[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 18, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2243-S2244]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Nomination of James Bridenstine

  Mr. President, while I am here, I want to briefly comment on another 
nominee who is being considered today

[[Page S2244]]

by the Senate, and that is Representative Bridenstine. Since he was 
nominated to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration, I have been expressing very strong and very serious 
concerns, and I wanted to come to the floor today to once again call on 
my colleagues to reject this nomination and to call on President Trump 
to send us a nominee who is worthy of the great legacy and incredible 
potential of our civil space program.
  My deep concerns with Representative Bridenstine fall into two 
categories. The first is his fitness for leadership of an agency that 
is seeped in science, given his clear lack of understanding of basic 
scientific issues, and the second is his ability to lead an inclusive 
and forward-looking agency, given his history of hateful, demeaning, 
and divisive comments and positions.
  First, let me talk about his fitness to lead this agency. NASA is an 
agency that is committed to science, exploration, technology, and 
innovation. Over the years, it has employed some of the most brilliant 
scientists in the world focused on the most cutting-edge research, with 
an eye toward exploring new frontiers, expanding human knowledge, and 
increasing our understanding of this world and beyond. It was this 
commitment to science and innovation that allowed NASA to catch up with 
the Russians and launch a satellite into space. It was this openness to 
innovation that allowed NASA to cast humanity's eyes with greater 
clarity than ever before far beyond our solar system with the launch of 
the Hubble telescope. It was this focus on innovation and exploration 
that allowed NASA to put a man on the Moon--12 of them, in fact. The 
list goes on.
  Without a commitment to science, NASA would not have succeeded, and 
if that doesn't continue, it will fail. That is why I am very concerned 
that Representative Bridenstine not only is not committed to science, 
he flat-out rejects clear scientific consensus. As I have said before, 
in a June 2013 speech he delivered on the floor of the House of 
Representatives, Representative Bridenstine repeated the debunked claim 
that ``global temperatures stopped rising 10 years ago,'' and a March 
2013 tweet from him failed to recognize the difference between local 
weather conditions and the broader planetary climate. That is a basic 
scientific concept.
  Those are just a couple of examples. This may be just one issue, but 
it is very telling. I believe that Representative Bridenstine's failure 
to accept fundamental scientific truths about Earth's climate will make 
him an ill-suited and dangerous choice to lead an agency with science 
at its core.
  Second is my concern about his ability to lead an inclusive and 
forward-looking agency, given his history of hateful, demeaning, and 
divisive comments and positions. I have noted this before, but it bears 
repeating.
  Representative Bridenstine has openly expressed his opposition to the 
rights of LGBTQ individuals, of immigrants, and of women. In May 2013, 
he gave a speech and suggested that LGBTQ people were immoral. He said: 
``Some of us in America still believe in the concept of sexual 
morality.'' In response to the Supreme Court's marriage equality ruling 
in 2013, he stated that he would keep fighting for ``traditional 
marriage.'' Representative Bridenstine has a history of supporting 
anti-Muslim groups and has consistently defended a number of President 
Trump's discriminatory policies on immigration, including the Muslim 
travel ban. He even defended President Trump's comments about sexually 
assaulting women, saying they were ``locker room talk.'' He has gone on 
shows and stages to stand with bigots and racists--not to debate them 
but to agree with them. And that list goes on.
  Representative Bridenstine is not someone who should be put in charge 
of NASA's diverse workforce. In 2016, NASA announced that for the very 
first time, fully half of their new astronaut trainees were women. I 
mentioned before that NASA has sent 12 men to the Moon. Well, we may be 
on track for a woman to be the first American to plant her feet on 
Mars.
  At a moment in our history where we want every student in this 
country--every one of them--to dream big dreams and to strive for high 
goals and explore careers in science, technology, engineering, and 
math, regardless of where they are from or whom they love or what color 
their skin is, sending someone like Representative Bridenstine to lead 
our Nation's space agency would send the absolute wrong signal and move 
our country in the absolute wrong direction. So I will be voting 
against that nomination, and I will be strongly encouraging our 
colleagues to do so as well.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  (The remarks of Mr. Merkley pertaining to the introduction of S. 2708 
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. MERKLEY. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.