Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3752) to promote the development of the emerging commercial human space flight industry, to extend the liability indemnification regime for the commercial space transportation industry, to authorize appropriations for the Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation, and for other purposes.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, let me begin by thanking the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), the chairman of our Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, for introducing this measure, for continually pressing for its passage, and for working so cooperatively with us while crafting it. He has single-handedly made this a priority issue for the entire committee.

I have to admit, when the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) first came forward with the idea for this bill, I thought the notion was, well, a little flighty. But through our hearings and other work on this bill, I have come to see this as one of the most important measures this committee will move this year. Let me tell you why. This is about a lot more than joyrides in space, although there is nothing wrong with such an enterprise. This is about the future of the U.S. aerospace industry.

As in most areas of American enterprise, the greatest innovations in aerospace are most likely to come from small entrepreneurs. This is true whether we are talking about launching humans or cargo. The goal of this bill is to promote robust experimentation, to make sure that entrepreneurs and inventors have the incentives and the capabilities they need to pursue their ideas. That is important to our Nation's future.

Those entrepreneurs, the kinds of folks who are inventing new rockets for cargo and who are endowing and competing for the X Prize, are doing our Nation a tremendous service; and, I should add, they also seem to be enjoying themselves. That is a winning combination.

So what do these people need from us? The simplistic answer is they just need government to get out of the way. But, as usual, the truth is a little more complex. The innovators need and are seeking a government regulatory regime that will provide predictability, a regime that can offer stability and support to help them attract private capital; and the general public needs such a regime as well to ensure that the public at large faces no undo health or safety risk from any flights. In short, this industry requires government regulation, but not so much regulation as to stifle it.

This bill, which has been painstakingly negotiated with all interested parties, strikes the proper balance. It

recognizes the industry's need to experiment. Indeed, it creates a new regulatory instrument to encourage that experimentation, while recognizing the obligation to protect the crew and the general public.

I should add, since I know that the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Flake) will bring this issue up a little later, that this regulation can be provided without any increase in the budget of the Federal Aviation Administration. That bears repeating: without any increase in the budget of the Federal Aviation Administration.

We will be accepting the amendment of the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Flake). I would note that the Congressional Budget Office reached the same conclusion, that no additional funding is needed to carry out this bill.

I should also add that under this bill the government will go beyond creating a stable environment for these entrepreneurs. The bill extends the existing provision of law under which the government indemnifies the companies undertaking these flights for set amounts and purposes. In keeping with past congressional practice, we are extending indemnification temporarily for 3 years, in this case; and we are also asking for a study to determine how to end indemnification without harming the industry. I do not think the government should be taking on the risk of this enterprise forever.

So this is a very fair, balanced, carefully crafted bill that will help a budding industry and protect the public. The result, over time, should be the development of new ideas and ways to take humans into space on sub-orbital rockets.

We are still a long way off from making rockets common carriers like airplanes, but we need to promote the experimental work. I want to thank the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for working with us on the jurisdictional issues that the bill presented. I also want to thank the staff who worked on this bill, particularly one of our new staffers, Tim Hughes, who has become an expert in this area of law. I wish to thank both sides of the aisle, Democrats under the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Gordon), my fellow Republicans under me, for working so cooperatively for so long to bring forward a product that results in encouragement for a budding industry and gives optimism as we look to the future. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, the driver behind this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas) for the purposes of a colloquy.

Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for his kind words. He is correct in stating that this legislation seeks to put in place sufficient Federal regulation to protect the general public while also promoting this important new industry.

I thank the gentleman for that question.

This is a very important issue on which we have worked extensively with industry and the executive branch in developing this bill. As currently drafted, H.R. 3752 incorporates definitions promulgated by the Federal Aviation Administration to distinguish between suborbital rockets, which are under the jurisdiction of FAA's Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transport, and other aerospace vehicles which are regulated by another part of the FAA. That said, I would be happy to keep working with the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas) and other interested parties as the bill moves forward to revisit the important issue of how best to regulate hybrid vehicles that are engaged in commercial human space flight.

Mr. Chairman, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I rise to support my amendment. I am offering this amendment on behalf of myself and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Gordon). This is a straightforward managers' amendment.

The amendment makes technical changes to the bill. It also creates one inadvertent but substantive drafting error. Correcting the bill will make it clear that the Federal Aviation Administration retains its current authority to waive the requirements to obtain a license, while also making it clear that that authority does not extend to flights that carry humans.

Finally, the amendment removes the requirement that crews sign reciprocal waivers of liability. This amendment is not controversial. It is bipartisan, and I urge its adoption.

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to accept the amendment. We accept the rationale and the intent and we are pleased to accept this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding me the customary 30 minutes and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize Chairman Boehlert, Ranking Member Gordon and the entire Science Committee's hard work in crafting this legislation. While I am disappointed that the Committee on Rules did not grant an open rule today, it is refreshing to actually consider a truly bipartisan bill in this body.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3752 will promote the development of the emerging commercial human space flight, extend the government indemnification until 2007, and allow the FAA to issue experimental launch permits. Mr. Speaker, the idea of space travel is extremely exciting and it holds a special place in the heart of Massachusetts' Third Congressional District. My hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, is the birthplace of Dr. Robert Goddard, the father of modern rocketry. At the age of 17, Dr. Goddard had a vision of space travel while in his family's backyard that would remain with him the rest of his life. In his autobiography, Goddard wrote:

``On the afternoon of October 19, 1899, I climbed a tall cherry tree. It was one of the quiet, colorful afternoons of sheer beauty which we have in October in New England, and as I looked towards the fields at the east, I imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the possibility of ascending to Mars. I was a different boy when I descended from the tree from when I ascended for existence at last seemed very purposive.''

Mr. Speaker, in 1926 Dr. Goddard, as Director of the physical laboratories at Clark University, went on to launch the first liquid propellant rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts, which was the catalyst for our modern space industry. Throughout his lifetime, Dr. Goddard was at the forefront of science and space research. As a Professor at Clark University and Princeton University, Dr. Goddard devoted his life to the growth of rockets and his research has had lasting effects on our space industry.

During World War II, Dr. Goddard was Director of Research for the Navy Department's Bureau of Aeronautics. In that position he developed jet-assisted takeoff and variable-thrust liquid propellant rockets at Annapolis, Maryland and Roswell, New Mexico. Following his service as a researcher to our Nation in World War II, Dr. Goddard served a year as Director of the American Rocket Society before passing away on August 10, 1945 in Baltimore, Maryland.

As is the case with innovation, many people did not see the potential that Dr. Goddard's research would have on future space travel. Indeed, a New York Times editorial in January 1920 stated that Dr. Goddard's assertions of future space travel lacked the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools. Dr. Goddard countered by saying that every vision is a joke until the first man accomplishes it. Once realized, it becomes commonplace. Of course, 49 years later on the eve of man's first walk on the Moon in 1969, the New York Times printed a correction to their editorial by stating that it is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere. The Times regrets the error. That was in their editorial.

Since the start of the space program, we have seen Americans walk on the Moon, we have started to construct an international space station, and we currently have unmanned rovers exploring the surface of Mars. And now, with the passage of this legislation, commercial space travel is one step closer to reality.

Mr. Speaker, while I am disappointed that the Committee on Rules would refer a restrictive rule for this bipartisan bill, I keep hoping that one of these days the rhetoric of my friends on the majority side will be actually matched by their actions, but I guess we are going to have to wait for that day. But having said that, I will not oppose the rule and I support the underlying legislation.

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

Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert) for all his help and energy and creativity and that of his staff as well. We have worked long and hard on this and I am very happy that it is coming to fruition today. I would also like to thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who have been working on this with us in a great spirit of bipartisanship and love of country and love of technology and innovation.

Mr. Chairman, the Commercial Space Launch Amendment Act of 2004 represents the fruit of a long and thorough analysis of the commercial human space flight industry beginning in July with a joint House-Senate hearing on this subject, a Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics markup, a policy roundtable with experts in the commercial space transportation industry late last year, and a full committee markup early in February. So we have been through the rings on this particular piece of legislation.

The bill before us today, H.R. 3752, creates a clear and balanced regulatory regime to govern the emerging commercial human space flight industry. It is my sincere hope that this bill will encourage individuals like Burt Rutan and others to continue leading the way in pushing the boundaries of technology and safety by building and flight testing hardware, something NASA has yet to do.

This fine piece of legislation carries forward my goal of promoting this new industry and cutting back bureaucratic red tape while protecting public health and safety.

H.R. 3752 eliminates confusion as to who regulates reusable suborbital rockets by directing a regulatory regime for licensing commercial human space flight activities to be established under the jurisdiction of the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation.

The bill makes it easier for entrepreneurs to launch new types of reusable suborbital rockets by directing the Secretary of Transportation to create experimental flight permits, which are separate and distinct from existing commercial launch licenses.

H.R. 3752 also extends the existing commercial space transportation indemnification regime by 3 years, as the chairman noted, through December 31, 2007, and calls for a study in determining how best to gradually eliminate the indemnification regime for the commercial space transportation industry by 2008. Overall, the bill will help get this new industry on its way and on its feet and give the existing space launch industry more time to grow.

Let me note that in the past we have seen spin-offs from the Department of Defense helping people in the private sector and the commercial sector do their business, whether it is GPS satellites or whatever type of technology that was developed over with the DOD in order to help our national security meet those needs. We have seen those spin-offs come to the private sector and help us commercially. I think today that this piece of legislation will launch a new industry where we will see the commercial industry developing technologies that will have spin-offs for the Department of Defense. The spin-offs are going to start going in the other direction where our great space entrepreneurs like Rutan and others are going to be developing aerospace technologies that can be put to use in our national security while they are developing them originally for use in the commercial and private sector.

It is this type of cooperation that should be going on and we should be

encouraging it in both directions. That is what this bill does. I would like to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert) again and the industry, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, the ranking member, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Gordon) and the FAA for their help in developing the bill. Their tremendous efforts will ensure that the regulatory barriers do not hinder the promises and potential of commercial human space flight and all the potential it holds for our Nation.

I urge my colleagues to vote for H.R. 3752.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, I want to speak in support of H.R. 3752, the Commercial Space Launch Amendment Act of 2004. The gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) is to be congratulated for his efforts on this bill and I am pleased to be an original cosponsor.

The main provisions of the bill have already been described so I will not take time to discuss them further at this point. Instead, I would just like to make the following observations:

First, the basic purpose of the bill is to establish a framework for regulating the commercial human space flight industry. We have ample testimony that such a framework is needed if the companies are to make their plans and attract needed capital. I believe that this bill addresses that need in a practical and balanced manner.

Second, we are talking about an emerging industry. No one has yet flown a private passenger-carrying space vehicle, and we are far from knowing how the market for such a launch service will develop. As a result, we may need to revisit some of the issues covered by this legislation after we have accumulated some actual experience with commercial operations. Yet that reality should not prevent us from taking the steps that are included in this bill to provide at least an initial regulatory framework.

Third, while I believe this is a good bill, I think there are still some areas that could be improved. The gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert) and I intend to offer a joint managers' amendment that will deal with several of them, and I hope that Members will join us in supporting that amendment.

Other issues will warrant further discussion over the coming weeks. For example, I do not believe that the testimony and studies received by the Committee on Science over the last several years agree with the bill's bias towards eliminating the existing liability indemnification regime, and I hope that we will revisit that issue when we are in conference on this legislation with the Senate.

Mr. Chairman, H.R. 3752 was reported out of the Committee on Science on a bipartisan basis. I urge my colleagues to support my bill when it comes up for a vote.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment.

The gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert) has already described the amendment so I will not repeat his explanation. I will simply say that I believe our amendment makes a good bill better. It makes certain necessary technical corrections. However, more importantly, it ensures that employee rights will be protected in the case of an accident or other major incident, and it provides a sunset on the bill's treatment of the passengers of these new commercial spacecraft looking towards the day when such flights will become relatively routine.

Mr. Chairman, I believe that our amendment is noncontroversial, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 546 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

(Mr. REYNOLDS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 546 is a modified open rule that provides for consideration of H.R. 3752, the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004. The rule provides 1 hour of general debate and makes in order under the 5-minute rule any amendments preprinted in the Congressional Record. The rule also provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions.

Mr. Speaker, recent discoveries in the space program have reinvigorated our Nation's enthusiasm for space travel and discovery and, while in its infancy, commercial human space flight is becoming a new and exciting industry. As this concept continues to mature, there is hope of regular and safe round trips into space for paying customers. Eventually these trips will also serve as an important tool for investigation into commercial remote sensing and microgravity and atmospheric research. Currently there is no clear, defined structure to preside over this emerging new concept. Failing to provide a precise and consistent form of management will negatively affect the industry's ability to plan for its future, compete with international providers and attract financing from investors.

The underlying bill creates a process for all commercial space flight and grants authority over commercial human space flight to the FAA's Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation. This will clearly define the structure to allow flights of suborbital rockets carrying human beings. Centrally locating this within the Administrator's office will also expedite the issuance of permits and licenses for commercial space travel. The Administrator will also be charged with drafting a policy for crews relating to training and medical condition prior to space travel.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3752 is a noncontroversial bill that moved easily through the committee process and is necessary to support this emerging space industry. I urge my colleagues to support this rule and the underlying legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

The previous question was ordered.