Congress at SXSW: Yes, we’re dumb about tech, and here’s what we should do

What could help a body as large and overwhelmed as Congress get its tech facts straight? Rep Mark Takano (D-CA) focused his South By Southwest speaking time on one possible answer: a call to re-fund the Office of Technology Assessment, whose budget was nuked by the Newt Gingrinch-led Congress of 1995. Since the OTA's funding fallout, Takano says, members of Congress have found themselves without access to federally funded, tech-specific research on whatever the OTA deems relevant in terms of either current-tech expertise or trend forecasting. What's a representative to do, then? Rep Takano used his own office as an example. His office receives enough of a budget to pay only three legislative assistants to research and brief him on every topic relevant to his constituents. "One of those might be staffed with science and technology issues," he added.