Democratic News

President Trump’s nominee to serve as Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Dr. Arvind Raman, faced a bipartisan grilling from members of the Commerce Committee, including Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), over actions by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to undermine the CHIPS and Science Act and Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program that helps small and medium-sized manufacturers across the country adopt advanced technologies. The United States lost 108,000 manufacturing jobs in the first year of President Trump’s second term.

Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation unanimously passed the NASA Authorization Act of 2026, led by U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Committee, Ted Cruz, (R-Texas), Chairman of the Committee, and Committee members Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.). The bipartisan legislation authorizes $24.7 billion for Fiscal Year 2026, and $25.3 billion for Fiscal Year 2027 for NASA, a 2.5 percent increase over the previous year, and provides the clear guidance needed to maintain American leadership in aeronautics, space exploration, Earth and space science, and space technology development.

Today, the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation passed the Tsunami Warning, Research and Education Act of 2026 that would reauthorize the Tsunami Warning and Education Act through 2030. Led by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Committee, Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the bill passed as part of Sen. Cantwell’s Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthorization Act of 2026.

U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Todd Young (R-Ind.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) today reintroduced the bipartisan Future of AI Innovation Act, which lays the foundation to maintain U.S. leadership in the global race to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies. The legislation promotes strong partnerships between government, business, civil society and academia to advance AI research. It authorizes the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to promote the development of voluntary standards and creates testbeds with national labs to accelerate groundbreaking AI innovation for the benefit of future economic growth and national security.