Political Quotes

“I probably will not use all of the 5 minutes, but I wanted to be here today, Mr. Speaker, to support H.R. 3547, the Space Launch Liability Indemnification Extension Act, of which I am an original cosponsor. I want to thank both our chairmen--the chairman of our subcommittee, Mr. Palazzo, and Chairman Smith--and, of course, our ranking Democrat on the committee, Ms. Johnson, because we would not have been able to get to this point if we hadn't been able collectively, across the aisle, to work on a 1-year extension that would be provided for in Commercial Space Launch Act Amendments of 1988 that established the government-private risk-sharing regime for third-party liability. Should a launch accident occur, the effects that involve the public and property on the ground in this indemnification provision would cover such losses. It turns out that commercial space launch capacity in the industry is really at a critical point in our Nation's development of our space infrastructure. Both the Federal and commercial customers rely on commercial space launch, the industry for safe, reliable, and effective service, and delivering payloads in orbit and providing related space transportation services. Just recently, in September of this year, a commercial space launch provider successfully lofted a cargo capsule into space to carry supplies to the international space station.…”