Women to Lead House Appropriations Committee
Supporting the Critical Missions of NASA
Academy Review Board
Salute: Dr. James Billington, Librarian of Congress
 

Women to Lead House Appropriations Committee

For the first time in American history, two women will likely lead the House Committee on Appropriations.

Earlier this week, Rep. Kay Granger (TX) was elected to become the next Ranking Member of this important committee. Kay has been an extremely valuable and hard-working Member of Congress for over 20 years. She understands the federal budget and Appropriations process – and the politics behind it – on a deep and comprehensive level gained by years of experience and dedication.

Further, the current Ranking Member Rep. Nita Lowey (NY) is expected to become the next Chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee. I have been privileged to work with Nita throughout my entire career on the all-important task of funding the nation’s government.

I am proud to be leaving the helm of the most important committee in Congress in their extremely capable hands, and wish Nita and Kay much success in the next Congress.

 

Supporting the Critical Missions of NASA

This week, the nation was captivated by successful landing on Mars by NASA’s newest lander, the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight).

InSight traveled six months and 300 million miles to reach the red planet and upon arrival, the spacecraft endured “seven minutes of terror” to successfully land and deploy on the planet. Now, InSight is studying Mars' interior structure to answers key questions about the formation of rocky planets in our inner solar system like Mercury, Venus, and Earth.

During my time in Congress, I have been a strong supporter of the men and women who execute NASA’s critical missions like the InSight lander. Through my role on the Appropriations Committee, I have ensured that NASA has the resources to continue vital space exploration and advanced scientific research programs.

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Omnibus, which I introduced and was approved in March, included $20.7 billion in funding for NASA, a $1 billion increase in spending over FY 2017 and a $1.6 billion increase over the President’s budget request. In fact, due to the leadership of the Appropriations Committee NASA’s budget has seen a 19 percent increase in funding over the last five years, which is close to $4 billion.

Specifically, included in the FY 2018 Omnibus was $4.8 billion for exploration, an increase of $466 million from FY 2017. This funding ensures our nation remains the world’s leader in space exploration by supporting the development of systems that will one day send astronauts to the moon and beyond.  The legislation also contained $6.2 billion for NASA Science program, $457 million above the FY 2017 enacted level. This targets funding to support planetary research and other sciences to ensure the continuation groundbreaking scientific missions like the InSight lander.

Further, a bold space exploration program that engages the nation will inspire our young people to be scientists and engineers and contribute to the economic success of the country.  That is why, in addition to supporting NASA through the appropriations process, I have always made it a priority to emphases the importance of NASA in New Jersey.  Annually, I bring a NASA Astronaut to schools in my Congressional District to engage with students who will someday lead research and development and innovation.

To learn more about InSight’s mission you can visit NASA’s website here and you can view images InSight has sent back to Earth here.

 

2018 Academy Nominations

One of the greatest privileges of being a member of Congress is having the opportunity to nominate students from New Jersey’s 11^thCongressional District to our nation’s service academies.  Over the past twenty four years, I have had the honor of nominating over a thousand of our young men and women!

Early this week, I again, submitted the nominations of nearly 40 deserving students to the Naval Academy, West Point, the Merchant Marine Academy and the Air Force Academy.  I would like to congratulate to each of the young men and women from my Congressional District who earned nominations.

As these highly motivated and talented young people go through the academy nominating process, never let us forget the sacrifice they are preparing to make: to defend our country and protect our citizens. This holds especially true at a time when our nation is fighting the war against terrorism. Whether it is in the Middle East, Africa or other troubled spots around the world, no doubt we are constantly reminded that wars are fought by the young. And, while our military missions are both important and dangerous, it is reassuring to know that we continue to put America's best and brightest in command of others.

I would also like to give a heartfelt thanks to the members of my Academy Review Board who had the responsibility of reviewing applications and interviewing upwards of 50 outstanding young men and women for the past 24 years! The board is composed of local citizens who have shown exemplary service to New Jersey, to their communities, and to the continued excellence of education in our area; all are veterans.              

You can read my full statement in the Congressional Record honoring the 2019 Academy Nominees here.

 

Salute: Dr. James Billington, Librarian of Congress

I would like to wish a fond farewell to Dr. James Billington, the 13^thLibrarian of Congress who led the Library from 1987 to 2016, who passed away this past week. Dr. Billington was formally a professor at Princeton, a Russian scholar and incredibly intelligent.   

During his tenure, Dr. Billington doubled the size of the Library’s collections, from 85.5 million items to more than 160 million items. Simultaneously, he created a massive new Library of Congress online and launched a series of innovative programs to engage the nation and entire world.

I am personally thankful for Dr. Billington who would take time out of his busy schedule to meet with librarians from New Jersey’s 11^thCongressional District when they visited Washington at my invitation.

You can read the current Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden’s, full statement on Dr. Billington’s passing here.