Bart Gordon

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to an outstanding member of our committee from Michigan, Mr. Peters.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. We have a number of other Members who wanted to speak on this bill, because it is a good bill and they participated, but I do not see them at this time. I don't think it would be respectful to the minority to hold them up with just a filibuster by me. I yield to the gentleman to see whether he has anyone else who would like to speak.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This amendment includes a number of good ideas from my colleagues who today were not fortunate enough to be on our committee, so I am happy to support them all, and I appreciate their contribution to making this a better bill. The amendment also incorporates important clarifying language that the our staff worked out with our committee colleagues and partner, Dr. Bartlett, to ensure that the road map committee only has the power to provide guidance on technological goals and activities and cannot recommend or select specific recipients of funds. This amendment provides further protection against any conflicts of interest on the road map committee, and I strongly urge my colleagues to support it. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentlewoman from San Diego, Mrs. Davis, for as much time as she may consume.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Ranking Member Hall, to respond to your question, the manager's amendment was a compilation of a variety of amendments that had been presented to the Rules Committee. In an effort to expedite the process here today, there was no mention of opposition to these. The minority staff had access to these amendments at the same time that we had them. We heard no opposition, so we tried to batch them together so that the process could move forward more expeditiously. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim time in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. I yield the gentlewoman from Arizona 3 minutes.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. I yield the gentlewoman 1 additional minute.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Dr. Broun is a valued member of our committee and has well deserved credentials for looking after the taxpayers' dollars. But I really think in this case it is being penny wise and pound foolish. In the short time that I have, I want to make one quick point. The United States invented the technology for the solar industry now. Yet China is the largest manufacturer, exporter and deployer of solar in the world right now. The United States simply cannot compete with them in terms of wages. We do not want to work for $2 or $3 an hour. We do not want to have our kids to do that. So we have to be ahead of them in technology. For that reason, we are going to have to invest in that technology so that we can make our solar panels and our solar industry be such that we are not only manufacturing it, but we are also putting forth the best technology. That is why this investment is important. That is why this is an investment in our future and our kids. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Thank you, Mr. Marshall. I want to let you know that the author of the study that you put forth testified before our committee. It was made part of the record. And you are absolutely right, the sun doesn't shine 24 hours a day, so we need to also find ways to be able to have the storage. I think it is a two-fer with this proposal, and we gladly accept your amendment.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. As my friend knows, even in Florida the sun doesn't shine 24 hours a day, so to make the most use of solar technology, storage is very important. I think there will be a combination there. That storage benefit, the technology, will also be used for wind power and other types of renewables. So I think you have an excellent amendment. It makes a good bill even better, and I appreciate your addition to this bill.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. I thank the gentlelady from Nevada. Certainly, as we have had various hearings in the Science and Technology Committee, we've determined very easily that there is a nexus between water and energy. In most cases, it takes water to make energy and it takes energy to move water, and certainly in the area of large plants with solar thermal, there is a lot of use of water in that regard. To make those plants more efficient will help us to conserve water and help us with that nexus. And again, I thank the gentlelady for this good amendment to this good bill.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the bill, H.R. 3585

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I rise to sadly announce a retirement. No, it's not mine; it's much worse. The chief of staff of the Science and Technology Committee, Chuck Atkins, is going to be retiring at the end of this year. As all of us know, if we are going to run our business well and be successful, we have to have good friends that will give us advice. We have got to have an outstanding staff that will help us execute our work. Chuck has been both of those for me. Chuck has served his country with distinction in a number of ways. From the jungles of Vietnam as a decorated marine, including a Purple Heart, to the Halls of Congress, Chuck has been a patriot. He first came to Washington in 1993 with our former colleague Scotty Baesler, from Kentucky. Then in 1998, Chuck took on the chore of being the chief of staff for my personal office. Later, when I became ranking member of the Science and Technology Committee, Chuck took on those additional responsibilities as the staff director there. In 2007, when I had the good fortune of you allowing me to serve you as the chairman of the Science and Technology Committee, Chuck then became the staff director for the committee. Quite frankly, he has been the key to our committee's success, skillfully putting together an outstanding staff, mentoring them, bringing them along to really perform to their maximum potential, and doing all of that, I am very pleased, in a bipartisan manner. I will tell you one quick story there. When I first became elected, as you know, the majority staff has two-thirds to one-third, and so there was a big switch. Chuck went to the minority staff and said they could be the first ones to interview for our new expanded staff. After interviewing them, because he wanted to get the very best that he could, our first five hires were from the Republican staff. All the other Republican staff members who didn't have a job, he said they could stay and help us work until they could find another job. I think because of that, over the last 2\1/2\ years, we have been so successful in being able to pass 82 bipartisan bills and resolutions. Twenty-seven of those have been signed into law and many more are in the pipeline to be signed. Chuck, thank you for a job well done. I hope that Chuck's wife, Merry, is listening. If so, Merry, thank you for putting up with Chuck for those late nights, and thank you for, I am sure, having to put up with the frustration that he would bring home from having to work with me.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Certainly. I yield to my friend and ranking member of the Science and Technology Committee, Mr. Hall.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3819) to extend the commercial space transportation liability regime.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3819, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in strong support of H.R. 3819, a bill to extend the current commercial space transportation liability regime. First established by Congress as part of the Commercial Space Launch Act Amendments of 1988, the commercial space transportation risk- sharing liability and insurance regime has been extended four times since its original enactment. The current extension expires on December 31 of this year, and it is therefore important for Congress to act now so that there is sufficient time for this legislation to make its way to the President before the current authority expires. The liability and insurance regime that would be extended by this legislation is three-tiered and was originally modeled on the Price- Anderson Act that governs liability risk-sharing under the nuclear power industry. Under the regime, commercial space launch providers licensed by the U.S. Government are required to provide third-party liability insurance to compensate for maximum probable losses from third-party claims up to a level of $500 million. For claims above those maximum probable losses, the U.S. Government may pay successful liability claims up to $1.5 billion in 1989 dollars above the insurance level, subject to funds being appropriated by Congress for that purpose. Finally, for successful claims above those amounts, the licensee assumes responsibility for payment. To date, not a single dollar has had to be appropriated by the U.S. Government to pay third-party claims, but the existence of the liability risk-sharing regime has enabled the development and sustainment of a commercial space launch industry in the U.S., including the emergence of several new companies in recent years. In addition, the regime has allowed U.S. companies to remain competitive with their international counterparts, almost all of whose governments provide similar or more generous risk-sharing liability regimes to that of the U.S. I should note that, in the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004, we directed that there be an independent review of the current risk-sharing regime to see whether or not it was working and whether it needed to be continued or passed, and that review was completed in 2006. I think a number of the review's findings bear mentioning; and, therefore, I will quote a couple of those. First of all: ``Private liability insurance capacity remains fragile and far below what would be needed to compensate for government indemnification if it were eliminated.'' Secondly: ``Foreign competition has increased, and all credible international competitors have risk-sharing schemes rivaling or surpassing that of the U.S.'' Finally: ``The current regime has become the industry standard. Its elimination could send the wrong signal to international customers and competitors and would be a negative factor in the competition for global launch business.'' In sum, the commercial space transportation liability and insurance regime has worked. It has not cost the American taxpayers a single dollar in claims payments to date. It has strengthened U.S. competitiveness in commercial space launch, and it is not a blank check, since any potential claims payments must be subject to prior congressional appropriation. The bill before us today extends the liability risk-sharing regime for a period of 3 years. As Members may know, there currently is debate on the potential role to be played by would-be commercial providers of crew transportation to the international space station. At present, no such commercial crew transportation systems exist. Before a meaningful decision can be made on the potential role of commercially provided crew transportation in meeting governmental needs, important policy and safety issues will have to be addressed. The most optimistic projections of the would-be commercial providers are that it will be at least 3 years before such crew transportation systems could be developed, and many independent observers argue it will be longer than that. Therefore, the duration of the extension contained in this bill is limited so as not to prejudge the outcome of the deliberations on those policy and safety issues or to take a position on the role to be played by commercial crew transportation systems. So, Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to thank Ranking Member Ralph Hall, Space and Aeronautics Chairwoman Gabrielle Giffords, and subcommittee Ranking Member Pete Olson for cosponsoring this important legislation. I want to extend my thanks to Dick Obermann, who is the staff director for our subcommittee, and his very good team. This is a good bipartisan bill, and I urge Members to support it. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 793) supporting the goals and ideals of National Chemistry Week.