WASHINGTON _ House backers of the Office of TechnologyAssessment (OTA) on Wednesday failed by one vote to restore mostof its funding and move its functions to another agency.

The OTA funding vote set off a partisan skirmish over furtherconsideration of the fiscal 1996 legislative appropriations bill whichcontains the OTA budget. The House leadership took the unusualstep of pulling the bill from consideration. It may be taken up by theHouse again today when another amendment to restore OTA fundingmay be offered, said OTA spokeswoman Jean McDonald.

OTA is not sure if it has enough votes in the Senate to restorefunding, said McDonald.

The House defeated by recorded vote of 213 to 214 an OTA rescueplan crafted by Rep. Amory Houghton (R-N.Y.), who serves aschairman of OTA's board of directors. His amendment would havecut OTA's fiscal 1996 budget of $22 million by 15 percent andmoved about 150 of its 180 staff members to the Library of CongressCongressional Research Service where it would have continued manyof its functions.

A slim majority was apparently persuaded by arguments voiced byRep. Ron Packard (R-Ca.) who said that OTA studies duplicate thoseperformed by the General Accounting Office and CongressionalResearch Service.

McDonald told BioWorld that the OTA fell victim to efforts led bythe Republican congressional leadership to reduce the size of federalagencies and spending.

For the past 20 years, OTA has generated a series of reports ontechnical and scientific issues for use by its less technically literateclient: Congress.

But OTA failed to generate a loyal constituency that could have goneto bat for the agency when it became a victim of congressionalbudget cutters.

Both House and Senate budget resolutions, which serve as a guide forappropriations committees when they consider actual spending levels,called for OTA's elimination.

While the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission andPhysician Payment Review Commission have congressional chartersto perform a specific work agenda on federal health care spending,OTA lacked such a formal charge, McDonald said.

Because the OTA completed studies for congressional committees _until this year headed up by Democrats _ instead of individualmembers of congress, its accomplishments were well-known only inDemocratic circles. The upshot was that few of the new Republicanleaders of Congress appreciated OTA's unique role as a source ofnonpartisan advice on scientific and technology issues.

OTA maintained its nonpartisanship through a governance structureled by a board of directors that was drawn from both political partiesand both House and Senate, according to OTA. n

-- Michele L. Robinson Washington Editor

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.