Lamar Smith: “This amendment seeks to strike and replace the entire underlying bill with Senate legislation which differs with the…”

“This amendment seeks to strike and replace the entire underlying bill with Senate legislation which differs with the House bill in many respects. The Senate bill, S. 1297, is a work product of the Senate. It has not been negotiated with any Member of this Chamber. In fact, the Senate just marked up the bill yesterday. This amendment abdicates the House's legislative responsibilities to the Senate. The SPACE Act paves the way for the next generation of explorers and innovators. This amendment prevents the House from providing any direction for the future of space exploration. We must consider what we will forfeit if we accept this amendment. The amendment significantly shortens the extension of the regulatory learning period and the extension of the indemnification regime. These changes reduce certainty in the commercial launch market and could threaten the jobs of thousands of Americans. These are hard- working men and women who depend on the extension of these laws for their jobs. They count on us to provide some certainty for their industry. This amendment strikes all of the commonsense transparency provisions in the SPACE Act and significantly shortens the extension of the learning period. This extension is essential to the health of the commercial space industry. Also, this amendment includes a significant reduction to the regulatory flexibility provided in the underlying bill.…”