Representative Mike Garcia (CA-27) passed two amendments to H.R. 6131, the Commercial Space Act of 2023, during a Science, Space, and Technology Committee markup.

Rep. Garcia’s first amendment establishes optional streamlined launch licensing approval processes.

“Time and time again, commercial space operators have come to my office with effectively the same complaint that the licensing process is too slow, and that the FAA is too understaffed to handle the approval process. My bipartisan amendment would make important reforms to the licensing process to allow for expedited approval without sacrificing safety standards.”

Rep. Garcia’s second amendment expresses the sense of Congress that the FAA and DOD should adopt a single approval process for commercial operations on federal test ranges.

“Currently, [the FAA and DOD] require commercial operators to go through duplicative licensing and approval processes that only serve to create confusion and to slow the cadence of operations. This is a significant barrier to the expansion of our commercial space sector…We should be looking far and wide for opportunities to remove duplicative requirements, to remove barriers for the still young industry – and that’s exactly what my amendment does.”