The Senate Appropriations Committee took to Twitter to solicit ideas for an upcoming hearing on federal investments in innovation.  

The panel is seeking written testimony from the public on the subject of how federal research dollars can help drive innovation in existing and new fields. Materials should be submitted in accordance with committee guidelines no later than April 24, for an April 29 hearing with the heads of several departments and agencies that spent quite a bit of their budgets on federally backed research.  

The vaunted committee sent this public appeal Friday:

Federal investments in science, technology, medicine — all creating #innovation each day. Be part of our conversation https://t.co/CUD6a5tneE

— Sen. Appropriations (@SenateApprops) April 18, 2014

Chairwoman Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md. will lead the hearing, which includes a witness list  starring Energy Secretary Ernest J. Moniz and National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins.  

“Chairwoman Mikulski is trying to drive home the point that the federal government generates a ton of innovation each year by funding smart people with big goals. Those innovations create jobs, patents, technologies, medicines, treatments — you name it,” Appropriations panel spokesman Vincent Morris said in a statement.  

Morris said the hearing won’t take the place of the regular yearly oversight hearings on the president’s budget, but instead “will open a new door. And to really reach out far and wide for opinions and insight, we decided to use Twitter to engage with organizations, universities and individuals.”  

If you have the next great idea for federal research dollars and are interested in providing written testimony of your own, the committee’s guidelines appear below:

Format:

Testimony and supporting material should be a maximum of 4 pages, 8 ½” x 11″ letter size, single-spaced, and have a 1″ margin.

Do not include a cover page. At the top of the first page list the name of the organization submitting testimony.

Delivery:

Please e-mail testimony to FullCommittee@appro.senate.gov with the subject line “Innovation Hearing – Outside Witness Testimony.”

We will only accept testimony formatted in Word Perfect and Microsoft Word. Please DO NOT SEND PDF files.

Electronic submission only; testimony sent via the US mail or by Fax cannot be accepted.

Include contact information (phone, fax, e-mail, and address).