Scientists & Engineers for America

Committees

After a bill is introduced into either the House or the Senate, it is referred to committees for review and markup. Committees and subcommittees will hold hearings over all the different aspects of a bill and offer amendments and changes before it is offered to the floor for a full vote. Committee chairs hold a tremendous amount of policymaking power because they decide whether or not a bill is considered.

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Recent News Stories

Obama attacks McCain's healthcare proposal
L.A. Times--It's a shift in focus after weeks sparring on the economy. McCain, preparing to debate, has no public events. [Read more]
Bailout Provides More Mental Health Coverage
N.Y. Times--More than one-third of all Americans will soon receive better insurance coverage for mental health treatments because of a new law that, for the first time, requires equal coverage of mental and physical illnesses. [Read more]
Bush signs Great Lakes Compact
UPI--A decade-long push to protect the U.S. Great Lakes water supply came to fruition with the signing of the Great Lakes Compact, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said. [Read more]
Best and the Brightest
Newseek--A Tennessee congressman says with the energy crisis we face another Sputnik moment. [Read more]
Embryo legislation, by state
L.A. Times--Proposed bills that would change the legal status of frozen embryos. [Read more]
Biotechs Race for New Vaccine
Washington Post--Developing a next-generation anthrax vaccine is not for the weak of heart --or wallet. [Read more]
FDA Sets Safety Threshold for Contaminant Melamine
Washington Post--The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that consuming a very small amount of the chemical poses no serious risk. [Read more]
Everglades restoration bogged down by poor planning
New Scientists--Restoration of the Florida Everglades is stuck in a bureaucratic quagmire. [Read more]
One Way Up: U.S. Space Plan Relies on Russia
N.Y. Times--From 2010 to 2015, NASA expects to have no human flight capacity and will depend on Russia to get to the $100 billion station, buying seats on Soyuz craft as space tourists do. [Read more]
New Jersey Grants Rights to Build a Wind Farm About 20 Miles Offshore
N.Y. Times--Regulators in New Jersey awarded the rights on Friday for construction of a $1 billion offshore wind farm in the southern part of the state to Garden State Offshore Energy. [Read more]
Proposition 7 prompts a highly charged debate
L.A. Times--Proposition 7 on the November ballot aims to hurry the day when more of California's electricity comes from windmills, solar panels and other oil-free sources, requiring the state's utilities to get half their power from renewable energy by 2025. [Read more]
Building Jobs With Renewable Energy
ABC News--Wind, solar and geothermal energy sources are gaining unprecedented ground, not just as environmentally sound concepts, but as booming green industries. [Read more]
Eli Lilly agrees to buy ImClone for $6.5 billion
Reuters--Eli Lilly and Co has agreed to acquire ImClone Systems Inc for $6.5 billion, potentially bringing to a close one of the most colorful corporate sagas in biotech history. [Read more]
4-H plows ahead with science focus
Washington Times--Once a national youth group associated with cows and plows, today's 4-H aims to cultivate a renewed interest in technology and science education. [Read more]
Infertility patients caught in the legal, moral and scientific embryo debate
L.A. Times--Tough decisions about what to do with unused embryos lead to a bigger question: When does life begin? [Read more]
'Space elevator' would take humans into orbit
CNN--A new space race is officially under way, and this one should have the sci-fi geeks salivating. [Read more]
Scientists: 1 in 4 mammals faces extinction
A.P.--Conservationists have taken the first detailed look at the world's mammals in more than a decade, and the news isn't good. [Read more]
AP Investigation: Ike environmental toll apparent
A.P.--The environmental damage only now is becoming apparent: At least a half million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico and the marshes, bayous and bays of Louisiana and Texas. [Read more]
Food Stamp Participation Increases as Economy Lags
Washington Post--Almost a million more people participated in the federal government's food stamp program for the needy between April and July, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program. [Read more]
Three Europeans Win the 2008 Nobel for Medicine
N.Y. Times--Three European scientists who discovered viruses that cause cervical cancer and AIDS share this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine. [Read more]
CERN starts up computing grid to crunch atom-smasher data
AFP--The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) on Friday unveiled a massive computing grid aimed at analysing millions of gigabytes of data set to be generated by the world's largest atom-smasher. [Read more]
UK government to announce biosecurity plans
Nature--High-security labs to get a multi-million pound revamp. [Read more]
Palin, Biden clashed on energy policy
Boston Globe--Is climate change manmade or part of a cyclical movement of worldwide temperatures? Joe Biden and Sarah Palin gave different answers in their debate Thursday night. [Read more]
Some facts adrift in veep debate
A.P.--Republican Sarah Palin criticized a version of a Barack Obama health care plan that doesn't exist and Democrat Joe Biden clung to a misleading charge about Republicans and big oil when the two clashed in the vice presidential debate Thursday. [Read more]
Bush team's environmental regulations draw fire
Forbes--Loose regulation, now blamed for ills ranging from the U.S. financial crisis to imports of tainted Chinese goods, is drawing increasing fire from opponents of the Bush administration's environment program. [Read more]