Reinstate the Office of Technology Assessment

We need to reinstate the Office of Technology Assessment now more than ever due to congress's natural discomfort and inability to comprehend topics revolving around science and technology which has resulted in millions of dollars being spent on ill-informed policy decisions.

Define- What’s the problem?
The Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) was an office of the United States Congress from 1972 to 1995. OTA's purpose was to provide Congressional members and committees with objective and authoritative analysis of the complex scientific and technical issues of the late 20th century. The OTA was stripped of its funding in 1995.

Analyze- Why is this a problem/issue?
“While members of Congress do not suffer from a lack of information, we do tend to lack time and resources to assess the validity, credibility, and usefulness of the large amount of scientific information and advice we receive as it affects actual policy decisions. The purpose of the OTA was to assist members of Congress in this task. It both provided an important long-term perspective and alerted Congress to scientific and technological components of policy that might not be obvious.” - Rep. Rush Holt (NJ)

Interpret- What does this mean?
In the wake of recent events regarding the political flip-flopping of representatives on the SOPA/PIPA legislation, now is a better time than ever to introduce new legislation to allocate funding to revive the OTA. Many claim that the cost of refunding the OTA is not worth the effort, however it is quite clear that bad policy decisions cost the tax payers much more than the amount that the OTA would need to be refunded.

Strategize- What are we going to do?
The key to reinstating the OTA is crafting, introducing, and passing a piece of legislation that allocates funding back into the office. In order to do this we must draft the legislation, find co-sponsors, introduce it into Congress, and last but not least, empower citizens to directly call on their local representative to sign onto a newly proposed bill calling for the reinstatement of the OTA.

Act- How are we going to do it?
Create a viral video explaining the history, accomplishments, and reasons why Congress needs the OTA now more than ever. This video professional yet funny as to convey the seriousness of the situation while maintaining some of the key aspects any video must have in order to go “viral”. Give this video to Congressmen DeFazio and have him contact Rep. Rush Holt’s office (Rep. Holt introduced a bill to refund the OTA last year which only failed by 35 votes) in hopes of having both members of Congress team up in an effort to introduce a piece of legislation allocating funding back into the OTA. A draft script of the video is below. 

Video Script Draft

Intro:

Over the course of 24 hours on January 18 this year, 162 million people experienced the black out of the Wikipedia home page, resulting in more than 8 million readers looking up their local representatives through Wikipedia. These were people like you and me, the soccer mom down the street, the businessman, the school teacher; everyone coming together through the Internet to fight for a government that reflects the values of the people of the 21st cen. You see, “online empowerment” is not this crazed unicorn flying in the vast universe of conceptual internetworking.

“Oh! I didn’t see you there little buddy, hi Internet, my name is Thor Slaughter. Just like you, I was outraged at the recent circumstances that surrounded SOPA (Stop Online piracy act). In a nutshell, SOPA threatened free speech and innovation, of the internet.

SOPA Recap:

“While the legislation was not passed, it does raise serious concerns. I have a huge problem with the fact there’s a lack of conceptual understanding in government of the internet itself. A lack of information and time will always result in bad policy.

Moving Towards A Change:

“We expect congress to make informed decisions. the Internet is huge, and Congress is expected to be the voice of the people, but it’s impossible to be the “governing voice of the Internet”. So, who you gonna call? Not the Ghostbusters, but something a bit more practical: like a team of scientists that would never get bought off and never pick sides. Imagine The A-Team, but with more statistics and fewer shenanigans. See, these researchers would arm the government with...wait for it...wait for it.....you ready? ...FACTS! BAM. Why not equip our congress with more ammo, and slightly less explosions, than a Michael Bay movie. Lets go!

Introducing: The OTA (feat. Sam Chapman)
Well Ripley, believe it or not, this place used to actually exist! It was called the Office of Technology Assessment, a place where congressmen and scientists frolicked about hand in hand, with friendships forged in the fires of technology and understanding. I’ll Admit, I don’t have the time or resources to understanding something myself, so get someone in here who does.  Let me introduce Sam, he’s got a tie and a head full of information I’m going to use!

The Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) was an office of the United States Congress from 1972 to 1995. The OTA was de-funded in the "Contract with America" in an attempt to save tax payers money. In reality the defunding of the OTA cost far more than it saved due to the lack of information that would have been readily available for congressional review had the OTA been in place.

Studies included retiring old cars, programs to save gasoline and reduce emissions, bringing health care online, electronic surveillance in a digital age, and many more have the American tax payer saved hundreds of millions of dollars.   

As stated by Amy Houghton, "we are cutting off one of the most important arms of Congress when we cut off unbiased knowledge about science and technology."

Conclusion: A Call To Arms

It is clear that we need the OTA now more than ever due to our natural discomfort and inability to comprehend topics revolving around science and technology in the 21st century. (Insert call to action here)