Eric Schmitt Asks Commerce Nom About Current Great Power Competition In The Commercial Space Sector

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During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing last week, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) questioned Paul Dabbar, nominee to be Deputy Secretary of Commerce, about global competition in the commercial space sector.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Senator Schmidt.

00:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:04It's good to see you.

00:05Now, am I right you grew up in Independence then?

00:07No, I was right south in a little town called Bartlesville.

00:09I know Bartlesville.

00:11I know Bartlesville.

00:12Having run statewide three times in eight years, I know a lot of those towns.

00:16It's good to have you here.

00:18I did want to talk a little bit about, I know that trade is obviously a hot topic,

00:22and I think one of the things that's been illuminating for a lot of folks

00:28is to really kind of understand how we got here.

00:30I think, you know, after World War II, there were a lot of favorable conditions created

00:35so that our allies could get back on their feet, principally to defeat Soviet communism.

00:41That happened, and our foreign policy was sort of dedicated to that same proposition.

00:47That happened.

00:47But after the Cold War ended, there wasn't an adjustment by way of foreign policy

00:52nor on economic policy.

00:54So that's how you end up.

00:54You wake up and you go to, you know, you have Liberation Day,

00:57and you find out that all these countries have not just tariffs

01:00but all these sort of trade practices that make it difficult for our goods

01:05to get into their markets.

01:06You can't sell beef in Australia.

01:08You don't see an American car in Europe.

01:10You don't see an American car in Japan.

01:12And so from my perspective, it's about time that we rebalance that equation,

01:17and that's exactly what's happening right now.

01:19And I think you've got, from my perspective, you've got two buckets.

01:22You've got China, and you've got everybody else.

01:25And everybody else, that's what everybody's working through right now.

01:28Is that how you see it?

01:30Yes, Senator.

01:31That's fair.

01:33And I think, ultimately, you're seeing this investment.

01:37You're seeing the commitment from a lot of companies to start to do their advanced manufacturing,

01:42their production in the United States.

01:45I don't think it's – no one's naive.

01:47We're not going to produce everything here.

01:50But getting back our fair share as opposed to those jobs going to China or to Mexico,

01:55I think it's time that we have an administration that's stood up for working folks

01:59who've been kind of left behind by this globalist dream that borders don't matter

02:03and, you know, it's just nations don't matter.

02:06And I think that's what we're sort of on the precipice of.

02:10So, anyway, you know, not to put a bow on the debate because it's ongoing,

02:15but I did want to ask you also, the first two years I was here,

02:19I was the ranking member on the Space and Science Subcommittee.

02:22We dealt a lot with commercial space.

02:25And I just wanted to get your thoughts.

02:26There's – this is a really important area for us.

02:30You talk about this global – this competition we have,

02:32this great powers competition with China.

02:34It's not confined to the terrestrial.

02:36It's not confined to the sea.

02:38It's in space, too.

02:39And having a robust commercial space sector is really important for us to compete.

02:44And you talked about discovery.

02:45We don't really know what those discoveries might be on the moon or in Mars,

02:48but we know that we better find them before China because they certainly have designs.

02:53Have you been brought up to speed or can you speak to how your office intends to sort of operate both with respect to NOAA and AST over at –

03:05because what you don't want to have is this sort of turf battle that defines so much of what happens in Washington.

03:12And I think the newness of all this provides opportunities for greater alignment.

03:16How do you see that?

03:17Where do you – how do you plan to deal with that?

03:19So, I have a little bit of a background at DOE.

03:22We actually did Mars work with JPL and with NASA, and we looked at nuclear propulsion.

03:27So, there's a lot of technology advancement.

03:30Certainly, I would work very closely with NASA and the facilities at Kennedy and elsewhere

03:37that to make certain that we continue to suck in more investment and more launches and more commercial

03:43and use the footprint that we have in this country.

03:46And part of that, in order to drive the economy and the aerospace sector, which we are so incredibly strong lead in, including interstate.

03:55And so, I would advocate very strongly with my fellow science and technology other partners at NASA and elsewhere

04:03to make certain that we open up for the world as well as our own launches

04:09and expand our leadership that we're already doing pretty well on.

04:14Well, we'd love to get you back home to Missouri because, as you mentioned, there's a lot going on,

04:20particularly in the aerospace sector and the defense tech industry that sort of exists, I think, is really important.

04:25And then, finally, I just want to put it on your radar.

04:27I think one of the concerns with AI is it's a huge opportunity.

04:34I don't think it's Skynet about ready the universe to be destroyed,

04:38nor do I think cancer is going to be figured out tomorrow.

04:40It's probably somewhere in the middle.

04:42But it's a lot of opportunity.

04:44But one of the concerns I think a lot of folks have is that what you don't want to have

04:47is AI manipulated in a way that affects people's right to express themselves or free speech.

04:52And that will be sort of on your plate, too.

04:57We just want to make sure people, regardless of your opinion or your point of view,

05:01have the ability to speak your mind and you don't have this.

05:04We saw some of the efforts from the previous administration put their thumb on the scale with big tech.

05:09And you're going to be in a position to make sure that doesn't happen.

05:12And I'm sure that you share those concerns and want to make sure that it's an open platform, right, for folks?

05:17Yes, Senator.

05:18Okay, thank you.

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