Sheila Jackson Lee: “Thank you so very much for the opportunity to address this House on an important issue that will be confronting this…”

“Thank you so very much for the opportunity to address this House on an important issue that will be confronting this Congress today, and that is the recommitment of the American people to a dream and a challenge of John F. Kennedy. Today we will reauthorize the NASA reauthorization bill, if you will, or the authorization bill, to be able to commit America's future to science and technology. Although I would have advocated stronger for the work of the House and Chairman Gordon, I believe that we have the opportunity now to save jobs and to promote science and technology and to provide for the creation of the heavy lift launch vehicle and stop the termination of the workforce, technical workforce and contractor jobs that are all across America from Mississippi to Houston, Texas. In addition, this funding will support the development of commercial crew services. Although I am concerned about the heavy emphasis on commercialization to the exclusion, sometimes, of human space exploration, I want to see jobs being created and jobs being saved. And so I will rise to the floor today thanking the House Science Committee and saying that NASA needs to be reauthorized and jobs need to be saved.”