What's Happening in Space Policy November 17-21, 2014

Here is our list of space policy events in the coming week, November 17-21, 2014, and any insights we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session.

During the Week

Congress is in session this week, but anything they are working on regarding space policy and funding is taking place behind the scenes.  One set of negotiations is over a compromise version of a FY2015 omnibus appropriations bill that is expected to combine all 12 regular appropriations bill into one and fund the government through the rest of FY2015 (September 30, 2015).   Word has it the bill will be publicly released the week of December 8, just in time to get it passed – hopefully – by midnight December 11 when the current Continuing Resolution (CR) expires. 

It’s not a sure bet, though. House Appropriations Committee chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) warned this past week that if President Obama issues an Executive Order on immigration (i.e., takes action without waiting for Congress to act) before a deal is done on appropriations, there will be an “explosion.”   He’s worried appropriations will get caught in the crossfire.  If a new appropriations bill is not enacted by December 11, the government will shut down like it did in October 2013.  Some Tea Party Republicans consider government shutdowns a useful tactic and might try to cause another one in reaction to any Presidential action on immigration.  Even absent that, some have been arguing in favor of passing just another CR to fund the government for the first few weeks of the New Year when Republicans will control both the House and Senate and have more power to decide funding matters.  (We talked about the road ahead for appropriations in an earlier article.)

Negotiations also are underway on a FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  It is the only annual authorization bill that Congress routinely passes, even if that happens at the very last minute.  The House passed its version in May, and the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) approved a version in June, but it has not gone to the Senate floor for debate yet.  They will probably skip that step and just bring the compromise to the floor.  Congress hasn’t missed passing an NDAA for more than 50 years no matter how high the political tensions.  Senate John McCain (R-AZ), who likely will chair SASC in the next Congress, included a provision in the SASC-version of the bill prohibiting DOD from contracting with space launch services providers that use Russian suppliers — aimed at the United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) use of Russian RD-180 engines for the Atlas V.   ULA President Tory Bruno said last week that congressional staffers now understand the “very harmful” unintended consequences of that language and are revising it as part of the NDAA negotiations.

Like appropriations, the NDAA probably won’t become public for a while yet.   Congress will be in recess next week for Thanksgiving, then return for two more weeks to finish what they can for the 113th Congress.  

Off the Hill, three NASA Advisory Council committees or subcommittees will meet this week in person or virtually (Planetary Protection on Monday and Tuesday, Institutional on Wednesday and Thursday, and Planetary Science on Friday).   The NSF-NASA-DOE Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee meets at NSF on Monday and Tuesday.   Alan Ladwig and Courtney Stadd’s ISU-DC Space Café discussion is on Tuesday evening (rescheduled from last Tuesday, which was Veterans Day and HBO’s Concert for Valor essentially took over DC).   And the Secure World Foundation and American Astronautical Society will host a briefing on space weather on the Senate side of the Capitol Visitor Center at lunchtime on Thursday.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday afternoon are listed below.

Monday-Tuesday, November 17-18

• Interagency Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee (AAAC), National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA
• NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Planetary Protection Subcommittee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC

Tuesday, November 18

• ISU-DC Space Café Featuring Alan Ladwig and Courtney Stadd (rescheduled from November 11), The Science Club, 1136 19th St., NW, Washington, DC, 7:00 pm ET

Tuesday-Thursday, November 18-20

• Orbital Debris Education & Research Workshop (CODER), University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Tuesday-Friday, November 18-21

• Reinventing Space (British Interplanetary Society), London, England

Wednesday-Thursday, November 19-20

• NAC Institutional Committee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC

Thursday, November 20

• AIAA-NCS Luncheon Featuring Lt. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, Lockheed Martin Global Vision Center, 2121 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET
• Beyond the Flare:  An SWF-AAS Briefing on Space Weather, SVC-201 Capitol Visitor Center (Capitol Hill), Washington, DC, 12:00-1:30 pm ET

Friday, November 21

• NAC Planetary Science Subcommittee, virtual, 12:00-3:00 pm ET
• Heinlein Prize for In Space Demonstration of New Technology that can Benefit Commercial Activities to Daniel O’Shaughnessy, National Air & Space Museum, Washington, DC, 7:00 pm ET