No More Secret Science

This week, the House of Representatives approved my bill, the Secret Science Reform Act of 2015 (H.R. 1030), with a bipartisan vote of 241-175. The bill would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to base its regulations on the best available science that is publicly available.

As chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee I believe that costly environmental regulations should only be based upon data that is available to independent scientists and the public and that can be verified.

Many Americans are unaware that some of the EPA’s most expensive and burdensome regulations, such as its proposed ozone rules, are based on data that not even the EPA has seen. My bill ensures that the decisions that affect every American are based on independently-verified, unbiased scientific research, instead of on secret data that is hidden behind closed doors.

Provisions in the bill are consistent with White House policy, the data access provisions of major scientific journals, the recommendations of the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Obama administration’s top science advisors.

The Chair of EPA’s own Science Advisory Board testified that EPA’s advisors recommend “that literature and data used by EPA be peer-reviewed and made available to the public.” A 2013 poll by the Institute of Energy Research found that 90 percent of Americans agree that studies and data used to make federal government decisions should be public.

Yet, the White House has threatened to veto the bill.

It's disappointing the President, who once promised the most transparent administration in history, has now threatened to veto this commonsense bill that would allow independent scientists to verify EPA's claims. But it is time to restore faith in our government and return the power to the people. Now it is time for my colleagues in the Senate to act - companion legislation has been introduced by Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming.

I hope you’ll join me in supporting this good legislation to make our government more efficient, effective, and accountable to the American people. I also hope you’ll share your thoughts with me using the survey below. Your thoughts are appreciated!