Rush Holt, central New Jersey’s “rocket scientist” representative, thinks Capitol Hill needs more scientists. He’s leaving Congress at the end of this year, but his eight terms in office have taught him that scientists need to help craft the nation’s laws now more than ever.

Holt joined Congress in 1999, and at one point was one of three physicists there. Fifteen years later he’ll leave the House with just one, Rep. Bill Foster of Illinois. A microbiologist, six engineers and about two dozen medical professionals also hold seats in the House or Senate.

“We need more scientists, more people with training as scientists, in Congress, on town councils, on county commissions until that golden age when everyone can think intelligently about science,” says Holt, a Ph.D. physicist and former assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. He says it’s not just about explicitly scientific issues like climate change and energy sources, either. Even voting laws can benefit when legislators think like scientists.
When electronic voting machines first appeared, for example, Holt and other scientists in Congress immediately saw what other politicians didn’t. Without a paper trail, results would not meet a basic standard of science: verifiability. Holt introduced a bill in 2008 to address the problem, and though it never passed nationally, states including California and Ohio did begin requiring paper records.

During his time in office, Holt got a billion investment in new research into the 2009 stimulus package, helped write the College Cost Reduction Act and has been a vocal opponent of climate change denial. He has said that he’s leaving Congress not because of frustrations with its dysfunction, but because there are so many other things he can do — though he isn’t saying yet what his next steps will be.

“People interested in politics should learn science, and people involved in science should learn politics,” Holt says. For now, he puts the onus on scientists. “Scientists probably have greater responsibility than the average citizen to be involved in politics and policy,” he says, because they often have a deep understanding of complex topics. “That responsibility involves more than just voting.”

Source: sciencenews.org