Senator Ed Markey, a Voice for Science in Congress
By: Rose Teszler
In early 2011, Republican Fred Upton, Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, brought the Upton-Inhofe bill before the House of Representatives. The bill was designed to undermine enforcement of environmental regulations by declaring that carbon dioxide was not an air pollutant and repealing the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. During subcommittee debate, then-Representative Ed Markey offered his take on the bill:
“Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to a bill that overturns the scientific finding that pollution is harming our people and our planet….
Arbitrary rejection of scientific fact will not cause us to rise from our seats today. But with this bill, pollution levels will rise. Oil imports will rise. Temperatures will rise.
And with that, I yield back the balance of my time. That is, unless a rejection of Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity is somewhere in the chair’s amendment pile.”
Markey’s biting response expressed not only his long-standing commitment to environmental protection, but also his understanding of the politicized relationship between science, policy, and regulation. Together, these form twin components of now-Senator Ed Markey’s most effective legislative skill: his scientific literacy.
For over 10 years, Senator Markey has been recognized as a congressional leader on a variety of scientific matters. His personal expertise on climate and energy led to him being selected as chair of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming from 2007 to 2010. Now, as a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, he writes legislation that balances the ramifications of developing technology with harnessing the power of science to solve existing and emerging challenges.
Over the course of his career, the Senator has championed research as a means to both solve real issues and to reduce government spending in the long run. In 2012, Markey introduced the Spending Reductions through Innovations in Therapies (SPRINT) Act to invest in medical research to find a cure for a disease like Alzheimer’s, noting “the SPRINT Act will support smart investments now that will save hundreds of billions of dollars in the years to come through promising potential therapies.” The Senator has also secured over $400 million in funding for development of a long-lasting, universal flu vaccine that could help lower the $10.4 billion dollars spent annually on flu-related medical care.
On issues of technology, Markey grounds his legislation in the belief that innovation is the best way to address modern problems. He is an original Co-Sponsor of the STRANDED Nuclear Waste Act, that, among other incentives, would establish a prize competition for new alternatives to mitigate the effects of stranded waste. In 2019, he introduced the Offshore WIND Act to extend tax credits to companies developing offshore wind farms, only one of which currently exists in the United States. He has also been a leader on clean transportation, and has obtained millions in grants for railroads in South Station, MBTA commuter rails, and the New England Central Railroad in Western MA. While still in the House, he wrote the fuel economy provisions which mandate vehicles to have an economy of 54.5 mpg by 2025. Given these policies, Senator Markey understands his role as a legislator is not to stop innovation, but instead to drive it and harness it for public benefit.
Although Markey is best-known for his extensive portfolio of environmental legislation, his policies on gun violence prevention also sensibly address the growing capabilities of technology. The Senator’s gun violence prevention legislation has proposed the adoption of fingerprint-recognition sensors that limit guns to being used only by their registered owner. In addition, he has sought to ban the distribution of downloadable gun part files that could be used to produce firearms in 3D printers. In this way, Markey’s bills aim to mitigate the problems created by new technologies by addressing them using root-cause solutions.
This proactive approach to legislation combined with knowledge of technology and science has allowed Senator Markey to be ahead of the curve in addressing modern issues. While still a Representative, Markey introduced the first bill protecting net neutrality to Congress in 2006, over 10 years before the FCC brought net neutrality to the nation’s attention. He has been an advocate of internet privacy since 1996, when he first created the Privacy Bill of Rights that was later blocked by House Republicans. He reintroduced the bill in April 2019, and summarized it recently on The Vergecast podcast saying:
“Number one, you have a right to know that information is being gathered about you. Secondly, you have a right to notice that it’s being reused for purposes other than that which you intended. And third, you have a right to say no. Knowledge, notice, no.”
His direct and succinct communication style also comes across on his @EdMarkey Twitter account, where he has called for technological reform and regulation. “Ban facial recognition nationwide” he tweeted on June 26th while partnering with Ayanna Pressley to introduce legislation to prohibit the use of the profiling software. Both Markey and Pressley recognize the racial inequalities and biases of this technology, and their bill aims to ban other forms of biometric identification, such as voice recognition, on the same grounds. In this way, the Senator’s engagement with science and technology allows him to anticipate the needs of his community, and gives him years of experience communicating with lawmakers, experts, and the public about critical issues.
Senator Markey’s public statements on issues of technology show his understanding that it is not enough just to bring science into policy — he must also bring scientific understanding to the public. A key aspect of the Senator’s approach to increasing public scientific knowledge is ensuring access to broadband, and by extension, education. While he was in the House, he authored the landmark 1996 Telecommunications Bill that established the “E-rate” program that has put $54 billion dollars into internet access in schools and libraries since its inception. Now, he is pushing for an additional $4 billion for the program to bring broadband to student’s homes during the COVID-19 crisis, because, as he notes on a June episode of the Vergecast, “broadband has become the equivalent of water or electricity for people. They have to have it. They can’t operate without it.”
Ed Markey needs to stay in the Senate because his scientific literacy makes him best suited to address the imminent challenges of climate change, internet access, internet privacy, and healthcare. As he has done over the course of his career, he will center analysis and understanding of science and technology in the policies he writes. And, critically, he will emphasize to Congress that scientific facts are not a matter of opinion. His decades-long leadership on scientific matters has given him a vast amount of experience communicating with other legislators and with members of the public. As the author of the only comprehensive climate change bill to ever pass a chamber of Congress, we need to keep Markey, and his unmatched expertise, in the Senate.
