As chairman of the US House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, I do not believe that you do justice to the committee's efforts to better understand how the US National Science Foundation (NSF) spends US$7 billion dollars of taxpayers' money (Nature 519, 138–139; 2015).

The NSF is not “caught between the scientists it serves and the lawmakers it answers to”. The money is not the NSF's or the scientists': it is the people's. Congress has a responsibility to ensure that the money is spent wisely and in the national interest.

As you point out, NSF director France Córdova has voiced her support for my proposal that research should be in the national interest if it is to be funded by the NSF. At a recent hearing of the House science committee, she declared the proposal to be “very similar and compatible with NSF's internal guidelines” (see go.nature.com/oywlbd).

Significant progress has also been made on the need for extra transparency and accountability at the NSF. Its new policy acknowledges the need for the agency to communicate clearly and describe research grant awards in non-technical terms.