Edition 1, August 31, 2021

White House Matters

• WH formally sends this nomination to the Senate:
• Andrew Philip Hunter, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, vice William Roper. (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/07/22/nominations-and-withdrawal-sent-to-the-senate/)
• Last night, POTUS weighed in on the filibuster in the Senate during a town hall in Ohio. POTUS said the “abuse of the filibuster is pretty overwhelming,” before talking about his decades in the Senate when members had to “hold the floor.” The president stuck to his long-standing position and said he supports filibuster reform that would return to those rules, requiring those who oppose a bill to remain physically on the Senate floor in order to block it.
  
  

Capitol Hill Matters

• The Senate has recessed until 26 Jul
• As of right now, the Senate is expected to adjourn for its August recess in about two weeks and there are still holds on Frank Kendall, the SecAF nominee.
• Gina Maria Ortiz Jones, of Texas, has been confirmed to be Under Secretary of the Air Force.
• Caroline Diane Krass, of the District of Columbia, has been confirmed to be General Counsel of the Department of Defense.
• Heidi Shyu, of Virginia, has been confirmed to be Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
• Ely Stefansky Ratner, of Massachusetts, has been confirmed to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense.
• Shawn Graham Skelly, of Virginia, has been confirmed to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense.
• Frank Kendall, the SecAF nominee, still has holds on his nomination by Senators.
•  In the attached letter, House Budget Committee Republicans laid out their demands for inclusion in legislation to raise or suspend the statutory debt ceiling, “a wish list of probably unattainable items that reinforces the likelihood that Democrats will need to go it alone to avoid a default on U.S. obligations this fall,” according to Congressional Quarterly. “The letter lays out a menu of options for congressional leaders to consider adding to debt limit legislation if they want to attract House Republican support.”
• On Wednesday, we learned the Congressional Budget Office said lawmakers probably have until October or November before they need to act to raise or suspend the debt ceiling. According to The Hill, Republican Senators are taking “a firm line as Democrats plot a path for their $3.5 trillion spending measure, which the party plans to pass with budget reconciliation rules that will prevent the GOP from blocking it with a filibuster. .”Given those plans, GOP senators say they won’t lift a finger to help Democrats raise the debt ceiling.”
  
  

Committee Work – SASC

• The SASC has released their summary of the FY22 NDAA Mark (attached). A few highlights:
•  Authorizes fiscal year 2022 active-duty end strengths for the Army of 485,000; the Navy, 346,200; the Marine Corps, 178,500; the Air Force, 329,220; and the Space Force, 8,400.
• Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to vary U.S. Space Force end strength by a greater degree than is otherwise permitted for the Armed Services in order to give the Secretary additional discretion to build and establish the U.S. Space Force.

• Authorizes temporary exemption for the Space Force from the grade restrictions in sections 517 and 523 of title 10, United States Code to allow the Space Force to build up its cadre of GOFOs.

• Directs the Secretary of Defense to provide a briefing to the congressional defense committees on whether those personnel and programmatic activities performing space functions within MDA should be aligned under the Space Force.

•  Directs the U.S. Space Force Chief Technology and Innovation Officer to provide a briefing to the congressional defense committees on how the Space Force will leverage modern cloud computing technologies
  
  

Committee Work – Space and Science Subcommittee

Today the Subcommittee on Space and Science held a hearing titled “Space Situational Awareness, Space Traffic Management, and Orbital Debris: Examining Solutions for Emerging Threats.” According to Dupree, “throughout the hearing there was a consensus that the US must lead int’l norms and rules of the road for SSA and STM. Senators and witnesses also agreed that SSA and STM are the most pressing issues in the space enterprise today, and that the Dept of Commerce should lead efforts on the civil side. In that conclusion, all
witnesses expressed the need for the Dept of Commerce to have additional funding and resources so that it can be successful in this mission.  Additionally, witnesses offered recommendations on partnerships, data sharing, and managing space debris. Sen. Lummis repeatedly expressed that herself and other Senators are becoming increasingly concerned about the length of time it’s taking OADR to become fully operational.”

Media Matters

• According to Sandra Erwin of SpaceNews, “U.S. Space Force officials have begun discussions with the U.K. government about the possibility of building a deep-space radar site in the United Kingdom, a spokesman confirmed July 22.” Full piece: https://spacenews.com/united-kingdom-a-potential-site-for-future-u-s-space-surveillance-radar/
• On the $25B increase to the SASC version of the FY22 NDAA, Politico Pro sums up this bit pretty well: “An increase to the defense budget is far from a done deal. The House and Senate must agree on a final defense policy bill, which likely won’t happen until later this year. Even then, the NDAA only authorizes, and does not allocate, funding. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees will have to agree to go along with the proposal for the increase to become a reality.”
• According to Inside Defense, Space Force is soliciting prototype proposals for a new deep-space radar capability and aims to award a contract for the first radar site by the end of this year. Service spokeswoman Lina Satele confirmed the service released a request for prototype proposals for the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability.
• According to Congressional Quarterly, the return of earmarks in the Senate is “on shaky ground” with just days to go before the panel is expected to begin its markup process. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman, SAC, declined to say Wednesday if he’d evenly split earmarks in upcoming spending bills with Republicans, “an issue that could derail tentative markup plans for early August.” Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), ranking member, SAC, said last week that without a 50-50 split on earmarks, “the deal will probably collapse and there won’t be any earmarks period. I assume we’re going to get 50 percent; that was the agreement.”  But Leahy didn’t go that far Wednesday, saying that “if they’ve got legitimate earmarks in there I want to support them,” though he didn’t say that would be a down-the-middle split. “I mean, that’d be up to them. If they want 50 percent of the earmarks they’re going to have to at least ask for them.” According to CQ, “That could be difficult given only 16 Senate Republicans have requested earmarks from the spending panel thus far. Among the Democratic caucus, just two senators out of 50 haven’t submitted any earmark requests.”
• According to Punchbowl News, recess could be shortened though nothing has been set in stone yet. “Schumer may be forced to keep the Senate in session the week of Aug. 9 in order to pass the budget resolution. Schumer warned his Democrats that changes to the August schedule could occur when this work period began, so it shouldn’t be a huge problem despite expected grumbling about canceled CODELs.” For their part, the House is scheduled to leave town on 30 Jul, with no floor votes scheduled until 20 Sep. “House Democrats may adjourn in the chamber in late July “subject to the call of the chair,” meaning members can be called back into session fairly quickly,” according to Punchbowl.
• Don’t forget – The second issue (1 April – 30 June) of The Space Force Journal has finally premiered.  The issue features a letter to the Journal from Lt Gen John Shaw, the Deputy Commander, U.S. Space Command, who applauds the Journal’s full independence, academic freedom, and commitment to include all diverse perspectives. This issue consists of 10 essays written by guardians, civilians, academics, and private sector experts. Please visit https://thespaceforcejournal.com/.