Really? It was ‘Science Day’ in Congress?

How nice of the retiring Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the outgoing chair of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, to declare this past Monday “Science Day” in the House of Representatives.

Yes, according to a press release from the science committee office, Rep. Smith had the House primed to consider “five bipartisan Science Committee bills that support careers and education in STEM, reauthorize federal firefighting programs and promote cooperative space and science programs between NASA and Israel.”

The House majority leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was soooo proud of the intended accomplishments of Science Day: “America has led the world in science and innovation for generations. To think, 65 percent of today’s students will be employed in jobs that don’t exist yet. In our mission to prepare America’s next generation of innovation, the House will honor our nation’s history of leadership with Science Day. We will bring five bills to the floor that will support science, our nation’s infrastructure, aerospace and STEM careers. I applaud Chairman Smith on his hard work to get these bills ready for floor consideration.”

If you’d like to see the bills, laughably labeled as “bipartisan,” go to the committee’s press release. But if Monday was Science Day, it was a low bar.

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Remove words? Control discourse? That’s power.

Those who can control language have power over those who cannot. That has been the most corrosive power exercised by President Donald’s administration. This is especially true in matters relating to science.

The White House has eliminated virtually every mention of climate change from its website and those of other cabinet departments and federal agencies. Employees, especially scientists, at the Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of the Interior, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services have been ordered to end any external communication without “consultation” with senior political appointees.

Donald appointed a secretary of Education who has repeatedly supported Republicans with anti-science views who deny the human role in climate disruption. The secretary’s family foundation supports anti-science evangelical and fundamentalist organizations.

His initial budget priorities sought to slash funding for science-based federal agencies such as the EPA and the National Institutes of Health. The goal? Remove federal funding for scientific research from environmental and climate-based investigators.