What's Happening In Space Policy August 3-31, 2015

It’s summer vacation time so our list of upcoming space policy related events is rather sparse.  Therefore we are listing everything we know about for the entire month of August rather than just one week.  The Senate will be in session this week before it heads out on its summer recess; the House left town last week.  Both will return on September 8. 

During the Month

The Senate still has one more week to go before it recesses for its summer break.  It plans to focus on efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, which is not a space policy issue per se, but there is worry that it could derail the Continuing Resolution (CR) that Congress will need to pass before October 1 to  keep the government operating.  There is no expectation that any of the 12 regular appropriations bills will clear Congress by then, so either a CR must be enacted or there will be a government shutdown.  You can check your favorite news sources to get up to date on the Planned Parenthood controversy, but the bottom line for the space program is that Republicans have seized on the issue to prevent any government funds from going to the non-profit organization.  Democrats have said they will try to block any such effort and the White House said the President would veto any legislation to defund it.  If the CR includes such language, and the President vetoes it … well, that means no funding for DOD, NASA, or NOAA either.  It’s a high stakes game and impossible to guess the outcome.

Apart from that, there is an outside chance the Senate could pass S. 1297, the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act.  It was reported from the Senate Commerce Committee on July 22. The bill is thought to be non-controversial, but its lead sponsor is Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) who recently took to the floor of the Senate in front of the C-SPAN cameras to castigate the Senate Majority Leader, calling him a liar.  The Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), controls what bills are brought up so he might not be inclined to bring up one sponsored by Cruz, but then again, it is always difficult to predict what will happen in Congress. (Even fellow Republicans felt Cruz went too far, especially since there’s a
Senate rule that one Senator will not impugn the integrity of another
Senator on the Senate floor.  They showed their displeasure this week, denying Cruz a routine request for a “sufficient second” for a roll call vote on a procedural matter.  Some also disputed Cruz’s account of what McConnell had said. These sorts of intra-party disputes are usually kept private.)

For those who are curious, by the way, the House and Senate may meet in “pro forma” sessions during August (or anytime), but no legislative activity takes place at those times.  The idea is to prevent the President from making “recess appointments,” which he is allowed to do when Congress is in recess for more than three days.  So the House and Senate schedule pro forma sessions where only one Member or Senator must walk into the chamber and gavel it into and out of session so it is not legally in recess for an extended period.

Not on our list of events because space policy is unlikely to arise as an issue, but perhaps of interest anyway, is Thursday’s Fox News Republican presidential debate.  If you’ve lost count, there are 17 Republicans running for President.  Those that rank in the top 10 based on an average of 5 national polls on Tuesday (Fox has not said which national polls it will use) will be on stage together at 9:00 pm ET.  The others will have a separate opportunity earlier in the evening (5:00 pm ET). Check your local TV listings for what channel it will be on in your area.

The rest of month is relatively quiet.  The events we know about as of Sunday (August 2) morning are listed below.

Monday-Tuesday, August 3-4

• NOAA Science Advisory Board, La Jolla, CA

Wednesday-Thursday, August 5-6

• Meeting on Global Coordination of Heliophysics and Astrophysics (as part of IAU meeting), Honolulu, HI

Thursday, August 6

• Orbital ATK Announces Second Quarter Financial Results, virtual, 9:00 am EDT (webcast)

Sunday, August 16

• JAXA Launch of HTV5 Cargo Mission to ISS, Tanegashima, Japan, 22:01 Japan Standard Time (9:01 am EDT)

Monday-Wednesday, August 24-26

• NASA Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG), Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD

Tuesday, August 25

• MSBR Luncheon Featuring Rep. Donna Edwards, Martin’s Crosswinds, Greenbelt, MD, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm EDT

Friday, August 28

• NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Earth Science Subcommittee, virtual, 2:00-4:30 pm EDT

Monday-Wednesday, August 31-September 2

• Space 2015 (AIAA), Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, CA