[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 69 (Thursday, May 22, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1018-E1019]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              H.R. 1702, THE COMMERCIAL SPACE ACT OF 1997

                                 ______
                                 

                    HON. F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR.

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 22, 1997

  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, the United States is a country built 
by the sweat, ingenuity, successes, and failure of its people, not its 
Government. Our history was written well outside of Washington, before 
the beltway was ever constructed. The American model of progress is one 
that draws on the skills, energy, and honest work of our citizens. It 
is a model in which Government ultimately plays a subordinate role.
  Sometimes we forget that when it comes to outer space. Because the 
Government put a man on the Moon, some supporters of space development 
have thought that only Government was capable of developing this newest 
frontier. But this is the wrong mindset to have in a country that does 
not revolve around Washington and whose energies must not be trapped by 
the gravity well of Federal deficits. If we expect, or accept, that 
Government will do for us in space what the American people did for 
themselves in developing this country, then we will have lost the 
vision of our Founding Fathers. We will have ceased to be American.
  Fortunately, the can-do attitude that built this country still exists 
beyond the beltway, and even in many corners of Washington. There are 
legions of citizens who don't work for the Government or a government 
contractor, but who are opening our next frontier in outer space. 
They're using their own sweat, their own creativity, their own insight, 
and their own money to create one of the fastest growing areas of 
commercial activity in this country: commercial space. In 1995, the 
commercial space industry generated $7.5 billion in revenue. For the 
last decade, it has been one of our fastest growing industries and has 
proven relatively recession-proof.
  Today, commercial space businesses are employing thousands of people 
in various commercial activities, including communications, space 
launch, remote sensing applications, and navigation. The services are 
growing by leaps and bounds, as is U.S. employment in the industry. We 
use communication satellites launched on commercial rockets to make 
international calls for a fraction of the cost we paid decades ago. We 
have a commercial sector investing in new rockets to lower the costs of 
getting to space. We have companies investing in new space instruments 
to do the kind of research that pays immeasurable returns in the 
outyears. We have remote sensing applications companies using space 
imagery to better understand flooding and more realistically estimate 
damage.
  Tomorrow, we can look forward to an explosion in remote sensing after 
the first privately financed satellites are launched this year. We can 
look forward to an explosion in communication services, as companies 
fill low- and medium-Earth orbits with constellations of communication 
satellites. We can look forward to cheap access to space that is an 
order of magnitude less costly and more reliable than today's ballistic 
vehicles. We may even look forward to space tourism, which NASA is 
already studying in a joint venture with industry.

  The American people have spoken on this issue. We value commercial 
space. We want it to succeed. We want to participate in opening the 
space frontier. Over the past decade, the Science Committee had led the 
way under Republican and Democratic management to pass the legislation 
necessary to enable these industries to succeed, with bills ranging 
from the original Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984 to the Land 
Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992. Over the past decade, the office of 
the President--whether it was held by Republicans or Democrats--has 
developed and imposed policies intended to expand the ability of the 
commercial sector to lead this country in space. None of these 
initiatives required a new government program. Instead of spending 
money, we've saved it by expanding the technical and industrial base 
for space. We've saved money by reducing the amount of overhead that 
Government has to pay on its own. We've saved money by creating new 
jobs, new technologies, new expertise, and new capabilities that tax 
dollars didn't have to pay for. These benefits are so simple, and so 
direct, that America's elected officials have supported them regardless 
of party, whether they are in the White House or in the Congress. We've 
done, in legislation, the things that the American people have asked 
for, we're moving Government out of the way.
  But the job is not done. We've heard it from constituents and we've 
experienced it ourselves: The Federal bureaucracy does not always apply 
law or policy in the manner that

[[Page E1019]]

the Congress and the White House intend. Instead of serving the 
Nation's interest in promoting commercial space, bureaucracies serve 
their self-interest in expanding turf, accreting regulatory power, and 
stifling creativity. The bill I am introducing today reverses the 
increasing bureaucratization of commercial space and the tendency by 
the Government to grow and stifle this industry. The Commercial Space 
Act of 1997 levers the legislative and regulatory process for space 
launch, space reentry, and remote sensing back to the track it was 
meant to be on when Congress enacted and the White House approved 
commercial space legislation.
  We designed this bill around the Clinton administration's space 
policies, in particular, as they relate to remote sensing, space 
transportation, and navigation from space. We designed this bill around 
those policies because they are good policies. They strike an 
appropriate balance among our Nation's interest in promoting commercial 
space activity, creating high-tech jobs, protecting our national 
security, preserving the public safety, and increasing our technical 
competitiveness. We've insisted that Federal agencies and departments 
do the things they are obligated to do. We've strengthened some of the 
policies and set specific limits on the power and authority of the 
Federal Government. By taking these steps, we're creating a stable 
business environment in which the commercial sector can raise capital, 
develop a business plan, hire employees, and offer a space good or 
service with the expectation that the Government won't keep changing 
the rules.
  The bill does several things, but let me limit my comments to the 
highlights.
  First, we direct NASA to study the prospects for commercial 
development, augmentation, or servicing of the international space 
station, including the funds that we might save through greater 
commercial involvement.
  Second, we amend the Commercial Space Launch Act to give the 
commercial sector the legal ability to reenter Earth's atmosphere and 
return space payloads to Earth. This is a vital portion of the bill, as 
a handful of companies are building commercial reusable launch vehicles 
which will need to reenter Earth's atmosphere and land after delivering 
their payloads to orbit. NASA's own X-33 program is leading technology 
in this direction, so Congress and the White House must act soon to 
make commercial reentry from space legal.
  Third, the bill confirms and supports the President's policies on the 
global positioning system [GPS]. GPS is a space-based system that 
people can use to determine their precise position on Earth. Although 
it is a military system, the Reagan administration decided a decade ago 
that its signal would be available to civilian users. Since then, the 
civil and commercial uses of GPS have exploded. According to a RAND 
Corp. study, the global market for nonmilitary GPS goods and services 
could reach $8.47 billion by the year 2000. Other governments are 
considering entering this area of space activity. Because our national 
security and economic interests are better served if the U.S. system 
becomes the world standard, the bill encourages the President to enter 
into regional agreements with foreign governments to secure the U.S. 
GPS as the world's standard. This encouragement will strengthen the 
administration's negotiating position by presenting a united front 
overseas without tying its hands to reach the best agreement.
  Fourth, the bill streamlines the process of obtaining a license to 
operate a commercial remote sensing satellite. The Government has 
issued seven licenses to the industry to image the Earth from space, 
enabling our commercial sector to compete with a host of corporate, 
government, and quasi-private entities from other countries seeking to 
dominate global remote sensing markets. U.S. leadership of this 
industry is crucial if we are to ensure that its benefits accrue to 
Americans and that the global industry remains under the control of the 
United States. If we allow foreign entities to lead the industry, then 
we will lose insight into and control over the use of high-resolution 
remote sensing imagery during times of crisis. This bill lays the 
foundation to ensure that American industry can set the pace of 
technical change in the industry so that we do not cede control over it 
to another country.
  Fifth, the bill requires the Government to procure commercial space 
transportation services, instead of buying rockets. When the aviation 
industry began in this country, the Government procured air mail 
services from the commercial sector, allowing the market to determine 
the pace of innovation in the industry. The results of this decision 
made America's aeronautics industry the world's leader in just a few 
decades. We need to do the same thing for space and bring market 
mechanisms into the process of launching Government payloads. The bill 
does make appropriate exceptions, including giving the Defense 
Department considerable discretion in areas of national security.
  This bill is based on legislation, H.R. 3936, that the House passed 
under suspension last year. That bill had broad bipartisan support and 
we worked very closely with the administration to ensure that it was 
consistent with President Clinton's objectives. After all, the 
President's policies help achieve our goals. This is one area where 
there is very little political disagreement. In the end, a Republican 
Congress and a Democratic White House can look back on a spirit of 
cooperation among the Nation's elected officials last year. The bill 
didn't become law because it was sent to the Senate in the waning days 
of the 104th Congress. By sending this bill to the Senate during the 
first session of the 105th Congress, we will be giving the Senators 
enough time to review and pass the bill. I hope that we can maintain 
the same level of cooperation and compromise as we experienced last 
year. Just as we worked on a bipartisan basis in the House last year, 
and just as we worked with the administration to move the bill forward, 
I am looking forward to working with the bill's supporters in the 
Senate this Congress.
  As important as this bill is, it is not the last and final word on 
commercial space development or Government's role in it. It takes 
several very solid, but incremental steps down the path the American 
people have said they want to go. The changes we are making here are 
vital to providing the stable business environment that any young and 
growing industry needs to expand. To paraphrase Neil Armstrong as he 
leapt to the lunar surface 28 years ago, these small steps add up to 
one giant leap.

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