742 HISTORY Ol THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



The Bolling-Hansen reforms in 1974 had transferred biomedical 

 research from the jurisdiction jointly held by the Science and Com- 

 merce committees to concentrate it exclusively in the Commerce 

 Committee. Nevertheless, the Science Committee was given special 

 oversight over biomedical research as one portion of the generous 

 grant of authority which covered all nonmilitary R. & D. 



In 1975, when NASA testified before the committee in their author- 

 ization hearings, NASA Administrator Fletcher led off with a series of 

 demonstrations of recent spinoffs from technology developed for the 

 space program. These included a voice-controlled wheelchair for 

 quadraplegics, and a rechargeable cardiac pacemaker for heart attack 

 victims. Teaguc resolved that it was time to build on what NASA was 

 doing through committee initiatives in research for the handicapped. 

 Brown talked with Teague after the hearing, and they agreed that it 

 would be very useful for the committee to undertake some work in 

 aiding the handicapped. It was decided to assign the work administra- 

 tively under the umbrella of the Science, Research and Technology 

 Subcommittee. 



During his service on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Teague 

 was impressed with the testimony delivered every year for the Dis- 

 abled American Veterans by a young Californian named Sherman 

 Roodzant, who had been recognized as California's Outstanding 

 Veteran of the Year in 1971. In 1974-75, Roodzant was elected State 

 commander of the quarter of a million disabled veterans in California. 

 Early in 1976, following the annual DAV testimony before the Veter- 

 ans' Affairs Committee, Teague asked Roodzant to stop by his office, 

 where they talked about what the committee could do to stimulate 

 more interest by Federal agencies in research to aid the handicapped. 

 Teague offered Roodzant the job of coordinating for the committee a 

 new effort in this area. Then he called Brown over to his office and 

 they continued their conversation on how the handicapped operation 

 would fit into the committee structure administratively. Brown's 

 interest in disability and problems of the handicapped made this a 

 natural for him to generally take under his wing, in addition to the 

 leadership provided by Teague. 



PANEL ON HANDICAPPED RESEARCH 



Roodzant's first job was to draw up plans for a panel of experts 

 to study the problems of the handicapped, and identify those areas 

 where a more concentrated and intensified effort should be put forward 

 in programs to aid the handicapped. Teague obtained $26,000 in the 

 committee-enabling resolution passed in March to cover the cost of the 



