Office of Technology Assessment OTA

As issues such as nuclear power, environmental pollution, and new medical technologies came before Congress in the 1960s, lawmakers worried that they depended on the executive branch and industry for technical advice. The Technology Assessment Act, signed on October 13, 1972, created the Office of Technology Assessment as a legislative branch agency to give Congress its own expert analysis. It was governed by a bipartisan board of six senators and six representatives and began issuing reports in 1974.

Over about two decades OTA produced roughly 750 studies on subjects including acid rain, climate change, energy, genetic engineering, health care costs, computer security, and arms control. Its reports drew on panels of outside experts and laid out policy options and their consequences rather than making recommendations. A 1985 assessment raised doubts about the feasibility of the Strategic Defense Initiative missile shield, and other reports on topics such as polygraph testing and alternative medicine sometimes frustrated advocates on both sides.

After Republicans won control of Congress in 1994, the new majority cut legislative branch spending, arguing that OTA was slow, costly, and duplicated work available elsewhere, and its funding was eliminated in the fiscal 1996 appropriations law. It closed on September 29, 1995, though its authorizing law was never repealed. Proposals to revive it have been introduced in many Congresses, and in 2019 the Government Accountability Office created a science and technology assessment team to fill part of the gap. Supporters say Congress needs in-house expertise on fast-moving issues such as artificial intelligence, while skeptics say other agencies and outside experts can provide it.