now, madam president, on another matter, yesterday we voted to advance jim bridenstine's nomination to lead nasa. jim is a decorated pilot and combat veteran. his tenure in the house of representatives testifies to his understanding of the issues facing today's space program and to his advocacy of nasa modernization. but is as often the case, this well-qualified nominee has waited too long for a vote. nasa has been led by an acting administrator for a record 15 months. so i hope my completion will join me in voting -- so i hope my colleagues will join me in voting to confirm jim bridenstine today. i'd like to say a few words this morning about mike pompeo, our c.i.a. director and the president's extraordinary choice to serve as secretary of state. in recent days, the world learned director pompeo had undertaken initial conversations with kim jong-un directly -- easter weekend -- to discuss denuclearizing the korean peninsula. obviously he has the confidence of the president, engaged in the most sensitive undertaking one could imagine in today's world, and yet so many on the other side

nasa needs a strong leader, and it will have that strong leader in jim bridenstine. i serve as the chairman of the senate commerce committee space subcommittee, and i'm proud and deeply gratified that president trump chose to nominate representative jim bridenstine to lead nasa. i can think of very few people i know who are more inspirational than jim. unfortunately, throughout representative bridenstine's confirmation process, we have seen cynical politicians attempting to malign his character, despite the fact that he has spent his entire adult life in public service. jimridenstine is a veteran and a war hero. he is a man of deep character and deep integrity. having served our nation in combat as a fighter pilot, he earned the respect of the men and women who served under his command. representative bridenstine's combat missions included airborne battlefield command and control and tactical air control flights in support of the liberation of iraq, controlling over 180 kill box interdiction and close-air support missions, resulting in the destruction of countless ta

>> next, florida senator bill nelson talks about his opposition to congressman jim bridenstine to head up nasa. senator nelson is a former astronaut and ranking member on the science and technology committee. after his remarks yesterday the senate voted to move the nomination for word. a vote is expected this afternoon. >> what i want to do is talk about the leadership of our civilian space program. traditionally, the nasa administrator has been well-qualified, is not controversial. nasa is one of the few remaining areas that has largely avoided the bidders and partisanship that has invaded far too many areas of government in our society today. until now. the nasa nominee, congressman bridenstine, he was nominated to head nasa last fall. his hearing in thehe senate commerce committee was among the most contentious that i've ever been a part of. he was voted out of the committee on party lines, and senators on both sides of the aisle have expressed doubts, both publicly and privately to me, on his qualifications for the job. the nasa administrator should be a consummate space profession

and on friday night i got a call from thomas massey and jim bridenstine, two of the finest people who ever served in congress, two of the smartest as well, people of real integrity. had homas said, louie, jim a brilliant idea and we need to talk to you about it. and jim bridenstine, who like i say was brilliant, served our nation in the air force, graduated from rice university, which has rather high standards of intelligence to be admitted and jim said, hey, wait, thomas, would you repeat that part about the guy from rice having a brilliant idea, you being a guy from m.i.t.? and anyway, they got on and they said, we're stuck with nine people, we can't get past nine people. we need 29 republicans to vote for somebody besides the speaker boehner and if we can get to 29, of course that was our goal. whole goal though, full disclosure, the plan was if we could get 29 republicans to vote for somebody besides john boehner, then that would throw it into a second ballot for the first time since 1923. there was some point back in the 1800's, mid 1800's, when they had over 60 ballots cast befo

the resignation letter of oxman that ofenstine on congressman jim bridenstine i'm will begin tomorrow at 2 --pore house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., april 23, 2018. i hereby appoint the honorable mac thornl berry to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, paul d. ryan, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. gracious god, we give you thanks for giving us another day. you have blesseds

jim bridenstine was confirmed by a 50-49 vote. >>> ucsf benioff children's hospital oakland unveilednt center. >> while everyone is thrilled about the space, some doctors are concerned they're losing a say in how the facility is run. >> reporter: from robotic physical therapy -- >> i wish it was perched on the outside -- >> reporter: to 3d neurosurgery, this new facility is modern and long overdue. >> children's hospital is amazing, but it's definitely dated. so to see all the new facilities and to be able to experience that is pretty awesome. >> reporter: you can't miss ucsf benioff children's hospital oakland new outpatient facility. >> it's exciting for her to come. it's new, it's bright. >> reporter: ucsf leaders say it's an example of where health care is going. >> we know the future of health care is going to be much more outpatient-based. in other words, we're keeping kids home with very serious diseases. and that's great, home is where these kids should be -- >> reporter: less time spent in the hospital. >> people going home very quickly after surgery. people going home quick

oklahoma republican congress member jim bridenstine previously demanded president obama apologize for funding climate change research, and said falsely from the house floor that global temperatures stopped rising early this century. bridenstine will now oversee an agency whose earth sciences division is responsible for much of the satellite data used to investigate how human activity is driving g global warming. in a major victory for environmentalists, banking giant hsbc said friday it will no longer finance the development tar sands oil extraction, most coal-firired powower plants, anl and gas drdrilling i in the arc. hsbc sayays its new popolicy, wh willll also d fifinancing g to hydroelectctric and nuclear r pr projects that t don't meetet cen reququirements, isis targeted at helplping keep grereenhouse gass ememissions belolow targets sesn ththe landmark 2 2015 paparis ce acaccord. in a s statement, the e sierra club''s kelly y martin welcocome policy, , calling it - -- "yet anonother signal l to donad trump anand the rest o of the wd that, dedespite their woworst la plans, the e

oklahoma republican congress member jim bridenstine previously demanded president obama apologize for funding climate change research, and said falsely from the house floor that global temperatures stopped rising early this century. bridenstine will now oversee an agency whose earth sciences division is responsible for much of the satellite data used to investigate how human activity is driving global warming. in a major victory for environmentalists, banking giant hsbc said friday it will no longer finance the development tar sands oil extraction, most coal-fired power plants, and oil and gas drilling in the arctic. hsbc says its new policy, which will also end financing to hydroelectric and nuclear power projects that don't meet certain requirements, is targeted at helping keep greenhouse gas emissions below targets set in the landmark 2015 paris climate accord. in a statement, the sierra club's kelly martin welcomed the policy, calling it -- "yet another signal to donald trump and the rest of the world that, despite their worst laid plans, the era of fossil fuels is coming to a clo

[ light laughter ] guys, i saw that this week the senate confirmed trump's pick to lead nasa, jim bridenstinebridenstine. [ light laughter ] sounds less like a nasa official, more like a wedding show on tlc. [ laughter ] [ applause ] >> steve: all-new "bridenstine!" >> jimmy: there's no way i'm going to that -- get this though, there's speculation that stormy daniels might run for office. [ cheers and applause ] stormy says she'd be the first politician in history who's honest about screwing you. [ laughter ] now, that's something -- that's something that -- speaking of stormy daniels, after she released a sketch of the guy who threatened her in 2011, trump called it a a nonexistent man. or as eric trump calls that, a a father. [ laughter ] actually, stormy daniels went on "the view" this week, and said that she's a better actress than president trump. well, trump may not be a great actor, but he does some pretty good impressions of actors. i mean take a look at what i mean. for instance, here's robert de niro in the movie, "analyze this." now, here's trump's impression. it's pretty good. [ l

republican congressman jim bridenstine won on a party-line vote of 50 to 49. democrats challenged his non- space background and questioning of climate science. and in a historic first, illinois senator tammy duckworth, in a wheelchair, held her newborn daughter as she voted "no."na rules changed last night to permit babies on the floor. the "new york times" reports wells fargo will likely be find $1 billi for a series of infractions, including making customers buy auto inspourance cies that they did not need. stocks closed lower on wall street tay, dragged down by the dow jones industrial average tumbled 83 points to close at nearly 24,665. the nasdaq fell 57 points, and the s&p 500 dropped 15. still to come on the newshour: the end of the castro era in cuba. an island-wide power outage underscores puerto rico's fragile recovery. how a trade battle with china could shift the u. economy, and much more. n >> woodruff:e latest twist in the russia investigation, former new york city mayor rudy giuliani is joining president trump's legal defense team. the move come

space subcommittee chairman babin and recent science committee member and now nasa administrator, jim bridenstineth chairman babin and administrator bridenstine have worked diligently to move this legislation forward. and representatives perlmutter, kilmer and soto also helped develop this commonsense, bipartisan regulatory reform bill. many thanks to all of them. this transformative and ground-shaking legislation facilitates commercial liftoff and declares that america is fully open for business in space. american innovators driven by ingenuity, competitive spirit and bold vision are the future of space exploration. mr. speaker, i encourage my colleagues to support the american space commerce free enterprise act, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. bera. berber mr. speaker, i yield my -- mr. bera: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. mr. bera: i rise today in sup

signed, sincerely, jim bridenstine. the speaker pro tempore: under clause 5-d of rule 20, the chair announces to the house in light of the resignation of the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. bridenstine, the whole number of the house is 429. the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir. pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on april 19, 2018, at 3:16 p.m. that the senate agreed to senate resolution 474, relative to the death of the honorable john melcher, former senator for the state of montreal. signed sincerely, karen l. haas. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a further communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir. pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, the clerk received the fol