting a political agenda by the 80's (I think they actually started doing so from day one, but I'm not sure), by lobbying against SDI. SDI was many things, but it was not a science issue. The UCS starts with a political agenda and then looks for science to back it up. The UCS support for Global Warming is one of the reasons I have been so skeptical of it. I used to give a lot of creditability to UCS, then I noticed that they always oppose Republicans and usually support Democrats (I would say always, but I might have missed the occasional opposition to a Democrat idea).