President Trump has nominated Representative Jim Bridenstine as NASA's next administrator, to replace the acting administrator Robert M. Lightfoot:
Representative Jim Bridenstine, Republican of Oklahoma, will be nominated by President Trump to serve as NASA's next administrator, the White House said on Friday night.
Mr. Bridenstine, a strong advocate for drawing private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin more deeply into NASA's exploration of space, had been rumored to be the leading candidate for the job, but months passed without an announcement. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Bridenstine, 42, would be the first elected official to hold that job.
[...] Although NASA has little presence in Oklahoma, Mr. Bridenstine, a former Navy Reserve pilot who is now in his third term in the House [of] Representatives, has long had an interest in space. Before being elected to Congress in 2012, he was executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium from 2008 to 2010.
[...] Mr. Bridenstine has supported a return to the moon, a departure from the Obama administration's focus on sending astronauts to Mars in coming decades.
Florida's Senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson blasted the choice. Nelson said that "The head of NASA ought to be a space professional, not a politician."
NASA statement. NASA Watch analysis.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday September 05 2017, @05:15AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_costliest_Atlantic_hurricanes [wikipedia.org]
Sandy caused $75 billion in damage, Katrina caused $108 billion.
Even if Harvey, Irma, and the rest collectively cause $200 billion in damage, the public's memory is short and Congress can easily get away [opensecrets.org] with doing nothing. There's still talk [cnbc.com] of a government shutdown (the ultimate "doing nothing").
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]