I’m sorry but any time I hear some politico use the term “inquisition” as a descriptor I immediately start singing “The Inquisition” song from Mel Brooks’ movie History of the World Part 1 – PB/TK
If You Liked the Inquisition, You’ll Love the House Science Committee
JAN. 31, 2017 6:00 AM
President Donald Trump’s early moves to fill the government with climate skeptics and fossil fuel interests have enraged environmentalists. His administration’s decree that Environmental Protection Agency research must be reviewed by political appointees prior to release has drawn angry criticism. But there’s another powerful Republican in Washington who has scientists worried: Rep. Lamar Smith (Texas), the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
Like Trump, Smith rejects the scientific consensus surrounding global warming. He wants to slash federal funding for science agencies. In recent years, he’s used his position to subpoena government scientists and accuse them rigging climate data. In the new Congress, Smith will have even broader subpoena powers, and watchdogs warn that scientists could find themselves on his radar.
It’s unclear precisely what Smith has planned, and his staff didn’t respond to a request for comment. Democrats anticipate that one of his committees’s upcoming hearings—slated for next week—will focus on whether the EPA makes “regulatory decisions based on sound science.” Another hearing will apparently examine the National Science Foundation, a federal agency that funds scientific research. In the past, Smith’s committee has sparked controversy by investigating individual NSF grants awarded to scientists.
Continue to motherjones.com article: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/01/house-science-committee-lamar-smith-climate-change-exxon
