Political Quotes

“I would like to thank the majority leader for introducing this bill H.R. 6007, and for his efforts on behalf of the entire commercial space industry. Due to his efforts, we got a great bill in the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act last year. Nine months into the bill, it has had a great impact on this industry. Space represents what is exceptional about the United States of America. We are characterized by a spirit of adventure, risk taking, entrepreneurialism, and a spirit that has revolutionized access and operations in space, to the point where our very way of life now depends on space. We have transformed how we communicate, how we navigate, how we produce food and energy, how we conduct banking, predict weather, perform disaster relief, provide security, and so much more. But to be able to access space, we need robust infrastructure. Spaceports--and I would mention that we have a licensed spaceport in the great State of Oklahoma--are a key cog in that infrastructure, facilitating launches and reentries, not only by government agencies but also now by private companies. In order to ensure these entities can operate efficiently and facilitate space launch and reentry, government policy needs to treat them as it treats other key pieces of transportation infrastructure. This legislation, which I am proud to cosponsor, simply gives the FAA the ability to analyze the navigable airspace around spaceports, an authority it currently lacks.…”