Wicker Praises NASA Authorization Act of 2022

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today praised the congressional passage of the NASA Authorization Act of 2022 that was included in the CHIPS Act of 2022. The legislation provides the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) the clear direction needed to advance our nation’s space initiatives and investments and assert American global leadership in the final frontier.

Wicker Praises Research, STEM Education Provisions in New CHIPS Act

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today released a fact sheet praising the strong research and development and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education provisions included in the Senate’s new CHIPS Act of 2022, which is slated for a final vote next week.

Wicker Statement on White House Nominee for OSTP Director

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today released the following statement regarding the White House’s announcement that President Biden would be nominating Dr. Arati Prabhakar to be Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy:

Wicker Advances Blockchain Bill, Calls out Political Posturing on High Gas Prices

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today praised committee passage of legislation he sponsored to boost research into blockchain technology, while also calling out national Democrats for their political posturing on soaring gas prices.

Wicker Calls on Biden Administration to Fill Leadership Gap at OSTP

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today sent a letter to President Biden urging him to nominate immediately a qualified professional with proven leadership abilities to be the next Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). After multiple public reports regarding a harmful workplace environment at the OSTP and an internal White House Investigation that verified many of the accusations, the letter addresses the urgent need for a new director to manage the concerns of misconduct and retaliation by the former Director and others at the senior management level.

Wicker, Lummis Introduce National R&D Strategy for Distributed Ledger Technology Act

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., ranking member of the Subcommittee on Space and Science, today introduced the National R&D Strategy for Distributed Ledger Technology Act that would require the federal government to coordinate research and development efforts on distributed ledger technologies (DLT) and their applications. DLT, which includes the more commonly known blockchain technology, builds on decades of research in cryptography and distributed systems to enable information systems with improved access, interoperability, and guarantees of data integrity. It is also one of the key technology focus areas named in the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), on which the U.S. Senate agreed to go to conference with the House of Representatives last week.

Senators Urge Leadership to Maintain EPSCoR Provisions in Conference Bill

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today led a letter with U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., to congressional leadership in support of maintaining provisions found in the United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) to strengthen the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

Bipartisan NASA Authorization Bill Clears Senate

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, along with Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., chairman and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Aviation and Space, today released the following statements after the NASA Authorization Act of 2020 passed the Senate. The bill provides the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) the clear direction needed to advance our nation’s space initiatives and investments and assert American global leadership in the final frontier.