Congress and Space: Overview or Oversight?

"We are both partisan (for our districts) and judge (for the nation) at the same time... Maybe this is inconsistent but that's the way it is." In these words a United States Representative characterizes the difficulty faced by members of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics in evaluating technical testimony against a backdrop of lobbying pressure from the districts they represent. Using a two year controversy on the relative merits of solid and liquid propulsion, Professor Kerr concludes that "congressional attitudes toward the space program are influenced more by politics and conventional interpretations of reality than by engineering facts." He recommends some form of staff, consultants, or contract research studies to enhance congressional appraisal of scientific programs and diminish present reliance on intuition, predisposition, and faith.