Lamar Smith: “I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, although I don't oppose the amendment. The Acting CHAIR. Without…”

First of all, I would like to thank the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson) for those nice comments. And she is right, this was a very bipartisan effort and a very bipartisan bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the…

I support the continuation of JWST to mission completion and appreciate Administrator Bridenstine's efforts to improve contractor performance.

My hope is that every member of the committee will sponsor it or at least a majority.

It is truly staggering to behold how this space telescope's cost and schedule projections went from costing the same as a space shuttle mission--around half-a-billion dollars with an original launch date in 2007--to now becoming an…