Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague. First, section 702 references how NASA should select multi-institution consortia and university affiliated research centers, inserting Congress into an agency-specific process that is broadly governed by existing authorities in title 5 and title 41 of the U.S. Code, which make such selections based on technical merit alone and not political influence. We are deeply concerned about the committee's explicit delineation of this authority for NASA, given that such authority already exists and NASA currently does not have any university affiliated research centers so designated. We believe that such language should never become law as it implies that Congress is trying to force NASA to establish such a center or consortia even though NASA does not see the need for one. Second, sections 818 and 819 call for short order reports from NASA on creating a Space Resources Institute and Center for Space Weather Technology that could allow NASA to bypass extensive consultation with the scientific and aerospace communities and without the benefit of independent peer review under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences. These are the concerns my colleague and I have.”