Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee to serve as secretary of commerce, committed to supporting the commercial space sector in his confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
“Space and the data we can collect from space is fundamental to America,” he told the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. “But they’ve got to be American companies. It’s vital that these are American companies, controlled by America, part of our oversight.”
The conversation about space came in response to a question posed by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), a leader on the committee’s space panel.
“This is a real race with China. They’re serious about this, they’re playing meaningfully in space,” Schmitt said. “If we didn’t have the competition we have in the private sector, we wouldn’t be talking about going to Mars in five years.”
Spectrum rights: Lutnick also faced questions about whether he would support opening up commercial access to spectrum—an effort that’s also included in a bill from Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and John Thune (R-SD) that would create a pathway for companies to have more access to mid-band spectrum.
“You gotta ask me a tougher question than that. Absolutely yes,” he said. “For our country to really reach the scale that it can be, for it to be successful, we need to be the leader in the world for 5G and 6G.”
Future of NOAA: Lutnick said he supported keeping NOAA together as a single entity, saying “I have no interest in separating it. It’s not on my agenda.”
The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a policy plan drafted by key Trump advisors though not formally affiliated with the new administration, called for the new president to “break up” the office and eliminate many of its programs to study climate change.
Out of context: The hearing (like the portfolio of the committee) was wide-ranging, covering everything from AI to tariffs to semiconductors. But the most bizarre quote came during an exchange with Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), who talked about cutting the domestic sale of international seafood from Russia and China to benefit US fisheries.
“We gotta get rid of those communist fish,” Lutnick responded.
