United States House Committee on Science and Technology

The Committee on Science and Technology is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It has jurisdiction over non-defense federal scientific research and development. Specifically, the committee has partial or complete jurisdiction over the following federal agencies: NASA, the Department of Energy, EPA, NSF, FAA, NOAA, NIST, FEMA, the U.S. Fire Administration, and USGS.

History

In the wake of the Soviet Sputnik program in the late 1950s, Congress created the Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration in 1958. This select committee drafted the National Aeronautics and Space Act that created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). A staff report of the committee, the "Space Handbook: Astronautics and its Applications", provided non-technical information about spaceflight to U.S. policy makers. [cite web | url = http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/conghand/default.htm | title = Space Handbook: Astronautics and its Applications | publisher = NASA]

The committee also chartered the permanent House Committee on Science and Astronautics, which officially began on January 3, 1959, and was the first new standing committee established in the House since 1946. The name was changed in 1974 to the House Committee on Science and Technology. The name was changed again in 1987 to the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. After the Republican Party gained a majority in Congress in 1994, the name of the committee was changed to the House Committee on Science. With the return of control to the Democrats in 2007, the committee's name was changed back to the House Committee on Science and Technology.cite web | url = http://democrats.science.house.gov/Media/File/commdocs/history_committee_07nov27.pdf | title = A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | date = November 7, 2007 | publisher = United States Government ]

=Members, 110th Congress=

The Committee is chaired by Democrat Bart Gordon of Tennessee, and the Ranking Minority Member is Republican Ralph Hall of Texas.cite web | url = http://science.house.gov/about/members.htm | title = Our Members Today (2007-2008) | date = 2008 | publisher = United States Government ]

Subcommittees

There are five subcommittees in the 110th Congress.cite web | url = http://science.house.gov/subcommittee/default.htm | title = Subcommittees | publisher = United States Government | date = 2008 ]

Committee Chairmen, 1959-present

Chairmen since 1959.Ibid.]
*Overton Brooks, 1959-1961
*George P. Miller, 1961-1973
*Olin E. Teague, 1973-1979
*Don Fuqua, 1979-1987
*Robert A. Roe, 1987-1991
*George Brown, Jr., 1991-1995
*Robert S. Walker, 1995-1997
*Jim Sensenbrenner, 1997-2001
*Sherwood Boehlert, 2001-2007
*Bart Gordon, 2007-present

References

External links

* [http://science.house.gov Official web site]
* [http://gop.science.house.gov/ Republican Science Committee web site]