Hearing Summary – Innovation in America: Opportunities and Obstacles
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a Competitiveness, Innovation, and Export Promotion Subcommittee hearing today titled Innovation in America: Opportunities and Obstacles.
Chairman Rockefeller Statement on Senate Confirmation of Nominees to Key Science, Transportation and Safety Posts
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, issued the following statement today after the full Senate confirmed sixty-four Obama administration nominees, the largest package to move through the Senate chamber this year.
Chairman Rockefeller Remarks on Innovation in America: Opportunities and Obstacles
WASHINGTON, D.C.—American democracy, American financial markets, and American education have all made our nation and our economy the most innovative in the world.
Hutchison Strongly Supports John Glenn Statement on NASA
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Ranking Member on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today said she strongly supports former Ohio Senator and astronaut John Glenn’s statement highlighting the risks of relying only on the Russian Soyuz vehicles for American access to the International Space Station. Senator Hutchison has consistently stated that any compromise between the Constellation program and the President’s budget proposal should include a short-term extension of the shuttle program in order to protect the nation’s $100 billion investment in the space station. She noted that additional shuttle flights would sustain and utilize the space station to conduct ground-breaking research and help maintain the primary justification for continuing America’s human space flight capability.
Commerce Committee Republicans Oppose Inclusion of Expanded FTC Authority in Financial Services Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Republican members of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee today released a letter to the conferees of the financial services reform legislation recently approved by the Senate, outlining their opposition to the inclusion of expanded Federal Trade Commission (FTC) authority in the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010. The letter was signed by every Republican member of the Committee, including Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), and Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), John Ensign (R-Nev.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), John Thune (R-S.D.), George S. LeMieux (R-Fla.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), David Vitter (R-La.), Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), and Mike Johanns (R-Neb.). The FTC expansions were not included in the Senate-passed version of the bill, but were in the legislation approved by the House, and are scheduled to be debated by the conferees.
Bicameral Bipartisan Telecommunications Update Statement
WASHINGTON, DC — The bipartisan leaders of the committees of jurisdiction over communications matters today announced that they will hold a series of staff-led stakeholder sessions regarding communications policy.
Hutchison and LeMieux Introduce Legislation to Provide Assistance to Oil Spill Clean Up Effort
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Ranking Member on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Committee member Senator George LeMieux (R-Fla.), and Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), today introduced legislation that would temporarily allow foreign marine vessels to assist with the oil cleanup effort in the Gulf of Mexico. The bill, titled the WAIVER (Water Assistance from International Vessels for Emergency Response) Act, would temporarily waive the Jones Act, which requires that all goods and people transported by water between United States ports be carried in American flagged, owned, and crewed ships. The waiver would allow foreign flagged vessels with crucial equipment to travel between U.S. ports to provide needed assistance. The Jones Act was put into place in 1920 to ensure that the United States was able to maintain a fleet of merchant ships.
Hutchison Calls for Bureaucratic Red Tape to be Cut So Foreign Vessels Can Aid in Gulf Cleanup
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) delivered a speech on the U.S. Senate floor calling for an emergency waiver of the Jones Act, which requires many foreign vessels to go through a lengthy bureaucratic approval process in order to assist with the oil cleanup effort in the Gulf of Mexico. Sen. Hutchison, who is the Ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, said she will introduce legislation to temporarily waive the Jones Act to allow foreign marine vessels to help with the cleanup. This extended waiver would be applied for a period of time that is necessary to respond and restore the waters of the Gulf.
Rockefeller Statement on FAA Bill and FedEx Provision
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation issued the following statement:
Commerce Committee Unanimously Reports Out TSA Administrator Nominee
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, issued the following statement after the Commerce Committee unanimously reported out the nomination of Mr. John S. Pistole, to be Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration and an Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: