Washington Updates

The Space Foundation held a briefing for the 2014 release of its annual publication The Space Report. The June 5 briefing was held in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., and was attended by more than 50 people representing U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate staff from various committees that handle space.Also…

On June 5, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up its version of the FY 2015 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations bill. The bill includes funding for both NASA and NOAA programs. In mid-June, the Senate began work to vote on the FY 2015 CJS Appropriations bill by the full Senate. However the bill, combined with…

On May 29, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the FY 2015 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations bill. The bill includes funding for NASA and NOAA programs. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science is scheduled to mark up its version of the bill on June 3. The Space Foundation has updated its…

On May 13, the State Department and Commerce Department published their interim final export control rules on spacecraft and related components that will allow for the transfer of commercial communication satellites and some remote sensing satellites from the more restrictive U.S. Munitions List (USML) to the Commerce Control List (CCL). The new regulations will go…

On May 22, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by a vote of 325-98. The bill provides policy guidance to the Department of Defense on strategic areas such as space and missile defense. The bill also authorizes funding to be appropriated for specific defense space programs. On…

On April 29, the House Science, Space, & Technology Committee marked up the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2014, H.R. 4412. The bill would authorize Fiscal Year 2014 appropriation levels for NASA at the $17.6 billion level agreed to in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, Public Law 113-76, which was signed into…