House lawmakers have called on the Senate to speed up the confirmation of Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Oklahoma) for the NASA administrator role in light of Robert Lightfoot’s decision to retire as the agency’s acting chief by the end of April.
Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), chairman of the House space subcommittee, and several fellow lawmakers sent a joint letter Monday to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) to express support for Bridenstine’s nomination.
The legislators told the Senate leaders that NASA needs to have a Senate-confirmed administrator in place to decide on several space exploration programs such as the future of the International Space Station, development of space architecture to support lunar and Mars missions and the launch of the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft.
The lawmakers also cited Bridenstine’s leadership experience and technical capacity as well as his naval aviation career and contributions to the American Space Commerce Free Enterprise Act and the 2017 NASA Transition Authorization Act as a House space subpanel member.