Science Societies Quiz Congressional Candidates

What do your candidates for Congress think about important issues related to science?  Scientists and Engineers for America (SEA) is asking them.

In cooperation with a number of scientific organizations including APS, SEA has developed a list of seven questions on science policy topics, and has sent messages to all current candidates for Congress asking them for answers. The questions deal with innovation, climate change, energy, education, water, research funding, and health.

“These are issues that every candidate should care about,” says Lesley Stone, Executive Director of SEA.

At the Innovation 2008 website, people can enter their zip code to find their congressional candidates and see the candidates’ answers to the questions, or if they have not answered, send them email urging them to do so.  

As of late July, more than thirty candidates have submitted answers to the questions. Others are expected to do so soon.

The more letters candidates get urging them to answer, the more likely they are to do so, SEA believes. “Candidates are much more likely to answer questions from their constituents,” says Stone.