Bill Nelson

It is hard to believe that it has been four years since the worst man-made environmental disaster in our Nation's history.

It is hard to believe that it has been 4 years since a disaster of major proportions.

We need to ensure that our coastal communities are prepared for the next storm.

We need to make sure that the administration is prioritizing large-scale ecosystem protection across science and research programs.

I say to my colleagues that this is a very substantive discussion. This Senator is enormously impressed with the quality of the commentary from the two who have preceded me and those who will follow. We are addressing the treatment of this…

If we do not act, those benefits are going to be cut.

Just to put it into perspective for me, there are 650,000 Floridians receiving disability benefits.

Well, what do you think, Ms. LaCanfora, about the strict eligibility standards?

Just to remind the Senate, Senator Rubio and I have the nonpartisan process of the Judicial Nomination Commission for our Federal district judges. Robin Rosenberg is a product of that. So I commend to the Senate this bipartisan nominee…

45 years ago yesterday the entire world was riveted to their television sets--often a television image that was grainy, black and white, and flickering--as we heard the report, ``The eagle has landed.'' Then we saw Neil Armstrong come down…

In an abundance of fairness, I want to get some counterpoint between Mr. Kimmelman and Mr. Cohen.

I want to make sure that we are certifying new entrants that are capable of launching the payloads that we are launching.

Plus, once you have the new engine in the new rocket, then you have to do payload integration, and that takes time and money in the new vehicle.

Of course, were the worst to happen, that it cut off today, in addition to the Delta heavy to launch the heavy payloads, assuming that SpaceX is certified by the end of the year, you would have that capability of launching medium-sized…

My critics wish that I had gone on a one-way trip.

It was back a decade or so ago that we said we were going to start the process of the replacement of the RD-180.

How can we ensure that if we start this new program which, as I mentioned at the outset, some of us on the SASC have put $100 million in this coming fiscal year to start it--how can we be assured that this is not going to get canceled in a…

In other words, sequester is going to have an impact on assured U.S. access to space.

What opportunities are specifically tied to taking a whole-of-government approach?

SLS is designed for the purpose of enabling human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit in support of national objectives and policy.

I think we need to be aware of that, that these decisions are long-ranging, have large impacts, and the unintended consequences that can be had with any of these decisions we need to think carefully through.

Therefore, it is appropriate that we are holding this hearing to discuss reliable domestic space access.

The good news is that it seems like President Putin is not quite as aggressive as he first appeared to be.

Be prepared to answer the question, if you got more money, could you accelerate that to 2016.

The tensions with Russia as a result of the Ukraine crisis have forced us to rethink part of the relationships.