Schatz votes against Trump’s nominee to lead NASA
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, spoke, Tuesday, following a weekly strategy session, on Capitol Hill in Washington. From left, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., looked on.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, said he voted against advancing Jim Bridenstine’s nomination as Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) this morning.
The Senate panel approved Congressman Bridenstine, an Oklahoma Republican and former U.S. Navy pilot, as a nominee by a vote of 14-13 today. Bridenstine was President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as the head of NASA. The nomination now goes to the full Senate for confirmation.
“This is a nonpartisan science agency,” said Schatz in a statement. “The scientific consensus is that climate change is real, urgent, and caused by humans. This science should be both supported and understood by anyone who hopes to lead NASA, one of our nation’s top science agencies. And yet, Jim Bridenstine is somehow still on the fence about the climate. For this reason, I cannot support his nomination to lead NASA. Congressman Bridenstine’s legislative record and his own testimony during his nomination hearing show that he rejects NASA’s role in earth science, adopts industry perspectives without critical analysis, and embraces extreme and divisive social views. NASA deserves better.”
