What's Happening in Space Policy June 9-13, 2014

Here is our list of upcoming space policy related events for the week of June 9-13, 2014 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session.

During the Week

Tomorrow (Monday) the House is scheduled to take up the 2014 NASA Authorization Act (H.R. 4412), which was reported (H. Rept. 113- 470) from the House Science, Space and Technology Committee on Friday according to the Library of Congress THOMAS website, but there was no press release and the report is not posted on THOMAS or the committee’s website yet.  It is one of several bills listed for action on the “suspension calendar” where a simple two-thirds aye vote is needed for passage.  Bills considered under suspension of the rules typically are non-controversial and hence expected to win approval easily.  The House SS&T Committee approved the bill on a bipartisan basis on April 29.  The funding recommendations are only for FY2014, which is already underway so really are not that important.  It’s the policy aspects of the bill that are meaningful.

Also tomorrow, the House is scheduled to begin consideration of the FY2015 Transportation-HUD appropriations bill that includes the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST).  The House Appropriations Committee recommended a small cut to the office’s FY2015 budget request – from $16.605 million to $16.000 million, but the accompanying report also has some interesting language about the use of NASA’s Space Launch System for commercial purposes and directing AST to “leverage” its licensing authority to “encourage private sector investment in systems by ensuring that commercial activities can be conducted on a non-interference basis.”

Those are just two events coming up this week.  The following is the list of what we know about as of Sunday evening.

Monday, June 9

• House consideration of the 2014 NASA Authorization Act, The Capitol, time TBD (watch on C-SPAN)
• House consideration of the FY2015 Transportation-HUD appropriations bill (includes FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation), The Capitol, time TBD (watch on C-SPAN)

Tuesday, June 10

• House Appropriations Full Committee markup FY2015 Defense Appropriations bill, 2359 Rayburn, 9:30 am ET
• WSBR Luncheon Featuring Kymeta’s Vern Fotheringham, University Club, Washington, DC, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET
• NASA-NIH Briefing on Living in Space with NASA Astronaut Mike Hopkins, NIH, Bethesda, MD, 11:45 am ET (watch on NASA TV)
• Interagency Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee (AAAC), teleconference, 12:00-4:00 pm ET

Wednesday, June 11

• STA luncheon panel discussion on human spaceflight, Bullfeathers Restaurant, Capitol Hill, 12:30-2:00 pm ET (note different time and location than usual)