WASHINGTON -- The Senate connected Wednesday confirmed billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to beryllium NASA head connected Wednesday, placing him atop the bureau aft a monthslong saga wherever President Donald Trump revoked his information arsenic portion of a feud with tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Isaacman, who has promised to bring a business-minded attack to the abstraction agency, was confirmed successful a bipartisan vote, 67-30.
He volition instrumentality implicit aft an antithetic confirmation process upended by the Republican president's oscillating and astatine times tumultuous narration with salient tech leaders who backed his campaign, astir notably Musk, the Tesla CEO who is simply a adjacent state of Isaacman.
Trump picked Isaacman past twelvemonth but withdrew the information successful May aft feuding with Musk implicit the administration’s policies connected issues specified arsenic electrical vehicles and the show of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk was the largest contributor of donations to Trump’s 2024 run and aft the medication took office, helium assembled a squad for DOGE that blitzed done the national government’s departments, contracts and captious infrastructure. The monthslong cognition led to large cuts to national contracts focused connected overseas aid, planetary wellness and wide layoffs of national workers.
But the effort did not pb to important reductions successful the national fund deficit, the stated goal. Musk besides feuded with immoderate elder Cabinet officials and, eventually, Trump himself. Musk is besides CEO of the abstraction formation institution SpaceX and has ambitions for humans to colonize space.
Trump nominated Isaacman for the occupation again successful November. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had been serving arsenic NASA’s interim head until a imperishable caput was successful place.
Isaacman is the laminitis of Shift4 Payments, a outgo processing and exertion solutions institution based successful Pennsylvania. He is besides the co-founder of Draken International, a Florida-based aerospace company. He has done concern with Musk’s Starlink and different ventures tied to the chap billionaire.
During Isaacman's 2nd confirmation proceeding successful December, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., pressed Isaacman to “explain what happened to marque President Trump reconsider the determination to propulsion your information and what assurances you whitethorn person provided with Elon Musk and SpaceX would not make a important struggle of involvement successful this role.”
Isaacman replied that helium “wouldn't adjacent privation to statesman to speculate wherefore the president nominated and past renominated me.” He said helium pledged to beryllium escaped of conflicts of involvement successful his role. In a June letter, Isaacman had promised to resign from his backstage assemblage posts should helium beryllium confirmed arsenic NASA administrator.
Republicans person welcomed immoderate of Isaacman's proposals and immoderate caller senators powerfully advocated for his confirmation. But galore Democrats balked astatine Isaacman and Trump’s plans, including the projected costs of immoderate projects and wide priorities for the agency.
“For astir 70 years, the United States has been astatine the forefront of abstraction exploration. President Trump knows however captious it is to reinvigorate NASA arsenic we purpose to scope caller heights successful the top frontier ever known, and that’s wherefore helium chose precisely the close antheral for the job,” Sen. Tim Sheehy, an aerial firefighter, erstwhile Navy SEAL and adjacent state of Isaacman, said successful a statement.
Sheehy, R-Mont. added that helium was assured Isaacman “will enactment tirelessly to guarantee America wins the 21st period abstraction race.”
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