Concurring Opinion
There is so much good information and knowledge in this report, and it will serve as a starting point for action by the president, working with Congress, to move this national priority forward in a timely way. For this reason, I concur with the report.
I agree with cooperating with China on safety, avoidance, and perhaps rescue in an emergency; however, there are places in the report where I disagree, and would not pursue some concepts.
First, under the recommendation to update and refine the Wolf Amendment, the modification of the amendment should not allow our scientists to confer with China and share our data without prior approval from the National Security Council or other administrative agency of the information to be shared.
Second, I agree with sharpening the policy on China to include implementing a hotline and sharing information about space traffic and working on debris mitigation. But holding joint meetings with astronauts and taikonauts or bringing joint missions to the ISS, while perhaps a possibility in the future, should not be done at this time.
Finally, regarding international regimes, I would not broaden the UN, but instead would use the Artemis Accords. The accords have the right focus, and I agree with expanding them. I would suggest giving the responsibility to the National Security Council, NASA, the Department of Defense, or other appropriate administrative agency. Additionally, with its great record of safety, I agree with using ICAO as an international regime to be modeled.
I want to thank the entire Space Task Force team for their hard work on this important national issue.
—Kay Bailey Hutchison