Cruz and Rubio to chair important space and science subcommittees
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We are about to find out how conservative and pro-private enterprise senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Florida) really are. Both have been assigned as chairmen of important subcommittees managing NASA and NOAA.
Cruz will chair the subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness, which handles NASA, while Rubio will chair the subcommittee that handles NOAA.
For Cruz especially this position will challenge him to prove his tea party credentials. If he is in favor of private space as much as he claims, we will see him work to trim SLS, a pork project with no hope of achieving anything in space, and favor the commercial space effort, even though SLS brings much more pork into his state.
Please consider donating to Behind the Black, by giving either a one-time contribution or a regular subscription, as outlined in the tip jar to the right or below. Your support will allow me to continue covering science and culture as I have for the past twenty years, independent and free from any outside influence.
We are about to find out how conservative and pro-private enterprise senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Florida) really are. Both have been assigned as chairmen of important subcommittees managing NASA and NOAA.
Cruz will chair the subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness, which handles NASA, while Rubio will chair the subcommittee that handles NOAA.
For Cruz especially this position will challenge him to prove his tea party credentials. If he is in favor of private space as much as he claims, we will see him work to trim SLS, a pork project with no hope of achieving anything in space, and favor the commercial space effort, even though SLS brings much more pork into his state.
With SpaceX setting up a private launch site in Texas, it should somewhat mitigate the sloshing of pork NASA in Texas.
“With SpaceX setting up a private launch site in Texas, it should somewhat mitigate the sloshing of pork NASA in Texas.”
I don’t really like being a grump on this, but what benefits Texas does not necessarily benefit Texas politicians. True, SpaceX will eventually bring far more wealth to Texas than NASA ever could. From a politician’s point of view, however, it’s controlled by the wrong people, …i.e., not the politicians. The desires of the LBJ-wannabes in Texas is to be able to mimic LBJ’s scene from “The Right Stuff”, at the Houston Astrodome, …”Looook what Ahhh brought *you*!”
The question about Cruz and Rubio is, … Are they yet another set of LBJ-wannabes?
Trim? Ever hear “The Band Perry” “Chainsaw”? nothin left but dust and splinters and a big pile of wood to keep me warm through the winter. Sittin on a stump! I hope they can at least terminate the environmental crap. At least cauterize the wound Jim Hansen made!