On Thursday the House of Representatives passed a resolution commending NASA for the successful completion of the STS-121 shuttle mission this month. The resolution, H.Con.Res.448, was approved by the House 415-0. The resolution is pretty standard stuff, praising the shuttle crew and the space agency for “its pioneering work in space exploration which is strengthening the Nation and benefitting all Americans.”
A couple of minor, but interesting, notes about this resolution. the member who introduced this measure was not one of the usual suspects, like a member of the House Science Committee or someone from the Cape or Houston areas, but instead Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX). Paul, nominally a Republican, is really more of a libertarian and often casts contrary no votes on bills that otherwise have broad support if he feels they overstep what the government should be doing. (The resolution’s cosponsors are some more familiar names, including Sherwood Boehlert, Ken Calvert, and Dana Rohrabacher.) The other interesting item: Paul introduced the resolution, which congratulates NASA for “the successful completion of the Space Shuttle Discovery’s STS-121 mission” on July 13, several days before the mission actually ended.
I believe that Ron Paul _is_ a representative in the Houston area — from Galveston, just 20 minutes South of NASA JSC.
Don,
You are correct: my early-morning recollection was that his district was closer to Corpus Christi, but in fact the 14th District extends along the coast all the way through Galveston and the surrounding communities. (Although, despite that proximity, Congressman Paul is usually not identified as a space supporter in the same vein as other Houston-area representatives, most notably former congressman Tom DeLay.) My apologies to Congressman Paul and his constituents for misidentifying his district.
I had lunch with him, along with several other folks in Aspen last year and he supports the idea of space exploration without a lot of fanfare.
Dennis
> You are correct: my early-morning recollection was that his district was closer to Corpus Christi,
> but in fact the 14th District extends along the coast all the way through Galveston and the surrounding
> communities.
Including, you will note, the proposed Gulf Coast Spaceport.
Ed: Are you aware of any comments made by Rep. Paul regarding the spaceport? Is he aware of the project and, if so, does he support it?