Commercial Satellite Industry, Lawmakers Look Toward Post-Election Export Reform Efforts
Bipartisan support for satellite export reform will continue whether President Barack Obama is re-elected or a new administration takes office under Mitt Romney, lawmakers and satellite industry experts said. If the administration changes, there could be a delay in implementing reforms as new Cabinet members and department heads are put in place, some executives said. This year, the House passed the FY 2013 National Defense Authorization bill (HR-4310), which included an amendment that would ease export regulation of domestic satellites and components (CD May 21 p3). The provision was similar to legislation introduced by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which proposed removing commercial satellites from the U.S. munitions list to a less restrictive list.
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House Intelligence Committee ranking member Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., who worked with Berman on the amendment, said he will continue to prioritize the reform efforts under either administration. He bemoaned the satellite industry’s 27 percent control of the satellite export market. “We had control of [about] 70 percent,” he said. “It makes no sense to have a bill that is so restrictive and is hurting our space industry, and our space industry needs all the help it can get right now.” The Obama administration “is working with us and trying to find ways so we can work through this issue,” he added. Ruppersberger is looking forward to a similar measure passing in the Senate, he said. “Hopefully, next year, we will have a better opportunity to move it in the Senate."
S-3211 introduced by Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., proposed authorizing the president to determine appropriate export controls of satellites (CD May 23 p21). Bennet’s office and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee didn’t comment.
Support for satellite export control reform likely won’t change with either administration, said Patricia Cooper, Satellite Industry Association president. The issue has been largely bipartisan on Capitol Hill, “so I'm not expecting a change in support for satellite export control reform between the two administrations,” she said. “However, what I think we would see from a change in administration is a disruption to the momentum of export control reform efforts.” A new administration “would want to stop, evaluate and re-engage,” she added.
Both parties have acknowledged that the current regime is harming the industry in the middle of a recession, said Alexander Saltman, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. “Regardless of the administration, there’s general agreement this is a problem that has to be solved.” The Section 1248 report from the Defense and State departments was well received by the industry, he said. The report recommended shifting some satellites, their components and other exports from the U.S. munitions list to the less restrictive commerce control list (CD April 19 p7). “With any change in administration, there’s a chance it'll get lost,” said Saltman. “But this is an effort that’s coming from the Defense Department and the State Department, and it’s not a tie to any political position."
The export industry began working with the administration on export reform in 2009, and “we haven’t gotten much of anything,” said Derek Scissors, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Scissors said he’s in favor of export control reform, but “at this point no sensible person can be optimistic -- not about the intentions of either an Obama administration or Romney administration -- but about the results.” Next year, there will be new principals, like new secretaries in the State and Treasury departments, he said. Regardless of who wins, “you're rolling the dice and hoping that in all the things that are in front of them that they're going to pick this one out,” he said.
"There’s a broader question around the administration’s work toward creating a new structure and framework for export controls,” said a satellite industry executive. A Romney administration would likely support the reforms, the executive said. “But they'd want to stop and put their own stamp on it.” The areas that haven’t been initiated yet “would have a delay or a different flavor to it,” the executive added.
Cooper said she will be watching closely whether the Senate will take up the NDAA in lame duck and how a satellite provision would be sorted out. Saltman said he’s “optimistic that the Senate will pass a measure before the year is out.” Discussions continue between both houses of Congress “and everybody is interested in reaching a deal,” he said.