In a bipartisan letter, the leaders of the House Science Committee accused Leidos, the logistics contractor for the U.S. Antarctic Program, of presenting inaccurate information and failing to fully cooperate with a National Science Foundation investigation of pervasive sexual harassment and assault on the continent.

Senate Democrats have announced a legislative push that resuscitates and expands on provisions omitted from last year’s CHIPS and Science Act that address the U.S.–China rivalry. They expect their effort will include proposals for targeted R&D funding and new controls aimed at preventing China from exploiting U.S. technological advances.

With NASA’s cost estimates for the Mars Sample Return mission rising, criticism is building in the scientific community and among members of Congress that it is siphoning money from other projects.

House Science Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-OK) convened a hearing last week to build support for his proposal to remove the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from the Commerce Department and make it an independent agency. Committee Democrats did not take a firm stance on the idea, seeking additional perspectives.

Reps. Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), the new chair and ranking Democrat on the House Science Committee, have started to carve out their agendas for the 118th Congress. Working under them, there are a number of new subcommittee leaders this year, half of whom are serving their first term in Congress.

House Science Committee members called for expanding the use of commercial weather data and improving data assimilation at a recent hearing kicking off an effort to update policy for weather research.

House appropriators for the Department of Energy previewed their priorities at a hearing on DOE’s budget request for fiscal year 2024, the first since Republicans won control of the House.

The new Congress has shuffled the leadership of many key committees that draft policy and budgets for federal science agencies.

The new Congress has shuffled the leadership of many key committees that draft policy and budgets for federal science agencies.

The new Congress has shuffled the leadership of many key committees that draft policy and budgets for federal science agencies.