The Future of Space Policy in the Next Congress

Commentary by Sarah Mineiro

Published October 31, 2024

This series-featuring scholars from the Aerospace Security Project, non-resident experts, and the broader space community-explores key space trends, challenges, and policy issues that will confront the next administration as well as offers recommendations for how to navigate them.

Although presidential elections shine brightly in the spotlight every four years, on November 5, 2024, 469 other politicians will also have ballots cast for them at the federal level. Congress remains a coequal branch of the government that maintains the ultimate responsibility to authorize and appropriate funds for all government programs. While the bright lights of presidential debate stages remain burned into the memory of the immediate polis, a local town hall meeting in Opelika, Alabama, or Aurora, Colorado, can also be illuminating.

As the 119th Congress convenes in January 2025, below are three priorities for both the Senate and House of Representatives to consider in exercising their constitutionally derived responsibilities:

1. Attempt to get back to regular order. Every cabinet member will (rightfully) reiterate in their budget hearing testimony that passing a budget on time is the most significant thing that Congress can do to help the responsible execution of government programs. While this is certainly true, the 136 continuing resolutions (CRs) that have been instituted from 1998 to 2024 indicate that regular order and timely appropriations will likely not happen regardless of the outcome of presidential and congressional election cycles. Nonetheless, it is a worthy goal and one that Washington must get closer to fulfilling every year. The reality is that CRs are disruptive and painful for everybody involved-the executive and legislative branches as well as the domestic industrial base. There is also no denying that in recent years, CRs have been lasting up to one-third of the entire fiscal year. Even if defeatists want to acknowledge that CRs are now standard operating procedures, ensuring that they are as minimally disruptive as possible still seems prudent.
   
2. Recognize increasingly cross-jurisdictional challenges and solutions faced by the U.S. commercial space. The space economy remains one of the most dynamic ecosystems outpacing the policy, regulatory, and legal frameworks to which they are subject. While some see frustrating challenges, others see the opportunity for excellence. Few things in Washington matter more than protecting and expanding committee jurisdiction. As young space companies continue to seek funding predicated on both commercial viability and government funding the federal agencies that they must interact with have also increased. Space Force, the U.S. Intelligence Community, and NASA are the large customers most commercial companies focus their product development efforts on. Nonetheless, the Department of State, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Transportation all have significant equities in how commercial space companies are regulated and licensed. Given this, the following congressional committees have jurisdiction over various parts of the new space economy: the Senate and House committees on armed services; the Senate and House select committees on intelligence; the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation; the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology; the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; House Committee on Foreign Affairs; House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. That's a lot of committees, members, and staff that may have competing equities. The new Congress should actively acknowledge these space unique challenges and attempt to work across committees of jurisdiction to produce a light touch enabling regulatory reform for new and emerging space missions. While new mission authorization frameworks may originate either from the executive branch or the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, the reality is that their passage and implementation require buy-in from multiple committees and agencies. Responsibility for enabling U.S. innovation in the new space economy spans both civil and national security communities as well as the executive and legislative Branches. Congress should demonstrate leadership in how it works internally with each other across the multiple committees of jurisdiction to promote the growing U.S. space industry.
   
3. Focus on how to optimize in fiscally constrained environments. Even though the worst of the Fiscal Responsibility Act enforcement mechanisms will not automatically apply to the 2026 fiscal year, there is still a mandated limit on discretionary and nondiscretionary spending at 1 percent. Specific numbers will need to be determined by the incoming 119th Congress. Regardless, the Department of Defense is already signaling that it is building to a $876 billion top line. The days of significant real growth to the defense budget and creative Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) accounting are over. This is not a surprise, as the OCO ended in 2021 and defense spending is now just 3 percent of U.S. GDP. While the executive branch provides a budgetary request, it is still Congress's constitutionally derived authority to authorize and appropriate funds as they conduct their oversight responsibilities. For Congress, this looks a lot like making sure that budget requests "aren't gold plated." Budgetary efficiency can be a powerful motivator for innovation. Both in authorizing and appropriating, Congress needs to ensure that the programs being funded are meeting policy intent or requirements. Space-specific cautionary tales can be found in continuing to fund systemically broken space software acquisition programs of record, the tendency to overclassify programs obfuscating the opportunity for rigorous public debate about resourcing, and the consistent inability to develop and integrate the ground segment of space systems.

While the presidential election is certainly the star that shines brightest in the galaxy of federal elections for most people, congressional elections also illuminate the priorities of the federal government. As a coequal branch of government, Congress has a constitutionally derived responsibility to authorize and appropriate the government. How it conducts that business and fulfills its oversight responsibilities will demonstrate its commitment to the United States' continued leadership in space and the exciting U.S. industrial base supporting U.S. interests.

Sarah Mineiro is a former staff director of the House Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, focused on space, missile defense, hypersonics, directed energy, and nuclear weapons.

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