43 SCIENCE-BOOSTING STEPS FOR THE NEXT PRESIDENTIAL TERM
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) uses rigorous, independent science to help solve some of our most intractable problems. Their proactive, fact-driven, fearless thinking harkens back to the philosophy of one of history’s most famous scientist, Albert Einstein, who once said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
UCS has just issued a 20-page report called “Restoring Science, Protecting the Public: 43 Steps for the Next Presidential Term”. The opening paragraph of their executive summary explains the reasoning for their proposals:
The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare how the nation suffers when science and its role in governance is sidelined or eliminated. A successful emergence from the pandemic will require the development of scientific capacity and safeguards that improve the nation’s ability to keep people safe, root out corruption, and improve our quality of life.
The National Children’s Campaign wholeheartedly supports the UCS report, which is why we endorsed all of its recommendations. We recognize that scientific leaders have provided America with indispensable guidance about how the coronavirus spreads and how to safely reopen our economy. Scientists have worked tirelessly to find treatments for coronavirus and are part of a worldwide search for a vaccine. While Doctors Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx serve on the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its Director Robert Redfield have not been as visible as one would expect considering their expertise. This dynamic needs to change.
We need to rely on scientist more, not less, whether it is responding to a deadly pandemic or anything else that impacts our daily lives. As the executive summary further states:
Making independent science a core pillar of an agenda for the next presidential term will engender support from good government, public health, environmental, consumer, and human and civil rights advocates representing tens of millions of Americans of varying political affiliations…This series of memos provides concrete steps an administration can take without significant costs to make government more effective, efficient, transparent, and accountable.
While there are 43 total recommendation from UCS that serve as roadmap for the 2021 and beyond, they each fall into one of the eight categories listed below:
- Federal advisory committees
- Personnel policy
- Agency scientific independence
- Restoring strength to scientific agencies
- Whistleblower protections
- Scientific communications
- Data collection and dissemination
- Regulatory reform
On January 20, 2021, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol the President of the United States will be sworn in for a four-year term. Whether it is our current President, Donald Trump, or the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, we hope they follow UCS’ recommendations. Scientists can help our political leaders be more successful. By embracing and empowering the scientific community, our government will be more likely to enact sound policies and provide greater transparency for the people they serve – the American public.