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posted by mrpg on Tuesday March 13 2018, @01:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the alien-subject dept.

NASA's acting administrator, Robert M. Lightfoot Jr., has announced that he will retire on April 30. The U.S. Senate has not yet voted on confirming Jim Bridenstine as a permanent replacement:

[...] In September, President Trump nominated Jim Bridenstine, a Republican congressman from Oklahoma, to be the next administrator. But the Senate has yet to vote to confirm Mr. Bridenstine.

All 49 Democrats in the Senate appear unified in opposition, in part because Mr. Bridenstine gave a speech disparaging climate change several years ago. Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, has also expressed doubts about Mr. Bridenstine.

The space agency's No. 2 position, deputy administrator, is vacant. The Trump administration has yet to nominate anyone. Steve Jurczyk, formerly the associate administrator for space technology, was named in late February as a temporary fill-in for Mr. Lightfoot's previous job, associate administrator. NASA is also lacking a chief of staff.

[...] Mr. Lightfoot's 406 days as acting administrator is by far the longest NASA has operated without a permanent leader, eclipsing the 176 days that passed at the start of the Obama administration before Mr. Bolden was confirmed.

Previously: President Trump Nominates Congressman Jim Bridenstine to Lead NASA

Related: President Trump Signs Space Policy Directive 1


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @02:48PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @02:48PM (#651829)

    > ... at worst, 2 large-enough factions disagree, and nothing gets done.

    Sometimes this is a good outcome!

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @02:53PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @02:53PM (#651830)

    The recent budget deal in Congress shows what happens when an empire begins to crumble: Restraining principles go out the window, and the 2 factions vote for each other's bullshit; the Republicans get their massive military spending, and the Democrats get their massive welfare spending. The result is that the debt goes up ever faster.

    • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday March 13 2018, @05:13PM (1 child)

      by tangomargarine (667) on Tuesday March 13 2018, @05:13PM (#651885)

      Or you get Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth where anybody in the legislature can veto a bill* and nothing ever gets passed again because the Russians are interfering in the government.

      Funny how history comes back around eh

      *actually all the bills approved so far in that sitting of Congress. apparently they passed everything as one lump thing.

      --
      "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"