1465 



TOPICS EXAMINED BY THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS ^^ 



A major component of foreign aid programs is technological. Annual 

 reviews of the budget requests from U.S. AID are conducted by the 

 House Committee on International Relations. The committee also 

 exercises a continuing surveillance over arms control matters and the 

 operation of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. In addition, 

 the subject of Law of the Sea, and the related question of peaceful 

 uses of the seabed arose in the 92d Congress and continued to be a 

 subject of interest in the 93d. A separate question that arose in the 

 92d Congress and was resolved in that period was the action to 

 create an International Agency for Research on Cancer. 



A substantial increase in scientific and technological subjects under 

 study by the committee was evident in the 93d Congress. Action was 

 taken on the United Nations Environmental Program Act of 1973, 

 and on U.S. Participation in the International Ocean Exposition of 

 1975. The committee also reviewed U.S. chemical warfare policies, 

 the world food situation, nuclear agreements with Egypt and Israel, 

 the question of excluding imports of chromite from Rhodesia, the 

 international implications of the energy crisis, the flooding of the 

 Great Lakes, the status of the Gorgas Memorial Institute of Tropical 

 and Preventive Medicine, drougkt in the African Sahel, the African 

 Development Bank, the energy crisis in Asia, military uses of weather 

 modification, and global scarcities of commodities. 



TOPICS EXAMINED BY THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND 



TECHNOLOGY 



From, its focus on Government science, the Committee on Science 

 and Technology annually reviews the budgets of the National Science 

 Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 

 both of which agencies have substantial foreign programs. In addition, 

 the committee during the 92d Congress took up the topics of inter- 

 national environmental science, a detailed review of international 

 cooperation in science and space by NASA and the U.S.-U.S.S.R. 

 cooperative space agreement. The committee also examined the 

 issue of U.S. adoption of the metric system and began a study of 

 science policy education in the United States and Canada. 



In the 93d Congress, the committee dealt with such topics as the 

 Earth Resources Satellite System, U.S.-U.S.S.R. advanced technology 

 transfer, the Appolo-Soyez joint program, international science and 

 technology transfer, and the International Conference of States on 

 the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by 

 Satellite, at Brussels in 1974. In addition the committee held a joint 

 briefing with the scientific attaches of the Department of State, 

 May 22, 1974, on the occasion of their annual home visit and training 

 period. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE ANNUAL PROGRAMS OF THE INTERNATIONAL 

 RELATIONS AND SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEES 



Both committees included in their programs a range of subject 

 matter that included both broad policy investigations, continuing 



227 Those listed are in addition to the dozen subjects considered in depth in the Science, Technology, and 

 American Diplomacy series of which tlie present study is a part. Titles of the individual studies are listed on 

 pages vil-vlll. 



