CONGRESS AND POLICY ANALYSIS - A CONTEXT FOR ASSESSING THE USE OF OTAPROJECTS

Recent congressional action to abolish the Office of Technology Assess ment (OTA) reinforces the reputation of Congress as an institution whe re policy analysis is not particularly valued. The purpose of this art icle is to clarify the impact that the OTA had on congressional decisi on making by examining its contributions relative to other sources of policy analysis. Ninety-two congressional enterprises were studied as they searched for information on one of four specific issues over the course of the 99th Congress. Findings are based on 318 semistructured interviews, results from two written questionnaires, and participant o bservation. Results indicate a more extensive awareness and use of pol icy analysis than found in most previous studies. Congressional suppor t agencies are important sources of policy analysis for congressional staff, and, among the support agencies, analysis from the OTA occupied a very significant place within the information networks of the issue s it studied. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.