Science meets policy

Abstract

This is a guest editorial by Karen L. Howard , a director in the Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics team at the US Government Accountability Office. It was 1921. Biochemist Elmer McCollum identified a component in cod-liver oil that cured rickets, and he called it vitamin D. That same year, President Warren G. Harding signed a law creating what is known today as the US Government Accountability Office (GAO). Science and the government have come far in the past century. New scientific and technological capabilities have changed the lives of every American. All the while, the GAO has provided Congress with fact-based, nonpartisan information to improve government programs and save taxpayers billions of dollars. In 2020 alone, the GAO had a return on investment of $77.6 billion, saving the federal government $114 for every dollar it invested in the agency. Over the years, the GAO has worked to make science