The concern now is whether policymakers even understand the meaning of evidence. Whether there is any truth to this descriptor of fact-free era. Whether policy is going to be made more and more in the absence of scientific input.

It is true that when people are appointed to positions and talk without any appreciation or understanding of scientists, well, that gets scientists worried. And when public officials talk about alternative facts, people who have devoted their careers to trying to uncover facts are dismayed.

Congress, even with its frustrations, is the greatest instrument for justice and human welfare in the world.