A few days after the close of House hearings on the National Science Foundation's peer review system, NSF director H. Guyford Stever remarked to C&EN that when NSF is having a hard time, science is having a hard time. A parochial comment perhaps, but science in general, and NSF in particular, has been taking its lumps in the new Congress. For instance, NSF's budget has been cut. An amendment giving Congress a veto over NSF research grants passed the House only to be beaten back in a conference committee. NSF's science curriculum developments are aswirl in controversy. And peer review—a sort of sacred pillar—is being attacked in Congress as an incestuous relationship by some from within and without the science community. What's more, no end to the flogging is in sight. However, according to some highlevel NSF officials and key members of the House and Senate who have been very supportive of NSF and science ...