They came in response to an initiative by AAAS President Rita R. Colwell . As several of the speakers noted, AAAS affiliates span a wide range of disciplines and comprise more than 7 million members - a potentially formidable lobbying bloc for science and technology. And indeed, affiliates ranging from the American Chemical Society to the American Psychological Association have begun or boosted their efforts at swinging congressional favor their way. The last time AAAS affiliates' leaders gathered, in the mid-1980s, also was in response to federal budgetary threats. For many of them, science is something they can't see, they don't use themselves, and they don't understand.
Science barely rises above the background clutter in the various bills.
But individual fields of science have been able to set priorities. Surely we can offer Congress at least some agreed-upon criteria by which budget decisions could be made. Wells urged the affiliates to build a coherent alliance among themselves, and with Members of Congress and state governments. All AAAS affiliates received a copy of the meeting report and were urged to submit their comments and ideas. Return to Inside AAAS Table of Contents .