Commercial Remote Sensing Amendment Act of 2025

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I join my colleague and chair, Mr. Babin, and rise in support of the Commercial Remote Sensing Amendment Act of 2025, H.R. 1325. We are very pleased to see this legislation being reintroduced this Congress, and certainly it is coming from the leadership of our former chair of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Mr. Frank Lucas, and our ranking member, Ms. Zoe Lofgren. It is another bipartisan bill.

Commercial remote sensing is a vibrant and growing industry. Data and imagery from commercial remote sensing satellites are used widely in energy, agriculture, disaster monitoring, mapping, and national security applications such as maritime surveillance.

Commercial space-based images provide vital scientific information on the health of our Great Lakes informing policy in my beloved home State of Michigan and across the basin. These images also provide visibility and insight into life-threatening events, such as the before and after observations of the devastating Palisades and Eaton wildfires in southern California.

In 1992, Congress, led by the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, authorized the Secretary of Commerce to license and regulate private-sector parties to operate commercial remote sensing space systems. Since that time, the commercial remote sensing industry has changed quite dramatically.

Today, companies from across the world are launching commercial remote sensing systems and selling the data. We must ensure that the United States remains at the forefront of this industry, especially as the Chinese Communist Party is advancing in the remote sensing sector.

As a 2024 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies plainly put it: ``Should any one country dominate the commercial remote sensing market, not only could it gain economic advantages, but it would also control the information narrative about the entire planet, from the environment to natural resources to human conflict.''

So this bill provides Congress the transparency and insight we need to oversee the licensing and regulation of private remote sensing systems. It modifies the timeline for completing licenses to conform with updated regulations. It also requires information to provide Congress with details on licensing related to regulatory changes. Further, it extends the requirement for an annual report on commercial remote sensing licenses through 2030.

I am very enthusiastic about this important bipartisan commercial space legislation. It is always a good day in the Chamber when Chair Babin is talking about commercial space legislation, and it is always a good day when we are doing bipartisan things on behalf of American competitiveness.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 1325, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. STEVENS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time to speak on this bill, and I am prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, it is always a good thing when we have a Lucas bill, and particularly when it is a bipartisan bill, and usually it is. You just heard his remarks in this debate. He has really nailed this one.

H.R. 1325 remains an important and necessary piece of legislation that I am proud to support and urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on.

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