SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY

SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 25 (Thursday, February 6, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 25 (Thursday, February 6, 2025)] [House] [Pages H543-H547] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Rulli). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring attention to an issue that should concern all Americans. This evening, in this Special Order, we will be talking about scientific integrity. To be a problem solver today, I believe it is important for leaders to embrace scientific integrity, and we will talk about that throughout the course of the next hour. Every day, our Nation's scientists are making vital contributions to our public health, economy, and national security. Modern society as we know it is only possible due to Federal investments in everything from medical research and food safety to severe weather forecasting and pollution reduction. These contributions extend far beyond our own borders, lifting up people all over the world through life-changing scientific breakthroughs and innovations. Under normal circumstances, federally funded scientists could often avoid the noise and clamor of public political debates. As the world has seen over the last 2\1/2\ weeks, the Trump administration is anything but normal. The President and his billionaire cronies took no time at all to begin attacking our world-renowned institutions that support publicly funded science. They are shamelessly attempting to destroy the visionary ideals of great leaders like President Franklin Roosevelt, who created the Federal Office of Scientific Research and Development during the Second World War. The creation of this office led to untold advancements in radar technology and nuclear energy, becoming a roadmap for our government to advance independent, fundamental, and necessary scientific knowledge for the benefit of all. After the war, our government treated science as a necessary answer to clear and present threats. Today that is not the case. Federal research and development are primary targets of political attacks from this administration. Science is no longer the answer but a direct threat to the cruel, backward, and barbaric Trump-Musk agenda. We can only look at the President's first term in office to know how his administration will treat the scientific community. What exactly is on the table here? What is at stake? It is scientific integrity. ``Scientific integrity,'' as defined by the National Science and Technology Council, ``is the adherence to professional practices, ethical behavior, and the principles of honesty and objectivity when conducting, managing, using the results of, and communicating about science and scientific activities.'' Inclusivity, transparency, and protection from inappropriate influence are hallmarks of scientific integrity. Integrity in research is essential--essential--for maintaining scientific excellence and keeping the public's trust. It is true that administrations from both parties may have violated scientific integrity at some point during their time in office, but the first Trump term exceeded them all with well over 150 reported attacks on science. They suppressed studies, altered reports, interfered in scientific processes, ignored concerns, refused to adopt scientifically backed guidelines, and politicized health assessments. The level of damage from these attacks was, indeed, staggering and affected every single agency that employs science in its decisionmaking process. That is why, as an engineer myself, I have consistently made it one of my top priorities in Congress to right the ship of America's science policy because science lives at the very core of a healthy democracy. As part of that broad effort, I am proud to lead the bipartisan Scientific Integrity Act, which was reintroduced today alongside my dear friends and colleagues, Representative Lofgren, Representative Beyer, Representative Bonamici, and Representative Stevens, and over 100 original cosponsors. This legislation establishes consistent scientific integrity policies across all agencies so that scientists, Members of Congress, and the American people can put their faith in Federal research findings. Thanks to the efforts of the Biden administration, more than 28 Federal agencies have some form of scientific integrity policy today, but standards remain inconsistent. America's most important science is conducted, reviewed, communicated to the public, and incorporated into policymaking in ways that must be transparent and free from inappropriate political, ideological, financial, and other undue influences. My colleagues and I are fighting to ensure that sound, evidence-based policy is always readily available for policymakers and that scientists and advisers should never feel threatened to speak the truth. This is a critical moment. America is facing unprecedented challenges in the form of a rapidly changing climate, environmental contamination, and countless other concerns that threaten our public health, national security, and general welfare. We cannot afford to let the integrity of our scientific enterprise be demolished. The Trump administration and Elon Musk are direct threats to U.S. scientific leadership on the global stage. My colleagues and I will highlight many of the most recent and egregious violations of scientific integrity by this new administration. From removing data and censoring research at the CDC to the politicization of career scientists across government, this administration has once again made it clear that they do not care about scientific integrity. They do not care about our national security or competing with China. They do not care about saving American lives threatened by the climate crisis. They do not care about public health or ensuring the safety and well- being of families from the threat of the deadly viruses that we have seen, like COVID-19. The scientific knowledge we carry forward is critical for our continued survival, even as its validity is being questioned at a scale unprecedented in modern history. America has both the skill and the structure to develop the knowledge that we need. Thankfully, many are rising to the defense of scientific integrity, and the reality is that this should not be a partisan issue. Over the many years that I have led this bill, my colleagues across the aisle have been more than willing to join the effort. It passed out of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee back in the 116th Congress with overwhelming support from both parties. I like to think that we all recognize how important sound science is to [[Page H544]] making any sort of progress in our great Nation. Indeed, a tremendous amount of progress was made under the last administration. It is in the interest of all Members of this body, from every district across our country, to support scientific integrity and to support the outstanding scientific talent who come from all over the Nation and globe to do research right here in our Federal agencies or with federally funded grants or at our world-class academic institutions. I hope that my colleagues across the aisle hear this and understand what is at stake. Decades of repair will be necessary to undo the damage that has already been done. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the Eighth District of Virginia (Mr. Beyer), my good friend. Don is a member of the Ways and Means Committee, but the gentleman is also an active person who is working for improvement as it relates to scientific integrity. We appreciate his sponsorship of the bill and his work to drive soundness and reflection of science in all of our policy discussions. I thank the gentleman for joining us. Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Tonko for his leadership, for putting this together, and for leading this bill year after year. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the Trump administration's unconscionable and irresponsible attacks on America's scientific integrity. The very foundation of our success as a world power has been our scientific prowess, and now, the Trump administration is threatening to undermine that success. That is why I am here to talk about our bill with Representative Paul Tonko, the Scientific Integrity Act, and to defend the very foundation of what makes America a global leader: our scientific leadership and infrastructure. I am proud to represent the National Science Foundation here in Alexandria, Virginia, the very heart of Virginia. The NSF is an incredible resource and institution. It was established in 1950 by Congress as an independent agency to promote scientific advancement in America. For 75 years, it has repeatedly accomplished that goal. NSF has helped to keep the U.S. at the forefront of scientific discovery. It helped catalyze the internet and develop the technology for MRI machines and 3D printing machines. It helped to create the ``Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles,'' detected gravitational waves, developed LASIK eye surgery, and much, much more. Over its lifetime, the National Science Foundation supported over 350,000 scientists, and of this number, 262 have won Nobel Prizes. Trump has already begun unprecedented attacks on the scientific community with purges of NSF workers and grants, scientific advisers, and the broader scientific workforce. I strongly oppose these efforts to target the National Science Foundation and weaken one of the guiding lights that makes America strong. I am also deeply concerned about this new era of censorship in science. NSF employees were given this list of words to look for in grants and flag them for possible termination. This, by the way, is only a sampling of the words. It is mu