Clark Lindsey reports at HobbySpace RLV News today that for HR3752 to be enacted this year, the Senate needs to pass it by July 20; after that the legislative calendar becomes too crowded with other issues to devote any time to it. I have not heard the July 20 deadline before, but it makes some sense, given the limited time Congress is in session through the election. To the best of my knowledge the bill is still trapped in a dispute over the definition of a suborbital vehicle; reports several weeks ago that a solution was in the works appear to have been false. Given the momentum that the suborbital industry has built up in recent months, particularly with the successes of SpaceShipOne, it would be a shame to let this bill die in the Senate.
To Jeff and other HR3752 supporters…
There is no July 20th deadline.
However, there is a scheduled markup in the Senate Commerce Committee on July 20th. One likely way for HR3752 to be passed by the Senate is for the Commerce Committee (which has HR3752 sitting in its jurisdiction) to mark it up with an amendment and send it to the Senate floor for passage by unanimous consent, and then it is repassed in the House and sent to the President for his signature.
So people should see July 20th as a window of opportunity for the bill to move forward. And there are only so many windows left…
– Jim
There’s a certain irony in all this, in that July 20th is the thirty-fifth anniversary of the first manned lunar landing…