Latest news with #BrianBabin
New York Post
03-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Now is the time for NASA to blast into a new future — after slowing to a crawl
To ensure the future of spaceflight, NASA must stop building rockets. That counterintuitive notion is borne out by the agency's sad post-Apollo history. For the past 50 years, America's dreams of space exploration have been stymied by NASA's failure to build an affordable, reliable launch system. Today, the private sector builds rockets faster, cheaper, and better. Advertisement 5 Getty Images Ending the agency's sclerotic rocket-building program will be the first of many challenges facing Jared Isaacman, President Trump's nominee to be NASA administrator, who is expected to be confirmed. America's space program has slowed to a crawl in recent decades, hobbled by cost overruns and lax management. This is a bad time for US space policy to stumble. China is launching missions at a record pace and vows to put its taikonauts on the moon by 2030. If China beats the US back to the moon, 'they are going to write the rules of the road up there,' warned Texas Congressman Brian Babin in January. Advertisement NASA's biggest obstacle to progress is its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and conjoined Orion capsule. This huge, Apollo-style program was intended to carry US astronauts back to the moon. Unfortunately, the SLS rocket is years behind schedule and billions over budget. Unlike the reusable rockets being pioneered by SpaceX and other private-sector companies, the SLS is entirely expendable, meaning all the rocket's components must be discarded during each flight, at enormous expense. NASA's inspector general estimates each SLS/Orion mission will cost over $4 billion. 5 If China beats the US back to the moon, 'they are going to write the rules of the road up there,' warned Texas Congressman Brian Babin. Michael Brochstein/ZUMA Press Wire / Advertisement No wonder space analysts call the program 'a national disgrace.' There's got to be a better way to get US astronauts to the moon and beyond. And there is. Two decades ago, innovative NASA leaders quietly launched a program that pays private space companies, principally SpaceX, so far, to ferry US astronauts and cargo into orbit using their own space vehicles. In essence, NASA's commercial program allows the agency to hire space vehicles much the way a sports team might charter a bus. Congress went along with the commercial plan only grudgingly. The House and Senate insisted that NASA invest much more in the SLS/Orion project, whose enormous workforces just happen to be located in powerful lawmakers' home states. 5 Jared Isaacman, a former Polaris space mission commander, is set to be approved as the next leader of NASA. REUTERS Advertisement NASA's commercial experiment, meanwhile, has largely been a success; SpaceX rockets carry astronauts to the International Space Station like clockwork, saving US taxpayers billions. And by giving private launch companies an initial market, NASA's commercial space program helped spawn a promising private spaceflight industry. Congress should stop fighting over SLS pork and let NASA embrace the capabilities these revolutionary vendors offer. In his Senate confirmation hearing, Isaacman said he wouldn't shut down the SLS program overnight, but warned that the overpriced rocket is not the best 'long-term way to get to and from the moon and Mars.' He said the SLS should be allowed to fly its next two planned missions, including a moon landing. That's the right call. It is unlikely NASA and its private partners could cobble together an alternative lunar plan in the short term. 5 NASA's Nova-C lunar lander launching from a SpaceX rocket in February 2025. NASA's reliance on private rocket launchers makes sense for the cost-challenged agency. CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock But once US boots touch lunar soil again, the agency should get out of the rocket-building business for good. SpaceX and other vendors will be able to send crews and supplies to the moon — and eventually to Mars — for a fraction of what NASA would spend using its own equipment. Freed from the need to build expensive space vehicles, the agency will have more resources to devote to genuine exploration and technological research. Then, NASA should be restructured to focus on what it does best: basic R&D, mission planning, and space science. To achieve all this, the new administrator will have to win over skittish NASA staffers, convince Congress to stop micromanaging NASA programs, and cope with curveballs from the White House. Apparently, without consulting their nominee, the Trump administration recently proposed 50% cuts in NASA's robotic science missions. 5 Thanks to developments such as the Tiangong Space Station, China's space sector is emerging as a rival to NASA. Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 4.0 Advertisement Those programs need more budget discipline, but not a meat-axe. Isaacman told the Senate that such indiscriminate cuts would not be 'an optimal outcome.' It won't be easy, but Isaacman has the right skill set to turn this legendary agency around. No other country can match what the US will accomplish in space if it combines the best of what NASA can offer with the genius of private enterprise. The new administration has a golden opportunity to make that uniquely American formula work. James B. Meigs is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the former editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics. This article is based on his Manhattan Institute report, 'U.S. Space Policy: The Next Frontier.'
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Reparations fight hits Congress as GOP looks to defund new DC task force
FIRST ON FOX: A group of House Republicans is moving to have federal funds blocked to any state or local area that enacts policies regarding slavery reparations. It comes in response to Washington's new reparations task force, expected to be formed this year after the Democrat-controlled city council approved it in its budget last year, according to the Washington Times. "That is now going to be, evidently, policy in Washington, D.C.," House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Brian Babin, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. "I think this is a very timely bill to be able to push back on basically . . . virtue signaling." 'Tipping The Scales': House Gop Leaders Rip Actblue After Dem Fundraising Giant Hit With Subpoena Babin, who introduced the No Bailouts for Reparations Act on Friday, called the matter of reparations "a milking of the U.S. taxpayer for a very narrow group of people." "I think it is a privilege to be an American citizen. And certainly we have had, there was slavery in the past. There's been indentured servitude," Babin said. "No American taxpayer should be on the hook to pay reparations to individuals for something that happened over 150 years ago." Read On The Fox News App Reparations refer to measures to redress past wrongs. In the context of the U.S. political debate, the term almost always refers to payments to Black Americans whose families have suffered from slavery. Black Caucus Chair Accuses Trump Of 'Purge' Of 'Minority' Federal Workers It's a thorny political issue that's vehemently opposed by conservatives, who see it as a waste of taxpayer dollars for something that living Americans aren't responsible for, and backed by far-left progressives, who argue that the damages of slavery are still seen today. Just earlier this year, "Squad" member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., released legislation "to establish a federal commission to examine the lasting legacy of slavery and develop reparations proposals for African American descendants of enslaved people," according to a press release. That bill is virtually guaranteed to wither on the vine in the 119th Congress, however, with Republicans controlling all the major levers of power in D.C. President Donald Trump said, "I don't see it happening" when asked about reparations in a 2019 interview with The Hill. Babin's bill has circulated through the House for potential co-sponsors this week. "I don't think the American people want to see divisiveness. They don't want to see special victim interest groups for something, and we fought a war over, and it's been over for 150 years," he said. "The nation should focus on policies to promote economic opportunity for everyone, not government handouts based on ancestry."Original article source: Reparations fight hits Congress as GOP looks to defund new DC task force
Fox News
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Reparations fight hits Congress as GOP looks to defund new DC task force
FIRST ON FOX: A group of House Republicans is moving to have federal funds blocked to any state or local area that enacts policies regarding slavery reparations. It comes in response to Washington's new reparations task force, expected to be formed this year after the Democrat-controlled city council approved it in its budget last year, according to the Washington Times. "That is now going to be, evidently, policy in Washington, DC," House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Brian Babin, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. "I think this is a very timely bill to be able to push back on basically…virtue signaling." Babin, who introduced the No Bailouts for Reparations Act on Friday, called the matter of reparations "a milking of the U.S. taxpayer for a very narrow group of people." "I think it is a privilege to be an American citizen. And certainly we have had, there was slavery in the past. There's been indentured servitude," Babin said. "No American taxpayer should be on the hook to pay reparations to individuals for something that happened over 150 years ago." Reparations refer to measures to repay past wrongs. In the case of the U.S. political debate, it almost always refers to payments to Black Americans whose families have suffered from slavery. It's a thorny political issue that's vehemently opposed by conservatives, who see it as a waste of taxpayer dollars for something living Americans aren't responsible for, and backed by far-left progressives who argue the damages of slavery are still seen today. Just earlier this year, "Squad" member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., released legislation "to establish a federal commission to examine the lasting legacy of slavery and develop reparations proposals for African American descendants of enslaved people," according to a press release. That bill is virtually guaranteed to wither on the vine in the 119th Congress, however, with Republicans controlling all the major levers of power in DC. President Donald Trump said, "I don't see it happening" when asked about reparations in a 2019 interview with The Hill. Babin's bill has circulated through the House for potential co-sponsors this week. "I don't think the American people want to see divisiveness. They don't want to see special victim interest groups for something, and we fought a war over, and it's been over for 150 years," he said. "The nation should focus on policies to promote economic opportunity for everyone, not government handouts based on ancestry."
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas House Republican says US could use drones against cartels to ‘save American lives'
Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), co-chair of the Border Security Caucus, said on Tuesday the United States 'could' use drones against the cartels if it meant saving American lives. NewsNation reported this weekend that cartels have authorized the use of weaponized drone explosives against border patrol agents and other U.S. law enforcement at the southern border. In an interview Tuesday on NewsNation's 'The Hill,' anchor Blake Burman asked Babin whether he thinks the situation 'gets to the point where drones from the U.S. are used against the cartels. 'It certainly could. I'm not saying it will,' Babin responded, noting that the U.S. knows where the drug labs are and where 'a lot of these bad guys live.' 'It could come down to that,' he added. Babin said he was grateful President Trump had designated the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, saying 'all is fair' when countering groups with that designation. 'Everything's on the table, and we could absolutely take that type of action against them, to save American lives, to save our property, to save our sovereignty,' he said. The Hill is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns NewsNation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
05-02-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Texas House Republican says US could use drones against cartels to ‘save American lives'
Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), co-chair of the Border Security Caucus, said on Tuesday the United States 'could' use drones against the cartels if it meant saving American lives. NewsNation reported this weekend that cartels have authorized the use of weaponized drone explosives against border patrol agents and other U.S. law enforcement at the southern border. In an interview Tuesday on NewsNation's 'The Hill,' anchor Blake Burman asked Babin whether he thinks the situation 'gets to the point where drones from the U.S. are used against the cartels. 'It certainly could. I'm not saying it will,' Babin responded, noting that the U.S. knows where the drug labs are and where 'a lot of these bad guys live.' 'It could come down to that,' he added. Babin said he was grateful President Trump had designated the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, saying 'all is fair' when countering groups with that designation. 'Everything's on the table, and we could absolutely take that type of action against them, to save American lives, to save our property, to save our sovereignty,' he said.
