Yesterday I blogged on this curious piece of anti-science legislation. In it all the House Republicans and 19 House Democrats (including our own local Jason Altmire) voted in favor of, among other things, voids the EPA finding that:
[G]reenhouse gases in the atmosphere may reasonably be anticipated both to endanger public health and to endanger public welfare.The EPA administrator based that finding on science. The House of Representatives didn't.
The thing I didn't notice last night was that the legislation has oozed it's way over to the Senate as an amendment from our good friend Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. The amendment, to S.493, is according to Thomas.gov:
SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011 - Title I: Reauthorization of the SBIR and STTR Programs - (Sec. 101) Amends the Small Business Act (the Act) to reauthorize through FY2019 the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs of the Small Business Administration (SBA).The SBIR and STTR programs are meant to spur on scientific and technological innovation. How you get that from voting down a scientific finding is beyond me.
Guess, just guess, who's a cosponsor of this lil bit of anti-science?
Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey.
Looks like more evidence supporting the general idea that the GOP is the anti-science party.
