Rep. Frank D. Lucas, the new chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee — he calls it the “pleasure committee” — plans to focus his panel on ensuring that historic funding allocated by the last Congress for science, technology and energy research is well spent.
But Lucas also laid out a broad agenda for the panel: independence from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal program to develop unmanned drones, advances in fusion energy, and research funds for institutions other than those located on the coasts.
Typically an unnoticed committee, the science panel will go to work in the current Congress with the potential for continued distraction thanks to the nomination of Rep. George Santos, RN.Y., whose manufacturing record in his campaign for Congress last year Autumn subjected it to intense scrutiny, including from investigators.
Lucas, now in his 15th term in Congress, looked at the big picture in an interview.
“We will continue to focus on things that are five weeks, five months, five years, five decades — maybe five centuries is too long, but 150 years from now,” Lucas said. “That’s why I call it the Pleasure Committee.”