and putting conservative voices at a disadvantage online. a lot of the democrat members of congress think that -- or upset -- sharp set more content is not being taken down. they feel -- are upset that more content is not being taken down. i think a lot of washington can agree that content moderation is something everyone is upset about, they come at that from two very separate ways. >> today at six: 30 p.m. eastern on the communicators on c-span. -- 6:30 p.m. eastern on the communicators on c-span. >> the confirmation hearing for three of president biden's nominees. former senator bill nason -- nelson is nominated to be nasa administrator. lena con --kahn is nominated to

serve on the federal trade commission. they hearing is two hours and 40 minutes. >> the committee will come to order. i want to welcome our witnesses today. today is a very important hearing date. we are going to be joined by our colleagues and former colleagues senator nelson to be nominated as nasa director and senator jensen -- senator hutchinson who will join us virtually. i cannot think of two more active ranking members on this committee. we welcome them. certainly, we have our former

commerce secretary joining us virtually. it is a big commerce they -- they -- day. to see our colleagues. there is a lot of enthusiasm by members who hoped to join in in support of these nomination. we will be joined by a variety of senators. senator rubio is with us already. welcome to the family. we are covering everything from the digital and natural to the commercial world space today. it is a broad topic area. we are going to be talking a lot about innovation. i am pleased to consider the nomination of a dear friend, bill nelson, to be nasa administrator. i welcome you and your wife grace. you will be introduced by

senator rubio and ambassador hutchinson. but first i would like to say a few words. senator nelson has been a leader in space policy and an integral driver of nasa's direction for decades. his passion for space policy has been long known and makes him i incredible choice for this role. that has led to an endorsement by a litany of individuals. his reputation as a tireless advocate for the space program is well-deserved. nasa needs a great advocate that we can all be confident in. nasa is a critical juncture on the artemis program, working towards an eventual mention -- mission to mars. right now we need certainty. it is paramount for the agency.

we need steady, thoughtful leadership and i think he will fit that role well. i have questions about how we do risk management at nasa. the endless technological possibilities we see at nasa. i have to say, as a senator from a state that has been dubbed the silicon valley of space i welcome you to come visit the pacific northwest and i also would say that while you are there, you can look at the various aeronautics issues that are a part of nasa's mission as well. aeronautics research and development at the very portent -- important aspect of the nasa mission. i look forward to hear your comments on all of those issues and i hope we will get a chance

to work together. next we will hear from lina kahn. show me formerly -- formally introduced by senator blumenthal. lena con --lina kahn is an associate professor of law at columbia law school. previously she served as an advisor to the ftc and counsel to the house judiciary committee subcommittee on antitrust, commercial, and administrative law. she will serve as the nations

that's one of the nations leading -- she will serve as one of the nations leading antitrust officials and consumer advocates. how do we fulfill that mission that the ftc has to protect consumers in the information age? a very big challenge. we know that section five of the ftc on unfair and deceptive practices in an information age, how much that has been challenged. we look forward to how you can help us keep on track. in 2011, we watched google and facebook establish dominance. if you are not paying for it, you are the product. we have to absorb what that has meant for all of us over the last decade. i believe in the promise of the internet, but i also believe

that we need a policewoman on the beat to make sure the markets function correctly. that is what a major role of the ftc is in partnership with doj. as an american legal scholar, lina kahn has been following antimonopoly research for years and become one of the leading legal experts on these issues. it would do all of us a great deal of good to have our that's her on the ftc. -- to have her on the ftc. i am pleased to consider the nomination of leslie caron for the general department of commerce.

leslie kiernen advised on risk management oversight issues in the obama and bennett thracian. -- the obama administration. her confirmation comes at a time when the department of commerce is undertaking a very big task as it relates to our competitive avenues with the presidents bill back -- president's build back better plan and a global economy responded to covid. all of those things are crosscurrents, whether it is providing covid relief including commercial and charter and tribal fishermen issues. or, administering and bolstering the new broadband program for

the minority development agency or any of the other roles commerce might be given in the next several weeks. this will be a big challenge but we need the role of the u.s. department of commerce in our economic recovery to be as robust as possible and your nomination will help us do that. your most important job, i believe, will be to protect the scientific integrity of our agencies. to keep politics out of science and decision-making and make sure we continue to make progress on good science. science is what holds all of us together when we have two make difficult decisions. -- when we have to make difficult decisions. you have decades of experience interpreting these laws, so i look forward to that. there are a lot of signs and legal issues. we look forward to your debts there are a lot of science --

there is a lot of science and legal issues. we will look forward to your input on that. >> thank you for holding this hearing on the nomination of our friends, bill nelson to serve as nasa administrator. professor lina kahn to be the commissioner of the ftc. and leslie kiernan. we are delighted to have ted bailey hutchison joining us remotely to introduce senator nelson. senators nelson and hutchinson sent a great example by leading the effort to pass bipartisan nasa authorization legislation, a tradition i hope our committee will continue. we are also glad to have marco

rubio to provide another introduction for senator nelson, since the two of them represented the state of florida together in the senate for several years. it is good to have my friend eddie pritzker joining us virtually to introduce ms. kiernan. i care about making sure nasa has strong and capable leadership. senator nelson has extensive experiment -- experience for nasa. he personally flew on the 24th flight of the space shuttle , participating in experiments while in orbit. nelson also served as both the chair and ranking member of this

committee's space and science subcommittee. through these positions, he was instrumental in shepherding numerous nasa authorization bills. he will be important as we work towards passage of the next one. lina kahn has been nominated. we held an oversight hearing yesterday. we discussed the commission's role in reining in big tech. add the role the ftc has to play in enforcing college athlete rules and other sport issues. i would like to hear ms kahn's views on these issues today. leslie kiernan has a long

record as an attorney. her experience should be a strong asset. the commerce department has a broad portfolio. that oversees numerous sectors of our economy including fisheries, weather forecasting, and federal agency allocation. we need an accomplished general counsel who can provide sound legal advice and direction in all of the darius. that's all of these areas. -- in all of these areas. i am eager to hear their testimony. >> now we are going to give a chance to all of the people who want to make formal introductions of all of the nominees to make those introductions. we will go to senator rubio and senator hutchinson then senator klobuchar and senator blumenthal and finally secretary pritzker.

senator rubio, welcome to the committee. we know you come from a big ocean state and we will continue to count on working on a lot of policies for us. >> thank you for having me. i will be very brief. our nominee for nasa administrator is no stranger to this committee. we know his passion to the space program is unparalleled. it began when he was a member of the house and continued during his time in the senate. irrespective of who was in charge of the senate, bill nelson was always at the front of the pack in terms of dealing with the space program. i don't need to tell my colleagues that. you experienced it firsthand. there is no better advocate for arguing the importance of the program to america's industrial base, research and development, and what it means to inspire a

nation. great nations do great things. we continue to want to lead. no one is better advocate for that than he is. one of the most important things. often when we sit in different committees you get nominees and hear great things about them but do not really know them. everybody here knows senator nelson. so that is not a question that needs to be answered at all. this is an inspired choice. i cannot think of a better american to serve in this role. i am a big fan of recessional football. -- professional football. every year the professional hall of fame meets. all 32 teams. when the nominee is someone who

played in that market, that person is in charge of standing up and making a presentation about the players career. best player -- player's career. when don schuler was presented to the hall of fame, senior beach writer did not have a video presentation. did not have a five-minute testimony. he stood up and said ladies and gentlemen, don schuler, and sat down. so, ladies and gentlemen, bill nelson. >> we will now turn to our former colleague. we are so pleased she can join us. ranking member of this committee, long-standing contributor to many policies, for the commerce committee, ambassador hutchinson. >> thank you so much chairman,

ranking member wicker. i have loved my time on the commerce committee as ranking member. i so appreciate being asked to come back. i worked so long with bill nelson. i will not be able to top what marco rubio has just said. that was a great introduction and apt recognition of what bill has done in this area. but i am here to say how much i endorse the nomination of the president for bill nelson for this important job. especially because i have worked with him on all of the nasa authorization bills during our time. i know as a colleague and a friend that the president has chosen the right person to lead

this agency. in 2005, bill and i joined forces to author the nasa authorization bill of which authorize, for the use of commercial cargo and crew capabilities. that bill set forth an official policy of nasa that should encourage commercial use and development of space to the greatest extent possible. five years later, we again put our heads together to co-author the nasa authorization act of 2010. while the 2005 act laid the framework for increased commercial partnership, there were still many were skeptical about nasa relying on a nascent commercial space industry. bill worked tirelessly to convince lawmakers, democrats

and republicans, that commercial companies could take over transportation for crew and cargo in low earth orbit while nasa was pushing into deep space. it's work paid off. bill and i united our colleagues in the senate and house and gained support for the 2010 bill which invested in both commercial space programs that we have today and also nasa's own deep space exploration capabilities, which we were pushing forward to do. it is incredible to see the path charted in 2010 being borne out today. one of both commercial partnership and continued investment in our nations space -- nation's space exploration capabilities. nasa and spacex will take off

from kennedy space center, making the third commercial crew flight to the international space station. nasa will do the same thing with boeing edits star liner. it was a cop -- boeing and its star liner. it was a competition we set up in the 2010 bill. within the next year, nasa will launch the space launch system and orion. in 2010 we authorized u.s. astronauts to return to the moon under the artemis program. nasa embarks on its artemis program and at the agency needs a leader -- as nasa embarks on its artemis program, the agency needs a leader with understanding and leadership skills who can build consensus and chargeable path forward for nasa.

and our country. bill has the unique experience of actually flying in space and an unsurpassed record of supporting and performing -- supporting the agency through bold policy priorities including critical science, exploration, aviation, and technology innovation. bill is the leader nasa needs now. i hope the committee will act expeditiously and favorably on his nomination to get a program up and going and looking forward. thank you so much. i am so honored to be back with my former colleagues and those of you serving today. thank you for this welcome. >> thank you a better hutchinson. i think it speaks highly of senator nelson that two of your former republican colleagues are

here to join us and speak volumes about the work you did on this policy area. we will now turn to more formal introductions of the next nominee, lina kahn. i will turn to senator klobuchar to make her remarks. >> thank you chairwoman. congratulations to all the nominees including senator nelson. today, i have the honor of introducing professor lina kahn as president biden's nominee to be a commissioner of the federal trade commission. she is joined by her husband, and her parents. i am honored to have you with us today. you must be proud of your daughter. lina kahn came to the u.s. when she was 10 years old and began

her career as a journalist, analyzingsearching for the trutt her to competition policy and consumer protection. as she investigated and wrote about harm that monopolization -- monopolization can inflict on consumers. now is a daughter of a sportswriter myself, i think that journalism experience is a good thing. after her career as a journalist, lena moved on to being an advisor of the office of commissioner -- commissioner we saw yesterday. we have in this room the federal trade commission. there, professor con drafted policy and cases from the inside. as the legal director at the open markets institute, she sought to refresh decades-old antitrust law for the modern digital era. pioneering new thinking about how competition policy impacts

the tech giants of our day and what changes need to be made to make a difference. she ultimately went on to the house of representatives where she played a key role in the development of the groundbreaking gatekeeper report. she also helped to oversee the f ct -- fdc, an agency with which support she can soon be part of. the professor brings serious legal traps to the policy table. she is an associate professor of law at columbia university, and her work has been published in just about everywhere. as the world noticed, her article on amazon, which she wrote while in law school, went viral. and she was described by the new york times as reframing decades of monopoly law. given the interest of this committee, from left to right, liberal to conservative in

taking on antitrust and policy issues, i cannot think of a more qualified person to be considered for the ftc. she is an out-of-the-box thinker, a pioneer in competition policy who has -- is already a noted expert in the field. her deep understanding of how markets influence our lives and how the law should function is what we need at the ftc. while the ftc has done remarkable work, including the recent filing of the major case against facebook, for too long, mergers had gone unchallenged and accumulated levels of market power that we have not seen in a century. these are some of the most important issues of our day, they are complicated, and lina khan will bring a critical perspective to the ftc. she is committed to using the agency authority to solve real problems, and she is committed to public service, as we can see, throughout her career.

i hope both committee democrats and republicans alike will look forward to working with her on ensuring consumers get the benefit of free and fair competition. that our innovative spirit in this country brings new products and services to market that we continually rejuvenate capitalism and americans are protected when they buy their groceries, go to a health clinic, by their medicine, and go on facebook. we need lina khan at the ftc, and i urge my colleagues to support the nomination. . >> thank you, senator klobuchar. now, we will have an introductory statement by senator blumenthal. >> thank you, madam chair. thank you to all of the nominees here today. a big welcome to our colleague, phil nelson -- bill nelson, who has once again demonstrated his extraordinary judgment and wisdom by inviting his beautiful and accomplished family to be with him today.

we welcome you and look forward to working with you. i have a tremendous honor to introduce lina khan, who i have long admired and want to thank her family as well for their support. your story is so inspiring. an immigrant story, an american story about extraordinary accomplishments but also about giving back to america in such wonderfully important and life changing ways. life-changing ways. you've helped countless people with your expertise and amazing writings and so many academic journals and also your involvement in public service in this congress in both the senate and house it's a great expertise and insight with tremendous experience and frankly the guts and grit that you've

demonstrated already to stand up to powerful corporations and special interests that now threatens competition in this country. the fact is the nation is in and economic crisis. we need to revive our economy but in a way that protects consumers and in fact consumers have suffered deeply as a result of the pandemic. the fraud and the deceptions that have been involved in the schemes we see on the internet right now. and the nation is also in a privacy crisis. you've seen the intrusion and the breaches of data that have occurred. we are in a competition crisis. nobody has described it better than you have and we thank you for calling attention to the effects of the unchecked

consolidation that has been aggravated and highlighted during it. we are at a unique moment at the same time seeking greater equity and competition that benefits consumers ultimately and you are indeed the right person for this agency right now as the chair of the subcommittee on the consumer protection in this committee and a member of the antitrust that is so ably led by senator klobuchar. i look forward to working with you on all of these areas and i look forward to the leadership that you will bring to protecting consumers and competition as a member of the ftc. and again thank you for your willingness to serve. thank you.

not least the former secretary of commerce, secretary pritzker thank you for joining us to speak to the nomination of ms. kiernan. we thank you for your service. >> good morning and thank you so much the other members of the committee for all of the opportunities to speak today about our good friend, leslie kiernan. i'd like to congratulate the other nominees as well including my friend and former senator bill nelson and lina khan. let me begin by serving as the 38th sec. of commerce was the honor of a lifetime, and i really want to thank the committee for giving me that opportunity to serve the country. i thoroughly enjoyed working with each and every one of you on the critical work to build a

strong economy and i've appreciated your partnership and oversight role of the department of commerce. .. >> and demonstrated over the course of her career in the private sector and government and in the nonprofit world.

she's also someone who is quite adept at dealing with high pressure situations and multitasking given that she is the mother of four wonderful children. fundamentally leslie is a service leader who has robust experience in a broad range of complex legal issues that will serve the department of commerce well. her expertise ranges from data protection and cybersecurity to environmental law and corporate governance just to name a few areas. make no mistake. lloyd - - leslie is a lawyers lawyer. hired by her clients for her astute expertise and say around judgment. and with the same command of the law and judgment to the role of general counsel.

over the course of her career, leslie has demonstrated a commitment to bipartisanship, thoughtfully representing democrats and republicans. she has developed a reputation for excellence efficiency and discipline and is a darn good lawyer. it comes as no surprise she is nominated to such a crucial role. is confirmed leslie will work alongside thousands of public servants at the department of commerce who might deeply admire and respect i am confident they will work tirelessly to fulfill the critical mission for job creation for more americans. put simply, i am very proud i trust her judgment and her willingness to once again serve our country. department of commerce success

is our country success. in my opinion leslie will serve those that want - - both the department and the secretary with distinction. thank you again for inviting me to join you today in the important work all if you do on behalf of our nation i'm delighted to introduce to the committee and i enthusiastically endorse a swift nomination. >> thank you so much for joining us and to come back the department of commerce with people working with them. now we will turn to the nominees. thank you for your willingness to serve. >> thank you madame chairman.

if i may submit my testimony and writing for the record. and if i may, address the committee directly. >> thank you to my family. my spouse going on 50 years. grace. our daughter and our son joining us virtually. i want to thank the co-pay analyst and congratulations to you and anything that you have already accomplished is already impressive. thanks to my former colleagues.

there is a catch in my throat when i think of the wonderful times i have had with you all. and the friendships that we've had over the 18 years that i was privileged to serve. so your comments are so grateful he received. but now we have a big task ahead of us. and if you decide you will confirm me, i look forward to this with gusto and enthusiasm. there is a lot of excitement going on in nasa right now. you have seen it. a couple of days ago with the flight of the little helicopter on a celestial body

between 80 and 100 million miles away depending on the orbit that earth and mars are in. you have seen not as stated by the chairman and the ranking member with the return of american astronauts with american vehicles from american soil. later this year we will see a launch of the james webb telescope a 9 billion-dollar instrument on top of the marianne rockets. situated at the equator with the european space agency launched center in french guiana. you will see that telescope replacing the hubble that has already opened up so many new things to us in the universe. it will look back in time

almost to the beginning of the source of light. millions and billions of light-years away. it is an exciting time perhaps early next year, you will see the largest rocket ever, most powerful launched that would be the workforce on the program is going back to the moon which was a multi- administration project. this is not one administration it's like building an aircraft carrier. it will take you years down the road and it has to be continued regardless of who was in the majority or and the presidency and we see this. we will see the fulfillment.

if you ask me what is my vision for the future of nasa it is to continue for us to explore the heavens and with machines. there is a lot of excitement. corollary to that is look at what in developing machines can take humans and robots out to explore look at what is developed engineering and science and mathematics. first of all you will see a spin off of generation of newly educated young people. think back to the apollo

program. how that riffled through several generations of young people and stem that made us technologically the most advanced of all the nations on the planet. that can be happening again. pressing the envelope on the edges of science and discovery, look at what has happened. think of what is coming out of this for our everyday lives. i have to reach into my pocket to tell you just recently i was reminded of one of the greatest spinoffs it is the camera now used by billions of people on the planet. this camera was developed for the earth observing satellites

that nasa has built and operated. i could go through so many things. the canadian arm first with the space shuttle now on the space station. those robotics think of the robotic surgery i venture to say some members of this committee may have already experienced including a witness. that is all a spinoff of nasa technology. madame chair, i am mindful of your time. i could go on and on hopefully it is my opening statement i have submitted. i want to from the other distinguished folks. thank you for the privilege. i want to say one other thing. i think the fact that marco

and kay would make a statement tells you a lot about nasa. hopefully it tells you something about me in trying to bring people together regardless of party to build consensus to get something done thank you to jim bryden stein the former administrator who did a remarkable job under difficult circumstances and as a result he became very popular in nasa. want to thank him for his friendship and his gracious comments to me. that is the spirit of nasa. to keep us going in a bipartisan or nonpartisan way. and in this regard nasa is

like the department of defense. there should be no partisanship as we venture forth to explore new horizons. thank you for the privilege of being here. >> thank you for your enthusiasm and your passion. we feel it and we think it will be put to good use. now we turn to ms. collins. thank you and welcome to your family and for your willingness to serve. >> thank you for the opportunity to be here today with such esteemed panelist. i'm deeply honored to have been nominated by president biden to serve as commissioner of the ftc i am so grateful to my family friends and colleagues and mentors and students for their

encouragement and support i would especially like to recognize my parents and brother and husband were here with me today and my other brother and grandparents are watching online. for the last decade i focused on studying and investigating markets across the economy examining the laws with honest and fair competition i first started this work as a journalist and policy analyst where my job was to document competition to uncover the abusive businesses practices it enabled i spent years ranging from chicken farming and airlines learning from entrepreneurs and small businesses about the obstacles they face this taught me the importance of fair competition and a critical role the antitrust laws play to encourage business dynamism and widespread prosperity. my focus has been to examine the history of america's

antimonopoly laws revealing the long tradition of safeguarding the liberties with competitive markets and a wide arsenal of tools we have used to protect our economy and democracy from unchecked monopoly power is lessons we can apply to navigate challenges today i also had the chance to work on competition issues first at the ftc and most recently as counsel to the house judiciary committee subcommittee on antitrust and administrative law. i help to lead a 16 month bipartisan investigation into the general market a top to bottom empirical review how the markets are functioning. pursuing this investigation underscores the important work enforcers and lawmakers must do to ensure long-standing laws keep pace with new technology to reflect current business realities.

congress could serve as a guardian of their competition to protect consumers and workers and honest businesses from unfair and deceptive trade practices. if confirmed i look forward to work with my fellow commissioners career staff and the committee and the broader public to pursue the agency's mission with vigor and a deep commitment to serve the american public. thank you and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you for your willingness to serve in this capacity thank you. welcome and we look forward to hearing your remarks. >> ms. cantwell ranking member and members of the committee i'm honored to be on - - appear before you today is president biden's nominee to serve as general counsel to the department of commerce i am grateful for and humbled by the trust and confidence president biden and secretary romano placed in me. if confirmed i will work hard to justify the trust would also like to thank the

committee and i appreciate the opportunity i have had to meet with members of your staff for this hearing thank you to the secretary for the gracious remarks i appreciate the words and value the friendship i also want to thank my husband and our four children for their encouragement and support. the department of commerce has approximately 47000 employees working across a wide range of offices and bureaus the people of the commerce department are working on communication policy, international trade weather and patents to foster innovation to conduct foundational research. they are united by their mission for economic growth and opportunity the work

touches the lives of every american. every day. the department's ability to fulfill the mission is critically important as a country seeks to recover from the economic damage caused by the pandemic to protect american competitiveness from the unfair trade practices of china and other nations. together with more than 300 career lawyers and other professionals to make up the office of general counsel comet plays a critical role in advancing the department's mission by providing high quality legal advice and counsel to the secretary and officials throughout the department as the chief legal officer general counsel is responsible for ensuring the lot of congress is enacted and faithfully implemented. the general counsel represents the department and other agencies works of the department of justice to represent the commerce department in court to provide leadership and guidance and support many committed lawyers

work at the department. i believe my experience in the private sector has given me an understanding of the appropriate role of general counsel i have worked for over 30 years in private practice and government. early in my career i work on house committee of urban affairs and government experience providing leadership and advice from ethics and compliance also to serve as deputy counsel to the president and the obama biden administration with a variety of legal policy and oversight issues and work closely with the general counsel and other senior lawyers and agencies throughout the government. i have seen how important it is that agencies work together everyone is guided what the constitution requires. vigorous legal analysis is

essential of government is to work for the people. in my experience in the government and private sector i've learned a lot about leadership and the importance of collaboration and i'm a strong believer in teamwork and if confirmed pledge to keep opportunities to work closely with this committee and to be responsive to your request for information and assistance. this is a particularly interesting and exciting time to work in the commerce department as opportunities for all americans and businesses the department will have the best possible legal advice as it navigates the challenges it faces and the opportunity represents. if confirmed i commit i will do my best to provide my advice thank you for the opportunity.

>> thank you for persevering. i think the air system went on during your testimony. we are trying to address it for the broadcast. we will keep working on it. now we will turn to questions obviously if the witnesses could help us out since there are three of you. senator nelson, obviously nasa has a big tradition of ensuring resiliency of commercial programs by using multiple competitors to maintain a similar redundancy so i want to know that you will commit to rapidly providing congress with a plan to assure that resiliency out of the human lander program. >> i do. competition is always good. >> with the workforce

issue, artemis is a great mission now there are 18 astronauts that will be competing from that a few from the state of washington that more importantly it shows that in 2019 women only made up one third of nasa's workforce and 16 percent of the senior scientific workforce. if confirmed will you promote diversity and is technical leadership roles throughout nasa? >> yes ma'am. and already has. i strongly recommended to the white house the deputy be a woman who is exceptionally qualified and indeed i think you will see that and the person announced last week. pam melroy a former astronaut commander. before that she was air force

colonel, test pilot, after nasa she went to the faa and then to darpa. she is incredibly prepared as well as being a delightful person. she and i will operate as a team. although the white house has not announced yet. i think they are looking at a third person in nasa and you've only senate confirmed three with the chief financial officer i believe they are looking at who we recommended. >> thank you. one of the things as a ranking member we issued a report on journalism in the market impact of local journalism facing in the transformation to the information age.

google and facebook play dominant roles as portals two news and media. i thank you probably understand the challenges these sectors have faced given this level of activity. do you think the ftc should review google and facebook under the unfair standards the ftc has? >> . >> congratulations to you and your staff for this report. everything needs to be on the table obviously local journalism is an crisis in the current moment has underscored the deep democratic emergency that we have reliable sources of local news was a be something i would hope to focus on at the commission. >> what uncompetitive practices you see going on?

>> there are two major factors. one is increasingly news publishers are dependent on a few gatekeepers to disseminate their news and information. a single change in an algorithm so there are some currents about the arbitrary powers the firms can exercise. they are also serious concerns of the digital ad market and vertical integration creating conflicts of interest. lawsuits filed last year -underscore these issues with potential criminal activity is important to see how those lawsuits play out as well. >> we will continue our work. we believe in the model our markets and economy needs perfect information to generate true data.

if you think markets need perfect information was such a decline in journalism you will not get perfect information we went to diversity of voices to hold people accountable. thank you one of the key challenges we face when we are dealing with noaa and responsibilities given to the organization and timely allocation of those resources. i could say tribal broadband money or noaa commercial assistance would you commit to make sure the agency works closely with all of us on timely distribution of resources? accurate but timely because so many represent small entities counting on these resources.

>> yes senator. absolutely. >> i mentioned in the beginning about the scientific integrity in the aftermath of the hurricane finding the former acting general counsel interfered with science drafting public statements rebuking at the national weather service we you confirm your general counsel always follows science? >> yes, senator. >> thank you madame chair. senator nelson, i think it is wonderful to see both you and senator hutchison back before the committee today. it speaks volumes that having completed her introduction she remains on the call remotely as a supporter so welcome back

to both of you let me ask about the artemis program. i was excited about the idea of a lunar landing in 2024. a mars landing 2029. that timetable has slipped. can you discuss that briefly and how we move quickly that slightly and keep that from slipping even further quick. >> yes sir. understand they will not let me get into the innards because i still cannot talk to nasa until you may decide to confirm me. however the press conference and public statements made by the deciding authority on the

competition for the first human crew landing on the moon as it was six explained by the nasa official making that determination, the timetable for 2024 is still there with the awardee. and we all have to recognize that spaces hard and it's an ambitious timetable but that is what has been stated. coming after that, it is a demonstration of landing a crew on the surface of the moon and returning safely. after that there is a lot of activity that can go on and that is future competition in

those will be there as articulated by the deciding authority on this competition. you may be pleased that you will see that timetable to be adhered to the recognize that with a sobering reality that space is hard. >> thank you senator i hope that optimistic answer is accurate. want to do what i can to help it be accurate. thank you for your willingness to serve. you wrote an interesting paper titled amazon's paradox with

common carrier regulations too big tech. are you familiar with justice thomas recent publication with regard to that inking common carrier regulations be applied to media like facebook or twitter or youtube and explain why or why not quick. >> thank you senator. yes i did get to read to be justice thomas concurrence that prompted a lot of discussion. any amazon article i identified two potential pathways forward looking at these platforms one is in foreseeing competition laws to ensure the markets are competitive. also to recognize there are certain economies of scale and network - - network externalities to stay

dominated by companies and we need to have a different set of rules with a long legal tradition of what can be applied with a lot of concentration and that is one of the tools so we need to choose a paradigm and proceed accordingly. >> but in review of one of the other it would be necessary to fix a broken system? >> yes progression clarify many of these markets you may reach for a different set of tools to spending on what specific market you look at yes overall we need to choose one or the other. >> thank you madame chair. >> . >> senator cantwell was

talking about the problems of newspaper journalism we know what happened when google and facebook try to hold the whole country hostage. they tried. are you aware of the bill senator kennedy and i have with representatives senator mcconnell is one of the co-authors last year that allows newspapers and other news organizations to combine their negotiating power to get better content rate? your thoughts on that quick. >> thank you for the generous introduction earlier. these exemptions that allow correlation of desquamation have been used by congress like congress passes antitrust exemption to allow them to coordinate for the agriculture co-op so i think that too will

make sense that this is a market we see that asymmetry could be one step forward. >> you like your answer to senator whitaker to look at different markets differently. we have a hearing this afternoon on the antitrust committee on the app store market which i think a lot of citizens would be stand to know that for a lot of companies that want to be on either google or apple market is between 15 and 30 percent off the top that comes to consumers into the companies. and it's also stunning to know that companies that advertise on those app stores are banned from telling the customers

they could get a better deal on the website. i don't know what argument you can make for that if you want to talk about this hearing this afternoon. >> certainly it is a significant issue and the source of the power is that you have these two main options that gives them the power to set the terms in this market. you are right certain terms and conditions lack any type of beneficial justification so we need to be especially skeptical and look closely. >> and something that is relevant, senator grassley and i have joined forces and have a bill to restructure the fee for the mega mergers and some of those smaller mergers to give the resources to the ftc and doj antitrust which is a

shadow of their former selves supported by the trump administration at the very end of last year the chief of staff tried to help us get it done and chair simon former chair of the ftc as well as others to the senate. so talk about the need for resources to take on the biggest companies the world has ever known. >> you noted the resources of the commission have not kept pace with the increasing size of the economy as well as the complexity of the deals the commission is reviewing. measures like you are discussing could make sense to help out. >> travel and tourism just very briefly ending was senator nelson talk about the brand usa being important for

promoting our country overseas that senator blanton i have worked on extensively. >> i think helping the tourism and travel industry recover from the damages of the pandemic is a priority of the department. i certainly look forward to working with you and other members of the committee on that effort and in particular if there are legal issues that are impacting or delaying our ability to address these issues promptly, i would commit to resolving that priority. >> senator nelson. congratulations. we talked about your devotion to making sure more women and people of color get into science and nasa is such a great vehicle for that purpose so there are no longer hidden

figures. the title of that wonderful movie. briefly explain how important this is to you. >> it is. as the president said, he wants the government to reflect america. we are certainly going to try to do that at nasa i think we have gotten a good start. i point out one thing you may not know. way back at the beginning, all the astronauts were test pilots, all men, white men. they had to be a certain size. that was coming out of mercury, gemini and apollo. but when they got to the space shuttle, there was a lady named michelle nichols who had become a tremendous symbol of

the african-american community because she played the lieutenant on star trek. she and nasa i got to gather and she reached out because african-americans did not think they would ever be selected in the application for an astronaut whether a pilot or a mission specialist. and because she reached out affirmatively, in that first class of spatial astronauts, there were quite a few women and quite a few people of color. very successfully so that when i was privileged to fly in the early part of the space shuttle program, sitting in the right seat was an

african-american marine colonel, later a general bolden who later became the administrator of nassau. and our cat, was gregory the first african-american astronaut to fly as a pilot astronaut. but there is plenty of opportunity for expansion in the future and we will try to do that. >> thank you so much. >> thank you chair and to all of the nominees. congratulations on your nominations. senator nelson welcome back to the committee. it's good to see with even on the other side. we accomplished a great deal during our time as chair and ranking member of this committee to our excellent working relationship.

and we did disagree i knew i could count on you to work in a fair and straightforward manner to resolve any issues and carry on our committee's business. i cannot tell you how pleased i was to hear the news the president nominated you for this position. you are the perfect person and supremely qualified i look forward to the possibility of working with you in this new role. grace welcome back. good to have you here as well. i'm appreciative of the fact you are willing to come to south dakota. we took use several thousand feet underground to look at work in the black hills i was privileged to have the opportunity to go with you to the florida everglades. did you get up that photo? they are working on it. we have a photo of our trip down there when they get it up. there it is.

>> oh my gosh. [laughter] >> when that snake turned around and started to look at john he decided it was time to turn it over. [laughter] >> 's the instincts kicked in. >> i learned a lot about your state. senator nelson nasa has inspired the young people to pursue stem careers becoming the next generation of scientists and engineers to propel the nation space program forward. not to mention other economic benefits associated with space exploration. south dakota doesn't have a direct nasa presence to participate in the program to provide opportunities and projects with nasa but also workforce development and education tools to benefit

regional economies and to advance the research enterprise in rule states. is confirmed how would you work to build upon the success of these programs to improve nasa stem engagement? >> to do exactly what we did together in the past. the stem grant program is very important to universities in every state whether that state has a nasa facility or a center or not. the stem program is incredibly important in science and engineering technology and mathematics. you also mentioned the program that is a recognition that some states don't get as much in federal spending has other

states. so it gives the nod to those states with the federal spending that would come in with this particular case and that technology stem fields. i look forward to doing that with you and i look forward to returning to south dakota with you and take me down into the abandoned goldmine 1 mile below the surface of the earth. >> to deliver payloads and crews to orbit and eventually and beyond as a number of commercial operators as they grow how will you be sure nasa plays a constructive role across both government-sponsored and commercial missions?

>> that builds on the law senator kay bailey hutchinson described we passed in 2010 is a dual course for the future. one course is the commercial operations instead of everything being done by nasa it was originally thought it would just be a low earth orbit such as the delivery of cargo and crew by commercial operators to the iss which is now an accomplished fact with space x in a few days to launch a crew and later in the year, boeing doing the same.

others are supplying cargo. having doing that with the commercial operators to get nasa out of low earth orbit and to explore. and then the lander this is landing of the humans on the surface of the moon. is just announced a contract on a demonstration of landing on the moon with a crew to bring them back safely. we talked about that just a few minutes ago as described by nasa and the press conference. there are so many other commercial contracts to come after that.

and to be on the surface of the moon but particularly in the preparation to go to mars. that is the goal and the decade of the 20 thirties. you will see the dual activity as set by law in the 2010 dell. >> thank you. great to have you back. >> i yield back but for the record i do want to ask a question about the thoughts of the ftc suit against facebook. >> i will also follow up with a question for the record you senator nelson on this issue because clearly see their needs to be redundancy with a clear process has to be redundancy now we will follow up with a question on that. >> thank you madame chair welcome back senator nelson.

i'm delighted you will have the role and inspired by your opening statement. i want to ask a question about the sourcing of contracts by nasa because so much depends on having a supply-chain and a reliable source of the components and parts that go into and make it look easy when it is a diverse combination of many contractors in the call i raise the role connecticut played in the aerospace industry with companies like collins and windsor locks working to develop next-generation spacesuits. people take for granted we will work on - - walk on mars. of course men and women on the

moon but the next renovations spacesuits are critical to do so. and as you know from your experience as united states senator many small companies are looking for a fair playing field a competitive outlook when they are sitting in this kind of environment. i know you are sensitive to that challenge of opening opportunities for contractors and subcontractors that nasa hopes to commercially procure and maintain and service those components like spacesuits. do you think it's possible to source them competitively instead of going to one source

quick. >> i do. competition is always better than sole sourcing. you can get the efficiencies and the lower price. indeed. and you talk about the supply chain which is so critical. one of the things that has held us up on artemis. the big rocket that will launch later this year there has been some slowing down in the supply-chain because of covid and natural disasters hurricanes, et cetera. but it is just amazing and american industry how the supply-chain provides what is needed ultimately to the product and it's very important we keep that going so thank you for raising that. >> i really welcome that

answer. you mentioned there are two paradigms ms. con that is a theoretical construct or a model that the ftc is the enforcement agency in the best paradigm of the laws are a dead letter if not enforced vigorously the ftc right now has a complaint against facebook would you be committed to vigorously enforce that complaint and others that are your responsibility? >> absolutely. >> what is the biggest challenge of enforcement? is that the resources and power? lack of resources on the ftc? can they really enforce the law against behemoth corporations like facebook and

google? >> one of the challenges is the deep information asymmetry between the firms and enforcers and regulators. it is clear in some instances the agencies have been a little slow to catch up to the empirical realities how the markets work at the very least to ensure the agencies are doing everything they can to keep pace will be important. >> beyond the marquee enforcement of big tech and so forth, there is also the continuing challenge of every day americans like joey robinson who wrote to me in connecticut about legitimate ppe to keep safe during the pandemic and told me that after extensive research, she was still swindled. they had my money i have no

ppe or to get them to refund me after hours on hold and a dozen efforts in writing. in effect, she told me nobody was listening are doing anything at least 451,000 mrs. robinson's out there according to the ftc zone data. would be interested in your views to the responsibility of the ftc of those everyday americans. >> absolutely this type of right and scams are a huge issue especially during a pandemic with a life or death consequence. congress gave additional civil penalty authority in the context of covid. i would hope at the very least the agency way the grizzly use

that. >> senator fisher. >> thank you senator cantwell. i appreciated speaking with you before and we have reviewed your experience on antitrust policy and you mention you got started in the industry. my own work i've been pushing for transparency in the cattle markets recently there has been quite a bit of producers going to major vertical integration following trends we haven't seen in the poultry and pork industry. looking at the forces leading to significant consolidation which factors drop out to on - - about to you as a red flag as a tipping point for an industry recognizing that this can vary by market cracks. >> thank you for the question

senator i enjoyed our opportunity to discuss these issues. agriculture is a sector where we see the most extreme examples of these trends with concentration and vertical integration and ways that leave farmers and ranchers dependent on one entity that can lead to asymmetry and the ability for terms and all of those factors are important to look at when trying to assess these issues. >> if confirmed as a commissioner, how would this inform your approach regarding competition and how would you specifically to mitigate those harmful effects for consumers? the ftc has limited jurisdiction and the agriculture market is like the food supply chain so it's ensuring that they are

vigorously enforcing the law where it does have authority to have a situation where consolidation down here in. that will be one important thing to focus on. >> thank you. senator nelson good to see you again. nasa and the contractors that it works with those established by congress and carried out by the administration. in your opinion how important is it for nasa and the contractors to have continuity such as the artemis program and the space launched system quick. >> it's very important. as i have tried to articulate. space is hard and it takes a long time to develop these technologies. this is cutting-edge stuff.

i didn't just start yesterday but years ago. senator kay bailey hutchinson indicated how it started with the legislation back in 2010. it is very important to keep the continuity going year-to-year. extremely important. >> good to see you again. >> at the department of commerce ids cybersecurity that you believe are the top challenges facing the department? in the wake of cybersecurity breaches describe what you see as the most significant hurdle for the commerce department. >> senator, protecting our networks is vital to economic and national security.

with the cybersecurity network has improved awareness to facilitate regulatory streamlining. since i'm not at the agency i don't have the current details on the department's efforts in this regard. but if confirmed i will make it a priority to work with the experts at other agencies throughout the government on these issues. >> if you are confirmed as general counsel, how would you advise the department to approach these challenges quick. >> senator, this is an issue that requires government why responses. it will be incredibly important to work with other agencies throughout the government to get the best ideas from experts in the private sector. given the challenges that we face, we need to ensure we are

utilizing best practices and reaching out to the experts throughout the government and in the private sector to bring those to bear. >> thank you madame chair. >> senator tester. >> thank you madame chair. this is for a nominee khan along the same line that senator fisher was asking. i am in agriculture. agriculture is the number one industry in montana and feeding people is really important. in fact you can control people with food more than with anything else. we have had the luxury of having an incredible economy

that has fed the world in agriculture. not just in recent years that for some time we have arch consolidation creep into agriculture with the chicken and pork industry with the beef and the grains. we even see it in crops. this is not amazon or facebook or new technology. the big process has been doing this for decades and decades. i would say now administration democrat or republican has tackled this in my lifetime. i have seen this consolidation result in rural communities drying one - - drying up and you are totally locked into a group of three or four people

who are on the golf course to determine what would be paid in the marketplace. capitalism is not working. you are a smart person and you know about consolidation nominee khan. but the reason many of the administrations in the past have not dealt with this because the companies control a lot of money and power. they can put that influence into the reelection campaigns of many people on this panel and others. how do you deal with the consolidation issue and from a political standpoint quick. >> thank you senator. as you noted there is a long history to recognize the ways concentration of economic power translates into political power that is one thing we face across the

board. with agriculture specifically the justice department primarily has jurisdiction and antitrust. but i think the act is a hidden gem of a statute that is designed to address these consolidation issues in the context. . . . . of the surfaced particularly in times of crisis, so absolutely these are really important issues. >> so, to carry on this line of questioning, ms. khan. for the most part you said this is in the justice department's realm. what i have seen in my 14 years here on the hill is in many

different shoes, broadband is a prime example you have many agencies involved the putting fiber in the ground or when you have a couple agencies in charge of dealing with consolidation and they want to point a finger at one another. what do you intend to do on the ftc in this realm that is legal and within the law for you to do? >> interestingly, the jurisdiction over the market was actually stripped after the ftc published the report in 1920, so when they did try to go to the jurisdiction, and as i mentioned earlier, the ftc does have jurisdiction over kind of downstream so especially in the context of food retail, grocery and in so far as sometimes concentration or consolidation in one part of the supply chain can exacerbate and another part at the very least ensuring the ftc is fully enforcing the law

over the market that it does have jurisdiction over. >> i appreciate that. i will tell you as somebody involved with production and agriculture, i would hope that we would get some folks that would tackle the agribusiness multinational companies. i think they've not allowed capitalism to work and that's my opinion and will be my opinion until i learned otherwise. i just want to say it is good to see you, senator hutchison and good to see you, senator nelson. good luck to you both, whatever your endeavors now. i expect you to move up the launchpad up to cape canaveral but if you don't do that i will still vote for you and it's good to see you. thank you. >> i want to echo his comments.

i see this all the time. there's too much concentration of power and we need to either look for new competition or figure out exactly what that market influence is. it's putting too much pressure on the price so we are turning to senator moran i had an opportunity to meet both with ms. khan and senator nelson and i appreciate the conversations. they were valuable to me. i don't have any questions for you, senator nelson. i look forward to working with you both in the commerce committee and appropriations

committee with the future space opportunities including innovation, aerospace and kansas let me ask about social media. i've become increasingly concerned about social media companies that promise to be free and open marketplace for ideas but they are not in my view upholding the promises to the consumers. i've introduced the promise act that would require social media companies to operate and dispose moderation policies and prohibit the social media company from making a deceptive policy statement, quote on quote. violations of this law under that legislation would constitute an unfair act or practice in violation of section five of the federal trade commission act. what do you see as the role of the ftc making certain certain companies are abiding by their statements and policies when it comes to the content moderation?

>> thank you, senator. the information asymmetries here are so deep and at the very least, we need the federal trade commission to be used as the information collection capacity to mitigate some of these information gaps. social media we have the black box algorithms, proprietary algorithms can make it difficult to know what's going on. the ftc did in the last couple of years use its authority to try to start getting more of this information so hopefully that will provide more transparency but in general, i think the commission and information collection authorities can be useful. >> thank you. i think our legislation is a means by which we can deal with activities that are contrary to the stated policies by the companies without necessarily dealing with section 230, which

has significant consequences for entrepreneurs and small business startups. so i look forward to further conversations with you if the legislation in particular moves forward. let me move to may's chair man. the attack exposed to serious deficits in the country's cyber defenses. the department of commerce was one of the first departments to be identified as being breached as a part of that attack. solar wind compromises as much of an attack on our economic security as it is our national security and vice versa. my view with the demand is the slick and deliberate response on aspect of improving cyber security of the federal government is it modernization. my act which was passed in 2017 allows the departments and agencies to upgrade their infrastructure. how should the department to

strengthen its cyber defenses and what role does the it modernization play in this effort? >> protecting the networks is vital to our economic and national security. i think that it modernization is an important component in trying to address this a difficult, complex and important issue. if confirmed, i will make it a priority to work with you and other members of the committee on this issue. >> thank you for that. let me ask you one more question. the privacy shield and ability to transfer data across the border is crucial to those in kansas until last year the eu

privacy shield served as a privacy protecting way for those to transfer can you commit to supporting efforts to ensure companies can continue to transfer data across international borders and supporting efforts by the government to reach a new agreement facilitating the data transfer? >> yes, cross-border is essential for the businesses and if confirmed it will be a priority for me to work with the department and other government officials to reach a solution to support the american businesses and security. >> thank you for the opportunity to ask my questions. >> we are going to go to senator hicken looper.

he was an acquaintance of mine the request asked for the robust $3 billion funding for earth science programs that i may be unfortunately have a masters in environmental science it can be

an important partner and the research could all be important to the climate change so i wanted to ask what additional capabilities would president biden's budget increase for the earth science program what would that increase provide? >> it's a very important increase. you can't mitigate climate change unless you can measure it, and that is nasa's expertise. understanding our planet gives us the means to better protect it. i know this is something that you feel very strongly about, senator, especially in the way that you conducted yourself as

governor trying to protect your resources there in your state. so, this is where the administration has provided for a robust increase on earth science and i think that it reflects exactly what we are talking about. >> kind of along that line, expanding it to the overall aerospace industry i do know colorado's one of the nation's aerospace leaders with many engineers, manufacturers and i know that the commercial space industry has contributed to many of the most critical programs. how could nasa under your leadership work more collaboratively with the commercial sector? >> it's not only critical, it's

essential. and in fact, that is what is happening. kudos to your state that produces a number of those commercial companies. as we described from the outset the law that we are operating under has a nasa going down a dual track. on the one hand, commercial companies are allowing nasa to get out of low earth orbit for the participation in the international space station's and go explore the heavens. and the commercial companies as evidenced by the success of the

delivery of cargo as well as crew to the international space station's, something nasa had done exclusively before, but as the systems were developed with heavy nasa participation because of the safety factor when you put humans on board. and, therefore, that is being done as we speak. if we look to the future, further out in space, back to the moon and onto mars, we are going to see commercial participation. and we are seeing that as we speak and what was announced last week in the downselect in a competition for the first human landing on the moon. but there's a lot of commercial activity that is going to then be followed on. >> i agree.

let me cut you off because real quickly, i'm out of time. i want to also, very quickly ask you about national space council and their ability to play a role in the inner agency coordination on the space policy issues that in many cases transcend federal agencies and just about out of time -- i am out of time. [inaudible] >> as a matter of fact, i support the national space council and was delighted to see that apparently, the president has decided he wants to continue that. whatever it is you need a form because it isn't unique to nasa and it isn't unique to the department of defense spaces and you need that coordination among the agencies.

>> senator blackburn and senator marquis and senator scott. senator blackburn. >> thank you, madam chairman. senator hutchison, thank you for joining us today. senator nelson, i so enjoyed my conversation with you in discussing more about a mutual friend that we have and also discussing your enthusiasm that i think more importantly, your understanding of the processes and the goal for nasa. so, briefly and for the record, what i would like for you to do is talk for just a little bit about china, about china's push

into space exploration and how to utilize that civil and military fusion in order to try to beat us out of the space race china is out for global dominance, so if you would just touch on that. >> as articulated by the president, there is a threat china poses in basically getting a lot of our secrets and getting a lot of our technology and invading a lot of our privacy. now, when you take that and bring it to the space program. then you have to be concerned

about the same thing. china has said they want to have a landing of humans on the moon they are going to link up with russia to put humans on the moon. i think there's a lot more than has to be done by saying it and actually doing it because space is hard but i think we need to be concerned about that. >> i think we are going to hold you to your commitment. back to the moon by 2024 and mars by 2030. and i also, for the record, want to state how much i appreciate your focus on the public-private partnerships and making certain

that we are cost competitive and as nasa moves forward with different ventures so thank you for that. just one question for you. if you'd been at the ftc during the obama years, what would you have done differently in the merger review process? >> senator, i think over the last few years in particular, there's been a lot of evidence that has come to light that suggests in certain cases there were missed opportunities for enforcement actions as i mentioned earlier, part of that was due to some of the information asymmetry. part of that was also because there was an assumption in the digital markets in particular that are fast-moving so we don't need to be concerned about the potential concentrations because the power will get the entry and competition. now of course we know that in

these markets you have significant network externalities and reinforcing advantages of data that make them much more sticky such that we have to be much more vigilant relating to these oppositions. so i think that it is hindsight there is a growing sense many of these were a missed opportunity. >> i would like for you to submit in writing a more complete answer as to what you would have done differently. we know what the problems were. we have concerns about your background and experience coming to that position so why don't you just admit to me [inaudible]

>> i enjoyed our time to visit before the hearing. as you know, the end tia has an important role to develop a government wide spectrum plan and i think that we need a government wide spectrum plan that would allow us to address the need for the private sector to have spectrum for 5g as well as the government's needs for the spectrum to satisfy its ability to perform thanks, madam chair. that completes the question. thank you senator blackburn your

leadership is really going to help our country in an enormous way. thank you for meeting to serve once again. nasa has more than two dozen satellites in instruments observing key climate indicators. nasa is the premier agency for observing and understanding changes to the earth. could you talk a little bit about how you would work to ensure that nasa is providing all of the capabilities as i

said to senator hicken looper you can't mitigate climate change which is happening unless you measure it, and that is uniquely nasa being able to measure from all of the instruments that nasa designs, builds and puts into orbit that allows us the opportunity to protect. this of course is one of the major breasts of president joe biden if i may then sure, i'm not going to take a lot of time,

but just to give you one personal vignette when i had the privilege of flying 30 years ago with the naked eye that altitude is we orbited the earth you could see the affects on the climate, for example, what we were doing to mess it up. i could see right over the amazon, i could see the color change of the altitude where they were destroying the rainforests coming over madagascar are. they cut down all the trees. you could see at the mouths of the river all of the silt that was flowing out to the waters of the indian ocean. so now we are so much more prepared to measure what is

happening. >> that is why nasa is going to be so important and we have introduced the environmental justice data collection act so that we can see where the harm is occurring and then direct as president biden wants to do the funding towards those communities and those places that have suffered the most environmental injustice, so we are looking forward to partnering with you on that. i recently sent the federal trade commission a letter highlighting evidence that the prodigy education engagement and deceptive practices research shows the online masking manipulates children and families into making purchases by constantly telling them what items the friends have bought

can you please commit this if you are confirmed that you will use your full authority under section five of the federal trade commission act to ensure that we hold companies accountable when they attempt to manipulate and monetize the activities of children? >> in the online privacy protection act in 1998 and again you have bad actors that are out there always seeking to manipulate and take advantage of children. will you commit that if you are

confirmed if there are any updates that you're going to play a red ties to achieve in order the previous rule should be the floor, not the ceiling. i am not privy to what the statute is. more generally as we think about the privacy it's an important framework as we move forward. senator scott? >> i want to thank chair cantwell and all of the nominees. it's nice to see a floridian nominated for nasa. thank you for taking the time. can we talk about the importance of florida to nasa and what they

think you can do to continue the growth we've seen in florida over the last decade? >> yes indeed, senator. it's a very robust future we have seen more and more it is happening specifically at the kennedy space center and cape canaveral space force station it's now contracted with the air force and now the space force. they are not only developing a

very complex launchpad but they also have a rocket manufacturing facility that they have landed from the kennedy space center and it's a big operation so i think there's a plethora of other companies that are going to be both preparing, manufacturing, preparing and launching from that part of florida. now, why the middle part of central florida on the east coast because it gives you that little extra boost that you don't have to spend the fuel as you go into orbit and fly south the closer you can get to the equater likewise you've got that rotation that helps you he has

done a terrific job. >> it is remarkable what's happened. we talked about communist china and the amendment. can you talk about the importance of that? >> we just addressed to that in a question with senator blackburn. thank you for pointing it out. congressman wolf passed an amendment that is law and it basically says you don't cooperate in space unless there is a sign off by the fbi that this is not going to threaten national security or the national economy. that is the law, and nasa will

abide by that. >> and you think that it's important to hold china accountable. >> i expanded further in my comment with senator blackburn, and that is that you just better be concerned because now china is getting together with russia and saying they are going to go to the moon together. it's nice to see your family here by the way. >> thank you. i am a big fan of nasa and the space agency and all this

happening. i always ask the nominees to me there's so much we can be doing to inspire the youth. one of my favorite movies is the martian, hollywood doing something great for the country inspiring young americans. there's so much going on. we had a group of alaskan students that had their essays that were part of the mars perseverance rover, so these are alaskan essays on mars right now. what can we be doing in that area? you have a lot of experience, but to me one of the most important things we need to be doing is inspiring the youth and stem education. there is so much that we can do i think we are just scratching

the surface. >> indeed, senator. thank you for your enthusiasm. >> i am an enthusiastic. >> there's so much that we can do by igniting the imaginations of these kids and often you ignite that imagination through the space program for science, technology, engineering and mathematics for the mercury, gemini and apollo, we saw a whole generation of mathematicians and engineers and technicians that came out of that that exploded the advance compared to others on the planet. if you decide to approve me,

this is one of the areas that i'm going to really pour the juice to it's nothing like space that can get kids excited. >> you have a lot that want to help you in that regard. i think that it's a huge opportunity. i see it everywhere. so, we should get together and work hard on that. i look forward to doing that with you. ms. kiernan, senator scott leader and i are going to go down to the floor to try to move the legislation that has been the result of enormous frustration that we have with cdc right now. cdc as it relates to the cruise

ships and senator nelson might care about this as well, has a very myopic view that it's only looking at the virus, no matter what the health impacts are, other elements of the economy and the communities. in my state, we don't have another cruise ship season, we can do it safely, we are going to put thousands if not tens of thousands out of work. right now the cdc is a myopic organization that looks out one tiny issue and we have thousands

of people out of work, being put out of work that has an impact. can i get your view on that? >> yes, senator. i think helping the tourism industry to recover from the effects of the pandemic is a priority of the department, and you certainly have my commitment to work with you and other members of the committee and officials within commerce to try to identify ways. a. >> i want to ask you very quickly. i know there's a lot of issues that you are focused on that you've been focused on. i trust the exemption. why does major league baseball

need to such an exemption especially when we see other sports leagues thriving without an antitrust [inaudible] >> you are an expert in this area. >> my sense is that generally, congress has viewed it as appropriate to grant exemptions when there are deep power imageries in the market. i'm not sure that it would really fall into that category, so i can't from the traditional set of criteria, i don't think it necessarily makes sense, but there are justifications other people thought were appropriate. >> so you are a skeptic of that is that what you are saying to me? >> it is most appropriate when you have the one side of the market you can coordinate or come together and i don't off the top see what the asymmetry is like where the power is and to whom so that is the question i would ask to find out if it is appropriate. >> thank you.

>> thank you, madam chair. i want to tell senator nelson how much i enjoyed meeting with you. it's great to see you again. we had to such a great visit. i am delighted that you are the nominee for masses head and i look forward to working with you. a very low aggregate collision risk level over their lifetimes. >> yes ma'am. and what we are having so much infrastructure in space that we have a serious problem about

some of that infrastructure colliding and of course you get a collision at 17,500 miles an hour you have a problem. the problem has been exacerbated by the fact that the chinese developing an anti-satellite weapon years ago launched it to destroy one of their satellites and in so doing blew us to smithereens with thousands of pieces littering space as space junk so the u.s. air force tracks all of this and as a result, when you get thousands and thousands of pieces it becomes increasingly problematic

trying to warn the international space station that they need to alter their orbit to get out of the way of this piece of space junk likewise sensitive satellites both defense as well as commercial. >> given the critical assets that they have, what level of risk caused by these commercial operations would nasa be willing to accept from these commercial activities? >> well, i think you put your finger on something that has to be done in the future, and that is the development of ways that when there is a useless satellite and say it's a commercial, yours is specifically commercial but it could be a government satellite as well. and if it's dead, then there

ought to be a provision for getting it down which it then gets into the upper atmosphere and will burn up on reentry. i think that's something that's already starting, and it ought to be accelerated. a. >> thanks for those answers. part of the success has been the focus on the partnerships between the government and the sector. when we started 11 years ago setting nasa on the course of commercial operations and low earth orbit and getting nasa out to explore and part of that being the program of which you see these commercial operators that have been competing, that

just announced by nasa i'm not privy to the internals of that but what we are stated is going to be a continuing source of working together in a cooperative way it's got to be involved to make sure that it's safe. >> what will you do to further expand the core and make sure that it leads in the policy realm? to get it expanded by other countries that have not become a part of the accords and that is, for example, that the moon should be a place that is not

militarized and as more and more nations participate in the activity it is so great to see you. i think it is delightful that the former nasa administrator i look forward to working with you and i want to thank you for your willingness to take on this assignment i'm going to ask senator peters to take over thank you madam chair for being here today. i would like to start with you if that is okay. the sixth circuit has previously ruled that the former

commissioner paul rand dixon had to recuse himself from a hearing based on the conduct in which he had been involved and the antitrust subcommittee prior to becoming a commissioner. in light of the fact that you would work on the house counterpart to the committee the antitrust subcommittee and its report on the digital markets, wouldn't you be bound to follow from recusing any investigation into facebook, amazon, apple or google? >> thanks for the question, senator.

>> in the instances before the commission petition to have particular commissioners recused those cases are resolved in a case by case basis. there is no categorical decision about that if it were to arise i would need the guidance of the relevant officials at the agency and proceed accordingly. >> is it applicable to your instance? >> i would want to be more relevant with the facts. >> the work on the antitrust subcommittee. >> before taking office with regards to prejudgment as i mentioned those are resolved on a case-by-case basis. >> i appreciated the previous conversations and want to follow up on a couple of things including your philosophy on any

rulemaking power that you believe it may yield so a quick series of yes or no questions should the agency's exercise the rulemaking powers that have been granted by congress? >> under the authority of the act i think that would be appropriate. >> but it shouldn't exercise the power in the absence of having been granted. >> i don't have a philosophical view on that. i think in the context of the ftc, it is obviated by the fact there is authority in the statute. >> to get around the president t for which it disagrees. >> i'm not sure. section five has a standalone basis and there is a precedent noting it isn't limited by the

antitrust statutes. as we discussed yesterday there are going to be some questions of first impression but generally several checks if it does go down this road. >> you mentioned the section of the federal trade commission act. were there any limits to what rules the commission could promulgate under in order to define what it means to engage in unfair or deceptive trade practices? >> yes, senator the rulemaking has been debated for decades. there is a series of cases where the ftc and adjudicated and came up with the standards. in practice though it hasn't been successful for defining the

contours. i think there are some questions remaining. >> as we discussed in the past there's some debate underway which we discussed a little in the past. it's important to evaluate our laws and to ensure the standards for assessing whether the particular behaviors and mergers and acquisitions are illegal or should be illegal whether they are harming americans. do you think the consumer welfare standard is lacking? >> in my academic capacity i've questioned whether it is a good proxy for competitiveness in the context of the digital markets. a. >> when assessing whether a merger or a particular course of conduct is anticompetitive you think they should take into account and take into consideration any impact it

might have on innovation? >> yes, absolutely. >> consumer choice? >> the statute says competition isn't defined in the statute so it's up to the agencies to figure out what this means. >> price, market access, all should be taken into account. >> all of that is great to hear and it's fantastic. all of these things are already in play, and they play a significant role in the antitrust law and they are all features of the consumer welfare standard. it seems they could meet the need if only enforcers brought to the appropriate facts and appropriate evidence in the appropriate cases to the table. thank you. i see my time is expired. thank you for your questions and

to each of you here before us congratulations on your nomination. thank you for your willingness to serve your country. these are big jobs that each of you have been nominated for and we look forward to this process and wish you the best shouldn't you be confirmed. senator nelson it is a particular joy to see you here today. it's very fitting to see you here at the commerce hearing just for a different position than i'm used to but it's great to see you nominated and something that you are eminently qualified to do and your passion for space is legendary. it's wonderful and great to see you here. senator, one thing that struck me you talk about your

experiences in space and the fact that as you look down on the planet and saw this blue beautiful planet in space no lines between countries, just one earth together to remind all of us we are all on a small planet and a large universe and we need to come together and try to spell some of the divisions that tend to dominate far too much in this place. i know you will bring that spirit should you be confirmed as a nasa administrator and something that we need throughout government. my question though to you and statement is that nasa is of course famously noted or known the four the space center in florida which you've had the privilege of representing. the johnson space center in texas certainly a nationwide effort, but we have some great

efforts in michigan as well and this is a country coming together for this mission. it includes companies like the atlas space operations to lauren working on other projects and places. across every single state in the union misapplying parts to the deep space rocket, orion spacecraft, all the different projects going forward. we discussed you would be willing to come to michigan and i want to invite you to come to talk about how we deep in the supply chain. it is important that we harness the innovation that is existed and i want to hear your thoughts

how do you see deepening the supply chains of the small companies have a reasonable shot to do business and bring their incredible innovation to the forefront for your efforts? >> it is essential to the supply chain, and there are preferences for small businesses. but the strength of this country is our ability to manufacture by bringing in all of the supplies. and you have to draw from many different places and they have to be just exactly how they are designed in order to work. i look forward to coming back to michigan. i've been there several times in my former capacity and i look

forward to visiting with you specifically some of your space community. >> i look forward to that and hopefully we will do that soon if confirmed so you can see firsthand some of the incredible work that's being done. i currently sit as the chair of the security government affairs committee and we are active in federal procurement and want to make sure as the taxpayer money is being spent that it's always a priority to spend that money in the united states to employ domestic workers. we have without question hours are skills of american workers and the best in the world. we've got the best workers, engineers, scientists we want to make sure that money is focused into our own country so my question for you as administrator to the extent that it is permitted by law, how will

you work to prioritize domestic supplies for nasa? >> it's a very important part for president joe biden in his build back better and buy american. we will operate accordingly at nasa in as much as possible. >> i appreciate that. thank you for your answers and i look forward to working with you if confirmed in the years ahead. >> thank you for holding down the fort and getting us through more questions. i think we have a few members left who want to ask questions but i'm hoping in the next 15 or 20 minutes we will be able to wrap up the hearing unless we come back with a big demand. senator cruz if you are ready, followed by senator rosen. >> thank you, madam chair you

and i spoke a few weeks back and as i told you then and i said publicly, there are not many nominees about whom i am enthusiastic and it is a notable exception to that. i am enthusiastic because we've worked together for a lot of years and i know that you genuinely care about the mission, that you genuinely care about space and exploration and american leadership in space. you and i together as the chair on the space subcommittee has worked a number of years and offered bipartisan legislation together focused on continuing america's leadership in space, focused on maintaining nasa's

position as the preeminent space agency in the world and focusing on ensuring that there are not dramatic discontinuations of ongoing projects that we have both seen with any change of administration there is a risk that billions and thousands of man-hours will be thrown away as the agency changes course dramatically. we worked together whether the transition is to the republican or democratic administration and ensuring that there is a continuity that continues the tremendous leadership we are seeing so i am very glad to have the nomination and look forward to continuing to work together in a different capacity. >> i want to thank you for your continued leadership after i left the senate, you, senator cantwell, senator cinema did the

authorization in 2020. not only did that consideration that you're talking about but also trying to extend the life of the iss so thank you for that. >> extending life of the iss is something we've worked together for a long time. i know the answer to this but i will ask anyway which is i assume you support the full utilization of the iss beyond 2024 at least through 2030, and as long as technology allows the iss to be safely utilized. >> we are seeing some of the fruits of the labor over the years not only of international cooperation on the international space station, but some of the research that is occurring and i will just pick out one as a result of the pharmaceutical research on the stations, we now

have developed the way to more effectively insert the drug in cancer research. >> one area that i've been focused on and i look forward to continuing to work with you on is how to incentivize more development on the iss in space and how potentially to create a revenue stream there are lessons in how they've handled it incentivizing the revenue streams that i think on the space inside we can learn important lessons from there are

deep concerns about big attack and the power of big attack and i think the ftc should be doing much more and the hubris demonsg attack. the risk posed by the censorship and imposition upon i've been quite public about my concerns about the concentrated power and context of digital markets. i think on the competition side we are continuing to see a range

of potential risks. one that comes up across the board is the way in which being able to dominate one market gives the company's in some instances the ability to expand to adjacent markets and makes it easier to capture an entire ecosystem. i think on the consumer protection side there's interesting questions to be asked, specific to the behavioral-based models in so far as the models incentivize and list both data i worry in some cases, some of the companies might think it's just worst to violate the privacy law. those are some of the concerns that come to mind. and it seems like they are grown increasingly by the bipartisan concern thank you senator.

>> thank you, chair cantwell. thank you to all the nominees and senator nelson i've enjoyed the conversation that we were able to have. we have a gap in the representation. research has shown its critical to offer opportunities and workforce development in this early age especially to reach girls and other historically underrepresented groups. of those that eventually worked in the aerospace and defense workforce, 71% of the

professionals report that they first became interested in those careers in grade school so they conduct stem education and reach activities at all levels. k-12, internship, all of it and like senator thune, i am particularly interested in the score, the joint federal space program designed to allow our states like nevada to participate in the space and aeronautics. during the meeting last week, earlier today i was pleased to hear your continued support of that program and others. so senator nelson, what other investments should we be considering to ensure that today's schoolchildren, those in the third grade today that we inspire them and to reach for the stars i guess if you will. we want to be sure they are well equipped, so how do you think we can best do that? >> indeed, we can inspire this

generation of students in ways that they might not otherwise get inspired through the space program. we have seen this in the past. we saw that happen after the apollo program to the moon we saw for an entire generation kids were turned on to science and technology and engineering and mathematics. so the president's budget as recommended to the congress is having a significant increase. to get these grants out to the

universities that's going to be very important. the retired astronauts with a means of delivering the message we need to try to continue that i was one of those kids that watch all through the 60s. we were glued to the tv for every space watch and landing on the moon. i became a woman in texas maybe it had an impact on me. i would like to move on to data security. mais khan, what i look forward to, i understand firsthand the importance of data and cyber

security and a pandemic that has forced all of us to transition to work from home and telework. of course we took notice and it's impacted every sector from healthcare to school to business, you name it, unfortunately. so last year i introduced several bills aimed at protecting and strengthening the cybersecurity capacity such as improving for small organizations and small businesses who've been it hard to like school districts with grant somewhere and the like. we need to continue to do that and we need to work on those collaborative efforts through the ftc. how can the ftc better partner with private entities to build a stronger defense against the data breaches, how would that relationship work? >> senator, let me say off the front, thinking about the data security events and what we have

seen over the last few years, this is no longer just about identity theft. they are national security implications in so far as we have seen some states. with regards to the work with the ftc with private groups, my understanding is that the commission has been doing as a part of its education and outreach campaigns, we work with small businesses. i haven't had the opportunity to see any empirical data on the efficacy but i look forward to learning more about that. >> i look forward to working with you on that because the small businesses need a lot of help and to continue to maintain and patch the commercial software that they've used as particularly important in this day and age. thank you for your willingness to serve. i believe my time is up. thank you, madam chair would you

pledge to work collaboratively and provide thorough and timely responses for the information and as you appear as requested. >> thank you. this has been an excellent hearing i appreciate the nominees on their questions and the hearing record will remain open until may and fifth and senators will have the opportunity to submit questions for the record. we ask that the nominees return their questions to the committee in a timely fashion so that we can move forward obviously with the processing of the nomination for the committee and onto the floor.

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