President Trump signs NASA advisory bill, says it’s “about jobs”
On deep space: "That sounds exciting. But first we want to fix our highways."
President Donald Trump speaks after signing the NASA transition authorization act in the Oval Office of the White House.
Jim Lo Scalzo-Pool/Getty Images
Prior to Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump had made
only a few passing references to space during the first two months of
his administration. That changed during a signing ceremony for S.422,
NASA's first authorization act in seven years. "Today, we're taking the
initial steps toward a bold and bright new future for American
spaceflight," the president said.
For all of the pomp associated with its passage, the
authorization act seems like a relatively inconsequential document. It
keeps NASA more or less on the same course it has been on, providing
funding for large programs like the Space Launch System rocket and the
Orion spacecraft, but not pairing the money with a clear mandate (and
the extra funding) needed to use these vehicles for a meaningful exploration program.
What was notable about Tuesday's bill signing ceremony,
however, was the glimpse it provided into Trump's view of the space
program. Twice, during the short ceremony, he mentioned jobs. In reading
from prepared remarks, he noted that the bill addresses NASA's human
exploration, space science, and technology goals. "We support jobs," the
president added. "It's about jobs also."
Later, in thanking Congress for passing the authorization
bill, he praised senators' and representatives' states like Texas,
Florida, and Alabama that house key NASA centers. "They've done a great
service for the country and for their communities," Trump said of those
assembled. "It's a lot of jobs, and these are great jobs," he added.
Fix our (terrestrial) highways
One of the biggest criticisms
of NASA in recent decades is that the agency has become a "jobs
program," namely that Congress is more interested in preserving civil
servant and contractor jobs in representatives' home states and
districts than in advancing the nation's exploration goals. This seemed
particularly clear with the Space Launch System rocket,
which was designed by Congress, in part, to keep major aerospace
contractors working on rocket building after the space shuttle program
ended.
During the signing ceremony, Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and
Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) seemed to affirm this. "This means a great deal to
the nation's space program, and it means a great deal to the state of
Texas," Cruz said. At that point, Rubio joked that the bill meant
Florida would continue to do more work on space than Texas.
Part of the role of a president, when it comes to US
spaceflight policy, is to stand above parochial Congressional politics
in order to safeguard the nation's overall interests in space. But Trump
gave little indication that he's interested in doing this—or that he's
at all interested in space. After Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) said the
bill would allow Trump to become the "father of the interplanetary
highway system" because of the large rocket NASA is building, the
president didn't seem impressed about the potential of sending humans to
Mars or robotic probes to Europa.
"Well, that sounds exciting," Trump countered. "But first we want to fix our highways. We're going to fix our highways."
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