Dan Osborn
IndependentQ1 Scientific evidence is generated through the systematic testing and evaluation of ideas. It provides knowledge that helps us understand the world and predict the likely consequences of different choices, such as policy making related to public health, energy, agriculture, and environmental regulation. What role, if any, should scientific evidence and expert input play in your policymaking process, and how would you evaluate competing or uncertain scientific claims when making policy decisions? What role, if any, should that process play when scientific consensus and public opinion diverge?
“Scientific evidence and expert input should play an important role when STEM fields are invoked—such as medicine, public health, engineering, transportation, and the environment. Social sciences can also play a role in guiding policy. Economics is a great example of a social science that has natural policy implications. The erosion of trust in our scientific community is a shame. When the scientific community and public opinion collide, the ideal course of action is to educate the public so opinion aligns more closely with scientific consensus.”
KEYWORDS: Experts, Trust, Truth
Q2 The United States has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What are your reasons for supporting these policies?
“If AI were only being used to cure cancer or solve other longstanding real-world problems, I’d be hugely pro-AI. However, our current AI landscape has some clear problems that invite a conversation around guardrails. Many people have unwittingly used AI to such an extent that their reasoning ability suffers. The heads of these companies don’t have the public’s best interest in mind. The AI industry needs strong regulation on its development and use, and it needs it immediately. Furthermore, data centers need regulations to ensure they don’t use more than their share of power and water. They should only be built with a significant amount of public input, and each community should have the power of denial. While there is a national security imperative to ensure we keep up with countries like China around this technology, we must also exercise caution.”
KEYWORDS: Threat, Resources, Workforce
Q3 Making the US competitive in the bioeconomy (using technology applied to renewable biological resources to produce food, energy and industrial goods) requires innovation and investments in business, academia and government. Please describe policies you will support, if any, that relate to workforce development in Nebraska’s strengths such as agriculture, biotechnology, and energy; and explain their rationale.
“Investing in the bioeconomy is an excellent public investment because it creates more opportunities and jobs right here in the US, especially in the midwest where all the feedstocks (row crops in particular) are grown. The bioeconomy generates demand for our farmer’s crops (eg, ethanol made from corn has been a hugely successful bio economic success story), plus enriches our domestic energy security by reducing our reliance on foreign oil. This contributes to long-term benefits for our society. Investing in the bioeconomy would greatly benefit Nebraskans and all Americans.”
KEYWORDS: Energy security, innovation, sustainability
Q4 Federal grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) fund a substantial share of the scientific and biomedical research conducted at Nebraska’s universities, hospitals, and research institutions (approximately $205M per year according to NIH and NSF reports). NIH funding to NE institutions returns $2.50 for every $1 economic activity while supporting vital research in developing new treatments/cures for diseases. Similarly, both NIH and NSF research fill critical gaps in knowledge for advancing healthcare and other fields. What policies, if any, do you support regarding federal funding for scientific research agencies like the NIH and NSF? Why are these your priorities, and what information informed your approach?
“NIH and NSF grants have led to all sorts of amazing breakthroughs and developments over the years that we too often take for granted, and those federal funds should continue to flow. Still, accountability is critical to ensure all those funds actually deliver what they’re supposed to. In general, federal funding for research is essential to the long term health and competitiveness of our country—government investment is often the only way to take big swings and achieve large breakthroughs.”
KEYWORDS: Future, health, research
Q5 Agricultural practices such as cover cropping and crop and livestock diversification, under appropriate conditions, provide benefits for soil health, water quality, and long-term agricultural resilience. At the same time, the feasibility and potential benefits of these practices can vary substantially. In what ways, if any, would you develop federal agricultural policy that accounts for the practical and economic needs of farmers and ranchers while also incorporating the best available scientific evidence on environmentally and agronomically beneficial practices?
“Farmers and farming have gotten exponentially better over the years at being sustainable, and we should continue to incentivize that trend. The best federal policies for agriculture’s success still remain opening new demand markets: expanding ethanol use, increasing foreign ag trade, and investing in research for new markets for crops here at home. Farmers are innovative, and good federal policies will reward them for the sustainable practices they’re already utilizing. The best land steward is always going to be the farmer themselves, and the government should create policies that recognize those achievements and spur new ones.”
KEYWORDS: Land stewardship, conservation, demand
Q6 In your opinion, what is the role of the federal government in environmental protection? What policies, if any, do you support that could contribute to natural resource stewardship, environmental research, or environmental protections in Nebraska and nationally?
“Nebraska relies on its natural resources, such as the soil quality and Ogallala aquifer, to power agriculture in the state. We need to ensure these resources are protected while allowing farmers and ranchers the ability to do what they need to in order to stay profitable.”
KEYWORDS: Resources, conservation, proactive stewardship