OTA is history.
On July 27, House and Senate conferees sealed the agency's fate in H.R. 104-212, the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill for fiscal 1996. It is a compromise measure that sets funding limits for Congress and its agencies, including the Library of Congress and the Congressional Budget Office. It is also the first such bill in nearly a quarter of a century to omit funding for OTA.
OTA director Roger Herdman calls the vote "unfortunate" for the agency, Congress, and the United States.
"In 1972," he observes, "when OTA was established, Congress understood that if it relied on the executive branch or the private sector it would get advice that would reflect the agendas of the executive branch or private agencies. I still don't think they're going to be able to get what OTA gave them in any other way than from OTA."
Herdman says that the committee provided ...
