Floor Statements

Mr. President, I have had the honor for almost 50 years now of being active in aviation. I have had occasion to fly almost every kind of airplane that is up there, and it is an experience that not many people get a chance to have in their normal lives. Something is on the horizon right now that is an opportunity for people to do, things that they never dreamed possible; that is, to feel and to experience the thrill of flight into space.

Yesterday marked a very significant day in history. Today, the SpaceShipOne, designed by Burt Rutan, who happens to be a friend of mine, and piloted by Mike Melvill, who is a 62-year-old pilot, made the first flight of the two required flights to claim the $10 million Ansari X-Prize for carrying three people, or an equivalent weight, to space twice within 2 weeks.

The brilliant concept of the Ansari X Prize exemplifies the excellence that can be achieved through an incentivized approach rather than a governmental mandate of punitive approach. To incentivize and safely get government out of the way is the philosophy of the Commercial Space

Launch Amendments Act of 2004, H.R. 3752. Tempt not only the pocketbook but also the vision of anyone who has the creativity and imagination to pursue it.

Space programs originally sprang to life in the face of international competition. The realities of the cold war stimulated creativity, and innovation in a dramatic new way. This government and NASA responded with successes that dazzled even the most optimistic dreamer.

Since then, space advances have gone through the same channels with the same motivation, but without the urgency and vision of ``The Space Race.''

The Ansari X Prize is a refreshing new appeal to anyone who has the faith and vision to respond. It is an appeal that looks for the likes of Charles Lindberg--people who will think within the restraints of practicality but without the restraints of a rutted concept of how it is supposed to be done.

I am grateful that this competition is doing what it was designed to do: spur a budding industry in commercial human space flight. Today's flight paves the way for making space flight available to the public, a long-time dream of many. Just imagine, ordinary people will be able to experience the thrill of flying in space. But despite the existing technology to make this dream possible, there are some obstacles.

One such barrier stems from this body. The text of my bill, S. 2772, the Space CHASE Act, should pass the Senate right now as an amendment to H.R. 3752. H.R. 3752 readily passed the House of Representatives in March by a vote of 402 to 1. The House of Representatives and the Federal Aviation Administration have agreed to the improvements embodied in my Space CHASE Act, so it is better than the bill that passed the House by 402 to 1. However, some Democrats are blocking this legislation that is vital to the fledgling commercial space industry.

The legislation would define FAA licensing rules for suborbital flights, as well as require passengers to sign waivers of legal liability. Without such a waiver, the investors fear excessive lawsuits by trial lawyers. Without investors, many of these fledgling entrepreneurial space companies will not be able to get off the ground, both literally and figuratively.

Unfortunately, some Democrats want to cater to the trial lawyers who want the ability to file frivolous lawsuits and collect millions of dollars should something go wrong on a flight. Perhaps even more frustrating is that they will not explain exactly why they are objecting.

Aviation Week is a magazine I have subscribed to for many years. It is a publication I have grown to respect. I have read it with frequency over the years. It has an excellent article in its September 27, 2004, edition. It states:

One or more Democrats on the Senate Commerce Committee are

holding up this bill, and, maddeningly, no one will say

publicly what they object to.

They are holding it up, and they won't say why they are holding it up.

If they do not pass it, part of their legacy may be that of

having strangled an infant industry in the crib.

I compliment the chairman of the committee, Senator McCain. He has been very helpful. But there are some Democrats we can't identify, as the Aviation Week publication states.

I ask unanimous consent that these four pages of Aviation Week be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.

Mr. President, I also want to call to the attention of the Senate a letter from nine discrete enterprises that are on the cutting edge of this burgeoning industry. They all endorse the text of my Space CHASE Act and call for the immediate passage of my legislation as a substitute language for a thus-perfected H.R. 3752.

I commend these entrepreneurs by name: Jeff Greason, XCOR Aerospace; John Carmack, Armadilla Aerospace; Elon Musk, Space X; George French, Rocketplane, Ltd.; Eric Anderson, Space Adventures; Honorable Andrea Seastrand, California Space Authority; Bill Khourie, Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority; Brian Chase, Space Foundation; Greg Allison, Chairman, Executive Committee, National Space Society.

I ask unanimous consent that their letter also be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.

Mr. President, it is a shame when we pander to trial lawyers and allow them to kill an industry before it is able to get off the ground.

I urge these Democrats to stop the obstruction and pass this important legislation that will let the American people have the freedom to experience space, the final frontier.

Exhibit 1

[From Aviation Week & Space Technology, September, 2004]

Commercial Space--At a Tipping Point

``I have such faith in the private sector that I've dreamed

of the day that government monopoly would be replaced by

commercialization or at least some form of partnership.''

Those words, on the prospects of private manned spacecraft

and industrial space stations, were penned by President

Ronald Reagan in a letter to Aviation Week & Space

Technology's publisher in March 1985.

It has taken two decades, but now there are tangible

indications that such a dream could indeed become a reality.

Many of them are detailed in this week's cover story (see p.

54) and in the lead article of our World News and Analysis

section (see p. 26) But one of the most visible indications

is yet to come.

This week, Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne is set to make

the first of the two required flights to claim the $10

million Ansari X-Prize far hauling three people (or an

equivalent mass) to the edge of space twice within two weeks.

The prize could be won as early as next week. Designer Burt

Rutan and/or the team's backer, Microsoft billionaire Paul

Allen, may even climb in for the ride.

Should Rutan's crew stumble, there are others fast on their

heels. A half-dozen or more serious competitors have spent

many times the prize money in developing their vehicles. That

is exactly what Peter Diamandis had in mind when he organized

the X-Prize Foundation a decade ago to seed a private human

spaceflight industry, and our hat is off to him.

Dating even further back, there were entrepreneurs saying

that making human spaceflight both reliable and affordable

was possible with existing technology. The problems, they

said, were not technical but financial and political, even

psychological.

Unintentionally, NASA made it hard for these pioneers to

attract capital. First, the agency was a competitor because

it operated its own expensive vehicle, the space shuttle.

Then, when NASA tried to develop a new, cheaper-to-operate

reusable vehicle, it opted to include challenging cutting-

edge technologies, making program execution difficult and

expensive. As one might expect, when entrepreneurs went

looking on Wall Street for money for their simpler projects,

they were rebuffed by potential investors who believed human

spaceflight was inherently costly, dangerous and prone to

failure.

On top of that was a chicken-and-egg problem of economics.

To drastically lower the costs of spaceflight, a vehicle

needs to fly frequently. But to find enough customers to fly

frequently, one needs to have low prices, and that requires

low costs. The solution seemed to lie in new markets, and the

one many believed could jump-start the private sector was

``space tourism.''

When the Russians began selling spare seats on Soyuz

spacecraft to dot.com zillionaires and rock stars, it became

harder to posit the economic impossibility of space tourism.

But it was the first suborbital flight of SpaceShipOne to 100

km. altitude, back in June, that removed the giggle factor

from discussions of space tourism. Pictures of pilot Mike

Melvill sitting atop his privately financed craft and waving

victoriously made the front pages of newspapers aroung the

world.

Meanwhile, things had changed in the government. Many in

Congress ``got religion'' on commercial space (more about

that later). NASA began working seriously with startups such

as Bigelow Aerospace on manned spacecraft. And Adminstrator

Sean O'Keefe bought into the prize paradigm, seeing to it

that the agency itself would sponsor some of these fledgling

enterprises.

This week, Robert T. Bigelow will make some news on that

front. He plans to announce a $50-million ``America's Space

Prize,'' an orbital analog to the X-Prize. To be sure, taking

humans into orbit and bringing them back safely is orders of

magnitude more difficult than taking them on a suborbital

ride, but don't dismiss the salutary effects of $50 million.

Prizes have an important and glorious place in the history

of flight, dating to the days of the Wrights, Curtiss and

Santos-Dumont. The revolution in public understanding of the

practicality and possibilities of aviation that Charles A.

Lindbergh wrought in laying claim to the $25,000 Orteig Prize

in 1927 is widely seen as having been a necessary ingredient

for the growth of an airline industry.

We night now be poised at a tipping point in public

understanding of the commercial possibilities of human

spaceflight. But if the X -Prize is to be remembered as

something more than a stunt, there must be a legal

framework in place for market-based spaceflight to grow.

There is a measure pending in Congress that would go a long

way to providing that framework--the Commercial Space Launch

Amendments Act of 2004 (H.R. 3752)--but it has been stalled

in the Senate for months. It would spell but FAA licensing

rules for suborbital flights. Most critically, the bill would

make it clear that paying passengers are ``spaceflight

participants'' who understand the risks. And it would require

them to sign waivers of legal liability. Without this

provision, the prospect of relatives of passengers suing and

collecting millions in damages following an accident would

likely scare off investors. And without outside investors,

many of today's space entrepreneurs will go out of business

in the not-too-distant future.

This bill is not some wild-eyed libertarian scheme. It

passed the House in March by a vote of 402-1. Science

Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert of New York, perhaps the

``greenest'' Republican in the House, even went along with a

provision that would exempt these launchers from some

environmental regulations. Admitting he first thought the

legislation ``flighty,'' Boehlert says he came to see it as

essential: ``This is about a lot more than `joy rides' in

space, although there's nothing wrong with such an

enterprise. This is about the future of the U.S. aerospace

industry.''

One or more Democrats on the Senate Commerce Committee are

holding up this bill, and, maddeningly, no one will say

publicly what they object to. Democrats say they want the job

growth the Bush administration has failed to deliver. If they

do, they ought to pass this bill. If they do not pass it,

part of their legacy may be that of having strangled an

infant industry in the crib.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on the Executive Calendar, and for the information of Members, these are uniformed military promotions that were reported today by the Armed Services Committee: 867 through 900, and all nominations on the Secretary's desk in the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy.

I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. President, I understand there are two bills at the desk, and I ask for their first reading, en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask for its second reading and, in order to place the bills on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request, en bloc.

Mr. President, I understand that there is a bill at the desk and due for its second reading.

In order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to further proceedings.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 502, H.R. 2771.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record, without further intervening or action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 670, S. 2495.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed; the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 673, H.R. 2408.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed; the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 4278, the assistive technology bill, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 501.

I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statement relating to the matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 2714 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Leahy-Hatch amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Friday, October 1. I further ask unanimous consent that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved, and the Senate then resume consideration of S. 2845, the intelligence reform bill.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be vitiated.

I ask unanimous consent the Rules Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 360, and it be placed directly on the calendar.

Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, tomorrow the Senate will resume consideration of the intelligence reform bill. As announced earlier, there will be no rollcall votes tomorrow. Senators will be here to offer and debate amendments, and any votes ordered on the amendments will be stacked to occur Monday afternoon. It is the intention of the leader to begin those rollcall votes on amendments as early as 3 p.m. on Monday, and Senators should make the appropriate scheduling considerations.

The majority leader will have more to say on this week's schedule tomorrow.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be recognized for 2 minutes as if in morning business.

Mr. President, I think we are all familiar with what the Commodity Check-Off Program is. It is a program that is voluntary in all commodities. It allows people to donate to the USDA a small percentage of profits in order to promote their product. This is something that has worked especially well, and something we are having a little problem with now because the USDA says if they change this amount, they do not have the authority to do it.

I will introduce a bill that will give them that authority. It is supported by all farm organizations, by the administration, by the Farm Bureau, by the Farmers Union. There is no opposition. I anticipate that it will be taken up on the floor, and I will introduce it in time.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.