Science and Politics in US Congressional Debates on Environmental Topics

The two majors parties – Democrats and Republicans – mainly establish the political procedures and play a relevant role in setting and shaping he agenda in the two-party system in the United States. From the agenda-setting perspective it is important to recognize how the items are brought up in the agenda but also how the foundations of the political decision-making are discussed with among the members of Congress during the legislative process. The paper draws on the political space of decision-making and more specifically decision-making as a part of and on environmental politics. The main materials to be analyzed are the congressional debates on environmental topics. The idea is to examine what kind of arguments and actors are included in the discussion. The main interest will be to examine how science is used to make space - how it is used as a reference or as a way of argumentation to oppose or to support, to brought up or problematize the issue at hand. In addition, the interest lies of examining how science is politicized in the debates – how the meaning of science and its importance is defined in the political discussions by different actors and how science is used in the debates on political agenda and the legitimacy of the decision-making.