ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the pros and cons of creating a small, permanent institution within the U.S. Congress that would receive requests for studies from committees and then farm them out to one or more previously approved nongovernment, nonprofit organizations that have agreed to conduct studies in accordance with a set of procedures designed to ensure balance, neutrality, and completeness. Such a model was proposed in 2002, albeit in a less elaborated form, in language calling for the establishment of a National Technology Assessment Service in the Senate version of the energy bill (Senate Bill 517).
