House SS&T Committee Adds New Subcommittee, Names Subcommittee Chairs
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the new chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology (HSS&T) Committee, revealed today that under his leadership the committee will have six instead of five subcommittees. He also named the Representatives who will serve as chair and vice-chair of the subcommittees, as well as vice-chair of the full committee.
Smith named Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) as vice-chair of the full committee. Rohrabacher is a strong advocate for the space program, particularly commercial space, and competed against Smith to serve as chairman. Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), who had to relinquish the chairmanship of the full committee because of House Republican term limits, will be “chairman emeritus.”
The Energy and Environment subcommittee was split into two. Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), who chaired the subcommittee in the last Congress, now will chair the Environment subcommittee while Rep. Cynthia Loomis (R-WY) chairs the Energy Subcommittee.
Rep. Steve Palazzo (R-MS) will continue to chair the Space and Aeronautics subcommittee and Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) will remain as chair of the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee.
The other two subcommittees are Technology and Research. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) replaces Rep. Ben Quayle (R-AZ) as chair of Technology (Quayle was defeated in a Republican primary last year caused by redistricting). Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN) will chair Research instead of Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL). Brooks will be the vice-chair of the Space and Aeronautics subcommittee. In a statement, Brooks said he was “thrilled” to serve as vice-chair of a subcommittee that is so important “to America and the Marshall Space Flight Center.”
The complete list of full and subcommittee Republican chairs and vice chairs are in the committee’s press release.
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) was reelected as the top Democrat (“Ranking Member”) on the full committee in December. Democratic subcommittee assignments have not been announced yet.
User Comments
SpacePolicyOnline.com has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate. We do not post comments that include links to other websites since we have no control over that content nor can we verify the security of such links.