What's Happening in Space Policy June 23-27, 2014

Here is our list of space policy events coming up in the next week, June 23-27, 2014, and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session.

During the Week

The House has S. 1681, the Senate-passed version of the 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act, on the suspension calendar for this week.  The Senate Intelligence Committee confidently predicted that the House would accept its version of the bill and that is looking likely.  Bills considered under suspension of the rules typically are non-controversial and the sponsors expect to achieve a two-thirds aye vote easily.  The Senate bill differs in many ways from the House version.  For example, it is only for FY2014 while the House-passed bill was for FY2014 and FY2015.   If the Senate bill is enacted, it gives Congress another opportunity to weigh in on intelligence issues legislatively in FY2015, which begins October 1.  The Senate bill also requires Senate confirmation of the Director and Inspector General of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which designs, builds and operates the nation’s signals and imagery reconnaissance satellites (the bill also requires Senate confirmation of the Director and Inspector General of the National Security Agency).   No  other space-related bills are on the House agenda as of today (Sunday) and the Senate has only consideration of various nominations on its public schedule.  The fate of the appropriations bills that include NASA, NOAA, and the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation remains in limbo in the Senate.

The House Science, Space and Technology (SS&T) Committee will hold a hearing on the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) new report on the future of human space exploration on Wednesday. The co-chairs of the NRC committee, Mitch Daniels and Jonathan Lunine, will testify.  So far the report has gotten positive responses from Congress via press releases, but this hearing is an opportunity for Members to get their viewpoints on the record and ask questions that highlight their areas of interest.  The NRC committee’s lack of enthusiasm for the Asteroid Redirect Mission, support for human missions back to the lunar surface, and identification of humans on Mars as the “horizon goal” are all in line with the views of most Members of the House SS&T Committee.  One point on which there may be disagreement is the NRC committee’s endorsement of space cooperation with China, which Congress has prohibited by law.

Those and other space policy-related events for the upcoming week that we know about as of Sunday afternoon are listed below.

Monday, June 23

• NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Human Exploration and Operations Committee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, 10:30 am -12:00 pm and 2:00-5:00 pm ET
• Space Policy and History Forum Featuring David Grinspoon, National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC, 4:00 pm ET

Monday-Tuesday, June 23-24

• National Research Council Committee on Survey of Surveys: Lessons Learned from the Decadal Survey Process, Keck Center, 500 5th Street, NW, Washington, DC

Tuesday, June 24

• MSBR Luncheon Featuring DOD’s Doug Loverro, Martin’s Crosswinds, Greenbelt, MD, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET

Wednesday, June 25

• House SS&T Committee Hearing on NRC’s New Report on Future of Human Space Exploration, 2318 Rayburn, 10:00 am ET

Thursday, June 26

• John H. Glenn Lecture in Space History Featuring James McDivitt, National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC, 8:00 pm ET (will be webcast)