House Science Committee Chair Lamar Smith is Retiring

Controversial chairman of US House science committee to retire, Nature

"I think [Smith's] position on peer review, on the NSF and climate science put him at odds with the science community," says physicist Neal Lane, a former NSF director who served as science adviser to former president Bill Clinton. "But it was consistent with that of the leadership in the House, which can hardly be described as pro-science."

"Smith, a Texas Republican, has repeatedly questioned the science behind climate change, sought to pare back the US National Science Foundation's (NSF) research portfolio and has launched dozens of probes into alleged wrongdoing by individual scientists and US government science agencies. Since taking the helm in 2013, the politician has transformed the science panel from a relatively deliberative group into an investigative weapon."

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