[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 605 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 605

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Office of 
             Technology Assessment should be reestablished.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 4, 2016

 Mr. Foster submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                 the Committee on House Administration

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                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Office of 
             Technology Assessment should be reestablished.

Whereas the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) was created in 1972 to provide 
        Members of Congress and congressional committees with objective analysis 
        of increasingly complex scientific and technical issues faced by our 
        country;
Whereas for over 20 years and 11 sessions of Congress, the OTA produced 
        trustworthy, nonpartisan technical reports on issues as far ranging as 
        nuclear arms control, electronic health records, and oil and shale 
        technologies;
Whereas the expertise provided by the OTA saved taxpayers billions of dollars by 
        identifying cost-effective areas for future investment and avoiding 
        wasting money on technologies and policies that did not and could not 
        work;
Whereas the OTA contributed to the security and economic growth of our Nation by 
        providing timely and forward looking analysis of technological threats 
        and opportunities;
Whereas it is frequently necessary for Members of Congress to make informed 
        policy decisions about rapidly changing technologies that are often 
        outside their technical areas of expertise;
Whereas in the 20 years since Congress has suspended appropriations for the OTA, 
        the United States has missed significant opportunities for reallocating 
        Federal spending to better align with current and future technological 
        reality; and
Whereas 90 organizations came together to call for the OTA to be funded once 
        again by Congress: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the legislative process would greatly benefit from once 
        again having an office dedicated to giving nonpartisan, 
        technical advice to Congress;
            (2) the Office of Technology Assessment represents a cost-
        effective improvement to the governance of our country; and
            (3) funding should be restored to the Office of Technology 
        Assessment.
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