Sen. Brownback to Chair Senate Space Subcommittee
In a move that surpised many, Sen. George Allen (R-VA) has decided not to seek the chairmanship of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee’s Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space. Instead, Kansas Senator Sam Brownback will chair the subcommittee.
“Space Policy: Ensuring Continued U.S. Leadership in the Aerospace Industry: Senator Brownback embraces the recommendations in the Final Report of the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry. The U.S. aerospace industry has consolidated to just a few interested players since 1980 and the industry is confronted with an aging science, engineering, and manufacturing workforce.”
On the Senate side, Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) and Sen. George Allen (R-VA) are both rumored to be seeking chairmanship of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee’s Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space. Allen is a relative newcomer to the Senate whose interest in this committee has focused mostly on aeronautics (Langley Research Center’s core mission) while Burns is a seasoned veteran with a broader, more long-standing interest in all of what NASA does. Burns also has a friend and ally in Kathie Olsen (a former staffer as an NSF detailee and former NASA Chief Scientist), who now works in the White House as Associate Director for Science at OSTP.
