Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 682, the Launch Communications Act. In central Florida, the busiest spaceport in the world is right in our backyard in Cape Canaveral. We had a record year of 57 launches from the cape in 2022, and we are expecting a total of 87 launches or more this year, so quite often we see 2 or more in a single week. When we see bad weather, as you can imagine, some of these launches start to stack up, which is why having a lengthy FCC license process for each launch can be cumbersome and costly. That is why I introduced this bill with my colleague and fellow Floridian, Dr. Dunn, to streamline the process and ensure our spaceports continue to be the most efficient in the world. The Launch Communications Act allocates certain spectrum for commercial launches and reentries. It streamlines the process for authorization to said spectrum while also keeping it available to other users and ensuring coordination to prevent any interference with government systems. As we continue to break launch records year after year, we need to streamline these processes to continue to ensure that America remains the world leader in space. This bill does exactly that. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee, Chair Latta, Chair McMorris Rodgers, Ranking Member Pallone, Ranking Member Matsui, and, of course, my fellow Floridian, Dr. Dunn, for passing this bill out of committee unanimously. Mr.…”