Category: Military

Culberson Will "Vigorously Enforce" Restrictions on NASA-China Relationship – UPDATED

Culberson Will "Vigorously Enforce" Restrictions on NASA-China Relationship – UPDATED

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 26, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: March 15, 2016 4:34 pm ET

Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) said today that NASA did not fully inform Congress about the recent State Department-led meeting in Beijing on bilateral U.S.-China civil space cooperation as required by law.  He stressed that he plans to “vigorously enforce” the law, which requires NASA to notify Congress in advance of such meetings that technology transfer, for example, will not occur.

In a statement to SpacePolicyOnline.com, Culberson said:  

“NASA has failed to
provide the committee with details on the depth and scope
of the meetings hosted by the Department of State. China’s Space
program is owned and controlled entirely by the People’s Liberation Army
and the Chinese government have proven to be the world’s most
aggressive in cyber espionage. I intend to vigorously enforce
the longstanding prohibitions designed to protect America’s space
program.”

Culberson chairs the House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) subcommittee, which funds NASA.   His predecessor, former Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), led the effort to include language in NASA’s appropriations bills prohibiting NASA or the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) from spending any funds related to bilateral space cooperation with China unless certain certifications are made to Congress in advance.  Culberson echoes Wolf’s views and continues the precedent.

In June, the State Department announced the initiation of a U.S.-China Civil Space Dialogue with the first meeting scheduled to take place before the end of October.  Reaction to the announcement was muted despite the controversy.  The first meeting took place in Beijing last month and another is planned in 2016.   NASA confirmed that it participated in the Beijing meeting.

Section 532 of the FY2015 appropriations law (P.L. 113-235) that funds NASA states that NASA may not spend any funds to “develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement or execute a bilateral policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company unless such activities are specifically authorized by law enacted after the date of enactment of this Act.”  Those limitations do not apply if “no later than 30 days prior to the activity in question,” NASA certifies that the activity poses no risk of the transfer of “technology, data, or other information with national security or economic security implications” and does not “involve knowing interactions with officials who have been determined by the United States to have direct involvement with violations of human rights.”   Any such certification “shall include a description of the purpose of the activity, its agenda, its major participants, and its location and timing.”

In an emailed statement to SpacePolicyOnline.com on October 27, NASA responded to Culberson’s comments as follows:  “All discussions
under the U.S.-China Civil Space Cooperation Dialogue, including NASA’s
participation, were conducted in full accordance with U.S. law and
regulations.”  SpacePolicyOnline.com requested a copy of any correspondence NASA might have sent to Congress in fulfillment of the legal obligations, but nothing was provided.

In a related development, Culberson issued a press release last week following the indictment of two NASA supervisors as a result of the Bo Jiang espionage case.  He said the indictment is “further proof of the widespread negligence at NASA and throughout the Obama Administration when it comes to protecting U.S. intellectual property and sensitive information.”

Note:  This article, originally published on October 26, 2015, was updated on October 27 with NASA’s response to Culberson’s comments.

Note:  The provision was extended in the FY2016 appropriations law, where it is section 531.

Last Updated: Mar 15, 2016 4:34 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy October 26-31, 2015 – UPDATE

What's Happening in Space Policy October 26-31, 2015 – UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 25, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 26, 2015 6:28 am ET

Here is our list of space policy events coming up during the week of October 26-31, 2015 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate will be in session. [This version was updated October 26 with more information about potential legislative action this week.]

During the Week

As usual, there are many interesting space policy events taking place
off the Hill this week.  To pick just three:  Tuesday through Thursday in
Huntsville, AL, the American Astronautical Society will hold its annual
von Braun Symposium; Wednesday in Washington, DC, NASA Administrator
Bolden will speak to the Center for American Progress on NASA’s future
human exploration plans; and Tuesday through Friday in Houston, TX, NASA
will hold the first workshop to identify potential landing sites on
Mars for human missions.

As for Congress, if all goes as planned, the House will elect Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to succeed Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) as Speaker this week and Boehner will depart on Friday.  Ryan made it clear he did not want the job and agreed to do it only for the sake of the Republican Party.   He insisted that he would not do it unless he had unanimous support from House Republicans, including the roughly 40-member ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus that is widely blamed or credited with driving Boehner out.  It wasn’t entirely unanimous, but close enough apparently.   Ryan, who was the Republican candidate for Vice President in 2012 (on the ticket with Mitt Romney), demanded some changes in the duties of the Speaker, especially sharply reducing the Speaker’s role in fundraising for Republican members and candidates across the country, which kept Boehner on the road almost full time.  Pundits point out that the loyalty a Speaker engenders by traveling to districts to help at-risk candidates is part of what makes the House function and wonder if Paul’s reluctance to do so will constrain his leadership.  The House hasn’t been functioning very well in any case, so what these changes will mean for passing legislation, space-related or not, is entirely up in the air.

The legislation listed on the House Majority Leader’s website for action this week does not include two controversial bills that some hoped Boehner would get out of the way before Ryan takes over — reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank and raising the debt limit.  Those could get added as the week progresses, but the House is in session only through Thursday and part of the time will be devoted to electing Ryan as Speaker.   [UPDATE, October 26:  National Journal
is predicting that Boehner will indeed bring up both the Ex-Im Bank
bill and a bill to raise the debt limit before Wednesday when the House
Republican Caucus votes on Ryan’s bid to become Speaker.  The idea is that Boehner is willing to use Democratic votes to get those bills passed even though many Republicans oppose them, which would be a risky posture for Ryan as a new Speaker.]

Rep. Steve Fincher (R-TN) got enough signatures on his discharge petition for the Export-Import Bank to move that legislation out of the Financial Services committee to the floor, but no vote was taken last week.  During a meeting of the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) on October 21, a COMSTAC member said the bill would come to a vote on Monday (October 26), but it is not on the House Majority Leader’s list.   The comment was made while Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) was addressing the group and Kilmer warned that “procedural shenanigans” should be expected to prevent a vote.  He supports reauthorization of the Bank.

Kilmer is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and was asked about the likelihood that the government will have to operate under a full-year Continuing Resolution (CR) of if the regular appropriations bills will pass collectively in an “omnibus” bill.  Kilmer said he hopes there will be an omnibus that gets rid of the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration.   He joked that he had never heard of sequestration until he ran for Congress three years ago and had to look it up and discovered it is “Latin for stupid.”

Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) also addressed COMSTAC and expressed confidence that House-Senate agreement on a final version of commercial space legislation will be reached “very shortly.”  Babin, a freshman, is the new chair of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee’s Space Subcommittee, replacing Rep. Steve Palazzo (R-MS) who moved over to the Appropriations Committee.

The House could try to override the President’s veto of the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), but that is not on the schedule either at the moment.  The House would deal with it first because the bill, H.R. 1735, originated there.

All the events we know about as of Sunday morning are listed below.  Check back throughout the week for additions to our Events of Interest list on our main page.

Monday, October 26

Tuesday, October 27

Tuesday-Thursday, October 27-29

Tuesday-Friday, October 27-30

Wednesday, October 28

Wednesday-Thursday, October 28-29

Thursday-Friday, October 29-30

Friday, October 30

Friday-Saturday, October 30-31

Last Updated: Oct 26, 2015 6:28 am ET
Obama Vetoes FY2016 NDAA

Obama Vetoes FY2016 NDAA

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 22, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 22, 2015 11:31 pm ET

As promised, President Obama vetoed the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) today (Thursday).  The primary reason is a “gimmick” it uses to add funds for defense in an off-budget account, but he also cited two other reasons:  it prevents needed reforms and does not allow closing of Guantanamo.

Obama had threatened to veto the bill, but since he had not followed through on NDAA veto threats in prior years, many wondered if he would this time.

In a statement, the President said the bill, H.R. 1735, “does a number of good things” but “falls woefully short in three areas.”   First, it does not eliminate the sequester but “resorts to gimmicks that does not allow the Pentagon to do what it needs to do.”   That is a reference to the congressional decision to add $38 billion to defense spending in an off-budget account, Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), rather than negotiating new budget caps for all government spending, defense and non-defense, that would replace across-the-board cuts known as a sequester agreed to in the 2011 Budget Control Act.

Second, it “prevents a wide range of reforms that are necessary for us to get our military modernized…  We have repeatedly put forward a series of reforms eliminating programs that the Pentagon does not want — Congress keeps stepping back in, and we end up wasting money.”

Third, it impedes “our ability to close Guantanamo in a way that I have repeatedly argued is counterproductive to our efforts to defeat terrorism around the world.”

He called on Congress to change the bill to address those shortcomings.

In response, the chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees (HASC and SASC) called the veto “reckless, cynical, and downright dangerous.”   Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) accused the President of using the defense bill “as political leverage for his domestic agenda.” 

Their statement said the House will vote on November 5 to override the veto. When the final version of the bill passed the House on October 1, there were insufficient votes to override a veto., however.   Two-thirds of the House and Senate would need to vote in favor of overriding the veto for the effort to succeed.  That is 290 votes in the House.  If all 247 Republicans voted to override the veto, they would need to convince 43 Democrats to join them, but only 37 Democrats voted for the bill.  All of those, plus six more, would have to make a more difficult political decision to vote against their President’s veto.

This is only the fifth bill the President has vetoed since he took office.  The others were the 2010 Continuing Appropriations bill (in 2009), the 2010 Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act, the 2015 Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act, and the 2015 Joint Resolution providing for congressional disapproval of the rule submitted by the National Labor Relations Board relating to representative case procedures.

 

Last Updated: Oct 22, 2015 11:31 pm ET
Obama Will Veto NDAA Today

Obama Will Veto NDAA Today

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 22, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 22, 2015 8:53 am ET

President Obama will veto the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) this afternoon according to the President’s schedule.

The bill cleared Congress on October 7 under a veto threat because of a budgetary maneuver — which critics call a “gimmick” — to add money to the defense budget without exceeding agreed-upon caps by putting it in an off-budget account, Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO).   The President and congressional Democrats want to renegotiate the budget caps for all spending, defense and non-defense, rather than favoring only DOD.

According to the President’s schedule, he will veto the bill, H.R. 1735, late this afternoon in the Oval Office following a meeting with Bill Kellor, editor-in-chief of the Marshall Project, on criminal justice reform.

Last Updated: Oct 22, 2015 8:53 am ET
Al Gore's Space Dream Fulfilled — Daily Streaming of Planet Earth

Al Gore's Space Dream Fulfilled — Daily Streaming of Planet Earth

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 19, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 19, 2015 10:35 pm ET

At long last, a goal established by Vice President Al Gore in the 1990s has been fulfilled.  Today NASA opened a new website that will show constant photos of planet Earth from the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point (SEL-1) taken by a camera aboard the DSCOVR spacecraft.

Gore’s plan was just that — a spacecraft whose primary purpose was to make pictures of Earth constantly available to the public to highlight its fragility and the need to take care of the environment.  The spacecraft was named Triana after a sailor,
Rodrigo de Triana, on one of Columbus’ ships who first spotted North
America. 

The spacecraft was built and ready for launch by the end of
Clinton-Gore Administration, but then fell victim to politics. 
Derisively called “Goresat,” it was put into storage in 2001 when George
W. Bush became President following the bitter 2000 Gore-Bush
presidential election.

Originally, Triana was an earth observing spacecraft with Gore’s
camera — Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) — and a radiometer
to measure Earth’s albedo as the primary instruments.  Two space weather
instruments were also included as secondary payloads.   At the time,
space weather observations were provided by NASA’s relatively new
Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE).   As the years passed, however, it
became apparent that a replacement for ACE would be needed.   In 2008,
NOAA successfully argued for Triana to be brought out of storage,
refurbished and launched with a role reversal where space weather would
be the primary mission and earth observations secondary.

Agreement was reached where NOAA would pay NASA tor refurbishing the
spacecraft and the two space weather instruments (NASA is NOAA’s
spacecraft acquisition agent), NASA would pay to refurbish the two earth
observation instruments, and the Air Force, which also needs space
weather forecasts, would pay for the launch.  NOAA renamed it the Deep Space Climate Observatory — DSCOVR.

Launched on February 11, 2015, it took 110 days for DSCOVR to reach SEL-1, just under 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth.   Since then, the spacecraft and instruments have been undergoing check-out. 

Finally today, NASA announced the availability of a website that fulfills Gore’s dream.  NASA will post at least a dozen pictures of the sunlit side of Earth each day taken by the EPIC camera 12-36 hours earlier. The resolution of the images is 6.2-9.4 miles (10-15 kilometers).  Today there are 19 images and clicking “play” in the upper left hand corner will show the globe turning on its axis.


North and South America, as seen by the EPIC camera on the NASA-NOAA-Air Force Deep Space Climate Observatory
(DSCOVR) spacecraft, October 2015.   Photo credit: NASA

Last Updated: Oct 19, 2015 10:35 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy October 19-23, 2015

What's Happening in Space Policy October 19-23, 2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 18, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 18, 2015 5:55 pm ET

Here is our list of space policy related events for the week of October 19-23, 2015 and any insight we can offer about them.  The Senate returns to work tomorrow (Monday) and the House on Tuesday.

During the Week

Congress does not have any public events on the schedule that are specifically about the space program, but a vote could come early this week on reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank.   Rep. Steve Fincher (R-TN) succeeded in getting the 218 signatures he needed for a discharge petition to move the bill out of the Financial Services Committee to the House floor for a vote.  He and other Ex-Im supporters have long asserted that there are more than enough votes in the House to pass a reauthorization if only the Members were given the chance.  We soon may find out if they are correct.

Behind the scenes, efforts reportedly are continuing to reach agreement on a final version of commercial space legislation that passed the House and Senate earlier this year (H.R. 2262/S. 1297).  The FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) will hold its quarterly meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, so a progress report may be presented there.  Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX), who chairs the Space Subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, and Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) will speak on Wednesday morning at 8:30 am ET and 11:15 am ET respectively.  The meeting will be webcast (see the agenda for instructions).

The FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) may finally be sent to the White House.  The President will have 10 days (not including Sundays) to decide whether to sign or veto it.  The bill, H.R. 1735, cleared Congress on October 7.  It is not uncommon for clerks to need a few days to make “technical and conforming changes” to ensure there are no typos and that cross references are correct, and Congress was in recess last week, so it is still on the Hill, not in the Oval Office, and the clock has not started ticking.  President Obama has often threatened to veto the NDAA, but never has.  The dispute this year is over top level government-wide budgetary issues, not defense policy, however, so the dynamics are somewhat different.

The House has eight working days (four this week, four next week) before House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) resigns, according to his original plan at least.  Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s withdrawal from the Speaker’s race threw the leadership process into turmoil.  Boehner said he would not leave before a successor is in place, so time will tell if he gets to close the door behind him by the end of the month or not.  In the meantime, Congress needs to pass a reauthorization of the Highway Trust Fund bill by October 29 and raise the debt limit by November 3.   Since Boehner has demonstrated willingness to use Democratic votes to get critical legislation passed when the right wing of his party creates roadblocks, he could use the eight days to get those two tasks done, at least.   The United States exceeded the $18.1 trillion debt limit in March and the Treasury Department has been using “extraordinary measures” to pay the bills (by not paying its share into the retirement accounts of federal employee for example).  Its ability to scrape by that way is running out.  On Thursday, Treasury notified Congress that the last day is November 3, two days earlier than a previous projection.

As for funding the government for the rest of the fiscal year, the Continuing Resolution runs out on December 11.  Not much progress is being reported on talks among Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and President Obama on an overall agreement on spending caps through the end of the presidential election next year.  Boehner’s imminent departure is one handicap, but in Washington little gets done until the last minute anyway.  A lot will depend on who replaces Boehner as House Speaker and how well that person works with McConnell.  McConnell and Boehner have been united on their rejection of government shutdowns as a political strategy (they both also pledge they will never allow the government to default on its debt).

Off the Hill, there is an array of fascinating meetings scheduled for the coming week.  In addition to COMSTAC, the annual Space Weather Enterprise Forum is on Tuesday and Wednesday (note that it is in different locations on those two days); NASA’s Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) meets Tuesday-Thursday in Columbia, MD; and the NASA Advisory Council’s Astrophysics Subcommittee meets at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center on Thursday and Friday.

Women in Aerospace will hold its 30th annual awards ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City in Arlington, VA  on Thursday night.  

The same night but a few hundred miles away in Dayton, OH, the National Museum of the Air Force will hold what promises to be a fascinating panel discussion on the 1960’s Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) space station program (cancelled before it was built).  Six of the men selected for the MOL astronaut corps will talk about the program.  Three of them transferred to NASA after MOL was cancelled, one of whom, Dick Truly, eventually became NASA Administrator.  Unfortunately, the museum says it will not webcast the event, but audio will be posted on its website a week or two later and DVDs will be available for loan at some point.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday afternoon are listed below.  Check the Events of Interest calendar on our main page for updates throughout the week.

Tuesday-Wednesday, October 20-21

  • COMSTAC, 429 L’Enfant Plaza, Washington, DC
  • Space Weather Enterprise Forum
    October 20:  902 Hart Senate Office Building
    October 21:  Department of Commerce Building auditorium, 14th Street and Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, DC

Tuesday-Thursday, October 20-22

Wednesday-Thursday, October 21-22

Thursday, October 22

Thursday-Friday, October 22-23

Last Updated: Oct 18, 2015 5:55 pm ET
No Waiver for ULA for GPS III Launch Contract

No Waiver for ULA for GPS III Launch Contract

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 14, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 14, 2015 9:38 pm ET

The Department of Defense (DOD) has decided not to issue a waiver from current legal restrictions on the number of RD-180 engines the United Launch Alliance (ULA) can obtain to launch national security satellites.  The issue arose after the Air Force issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to launch a GPS III satellite and ULA indicated it might not be able to bid on the launch because of an insufficient supply of engines for its Atlas V rocket.

In a statement emailed to SpacePolicyOnline.com, Deputy Secretary of Defense spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Courtney Hillson pointed to several restrictions, including legal constraints, that are complicating DOD’s efforts to ensure it has two sources of launch services.   The 2013 National Space Transportation Policy reasserts long standing guidance that the Secretary of Defense ensure “to the maximum extent practicable, the availability of at least two U.S. space transportation vehicle families capable of reliably launching national security payloads.”

Since 2006, ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, has been a monopoly supplier of those services with its two launch vehicle families — Atlas V and Delta IV, so-called Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs).   This year, the Air Force certified SpaceX to compete for EELV launches with its Falcon 9 rocket.   ULA contends that Delta IV, the largest in the current U.S. fleet, is too expensive to compete successfully for launch contracts, leaving it with only Atlas V as a SpaceX competitor.  If ULA cannot bid on the GPS III launch contract because it does not have sufficient RD-180 engines, SpaceX would be the only supplier, undermining the two-launcher policy, the reasoning goes.

ULA President Tory Bruno made a statement last week that ULA might not be able to bid on the GPS III contract because of the restrictions placed by Congress in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on the number of RD-180 engines it can obtain from Russia.  Congress is determined to end U.S. reliance on Russian engines as quickly as possible in the aftermath of Russia’s actions in Ukraine and instead build an alternative U.S. engine.  DOD agrees in principle, but there is substantial debate about the timing of the transition from RD-180s to a new American engine and therefore how many RD-180s are needed.  The FY2016 NDAA,
which has cleared Congress but is under a veto threat from the
President, continues restrictions, with a total of nine more engines allowed.  Both the FY2015 and FY2016 NDAAs allow the Secretary of Defense to grant a waiver from the restrictions under certain circumstances, however, raising the question as to whether such a waiver would be granted for the GPS III launch.

The answer is no, for now at least.  Hillson’s statement says DOD does “not believe any immediate action is required … although we will continue to evaluate the need…”   The Department will examine a “range of options … while developing a long term acquisition strategy.”   If necessary, “sole source allocation of some launches” will be one of those options.

GPS III is the newest generation of Global Positioning System positioning, navigation and timing satellites.  The RFP for launch of one GPS III was issued on September 30 and bids are due November 16.   It is the first of nine competitive launch services planned in the FY2016 budget for awards using FY2015-2017 funding.

Last Updated: Oct 14, 2015 9:38 pm ET
Restoring Ex-Im Bank Effort Gets a Boost As Discharge Petition Succeeds

Restoring Ex-Im Bank Effort Gets a Boost As Discharge Petition Succeeds

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 9, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 9, 2015 10:49 pm ET

Congressional efforts to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank took a step forward today when a sufficient number of House members signed a discharge position to move legislation, H.R. 597, out of the Financial Services Committee and onto the House floor for a vote.  The vote could take place as early as October 26, the day the House returns from a week-long recess.

Three Republican Congressmen, Steve Fincher (Tennessee), Adam Kinzinger (Illinois) and Chris Collins (New York) filed the discharge petition today, a procedural step to discharge a bill from the committee of jurisdiction so it can be voted on by the House when the committee itself will not do so.  Fincher is the sponsor of H.R. 597. 

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) opposes the Bank and has been using his position as chairman of the Bank’s oversight committee to prevent Fincher’s bill, the Reform Exports and Expand the American Economy Act, from moving to the House floor for a vote.  The issue also is divisive in the Senate, but that chamber has managed to pass legislation reauthorizing the bank.  The Senate-passed legislation has been blocked in the House, however, where House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) also opposes the Bank.

It is highly unusual for the members of a political party to challenge their own leaders so publicly, but they believe that a majority of the House supports the Bank and the obstacle to its reauthorization is only a small, but powerful group of their own members.

Fincher revealed his strategy to circumvent Hensarling and other Republican leaders last week and today followed through.  In a joint statement, Fincher, Kinzinger and Collins said the discharge petition is intended “to stand up to Washington’s broken system that is killing thousands of American jobs and jeopardizing thousands more. … If we do not get this done for the American people, the only thing our country will be exporting is jobs.”

Hensarling issued his own statement asserting that a majority of Republicans on his committee did not want a House floor vote on the issue.  “I respect my colleagues who believe Ex-Im is essential economic development, just as I respect those who believe Ex-Im is unfair and harmful corporate welfare.”  He warned his Republican colleagues that signing the discharge position contradicts regular order and puts Democrats in charge (because a large number of Democratic signatures are needed).  “Let Democrats own corporate welfare all by themselves.  Republicans should instead focus on reforms that will give every American opportunities to succeed” such as “fundamental tax reform, tort reform and regulatory reform.”

A discharge petition requires a majority of House members — 218 — to sign and exactly that number did so today.  According to the tally from the House Clerk’s office, 42 Republicans and 176 Democrats signed the petition.  The bill should now move to the floor for a vote.  The House is in recess next week, but a vote could come on October 26 when it returns.

The Bank has been unable to issue new loans since its authorization expired on June 30.   It finances U.S. exports abroad, including aerospace products such as communications satellites.  The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and Satellite Industry Association (SIA) both advocate for the Bank.  SIA issued a statement earlier this week calling for its reauthorization.

The Bank was created in 1934, but its charter
must be periodically reauthorized by Congress, something done routinely
over the decades.  Since last fall, however, the reauthorization has become a
matter of bitter debate. The issue splits the Republican and Democratic
parties with some members
of each insisting that the bank is essential to U.S. exports and
therefore to U.S. jobs, while others assert it is corporate welfare for a
few big companies.  Boeing is often mentioned in the latter regard. 
Advocates claim that small and medium size businesses also benefit not
only because of their own projects, but because many are suppliers to
the big companies. 

The Bank’s authorization expired on June 30 after an attempt to reauthorize it failed.  Another attempt in July met the same fate.   The Bank currently cannot make new loans, only administer those already in force.

Last Updated: Oct 09, 2015 10:49 pm ET
McCarthy Withdraws from Speaker Race, Path Forward Uncertain

McCarthy Withdraws from Speaker Race, Path Forward Uncertain

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 8, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 8, 2015 3:55 pm ET

In a stunning development today, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) pulled out of the race to replace John Boehner (R-OH) as Speaker of the House.  McCarthy was the favorite to win, but ran into opposition from the far right wing of his party.  The House Republican Conference was supposed to choose its candidate for Speaker today, but that has been indefinitely postponed.  What will happen next is unclear.

McCarthy is currently the House Majority Leader, second only to Boehner in rank.  In announcing his withdrawal from the Speaker race, he said he would retain his current position.

Boehner and McCarthy both are conservatives, but not as conservative as the Tea Party.   McCarthy needed 200 votes from his Republican colleagues to move forward as the party’s candidate for Speaker and it appeared that he easily had that many.   But he did not have the magic number of 218 — the votes needed to secure the Speakership when the full House votes.   Tea Party Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus threw their collective strength behind another candidate, Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL), making it very difficult to get 218 supporters.

In a brief press conference after he announced his decision, McCarthy said the Republican party needs to be unified and the new Speaker needs not just the 218 votes to win the election in the House, but all 247 Republican votes.  “To unite, we probably need a fresh face,” he said, a nod to critics in the far right wing of the party who claimed he would continue Boehner’s legacy.  Those critics contend that Boehner does not fight hard enough for Tea Party causes like repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) or defunding Planned Parenthood and believe that government shutdowns are a valid and useful political tool.  Repeated clashes with those critics, including over the recent Continuing Resolution (CR) that is funding the government through December 11, are credited as leading Boehner to abruptly announce his resignation last month, though Boehner insists that he was planning to step down anyway on his birthday in November.

In a statement today, Boehner said he would not leave until a new Speaker is in place.  He had been planning to leave on October 30.  The leadership election will take place “at a later date, and I’m confident we will elect a new Speaker in the coming weeks,” he said.

While McCarthy is generally well-liked by his colleagues, recent comments got him into trouble.   For example, during a television interview he used the House committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi, Libya incident as an example of effective Republican leadership that caused Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers to drop.   The comments severely undercut Republican contentions that the committee is not politically motivated.  Four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, died in the attack on an American diplomatic compound in that city.  During his press conference today, McCarthy agreed that he could have phrased his comments better and the only reason the committee exists is to “find the truth” for the families of the victims:  “I should not be a distraction from that.”

What all this means for conducting the nation’s business is not comforting.  Congress must pass a Highway Trust Fund reauthorization by October 29, raise the debt limit by November 5, and pass another bill to keep the government operating after December 11.   Boehner, President Obama, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also recently pledged to work together on a high-level budget deal that hopefully would avoid any chance of a government shutdown between now and the 2016 elections.  All three oppose using government shutdowns as political tools.  Today’s developments make the outcome of all of those issues even more murky.

Commercial space advocates were looking forward to the possibility of a McCarthy Speakership since he represents the district in California where Edwards Air Force Base and the Mojave Air & Space Port are located.  He is the chief sponsor of H.R. 2262, the Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship (SPACE) Act, which passed the House in May.

Webster and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) are the only other two announced candidates for Speaker at the moment, but everything clearly is in flux right now.

Last Updated: Oct 08, 2015 3:55 pm ET
Senate Passes Final FY2016 NDAA, Will President Veto It? – UPDATE

Senate Passes Final FY2016 NDAA, Will President Veto It? – UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 7, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 15, 2015 7:37 am ET

UPDATE, October 15, 2015:   The President has 10 days (excluding Sundays) to decide whether to sign or veto the bill after he receives it from Congress. As of today, Congress has not yet sent the bill to the President.  It is not unusual for a period of time to elapse between passage of a bill and sending it to the White House as clerks make “technical and conforming changes” to eliminate typos and ensure cross-references are correct, for example.

ORIGINAL STORY, October 7, 2015: The Senate today joined the House in passing the final version of the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).   The bill now goes to the President, but White House spokesman Josh Earnest said last week the President would veto it.

The Senate passed the compromise version by a vote of 70-27. 

  • Three Senators did not vote: presidential candidates Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Pat Roberts, R-KS. 
  • The no votes were cast by 24 Democrats, 2 Republicans (presidential candidates Ted Cruz, R-TX, and Rand Paul, R-KY) and 1 Independent (presidential candidate Bernie Sanders).
  • The yes votes were from 49 Republicans, 20 Democrats and 1 Independent.

The party split is important because the Senate could end up voting on whether to override a Presidential veto.  Two-thirds of the Senate, 67 Senators, would have to vote in favor of overriding a veto for such a vote to succeed.  Today’s vote has the requisite number, though it is far from clear that all 20 Democrats would make the more difficult political choice to overturn a veto by their own President.

The House approved the compromise 270-156.  In the House 290 votes would be needed to override a veto, so that vote hinted that a veto would be sustained.

The veto threat is because the bill uses what its detractors call a “gimmick” to provide more money for defense than is allowed under the spending caps set by the 2011 Budget Control Act.  Republicans added $38 billion for defense in an off-budget account, Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), to circumvent the caps.   Democrats also do not like the caps, but want them to be renegotiated for all spending, defense and non-defense.  President Obama, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently agreed to high-level budget talks, but Boehner’s imminent departure and the transition to a new House Speaker will complicate that effort.

The bill authorizes $604 billion for defense according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) summary (other sources use other figures).  That includes $496.4 billion for DOD’s base budget plus $89.2 billion for OCO (another $18.5 billion is for atomic energy defense activities).  The OCO funding is $38 billion above the President’s request and, as noted, that spending is off-budget and does not count against the cap.

Republicans argue that the bill does not spend any money — it is an authorization, not an appropriation — and therefore should not get caught up in the broader budget debate.  They want the bill enacted because of its policy provisions and other guidance, with the budget issues dealt with in the appropriations process.  Democrats, however, feel that enacting this bill would set a bad precedent on the funding front.

Among the policy provisions in the bill is the number of RD-180 rocket engines the United Launch Alliance (ULA) would be able to obtain for national security launches.  The bill adopts the Senate position of allowing only nine more engines, rather than the 14 ULA wanted. 

Under a block buy contract signed in December 2013, before Russia’s actions in Ukraine chilled U.S.-Russian relations, ULA planned to obtain 29 RD-180 engines from Russia for its Atlas V rockets.  Following the geopolitical downturn, Congress decided that the United States should not rely on Russian engines to launch national security satellites.  In addition, it wanted the Air Force to allow new entrants like SpaceX to compete against ULA for national security launches.  The FY2015 NDAA put restrictions on how many RD-180s ULA could obtain for national security launches (they do not affect commercial or civil government launches).  ULA had completed purchase of 15 of the 29, while payments for the other 14 were not finalized.  The Air Force determined that only five of the 14 could be obtained under the terms of the FY2015 NDAA.  The Air Force and ULA have been seeking relief from the NDAA language, but the Senate, in particular, wants to hasten the transition from Russian engines to a new U.S.-built engine as well as allow competition. The Senate version of the FY2016 NDAA allowed four more to be obtained, for the total of nine.  That position was upheld in conference.

The bill has a number of other policy provisions related to space activities.  Among them is a restriction on the use of both FY2015 and FY2016 funds for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and the launch of the last satellite in that series (DMSP-20) until the Secretary of Defense (SecDef) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) certify that the DMSP-20 launch is necessary and the most affordable solution to defense weather satellite requirements.  The bill also restricts funds for a DOD follow-on weather satellite system until the SecDef develops a plan for providing cloud characterization and theater weather imagery, briefs Congress on that plan, and the CJCS certifies the plan meets the needs of the commanders of combatant commands.  Furthermore, the bill prohibits DOD from relying on Russian or Chinese weather satellite data. 

DOD is still regrouping from the 2010 cancellation of the DOD-NOAA-NASA National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).  NPOESS was intended to merge the separate military and civil weather satellite systems, but was terminated by the White House after years of cost overruns and schedule delays.  The two sectors were directed to resume separate systems.  NOAA moved out with a successor program, the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), but DOD is still determining its path forward while relying on the legacy DMSP series.  Several DMSP satellites were purchased in a block buy and put in storage.  DMSP-20 is the last, but DOD has been ambivalent about whether it needs to be launched or not.

Last Updated: Oct 15, 2015 7:37 am ET

SPACEPOLICYONLINE.COM

About | Contact | Privacy