436 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



needs of the people instead of concentrating on heavy capital, prestige 

 projects. The July hearings were followed up by D1SPAC participation 

 in an international forum on appropriate technology held in New 

 Delhi, India, in November 1978, attended by Staff Director Wells. 

 Brown's particular interest in furthering appropriate technology 

 stimulated greater activity by the SRT Subcommittee when Brown 

 became its chairman in 1979- Fuqua added, during the House debate 

 on the NSF authorization bill on March 27, 1979: 



At the committee's request, the Science Foundation prepared a program plan in 

 appropriate technology, with full public participation in the plan's formulation. 

 The plan recognizes that "appropriate technology" applies to urban as well as rural 

 areas, and the Foundation has been directed to involve new participants in its imple- 

 mentation, including community groups, community colleges, small businesses and 

 others who are not in the mainstream of NSF's normal collegiate grantees and 

 constituents. 



The bill before you authorizes a total of $4': million to implement the appropriate 

 technology plan and specifies that $l'j million of the total be spent in the science 

 education directorate for the public education needed in getting the best return from 

 this investment. 



SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND DIPLOMACY ACT OF 1978 



Back in the days when the committee was concentrating on NASA, 

 NSF, and a narrow group of scientific operations, jurisdictional over- 

 laps with other committees were less common. With the burgeoning 

 new responsibilities, especially general oversight authority, a new 

 relationship was developing with other congressional committees. 

 An interesting illustration occurred in 1978 in the cooperative work 

 carried out with the House Committee on International Relations. 



Title V of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act in 1978 for 

 the first time set forth a national policy on the application of science 

 and technology to foreign policy, directing the Secretary of State to 

 assume a greater role in the coordination and oversight of international 

 scientific and technological activities. The concept was closely related 

 to the long-time efforts which the committee had exerted, climaxing 

 in 1976 with the legislation which set up the Office of Science and 

 Technology Policy in the White House. At the same time, the House 

 Committee on International Relations had been working for years on 

 appropriate legislation to define the relation of science and technology 

 to diplomacy. As matters finally came to a head in the spring of 1978, 

 one course of action would have been for the Science Committee to 

 wage holy war to protect its jurisdictional turf, or at the very least 

 insist on the right to hold hearings and make its own committee 

 recommendations. 



