[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 116 (Thursday, August 1, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1437]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      H.R. 3936, THE SPACE COMMERCIALIZATION PROMOTION ACT OF 1996

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ROBERT S. WALKER

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 1, 1996

  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, almost 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson 
dispatched a government survey team led by Meriwether Lewis and William 
Clark to explore the territory between the Allegheny Mountains and the 
Pacific coast. As we all learned in school, they blazed a trail that 
made it possible for others to follow in their place and discovered 
enough about this continent to make people want to see more. Within a 
few decades of that first Government mission, private citizens began to 
follow their path west, some on horseback, some by ox-cart, and some by 
Conestoga wagon. Jefferson used the power of the Federal Government to 
blaze a path, but it was these private citizens, using their own 
resources, who truly opened the western frontier and forever changed 
the nature of the United States. For those of us who see an American 
future in space, there is a lesson in our past. Government can blaze 
new trails, but it takes private citizens, acting on their own, to open 
new frontiers. After some four decades of Government leadership in 
blazing new trails in space, it is time for Americans to open this new 
frontier. More importantly, it is time for Government to get out of the 
way.
  Today, we are introducing H.R. 3936, the ``Space Commercialization 
Promotion Act of 1996.'' This bill will help get the Government out of 
the private sector's way when it comes to developing space 
commercially. For a long time, commercial space activity was not much 
more than a dream. With the exception of long-distance satellite 
communications, the cost of doing business in space was so high that 
few in the private sector could justify the risks. That's changing. The 
private sector has built up a huge pool of talent and experience in 
operating space systems for the Federal Government. Now, they're 
applying those skills and resources to providing goods and services to 
non-government customers. At the same time, the private sector has 
demonstrated that it can successfully manage the risks of space 
activity, and that it can raise funds needed to invest in long-term 
space projects. In short, free Americans have followed the trail into 
space blazed by NASA and the Defense Department. Commercial space 
activity is now a reality. In 1995, this area of the economy generated 
some $7.5 billion in revenues. Over the last decade, commercial space 
has proven relatively recession-proof and experienced unprecedented 
growth, creating jobs, providing tax revenue, and leveraging space 
technology for the improvement of everyday life. By most accounts, this 
is just the beginning.
  The cost of technology is falling, and new Federal investments in 
reusable launch vehicles, the international space station, and 
miniaturized spacecraft components promise to make it easier and less 
costly for commercial space enterprises to succeed. In short, our 
Federal space program is continuing to blaze a trail that the spirit of 
American entrepreneurialism will follow to open the space frontier. We 
may be on the verge of creating a 21st century version of the Conestoga 
wagon. Unfortunately, our legal, policy, and regulatory processes have 
not kept up with the pace of these changes. Current laws and policies 
were designed to accommodate government activities in space, not to 
enable the entrepreneur to create new capabilities. Congress and the 
White House have worked on a bipartisan basis to change that and enable 
the commercial sector to develop the space frontier. We've had some 
success, but there is still some way to go. This bill moves us forward 
in the right direction.
  We drafted it to build on past successes in promoting space 
commercialization, and with an eye towards bipartisanship. Still, some 
things remain to be worked out between the parties in Congress, and 
between Congress and the White House. I am committed to doing that so 
that we continue moving forward together to open the frontier of 
commercial space.

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