A draft bill written by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House of Representatives science committee, proposes replacing the existing peer review process for funding research projects at the National Science Foundation with a new set of criteria chosen by Congress.
The proposed criteria include ensuring NSF funded projects “advance the national health, prosperity, welfare, and secure the national defense by promoting the progress of science,” are “groundbreaking,” answer “problems that are of utmost importance to society at large” and are not duplicative of other research projects funded by the federal government.
Some leaders from the academic and scientific research communities are criticizing the proposal for unwisely mixing politics into scientific research.
